or ARMENIA, anciently a hamlet of Phalagonia, (Ptolemy). The inhabitants encompassed it with a wall, because of the coldness of the place, imagining by that means to render it warmer. But this proving ineffectual, gave rise to the proverb Armenien mare cingere, used to express some egregious folly.
a country of Asia, anciently divided into Armenia Major and Minor.—Armenia Major, according to Strabo, was bounded on the south by mount Taurus, which separated it from Mefopotamia; on the east, by the two Medias; on the north, by Iberia and Albania, or rather that part of mount Caucasus which surrounds them both; and on the west, by Armenia Minor, or the mountains Paryadres, some Pontic nations, and the Euphrates. The most considerable cities were Artaxata, Tigranocerta, and Thedotropolis.—Armenia Minor was bounded on the east by the Euphrates; on the south, by mount Taurus, which separated it from Cilicia; on the west and north, by a long chain of mountains called in different places Mons Scardicus, Amatus, and Antitaurus, by which it was separated from Cappadocia.
Whence this tract received the name of Armenia is not determined. The Greeks suppose it to be so called from one Armentus, who attended Jason in the Argonautic expedition, and afterwards settled in this country. Others, transforming Armentus into Aramis, derive its name from Aram the son of Shem, or from one of the kings of Armenia bearing that name. Bochart imagines it to be a contraction or compound of Aar, a Hebrew word signifying a mountain, and Mini signifying metal, and which was the name of a province of Armenia mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah.
Herodotus derives the ancient Armenians from the Phrygians, by reason that several Phrygian words were crept into the ancient Armenian language. But Strabo reckons them to have been originally Syrians, which Bochart looks upon to be the most probable opinion.
Armenia is said to have been very early advanced to the honour of a kingdom. Berossus makes one Sytha the first founder of this monarchy, whose successor Bardanes, he says, was driven out by Ninus king of Assyria. Plutarch mentions one Araxes king of Armenia, who in a war with the Persians, being assured of success by an oracle, provided he sacrificed his two daughters, caused the two daughters of one Micfalens, a nobleman of his court, to be sacrificed in their stead, flattering himself that he thereby complied with the oracle. But Micfalens did not fail to revenge the death of his own daughters by putting the king's two daughters to death, and purified himself so closely, that he was drowned in attempting to swim across the Araxes, which was then called Helmar.
The Armenians were in process of time subdued by the Medes, to whom Astyages made them tributaries, but allowed them to be governed by their own kings; but on the dissolution of the Median empire by Cyrus, the kingdom was reduced to the form of a province, and they were governed by Persian prefects or lieutenants. nants. On the destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great, Armenia fell into the hands of the Macedonians; to whom it continued subject till the beginning of the reign of Antiochus the Great. This prince having appointed two prefects called Zadriades and Artaxias to govern Armenia, they excited the people to a revolt, and caused themselves to be proclaimed kings of the provinces over which they presided. Antiochus being then very young, they were attended with success beyond their expectation; which encouraged them to attempt the enlargement of their territories. Accordingly, invading the neighbouring countries, they took from the Medes the provinces of Cappadocia, Phaunitis, and Baforopida; from the Iberians, Chorzena and Gogorena on the other side of the Cyrus; from the Chalybes and Molyneaei, the provinces of Pareneta and Herexena, which bordered on Armenia Minor.
On this occasion, the abovementioned division of the kingdom into Armenia Major and Minor first took place. Artaxias became king of Armenia Major, and Zadriades of Armenia Minor; and this distinction subsists even at this day.
By whom Artaxias was succeeded is not known; neither have we any account of the transactions of his reign, farther than that Antiochus led a powerful army against him and Zadriades, but without being able to recover a single province. Upon this, he concluded a peace, desirous to fall upon them at a proper opportunity; but they having entered into alliance with the Romans, by that means secured themselves in the possession of their kingdom. After this, Artaxias was defeated and taken prisoner by Antiochus Epiphanes; but, somehow or other, seems to have been restored to his kingdom.
From this time we meet with a chasm in the Armenian history for 70 years; during which all we know is, that Tigranes, the king's son, was delivered up as an hostage to the Parthians; from whence it is plain, that the Armenians had been carrying on an unsuccessful war with that nation. On the news of his father's death, however, the Parthians set the young king at liberty, having first obliged him to give up a considerable part of his kingdom by way of ransom.
Tigranes, being thus restored to his father's kingdom, was prevailed upon in the beginning of his reign to enter into an alliance with Mithridates Eupator against the Romans, whose power began to give jealousy to all the princes of Asia. One of the articles of this treaty was, that Mithridates should have the cities and conquered countries, and Tigranes the captives and plunder. In consequence of this, Tigranes was to invade Cappadocia, which he had lately been obliged, by a decree of the senate of Rome, to give up to Ariobarzanes. But before either of the princes took the field, a marriage was solemnized with all possible magnificence between Tigranes and Cleopatra the daughter of Mithridates.
Immediately after the nuptials, Tigranes set out on his intended expedition; and Ariobarzanes, on the first news of his march, abandoned his kingdom and fled to Rome. Thus Tigranes, without fighting a stroke, enriched himself with the booty, and then proclaimed Ariarathes, Mithridates's son, king of Cappadocia, to the universal satisfaction of the people.
In the mean time the Syrians, being harassed with a long and intestine war of the Seleucidae, invited Tigranes to come and take possession of their country; which he accordingly did, and kept it for 18 years, till he was driven out by Pompey, and Syria reduced to the form of a Roman province. Encouraged by this success, he next invaded Armenia Minor; defeated and killed king Artaxes, who opposed him with a considerable army; and in one campaign made himself master of the whole kingdom. From Armenia Minor he marched against the Asiatic Greeks, the Adiabeniens, the Assyrians, and the Gordians, carrying all before him, and obliging the people wherever he came to acknowledge him sovereign. From this second expedition he returned home loaded with booty, which he soon after increased by the spoils of Cappadocia, invading that kingdom a second time at the instance of Mithridates, who had been obliged by the Romans to withdraw his forces from thence. From Cappadocia Tigranes, besides other booty, brought back into Armenia no fewer than 300,000 captives, having surrounded the country with his numerous forces in such a manner that none could escape. These, together with the prisoners he had taken in his two first expeditions, he employed in building the city of Tigranocerta, which they afterwards peopled.
In the mean time Mithridates, who had concluded a peace with the Romans for no other end than to gain time, sent a solemn embassy to Tigranes, inviting him to enter into a second alliance against the common enemy. This he at first declined; but in the end was prevailed upon by his wife Cleopatra to send him considerable supplies, though he never came heartily into the war, not caring to provoke the Romans, who on their part kept fair with him, taking no notice for the present of the supplies he had sent Mithridates. That unfortunate prince, being soon after defeated by Lucullus, was forced to fly for shelter into Armenia, where he met with a very cold reception from his son-in-law, who would neither see him, treat with him, nor own him as his relation: however, he promised to protect his person, and allowed him in one of his castles a princely retinue, and a table suitable to his former condition.
Though this total overthrow of Mithridates might have opened the eyes of Tigranes, and made him oppose with all his might the growing power of the Romans, he foolishly left them to finish their conquest of Pontus, while he marched at the head of a very numerous army against the Parthians, with a design to recover from them the dominions they had formerly extorted from him before they set him at liberty. These he easily retook; and, not satisfied with what formerly belonged to him, he added to them all Mesopotamia, the countries that lay about Ninus and Arbela, and the fruitful province of Migdonia; the Parthians, tho' at that time a mighty people, flying everywhere before him. From Mesopotamia Tigranes marched into Syria to quell a rebellion which had been raised by Cleopatra named Selene, who, after the death of her husband Antiochus Pius, reigned jointly with her sons in that part of Syria which Tigranes had not seized on. The malcontents were quickly reduced; and the queen herself was taken prisoner, and confined to the castle of Seleucia, where she was soon after put to death by the king's order. From Syria Tigranes passed into Phoenice, nice, which he subdued either entirely or in great part, spreading far and wide the terror of his arms, insomuch that all the princes of Asia, except those who were in alliance with the Romans, either in person, or by their deputies, submitted and paid homage to the conqueror.
The king, having now subdued all Syria to the borders of Egypt, and being elated with a long course of victories and prosperous events, began to look upon himself as far above the level of other crowned heads. He assumed the title of King of kings, and had many kings waiting upon him as menial servants. He never appeared on horseback without the attendance of four kings dressed in livery, who run by his horse; and when he gave answers to the nations that applied to him, the ambassadors stood on either side the throne with their hands clasped together, that attitude being of all others then accounted among the orientals the greatest acknowledgment of vassalage and servitude.
In the midst of all this haughtiness, however, he was unexpectedly visited by an ambassador from Lucullus the Roman general, who without any ceremony told him, that he was come to demand Mithridates king of Pontus, who had taken refuge in his dominions, and, in case of his refusal, to declare war against him. Notwithstanding his high opinion of himself, Tigranes returned a mild answer to this message; in which, however, he refused to deliver up his father-in-law; and being highly provoked at Lucullus for not giving him the title of King of kings in his letter, he did not so much as bestow upon him the title of general, in his answer. In the mean time, being informed that Zarbiensius king of the Gordians had entered into a private alliance with the Romans, he put him, his wife, and children, to death; and then, returning into Armenia, received with the greatest pomp imaginable his father-in-law Mithridates, whom to that time he had not admitted into his presence, though he had reigned a year and eight months in his dominions. They had several private conferences; and at last Mithridates was sent back to Pontus with 10,000 horse, to raise there what disturbances he could.
Lucullus, on the other hand, hearing the king's resolution to protect Mithridates, immediately began his march for Armenia, at the head of only two legions of foot and 3000 horse, having left 6000 men in Pontus to keep that country quiet. Having passed the Euphrates without opposition, he detached two parties; one to besiege a city where he heard that Tigranes's treasure and concubines were kept; and the other under Sextilius, to block up Tigranocerta, in order to draw the king to a battle. But Tigranes, after having put to death the scout that brought him the first intelligence of the approach of the Romans, made towards Mount Taurus, which he had appointed for the place of the general rendezvous. The Roman general then dispatched Morena in pursuit of the king; who having overtaken him in a narrow pass, defeated him, and, besides all the baggage, carried off a great many prisoners, the king himself having fled in the beginning of the skirmish. After this, he sent out several parties to scour the country, in order to prevent the innumerable forces of Tigranes from joining into one body. This, however, he was not able to effect: Tigranes was joined by such numbers of Gordians, Medes, A-
diabenians, Albanians, Iberians, &c. that, before he left Mount Taurus, his army consisted, according to Plutarch, of 150,000 foot armed cap-a-pee, 35,000 pioneers, 20,000 archers and slingers, and 55,000 horse.
Lucullus was so far from being dismayed at this formidable army, that the only fear he had was lest the king should follow the advice of Mithridates, which was not to engage the Romans, but, by ravaging the country, distress them for want of provisions. In order to draw him to a battle, therefore, he formed the siege of Tigranocerta, imagining that Tigranes would never suffer that fine city to be taken without making any attempt to relieve it. The event fully answered his expectations: Tigranes having called a council of war, it was unanimously resolved to attack the Romans; and Taxiles, whom Mithridates sent to dissuade the king from venturing a battle, was in danger of losing his head on account of the advice he gave. The Roman general, finding Tigranes disposed to come to an engagement, left Morena with 6000 men to carry on the siege, while he himself marched against the king's vast army with only 10,000 men, according to some, and the highest computations make them no more than 18,000. The Romans were at first greatly disheartened; but being encouraged by Lucullus, they immediately broke the Armenian army, who betook themselves to flight almost at the first onset. The Romans pursued them till night, making a most terrible slaughter. Plutarch informs us, that of the Armenians 100,000 foot were killed, and that very few of the cavalry escaped; whereas of the Romans only five men were killed, and 100 wounded. Antiochus the philosopher, mentioning this battle, says, that the sun never beheld the like; and Livy, that the Romans never fought at such a disadvantage; the conquerors not amounting to a twentieth part of the conquered. Tigranes in his flight having met with his son in as forlorn a condition as himself, resigned to him his royal robes and diadem, desiring him to shift for himself and save those royal ensigns. The young prince delivered them to a trusty friend, who, being taken by the Romans, consigned them to Lucullus.
While the king was making his escape after this terrible overthrow, he was met by Mithridates, who was marching to his assistance at the head of a considerable army. The king of Pontus cheered up his son-in-law as well as he could, and encouraged him to continue the war; advising him, instead of fruitlessly bewailing the present disaster, to rally his troops, raise new supplies, and renew the war, not questioning but that in another campaign he might repair all the losses he had sustained: but while the two kings were consulting upon these matters, Lucullus made himself master of Tigranocerta. From this city he marched into the small kingdom of Gordyene, where he celebrated, with the utmost pomp, the obsequies of king Zarbiensius, whom Tigranes had put to death, lighting the funeral pile with his own hands. In this kingdom, besides immense sums of gold and silver, he met with such store of provisions as enabled him to carry on the war without putting the republic to any charge.
The two kings, having levied new forces, appointed their troops to rendezvous in the spacious plains on the other side of Mount Taurus; whereupon Lucullus, lea-
Vol. I. ving Gordyene, and passing by Mount Taurus, encamped close by the enemy. Several skirmishes happened for some time between the two armies without any considerable advantage; but Lucullus could by no means draw them to a general engagement. Upon this, he decamped, as if he designed to march to Artaxata and lay siege to that place, where Tigranes had left his wife and children, with great part of his treasures. He had scarce formed his camp when the enemy appeared, and sat down close by him. Lucullus did not allow them to fortify their camp, but immediately attacked them, and having put them to flight after a faint resistance, pursued them all night with great slaughter, took most of the chief officers prisoners, and returned the next day loaded with booty.
The Roman soldiers now, finding the cold very severe, though it was no later in the year than the autumnal equinox, requested their general to allow them to retire into winter-quarters. This request he rejected with indignation; upon which they mutinied. Lucullus did all he could to persuade them to continue in their duty, and prevailed so far that they consented to lay siege to Nifibis in hopes of booty. This place they took; and Lucullus, to the great satisfaction of his troops, took up his winter-quarters there. The next year, however, his forces again mutinied, accusing him of amassing immense wealth for himself, and throwing their empty purses at his feet, told him, that as he enriched himself alone, he might carry on the war by himself. He endeavoured to appease them as much as possible; but the sedition being fomented by a party who favoured Pompey the great, at that time aspiring to the command of Lucullus' army, the latter found himself obliged to fit still and see Mithridates and Tigranes over-run Cappadocia, and recover all Armenia and great part of Pontus. They would have gained much greater advantages, had not a son of Tigranes taken arms against his father, and obliged him to divide his troops. The father and son coming to a pitched battle, the latter was defeated, and forced to save himself in Parthia, where he persuaded Phraates, king of that country, to assist him with a numerous army against his father. Phraates having laid siege to Artaxata, Tigranes the elder was obliged to hide himself in the mountainous parts of his kingdom; upon which the king of Parthia returned home. Of this Tigranes the father being apprised, he immediately abandoned the fastnesses of the mountains; and, falling upon his son at Artaxata, dispersed the rebels with great slaughter, and entered his metropolis in triumph. Tigranes the son fled first to Mithridates; but finding him reduced to great straits, having been overcome a few days before, with the loss of 40,000 men, by Pompey, he went over to the Romans, and led them into Armenia against his father as an ally of Mithridates.
Tigranes, being now quite dispirited, and unable to make head against the Romans, refused at once to submit. Accordingly he waited on Pompey in his camp, and having delivered his sword to two lictors, prostrated himself before him, and laid his diadem at his feet. Pompey, however, gave him a gracious reception, restored him the kingdom of Armenia, but fined him of 6000 talents for making war on the Roman people without cause. As the king had appealed to the Roman general for justice against his son, Pompey heard both parties the next day, and made the son governor of Gordyene and Sophene; but the treasures that were kept in the latter he adjudged to the father, because without them he could not pay the fine. The son, being thus disappointed, endeavoured first to make his escape, and afterwards, by private messengers, solicited the inhabitants not to deliver up the treasures to his father. This being taken very much amiss by Pompey, he caused him to be kept in irons; and even then he found means to stir up Phraates, king of Parthia, whose daughter he had married, against the Romans, and to form a conspiracy against his father's life; whereupon Pompey sent him in chains to Rome, where he was kept prisoner in the house of L. Flavius a senator, till the tribuneship of P. Clodius, who, being bribed with a large sum of money, set him at liberty in spite of Pompey and the senate.
Tigranes being now thoroughly humbled, willingly yielded to the Romans Cappadocia, Syria, Cilicia, and that part of Phoenice which he possessed, contenting himself with his paternal kingdom; and not only paid the fine laid upon him, but made large presents to Pompey, and all the officers of his army, which procured him the title of the friend and ally of the Roman people. He afterwards entered into a war with Phraates king of Parthia, by whom he was overcome, and would have been driven out of his kingdom, had not a peace been brought about by the mediation of Pompey. He ever after cultivated a strict friendship with the Romans; infomuch that he not only refused to receive Mithridates, who fled to him after he had been routed by Pompey near Mount Stella, but even offered a reward of 100 talents to any one that would put him to death. His second son also, by name Saraiater, took up arms against him; but, by the assistance of the Romans, that rebellion was soon quelled. He died in the 85th year of his age; and was succeeded by his son Artaxates, called by Josephus Artabazes, by Orofius Artabanes, and by others Artacatites.
From this time to the time of Trajan Armenia was governed by its own kings; but as they were plainly vassals to the Romans, though they did not take that title till the reign of the emperor Nero, their history falls to be considered under that of the Romans.
By Trajan the kingdom of Armenia Major was reduced to the form of a Roman province; but it soon recovered its liberty, and was again governed by its own kings in the reigns of Constantine the Great, and his successor, to whom the kings of Armenia were feudatories. In the reign of Justin II. the Saracens subdued and held it till the irruption of the Turks, who possessed themselves of this kingdom, and gave it the name of Turcomania. The Turks, after the reduction of Armenia, invaded Persia, and other countries subject to the emperors of the east; which gave the Armenians an opportunity of shaking off the Turkish yoke, and setting up kings of their own, by whom they were governed till the country was again subdued by Oceadan, or, as some style him, Hecatae, the son of Cingis, and first chaim of the Tartars. Neither was the conquest of Armenia by the Tartars so absolute as to extirpate the race of their kings; seeing we read of Haithon, surnamed the Armenian, reigning some time after, and going in person to treat with Mongo, the great chaim of Tartary, of the concerns of his kingdom; dom; and in our chronicles we find mention made of Leo king of Armenia, who, in the reign of Richard II., came into England to sue for aid against the Turks, by whom he had been driven from his kingdom. In the year 1472 of the Christian era, Ulfan Cassanes king of Armenia succeeding to the crown of Persia, made Armenia a province of that empire; in which state it continued till the year 1522, when it was subdued by Selim II. and made a province of the Turkish empire. Some say, that Selim I. reduced it on his return from Persia, where he had gained a complete victory over the great Sophi Imael. But Sanovin affirms us, that in the reign of Selim I., who died in 1520, both the Lesser and Greater Armenia had their own kings; and adds, that Selim caused the head of the king of the Lesser Armenia to be cut off and sent to Venice, as a mark of his victory. We read nowhere else of any kings of Armenia after it became a province of Persia. Be that as it will, the Turkish annals cited by Calvisius inform us, that Selim II. conquered Armenia in 1522, since which time it has ever continued subject to the Turks, except the eastern part, which the Persians are masters of to this day.
Concerning Armenia Minor we find very little recorded, except what has been already mentioned, and what falls under the Roman history. It was made a Roman province by Vespasian, continued so till the division of the empire, when it was subjected to the emperors of the east; and, on the decline of their power, was subdued first by the Persians, and afterwards by the Turks, who gave it the name of Genech, and have kept it ever since.
This country is still divided into the Great and Small. Great Armenia comprehends what is now called Turcomania. It has Georgia on the north, from which it is separated by high mountains; the river Euphrates on the west; Diarbekir, Cordistan, and Aderbijan, on the south; and Shirvan on the east. The chief towns in that part of Armenia belonging to Turkey are, Arzum the capital, near the springs of the Euphrates, a large city, and a great thoroughfare for the caravans between Turkey and Persia; Kara, a strong city, head of the government of the same name; Bayazid, a republic of Hurds, near mount Ararat; Baha, another republic of the same; and Van or Wan, on the lake Van, the head of a government of the same name; with other towns of less note. That part of Armenia subject to Persia is chiefly contained in the province of Aran, in which are several fine towns; as, Erivan or Rivan, the capital of the whole; Ganjals, one of the finest cities in Persia, in the north of the province, near the Kur; Kapan, on the south side, near the Aras; besides Nakchivan, Astabad Julfa, Ordabad, Baylakan or Pilkan, on the Aras; Berdah and Shilkah on the Kur.
The country in general is full of mountains and valleys, lakes, and rivers; particularly the country about the three churches, near Erivan, is admirably fine, being full of rivulets, which render it extremely fruitful. Besides great quantities of all sorts of grain, here are fields of a prodigious extent covered with tobacco; but it is not a native of the place, though supposed by some to be the terrestrial paradise; for it all came originally from America. The rest of the country produces rice, cotton, flax, melons, and grapes; in short, there is nothing wanting but olives; which is by some thought to prove that the ark could not rest on mount Ararat, because the dove brought an olive-branch in her mouth, and this tree never leaves a place where it once grew. It seems, however, to have been otherwise anciently; for Strabo tells us, that the olive grew in Gogarene, a province of Armenia. They get oil to burn from the ricinus, and use linseed-oil in the kitchen. The water-melons are as cool as ice in the hottest day, and melt in the mouth; the beef are produced in the salt-lands, near the three churches and the river Aras. After rain, the sea-salt lies in crystals upon the fields, and even crackles under the feet. About ten miles from the three churches, in the road to Teflis, there are pits or quarries of fossil salt, which yield enough to supply all Persia, without being exhausted; they cut it into large pieces like stone; and each buffalo carries two of them; the mountain from whence it is dug is nothing but a mass of salt, which appears like a rock of silver, when the sun shines, on the places not covered with earth.
This country has been remarkable for its extreme cold from the remotest antiquity: Sir John Chardin tells us, that he found ice in the rivulets in the mornings even of the month of July. In many places, also, if they had not the convenience of watering their grounds, they would be almost entirely barren.
The Armenians are an honest, civil, polite people, scarce troubling themselves about anything else but trade, which they carry on in most parts of the world, by which means they have spread themselves over the east, and also great part of Europe; and wherever they come, commerce is carried on with spirit and advantage.
The religion of the Armenians is the Christian, of the Eutychian sect: that is, they own but one nature in Jesus Christ; and when they speak of the hypostatical union, that he is perfect God and perfect man without mixture. They have a high esteem for a book they call the Little Gospel, which treats of the infancy of Jesus, and says that the Virgin Mary being pregnant, her sister Salome accused her of having prostituted herself; to which the Virgin answered, that she needed only to lay her hand on her belly, and she would know how she came to be with child: this Salome accordingly did, and fire came out of her belly, which consumed the half her arm; upon which she acknowledged her fault, and drew it back: after which it was healed by putting it to the same place.
The Armenian clergy consist of patriarchs, archbishops, doctors, secular priests, and monks. The secular priests are not allowed to marry a second time; and therefore they take care to choose young healthy wives: they maintain themselves and families by following some occupation, insomuch that they have hardly time to perform their ecclesiastical functions: they lie in the churches on the vigils of those days they are obliged to officiate.
The Armenian monks are of the order of St Basil; and every Wednesday and Friday they eat neither fish, nor eggs, nor oil, nor anything made of milk; and during Lent they live upon nothing but roots: they are allowed wine only on the Saturday in the Holy Week, and meat on the Easter Sunday. Besides the great Lent, they have four others of eight days each, which are instituted to prepare for the four great festivals of the Nativity, the Ascension, the Annunciation, and of St George; in which times they must not so much as speak of eggs, fish, oil, or butter.
The Armenians have seven sacraments; baptism, confirmation, penance, the eucharist, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. In baptism, the child is plunged three times into the water, and the same form of words that is used with us is repeated every time; the priest then puts a small cord made with silk and cotton on the neck of the infant, and anoints his forehead, chin, stomach, arm-pits, hands, and feet, making the sign of the cross on each part. When the child is baptized, he is carried home by the godfather with the sound of drums and trumpets. The women do not go to church till forty days after their delivery; and they observe many Jewish customs.
At the communion, to which infants of two or three months old are admitted, the priests give a piece of the consecrated host, soaked in the consecrated wine. The elements are covered with a great veil, and placed in a cupboard near the altar, on the side of the gospels. When the priest takes the chalice and paten, he is followed by his deacons, and subdeacons, with flambeaux and plates of copper furnished with bells: in this manner, with a censer before him, he goes in procession round the sanctuary; he then sets them on the altar, pronounces the words of consecration, and turns himself to the people, who fall down, kiss the earth, and beat their breasts; then, after taking it himself, he distributes the host soaked in wine to the people.
The Armenians seem to place the chief part of their religion in fasting and abstinences; and among the clergy, the higher the degree, the lower they must live; inasmuch that it is said the archbishops live on nothing but pulse. They consecrate holy water but once a year, at which time every one fills a pot and carries it home, which brings in a considerable revenue to the church.