The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-17

the crucifxtion, beseching him to come
to Armenia and cure him Of the leprosy,
Offering to give him an asylum against
the prosecutions of the Jews and to &C
knowledge and defend his claims as the
Christ, the Son of God, provided he would
convince him that they were well founded
And the story goes that Christ instructed
Jude and Bartholomew, the apostles, and
Thaddeus, one of the seventy, TO go
straightway to Armenia after the ascen-
sion, where Abgar received them with the
greatest respect and favor and was not
only himself baptized but used his inhu-
ence so that a large portion of his sub
jects were converted to Christianity. II
is upon these facts that the Armenians
base their claims to be the Oldest or
Christian nations. King Sanatrug, the
successor of Abgar, tried to crush out the
new religion and restore the practice OF nre
worship, that had been taught the Per-
slams by Zoroaster. and the idolatry of
magism. He crucified Jude and Thaddeus,
and by his orders ST. Bartholomew was
fiayed alive and then cructhed with his
head downward at Abanopolis. His perse-
cutions Suppressed but did not extinguish
Christianity, and afterward, under the
leadership of St. Gregory, called the IL
luminator, the whole nation embraced the
Christian faith.
Until the middle of the fifth century the
Armenians acknowledged the sovereignty
of the church of Rome. They accepted the
DEGREES of the council of Nice GA. ID. S2o)
and Ephesius "a. d. 43D, but rejected the
declaration of the theologians at the coun-
ell of Chalcedon concerning the person
ality and the spirituality of Christ, where
upon they were denounced as heretics by
both the Greek and the Roman churches.
Since then the Armenian church has been
independent, and the head of the organi-
cation is known as the catholicos, or pa
triarch, who resides in the monastery OF
Etchmiadzin, in the province of Erivan,
in Northern Armenia, which, since 1873
has been within the territory and under
the jurisdiction of Russia.
Under the catholics are archbishops
who reside at Sis, Jerusalem and Con-
stantinople, the inhabitants of Armenia
proper recognizing the latter as their
| spiritual director. They have bishops
priests, deacons, etc, as in the Roman
| Catholic church. The 100000 of Armeni'
ans who are scattered over the world have
carried their religion with them, ano
their churches are to be found in nearly
] all large cities. In India they are espe'
cially strong, and have bishop.
! The creed of the church is nearer thai
of the Greek than the Roman Catholic
| church, and the former has always shown
them much sympathy. They agreed with
| the Greeks in the long and fierce theolog-
ica1 controversy as to whether the Holy
| Ghost proceeds from the Father only, oil
both from the Father and the Son; ano
accept most of the other tenets of their
! theology. They believe with the Roman
Catholics in transubstantiation and ex-
| treme JUNCTION, adore the host in the
mass, and regard confession, absolutior
and baptism as essential to salvation, but
they reject purgatory, and deny the power
| of the church to grant indulgences. They
| are very liberal in their communion, and
admit to the sacrament all Roman ano
| Greek catholics, and even protestants
| who have made confession of their sins
and have been baptized. They believe in
the distribution of the holy scriptures
among the people, and in the literal ac
ceptance of them as the word of God.
From the second to the seventeenth cen
fury the Armenians were allowed to enjoy
their religion in comparative peace anc
were the bulwark of Christianity in Asia
but their prosecutions began again with
the rise of Mohammedanism, and have
| continued to the present day.
Professionalism was introduced in Arme-
MIA in 1896 by American missionaries an6
is recognized as a collateral sect by. the
| orthodox Armenian church. There are
about $4,000 protestant communicates ir
| the country, with many native preachers
| and schools and a. college