nce of
his rival Severus, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. The Armenians
alone are the pure disciples of Eutyches, an unfortunate parent, who has
been renounced by the greater part of his spiritual progeny. They alone
persevere in the opinion, that the manhood of Christ was created, or
existed without creation, of a divine and incorruptible substance. Their
adversaries reproach them with the adoration of a phantom; and they
retort the accusation, by deriding or execrating the blasphemy of the
Jacobites, who impute to the Godhead the vile infirmities of the flesh,
even the natural effects of nutrition and digestion. The religion of
Armenia could not derive much glory from the learning or the power of
its inhabitants. The royalty expired with the origin of their schism;
and their Christian kings, who arose and fell in the thirteenth century
on the confines of Cilicia, were the clients of the Latins and the
vassals of the Turkish sultan of Iconium. The helpless nation has seldom
been permitted to enjoy the tranquillity of servitude. From the earliest
period to the present hour, Armenia has been the theatre of perpetual
war: the lands between Tauris and Erivan were dispeopled by the
cruel policy of the Sophis; and myriads of Christian families were
transplanted, to perish or to propagate in the distant provinces of
Persia. Under the rod of oppression, the zeal of the Armenians is
fervent and intrepid; they have often preferred the crown of martyrdom
to the white turban of Mahomet; they devoutly hate the error and
idolatry of the Greeks; and their transient union with the Latins is not
less devoid of truth, than the thousand bishops, whom their patriarch
offered at the feet of the Roman pontiff. [142] The catholic, or
patriarch, of the Armenians resides in the monastery of Ekmiasin, three
leagues from Erivan. Forty-seven archbishops, each of whom may claim the
obedience of four or five suffragans, are consecrated by his hand; but
the far greater part are only titular prelates, who dignify with their
presence and service the simplicity of his court. As soon as they have
performed the liturgy, they cultivate the garden; and our bishops will
hear with surprise, that the austerity of their life increases in just
proportion to the elevation of their rank.

In the fourscore thousand towns or villages of his spiritual empire, the
patriarch receives a small and voluntary tax from each person above the
age of fifteen; but the an