Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/181

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 159 patriarch of the Armenians, resides in the monastery of Ek- miasin, three leagues from Ii],rivan. Forty-seven archbishops, [Etchmiazin] 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 annual amount of six hundred thousand crowns is insufficient to supply the incessant demands of charity and tribute. Since the beginning of the last century, the Armenians have obtained a large and lucrative share of the commerce of the East ; in their return from Europe, the caravan usually halts in the neighbourhood of Erivan, the altiirs are enriched with the fruits of their patient industry ; and the faith of Eutyches is preached in their recent congregations of Bar- bary and Poland.'^ V. In the rest of the Roman empire, the despotism of the v. The copta prince might eradicate or silence the sectaries of an obnoxious °'^ ^^ "^ creed. But the stubborn temper of the Egyptians maintained their opposition to the synod of Chalcedon, and the policy of Justinian condescended to expect and to seize the opportunity of discord. The Monophysite church of Alexandria i^' was torn by the dispute ■ of the corruptibles- and iucorruptihles, and, on the death of the patriarch, the two factions upheld their respective candidates.^^^ Gaian was the disciple of Julian, Theodosius had xhe patriarch been the pupil of Severus. The claims of the former were I^d^m'-sIs supported by the consent of the monks and senators, the city and the province ; the latter depended on the priority of his edit. Montacut [1651]) had gloried in the conversion of the Armenians — Aarpevei <rfy.epnv opSoSdfws. 1^^ The traveUing Armenians are in the way of every traveller, and their mother church is on the high road between Constantinople and Ispahan. For their present state, see Fabricius (Lux Evangelii, &c. c. xxxviii. p. 40-51), Olearius (1. iv. c. 40). Chardin (vol. ii. p. 232), Tournefort (lettre xx. ) and, above all, Tavernier (torn. i. p. 28-37, 510-518), that rambling jeweller, who had read nothing, but had seen so much and so well. ^■'"The history of the Alexandrian patriarchs, from Dioscorus to Benjamin, is taken from Renaudot (p. 114-164) and the second tome of the Annals of Eutychius. ^•^^Liberat. Brev. c. 20, 23. Victor. Chron. p. 329, 330. Procop. Anecdot. c. 26, 27. [Vita S. Sabae, p. 398, 408, 482, ed. Pomyalovski.]