Canons of Sahak (Kanonkʿ Sahakay)

Canons of the Holy Sahak, Patriarch of the Armenians, Chapters 60 1. Concerning the ordination of learned chorepiscopi. 2. Concerning the keeping of the holy altar adorned. 3. Concerning the uninterrupted performance of psalmody. 4. Concerning the inspector of the chorepiscopus. 5. Concerning the chorepiscopus making the rounds and conducting an examination until the councils are completed. 6. Concerning priests and children of the covenant. 7. Concerning drunkards and brawlers. 8. Concerning fornicators and the twofold not being equal to the grace. 9. Concerning the chorepiscopus giving orders with fear. 10. Concerning the schools in the monasteries. 11. Concerning the chorepiscopus who goes about with extortion. 12. Concerning avoiding evil ourselves. 13. Concerning priests, monks, and the general laity. 14. Concerning the removal of such enmities. 15. Concerning the chief priest being constantly in the church. 16. Concerning performing baptism with fear. 17. Concerning a deacon who performs baptism. 18. Concerning liturgies being in the house of the chief priest. 19. Concerning giving more grace to the chief priest. 20. Concerning the oil of baptism. 21. Concerning a server of the church who goes to weddings. 22. Concerning priests who act as nurses. 23. Concerning the ignorant and the twofold. 24. Concerning priests who place graves in churches. 25. Concerning priests who take the holy things to the houses of peasants. 26. Concerning teaching the laity. 27. Concerning not blessing the crown for children. 28.

the divine liturgy. 4. Concerning the boldness of priests. 5. Concerning the unity of priests. 6. Concerning the people who were summoned to the agape. 7. Concerning those who sin through ignorance. 8. Concerning fruits and offerings. 9. Concerning not holding drinking-parties at vigils. 10. Concerning priests warning the transgressors. 11. Concerning monks. 12. Concerning the church and monasteries, how. 13. Concerning the unification of monasteries and the church. 14. Concerning monasteries, for what reasons they were not established. 15. Concerning shaming the bold ones. 16. Concerning making known the cessation of graces. 17. Concerning the agape which is partial. 18. Concerning liturgies which are performed for the sake of. 19. Concerning married priests. 20. Concerning the establishment of canons. 21. Concerning bishops, how it is fitting to care for the servants of God. 22. Concerning priests, how it is fitting to honor the God-receiving altar. 23. Concerning bishops. 24. Concerning that this canon be kept with vigilance. 25. Concerning bishops and vardapets. 26. Concerning bishops and princes. 27. Concerning a bishop, how it is fitting to preserve the possessions of the church. 28. Concerning princes and the people who give gifts to the church. 29. Concerning that the possessions are God's. 30. Concerning that you have been deemed worthy of apostolic honor. 31. Concerning those who give gifts.

Canons of the Holy Patriarch Sahak. Concerning chorepiscopi: how it is necessary to keep the canonical order steadfast in the churches. A (376). It is fitting to entrust the honor of the order of this ministry to holy, pious men who are resplendent with virtue, of whom we have spoken above as preeminent, whose minds are pure from the disease of avarice, and whose hands are free from bribery, who are studious and chaste, who are sufficient also to teach others, having made all the churches their own concern, with unremitting care they shall make them resplendent with God-pleasing conduct, reverent, sober, and obedient in all good dispositions. B (377). And the altar of prayers: the holy and God-receiving table is established, upon which is performed the sin-cleansing and life-giving mystery of the body and blood of our life-giver and Lord; they shall keep it adorned according to the worthy sufficiency, with unceasing lights and incense, and it shall be enclosed with walls. Near it a baptistery shall not be made in the villages, as is indeed the custom, but elsewhere in the same place shall stand the font of baptism, by whose birth the Holy Spirit, renewing anew, imprints to become sons of light; for which reason we are bound to honor it with much honor and reverence. C (378).

And the ministry of psalmody shall be uninterrupted both by day and by night, according to the example of the metropolitan father the chief shepherd, for it is not lawful or within the authority of anyone to delay that order of worship, or to introduce any innovations, but always to remain steadfast in the same. 376 (383) IV. The same chorepiscopus and overseer is obliged to visit all the churches; and if anyone is found negligent and remiss, they shall be rebuked, reproached with instructive teaching, and punished with fines and penalties in the public square, so that others may fear. 374 (372) V. For it is necessary and fitting that every year, when the assemblies are held, the chorepiscopi should go around to the churches entrusted to them according to the canonical regulations, and make an examination of the conduct and order of worship, how they are maintained, and to require accounts from the presbyters and deacons concerning the times of the sermons and the offering of the prayers, and concerning the catechumens one by one for the completion of preparation, and the reverent service befitting the awesome mystery of the liturgy, so that the diligent may preserve it with readiness and with unwavering fear.

because if we are negligent, we shall be considered among those who are to be demanded, and if anyone is found slothful and backward in these glorious transmitted traditions, he shall suffer severe punishment, whoever he may be, and shall be deprived of his rank until he is reconciled with the teacher. 576 (571) 6. And not only is it incumbent upon priests and deacons to be perpetual in worship, but also upon all the order of youths; and if anyone is weak and idle, he shall suffer the same punishment. But the ignorant and the unworthy must be entirely separated from the enjoyment of grace, so that nothing from the laity may enter the house of God; unless they themselves or their children are trained to become worthy. 577 (572) 7. Likewise, they shall separate the drunkards and the quarrelsome until they come to repentance and correction, according to the will of the leader. 578 (573) 8. But as for the fornicator, who is from the second generation, they are equal to them up to the third generation, according to the first canons, they shall be removed from the order and from grace, so that the order of the servants of God may be chaste, holy, and irreproachable; for if the Levitical tribe received such a terrible and careful command of immaculate service, how much more are these present worthy of diligence according to the testimony of Paul. 579 (574) 9.

Now, with fear and trembling, it is necessary to command and ordain that the overseeing chorepiscopus shall deem the good and the capable worthy of honor and reverence, and the useless, especially the unlearned, to torments; for he who is willful falls from learning into evil, according to what is written. (Year 575 [or 575?]) Therefore, it is also necessary to preserve the schools inviolably in the monasteries and in other worthy places, so that those enlightened by the light of God's commandments may enlighten all; for when the covenant, which is the head of the church, is chosen and capable, then even more so the people. And if there be anyone among the people who is slothful, it may be easier to lead him to rectitude by virtuous conduct, for it is no small matter concerning this that the chorepiscopus has care: to visit and oversee the conduct of the people, and according to the vacant canonical observances and prayers, to gladden them with the teaching of the holy scriptures, to gain the sinful, and to give instruction in education and preservation of the pure faith, and to beware and flee from heretics and from impure works; for the work of oversight is entrusted to the bishop, according to the example of the flourishing great prophet Moses, who set up a rod [...] to cut off a judicial sentence, and to bring some heavy matter upon himself, so that they might beware and cause others to beware, according to the command of prophecy: "Behold, a sword comes.

and the people of the land, having rebelled, shall make it careless, so that they die in their own lawlessness, and he shall save himself. 48. (482) 11. Then, if by extortion he should demand only the taxes, and with greed should desire to amass a store of gold and silver, and, having become negligent, turning away from the canonical examinations, which it was necessary to preserve whole and intact, having completely abandoned and neglected the preservation of his own oversight, and the sword comes and destroys them, he shall be liable, and his blood shall be demanded from his hands. Therefore, the true preacher commands to be prepared, to watch and be vigilant. Be mindful of yourselves and of all your flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the people of the Lord, whom he saved by his precious blood. And he makes manifest the gifts of the rewards of the covenants, that when the chief shepherd appears, you shall receive the crown of unfading glory. 51. (487) 12. Let it be for all of us to shun and flee from evil, and to be diligent in righteousness. Let us not at all times spend our lives in the pleasures of God, so that we may be a cause of salvation for ourselves and for many others, and we shall be sufficient to say boldly: Behold, I and my children, whom God gave me. By the grace and philanthropy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

His order concerning priests toward the people, and their obedience and order of correction toward the priests. 482 (478) 13. To the beloved brethren, presbyters, and monks: as a complaint came to us from many places from the people against the priests—that they negligently maintain the order of church service and prayer, and all other important leadership, especially the teaching of learning, for they said that they themselves are unlearned, and they do not keep their children in school, and because of ignorance they are not worthy of the priesthood, and we suffer deprivation and distress, for we are left empty by them and from them, and are utterly ignorant and without consolation from the holy books. The same which we heard from them we also knew and perceived much, for in many places we found none worthy of the priesthood because of ignorance, and the people remained uncultivated, and we, being perplexed, found none to ordain them to the priesthood, but having removed them from their habitation, we gave their inheritance to suitable and learned foreigners. Now, as at all times a command had been given by us to you, both by writing and by oral order concerning the entire order of the church and the constitution of your persons, it was fitting that you should have been admonished; and such a murmur from the people would not have reached us, nor would we have seen you in deficiency, nor would there have been need for correction and penance.

And concerning the incomes and fruits of the church, which you receive from the laity and which we have left to you, and further: is not all your honor to be held in knowledge and worthiness of the orders of the church, and to exhort the people to good counsel and to reverence, with all spiritual fearfulness? 483 (479) 14. Now, henceforth remove from yourselves such enmities; keep your sons in school, that they may become learned. Know that as blindness of the eyes is hateful to the body, so ignorance of the soul is hateful to God, especially in priests. Hear from the prophet; rather, set a true example of yourselves to the laity, with all modesty taking care for prayers and fasts without negligence. 484 (480) 15. The chief priest shall remain continuously in the church, and the other colleagues shall remain by turns weekly with him, so that the services of the day and night may not be hindered, for this is the work of ministry and the same honor. 485 (481) 16. Baptism shall be performed with fearfulness, and women shall not be permitted to stand near the priests at the time of baptism, as some have become accustomed to do boldly and to baptize among them, but they shall pray in their own place. 486 (482) 17.

And the deacons shall not presume to perform the anointing. If they do, they shall be deposed from the diaconate together with punishment, for the deacon is not a priest, but a servant of the priest. 318 (313) 18. And the offerings shall go to the chief priest at home from all the laity, and the presbyters and their other associates shall not presume to take the offerings to their own homes, even if they are priests. If anyone takes them to his home, they shall be under punishment and shall know that from us they will receive a recompense worthy of their own stupidity. 319 (314) 19. And the chief priest, for the daily service at the church, shall take two drams more than his colleagues, if it is a large village. 320 (315) 20. And from all the places of our authority, every year after holy Easter, the priests shall bring the oil of baptism to us by necessity, and from here from us they shall receive the blessing of the oil. And they shall not bless it themselves in their own homes, as some have become accustomed from ignorance, for this is not the work of bishops. 321 (316) 21. And I hear that they use the service of the church, especially the curtain, at weddings as a canopy for the bridegroom and bride, and the chalice for drinking wine at the feasts of soldiers' houses, for which that priest is worthy of being removed from his order, because of such confused and evil deeds, which henceforth no one shall presume to do.

If anyone is found to have done so, he shall be loosed from the priesthood, wholly without share in remission. 318 (313) 18. A priest, and those from the priestly order who are stewards of the people, shall not presume to enter the houses of the free, the houses of the powerful, for tutelage or for other agency, for by that pretext they oppress their co-heirs, being found in many cases indebted. But if there be anyone who dares to do so, he shall cease from his order, and his fellow shall not be permitted to commune with him, and the people shall not be permitted to have such a one as a priest. 322 (318) 19. Ignorant presbyters shall not be permitted to have a people; married presbyters shall remain with their spouses, separated wholly from the ecclesiastical and from the portion of the church, for they have become flesh-lovers. 323 (319) 20. And as there has arisen a foul custom of priests and their wives to make tombs near churches and in places of sanctity, henceforth they shall not be permitted to do so, but the resting-places of the people shall be one, and the resting-places of the priests another, that the place of sanctity may be honored with decency. 324 (320) 21. And outside the church, priests shall not be permitted to take the canons into the houses of peasants and there give the sanctity, except for the sick. 325 (321) 22.

Teach the people to flee from all licentiousness, from greed, from drunkenness, from disobedience, from oppressing the poor and their own companions. Let them not be quarrelsome, nor contentious, nor evil-hearted. They shall abhor slanderers, thieves, fornicators, and brigands. They shall in no way commune with such persons, nor offer them hospitality, lest they themselves become children of perdition along with them. They shall rear their children with the fear of God’s instructive commandments, so that by such vigilance there may be good hope for their souls before God and intercession, and the body shall be adorned with complete health. 318 (313) 17. Issue a command to them, that the wives of youths shall not speak, and that those of full age shall not do so without seeing one another by mutual consent. And you, priests, shall in no wise bless a crown for youths until they reach full age. But for those of full age who have not seen one another by their own pleasure, you shall not permit a crown to be placed without examination and questioning them themselves, lest they have consented unwillingly under compulsion from their parents; and you shall not undertake such weddings, for up to this day many harms, spiritual and bodily, have gone forth in the world from such disorder. 317 (313) 18.

If I hear that any of the priests dares and, contrary to our command, blesses the marriage of such persons, let him know that the priest shall suffer punishment according to the example of the harmful ones, and the parents shall not be exempt from punishment. 598 (594) 29. The priests shall perform the liturgy in unity, and they shall not presume to offer the sacrifice of the agapes without reading the Gospel. If any of them is found in gluttony before the liturgy, he shall not be permitted to approach the bread of the liturgy, and he shall remain separated from his fellows. 599 (595) 30. Likewise, the laymen who are invited to the agape shall partake of the worship and the liturgy. Before the liturgy, they shall not be permitted to eat and drink in their own houses. If there is anyone who eats and drinks beforehand in his own house, he shall not be permitted to approach the bread of the liturgy, lest there be condemnation of the soul and enmity to the spiritual feast, for that is itself called gluttony. If anyone dares to come, the priests and their fellows shall not allow him inside, for such licentiousness is hateful to the church. 560 (597) 31. And those of the people who have become accustomed through ignorance to sin, who divide the skin and tallow of the sacrifice with the priests and take them to their own houses on the pretext of the convents, shall not be permitted to divide them from now on.

But if there is anyone who would separate [them], the priest shall not offer the liturgy, lest he become a partaker in the sins of such a person, for that portion is not of the good celebrants of the liturgy. 551 (587) 32. As for the first-fruits [and] the offerings of vows, of Easter and of Agape and of other feasts, which have been ordained, the laity shall lovingly and diligently assign them to the churches, as is the law. They shall not hinder or obstruct the causes of life of the spirit and of the body from the living spirits. But if anyone, by willfulness, rebels against his own priest and from the monasteries, and outside his own church, in some other monastery or in the desert, offers the first-fruits and the liturgy, such a one himself and the recipients shall be far from blessing and from the communion of companions, together with their households, until he repents and is punished by the church, because he has become a transgressor of the commandment and a rebel against God. 552 (588) 33. They shall not make a practice of drinking wine at [funeral] lamentations; no one shall take [anything] from the world over a dead person, for all such things are diabolical. But if there is anyone who, being disobedient, does [these things], they shall be liable to penance at the doors of the holy church. 553 (589) 34. And the priests shall beware of making the deceased a communicant outside the church. And [they shall] not, with arrogance and opposition, oppose one another, dishonoring themselves, but peace shall be among you at all times, beloved ones and co-workers. 554 (60) 35.

I remind also you, lovers of the rule, all you monks, for you have withdrawn from earthly life and are devoted to God and divine things, that your deeds may resemble your name of confession. And let these be dear to you: chastity, vigilance, love of service, imitation of humility, and brotherly love. Of the holy Sahak: How the order of the covenant and the definition of monasteries was established. 555 (551) 36. For many thought in their ignorance that the church is one thing and the monastery another, and with their foolish words they sought to introduce strife and schisms into the single unity of the faith, and they forgot the word of the commandment which says: One is the Lord, one the faith, one the baptism. For if they wish to speak of different things, they manifestly also cause division of the faiths. For the church does not show us the commandment of God which is built of stones and wood, but the race of men built by faith upon the rock of steadfastness. Therefore, the true faith is the church which gathers and builds us into one unity of knowledge of the Son of God. For the Life-giver himself teaches, saying to Peter: You are the rock, and upon that rock I will build [the church] so that it may be unshaken. Now, what shall we understand by the saying to Peter "rock"? Is it as one of the stones? Far from it, but a rational man, the head of the apostolic order.

And because with unshaken faith they confessed Christ the Son of God, he received blessedness and was called a rock. Therefore, those built upon him are not lifeless stones, but men partakers of his faith. For the books do not hesitate to call our Lord and Savior at times according to the needs. Behold, the blessed Paul also recalls the name of the Church, saying: "Those who are God in the Church are these: first the apostles, second the prophets, third the teachers, and those who are in the order." You see the arrangement and the height of the Church, the holy and pure faith I speak of, whose pilots are apostles, prophets, and teachers, having as captain the incarnate and humanized Word of God. And we truly confess him, saying the mother Church of those who have believed in Christ, for by the law of the ship, gathering all into itself, it may be able to save with dry wings from all worldly waves, provided only that we keep without wavering the faith by which we built a rational and spiritual Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. This Church the blessed apostle teaches Timothy to care for, calling it a pillar and foundation. "It is evident," he says, "in her the mystery of divine worship." And rightly, indeed truly, for inanimate or lifeless creatures are not sufficient to reveal the mystery of divine worship.

but only the rational church. For this reason the psalm also cries out loudly: “Blessing to him in the churches of the saints.” Behold, the prophet Samuel, who was called faithful, taught the same in his command to Saul: “If you go from me, you will encounter a church of prophets who have been made prophets.” And again: “The people were churchified from Dan to Beersheba as one man, and a church of prophets who have been made prophets, and Samuel stood over them.” And Solomon blessed the church, and this word was heard in the ears of the church; and the churches were established in the faith, and they heard these commands in the midst of fire on the day of the church. For Moses made the tribes of Israel a church, a head of the prophets, by the command of God. “Churchify,” he says, “the people at the door of the tabernacle of testimony.” You see that he does not call the tabernacle a church, in which stood the ark of the covenants and the other tabernacle, which was called sanctity, but he evangelizes the believing people. For this reason, even more sublime and the apostle Paul, in a new and ever-wondrous manner, shows the church of the firstborn written not on earth, but in heaven, whose names are written in the book of life. Do you see the true foundation of the church, for which the Savior said, rejoicing over the apostles: “Rejoice, for your names are written in the book of life”?

and the non-earthly, whose beginning was taken from building on earth, which is of the transitory, and was completed in the heights of the heavens. This is the mystery of the church. We have learned to call this the catholic apostolic church, because throughout the entire world the faithful in Christ are called the apostolic church, on account of the Lord’s command to them: “Go throughout the whole earth, teach all the pagans, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teach them to keep all that I have commanded you,” 586 (582) 37. Now, although we have spoken but little from the many examples that are abundant in the holy scriptures concerning the holy church, let it suffice. For the indivisible unity has become manifest, and not divided, as they wished to create division and strife through their own foolishness. For from the true flock of Christ, which is the church of God, only that which is divided and separated is the one that is destroyed in heresies and becomes a servant of sins, for sins separate and alienate from God. But by saying this, we have made manifest the abundant unity of the church, namely, what the church is.

But not that we teach to despise in any way the places honored with buildings, which are called assembly halls, for in them the priests, the young of the covenant, and the servants of God gather to perform prayers and petitions, for which reason they are also called prayer houses and sanctuaries. In them is established the Lord's table, upon which we offer the bread and the wine, in the likeness of the life-giving body and blood of Christ, which is always indivisibly distributed to us for the expiation and remission of sins. And in them is placed the baptismal font, by which, illuminated through rebirth and the Holy Spirit, we are sealed in the hope of eternal life. And constantly assembling there, we hear psalmody and the commandments of God's precepts. And because we always assemble there, and it is a refuge and shelter for us, it has become customary to call all such built places by the name "church" in a nominal sense, but not essentially. And since there are many such martyria here and there by name, we recognize that they are built as namesakes of those after whom they are named, but not that they themselves are those in whose name they were built. And there is one honor for all, because one mystery is performed, for the table everywhere is called the Lord's and the liturgy; but they differ only by the feasts, for it is the custom of each place to perform the order of its feasts. 557 (563) 38.

Now, it is fitting to recall the first discourse of the word, how or for what reasons the monastery was built. For this matter did not concern only the Armenian nation, but also the Greeks, the Romans, the Syrians, and all other nations that have believed in Christ—which the thrice-blessed and valiant martyr of Christ, Grigorios, accomplished, having been granted by the Holy Spirit the assistance of that provision. For manifold is the benefit of the occasion and the pillar of steadfastness of the truth of the covenant of the young, that it may cherish and trample upon spiritual precepts. And it is incumbent upon all priests and the laity to honor and magnify the vardapets, and likewise all the ministers of the covenant, that without hesitation they may enter there into voluntary acceptance. For this reason indeed, and most appropriately, the name "monastery" was given, that those who have need may find there without grief. And not only for the sake of profit has their benefit been multiplied, but even more so for the village in which it was built, for it is their law to comfort the sick and console the sorrowful. And those priests who are engaged in marriage often toil in labor, and their wives are able to be pleasing, as indeed the apostolic word truly states.

Now, those dwelling in the monastery are chaste, living in continence, always struggling against the fire of passion, which nature kindles and inflames, and they unfailingly perform the order of worship, seeking peace for the whole world, and the building of the countryside and health, by day and by night, with much vigilance. For this reason, free from all tax demands of rulers, it received boundaries there as well, and inherited the highest honor in the sanctity of the Church’s covenant. 548 (574) 39. Therefore, let those be ashamed who, in their ignorance and shamelessness, have dared to say that the church is one thing and the monasteries another, for it has become evident that there is an indivisible unity of the members of the Church among those who believe in Christ. For we are members of one another in the building up of the faith through the love of God. Likewise, the parish churches and the mother churches, which from ancient times have been accustomed to be called churches, although there are many according to villages and cities, are not many divided into many, but one and the same mystery is performed in all. And according to the mystery, no one among them is called great and another small, but according to the degree of authority, and thus harmonized, and with much diligence, one must abide perpetually in that same mystery.

r the soul. For this ordinance has not been set forth from human opinion, but from the divinely inspired scriptures it was seconded by us clearly, and those who are contrary are not opposed to men, but to the command of God. And those who wish to stand in opposition receive judgment upon themselves. Canon 559 (555). Now, it is incumbent upon us to establish the recompense of grace by ordinance with clarity, as to how it is fitting to render it in the monastery and to married priests. The feast of the holy John the Baptist and martyr, which the apostle and confessor of Christ and father of the renewal of all Armenia, Gregory, first established in the monasteries, was confirmed by the observance of the vow. And whatever other vows there are in the monasteries, let them be fulfilled, and the weeks, and the fasts, and the lenten periods; for the completions of the vows are such that the inhabitants are bound by vow, and they shall be nourished by the grace of the vow. And the feast of all the martyrs, which we call the chapel. The offerings of Vardavar are only the first fruits of all the grains, separately from the laity and from the married priests, from the first fruits, that is, from the choice ones, so that the stores of wheat and the vintages of wine and oil may be filled, and not from the inferior ones, as with Cain, lest we incur the punishment anew. The feast of the holy Epiphany, and its forty-day period, and the Presentation of the Lord, and the completion of the Fast of the Advent.

The feast of the mid-fortieth day of Easter, the day of Lazarus, the great Friday of Easter, on which our Life-giver entrusted to the disciples the mysteries of the new covenant. The Monday of Easter with offerings and with pleasing gifts set for Easter, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven, on the feast of the Departed on the eighth of the month of Hrotic. These are the feasts. In the monasteries: to the vowed places the prior shall go, so that the servants of the place and the guests may eat. For it is not fitting for priests, even if they are married, and for celibates and for all indeed of the covenant children to dine in the villages, but in the monasteries. But if there is nowhere, then the plunder of the deceased householders from the board and from the seat, as far as the cup and the plate, and whatever is the garment of the person as far as the sandals and the shoes, and the bed shall go to the monastery, so that the guests who have entered there may rest upon it and bless. 231 (256) 41. The agape which is partial: half of the skin shall go to the monastery and two parts of the oil, but the full portion of the priests, and the hide of the sheep, and the fat with its limb, and the oil and of the leavened bread. And strangers who are in the houses of the priests and of their brothers shall give likewise. And all the common liturgies shall be eaten by the servants and the poor with great honor, and the faithful brothers. And the bread of the feast of the newlyweds shall be eaten generally by all the servants.

Likewise, the bread of the penitents, which they make on the days of the Forty-day Fast, is given rest on Saturday or Sunday. Canon 24 (224). But the liturgies that are performed in the monasteries: the first-fruits—if it is a desert, they give them there village by village; but if not, they give them to the married priests. For it is not lawful for anyone to leave the portion of the Lord in his own house. Canon 25 (228). And the feasts of the married priests shall be: the Sabbath of Easter, Holy Easter, the Second Easter, and all the Sundays from the Second Easter onward, and Pentecost, and the feast of the Holy Mother of God, and Vardavar; but from the sacrifices, the completion of the Forty-day Fast of the apostolic feast of the faithful of Easter, and the fruit of all the trees, each separately, and the liturgies that are partial: of the half of the sheep and of the tallow, leaving two portions in the monasteries—the worship and the lighting—they shall bring one, for the solution: the portion; and that which is with a sheep: the fat with the member? and the tallow; and of the loaves: the skin and the garment only of the deceased householders. And the feast of Barekendan and the great Oghogomean, which is translated as "blessed day"; and if any other feast is celebrated in the name of the apostles and prophets, it shall be common, so that the orders may remain without fear and without opposition to the services, knowing to whose grace they have become worthy; for they shall conduct themselves with chastity and studiousness.

and let there be no battles, but loves, vigils, and joys in everything, for they shall be sufficient to admonish the erring and to bring the strayed into the order of the faith, for this is the work of a teacher and a spiritual shepherd. 5283 (5299) 24. This canonical regulation was written by the command of the blessed Sahak, the great patriarch of the land of Armenia, received from the good martyr, from the Lord Grigor, and was translated only from Greek into Armenian. Now, if anyone, being disobedient to the canon, should wish to renew or alter this established regulation, let him not receive a share and portion of the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. And whoever, being in unity, shall fulfill it, let him receive the blessing from the Lord, partaking of the gifts and the endless rest of the blessed Grigor and of our Sahak, and of those followers of true orthodoxy who are crowned on the great and manifest day, eternally glorified in the most sufficient and untranslatable brightness of the right hand, forever and ever. Amen. The same: how it is fitting for bishops to have the households of the holy church. 5284 (5200) 25. The bishop is the visitor and common father of the people; for this very reason, without partiality, he must care for the faithful entrusted to him by God as a flock, and without covetousness take upon himself the care of the holy church, appointing overseers and leaders of regions and villages, who are called chorepiscopi.

for it is fitting to give such honor to the canons of the saints and the zealous, and to those who have become skilled and worthy of teaching, that they may be sufficient to admonish the people, gaining the strayed through correction of transgression, and illuminating the true ones with the radiant narratives of the commandments. Canon 26 (or 21). For priests also, without hesitation, shall learn to honor the God-receiving altar, upon which the life-giving mystery of our life-giving Lord is performed, and the salvific font of baptism, by whose birth we are renewed anew into the hope of the calling of God. Now, let no one entrust such offices to soldiers or to any ignorant persons, nor by granting them some gifts to their relatives through the sweetness of love, from which our Savior and Lord previously dissuaded: "Who is my mother and brother," he says, "if not the lovers of the commandments of God," which he also fulfilled by deeds, setting an example for us. James and Judas and Joseph were called brothers, and Peter and John and the multitude of other disciples for a long time performed services, endured sufferings and hardships, acting with a measured spirit. And the Anawth of election named none of them. But Paul, who called himself a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an enemy—the Anawth of election, he says, is mine, to bear my name before the pagans, and the kings, and the sons of Israel.

Do you not see that it is not a light matter before God? If you are careless, you commit sin. Truly, the bishop who does not conduct himself with such virtue cannot be a disciple of the Lord, but is very far and alien, like one of those who stumbled away from the Saviour. "Lovers of the commandments and fulfillers of the canons," he says, "are my brothers," and "He who loves father or mother, sons or daughters more than me, is not worthy of me." And you, in the exaltation of the commands, cast down to the ground, dragging and clinging to your tribal relatives, devising various contrivances to make them soft and delicate, and with superfluities you fill the houses, forgetting the terrible commandment of the self-spoken Gospel: "Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted." Do you see that which you labor and strive to root over many times, you make into a snare of destruction in mid-course, according to that: "He who builds up greatness without right, in the midst of his days shall abandon it." This I say not for the sake of shaming anyone by deeply wounding in this rebuke, but so that such a lawless custom may never appear in the church, for it is a root of common evils and of various corrupt and impure debaucheries, on account of which the wrath of God comes. 5276 (5222) 27.

As we said above, the bishop is a father, and according to goodness and success he must cherish and advance the household, and take upon himself the work of the church in the order of the canons, whence misshapen profligacies and heresies wither, and the ways of a God-pleasing life, together with piety, bear fruit and adorn. But we know that some, having become rebellious, prattle, especially the kinsfolk of the bishop, taking the word of the Lord in hand, that: "Do not cast an eye upon the child of your household." And they do not understand that the Lord calls the unity of faith "household." For which reason the high-sounding trumpet of the church, having clearly interpreted, cries out. And what does it say? "If possible," it says, "keep peace with all men, especially with the household of the faith." This is the reason for the care of the household. But if he is a hypocrite and a pretender, and for the sake of piety feigns to love and enrich his own kinsmen, let him also hear the other word which the mild one admonishes: "Let not your left hand know what your right hand does." Let no one be permitted with shameless audacity to do this evil as a pretext for good work. For willful impudence is worse than sinning, because Cain the fratricide and Gehazi, who was occupied with bitter greed, suffered punishment from the chastisement even more than for their sins, because of their shameless impudence. 528 (523) 28.

Now, with vigilance, these canonical ordinances shall be preserved among us, and let no one deviate from these God-pleasing commands, by which the churches are illumined, the priests rejoice, the princes and the peasants kiss joy, and we receive blessedness and a word of praise from outsiders. For it is incumbent upon us, according to what is written, to accept good testimony even from those without, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed—as once the prophet complained, reproaching the Israelites, saying: "The name of God is blasphemed among the heathen because of you." But through our good orders and works, let our Father who is in heaven be glorified by the Lord, and let them rejoice with joy in the Lord. Canon 29 [of the 29]. The bishop and all teachers must bring into themselves the likeness of angelic conduct and eternal life, where there is no kinship, no partiality, no bribes, no honors of wealth, but chastity and observance of the commandments bring them near to become intimates of God. And you shall consider as faithful for the work of the service of the church the destroyers, the abominable, the transgressors of the commandment, the wicked, and the ignorant, and you shall also frequently add the multitude after you, calling them your neighbors, so that through your shepherding you may eat the flesh of these chosen ones and crush their bones, saying, "Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die.

Now, if anyone among the bishops and the primates of the church is found in such shameless and dissolute transgression of this command, let him be cast down from his honor, and let his portion be with the false priests, for he was a man in honor and did not understand. For the others also shall fear, and the service of this man shall not be with condemnation, but with glory. 729 (724). Then, if any of the princes or our co-thronists should envy these such ones, let them give judgment before God together with those who envied, making common cause with Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests, the God-fighting apostates and those liable for the Lord's blood, who shall give unending punishments for eternity. But for us, let it be a steadfast rule to conduct the pilgrimage of our lives according to these commands, so that, pleasing God in all things, we may be worthy of the promised blessings by the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with whom we give thanks and glory to the one and the same Holy Spirit for ever and ever, amen. His: How it is fitting for bishops to preserve the treasures of the church, or to whom and how to dispense them. 751 (735).

A harbor of refuge is it for all, a temple of prayer and a place of our petitions, which we are accustomed to call church in a general sense, having within itself the captain of the harbor, the overseer bishop, that with care and effective will he may keep immovable the boundary of his order. For this reason, all who believe in Christ have the holy church as a haven and refuge, for it is a harbor of refuge for the righteous and the sinners, and a place of hope for our salvation, and each one eagerly and with readiness offers his vows, liturgies, and gifts. [Year 531 of the Armenian Era (Year 1082 of the Greek Era)]. The princes offer fields, estates, treasures of gold and silver, others from lands, from taxes, and from precious garments, some for the salvation of their souls, some on behalf of beloved ones, parents, and the departed, rendering requitals, adorning and brightening souls and bodies, for without stumbling, the Lord’s word exhorts and warns his servants and commandment-keepers, saying: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor weevil destroys, nor thieves break in and steal,” and “Do not ever appear before me empty-handed.” “No,” he says, “these are not your true gifts on earth, but in the end, to the height of heaven, to the infallible and inviolable treasury.” [Year 532 of the Armenian Era (Year 1037 of the Greek Era)].

Do you not see that the goods belong to God, for He considers our tithes as His own, and not to any man, but the overseeing bishop is only a guardian and superintendent? Great caution and fear are then necessary for the bishop, for if those who attend to the deposits or debts of men and bear labor, longing for when they might be discharged, and if it should happen that they spend a little, they make a document and set witnesses and an oath, so that thieves and robbers may not appear in their works. But God, who is the examiner of our thoughts, and to whom nothing is hidden, but everything stands naked before His eyes, what reasons and means shall the bishop devise, when he does not guard the royal deposit with caution and spends it on those for whom it is not lawful? When such a thing occurs, if he adorns himself with more vestments and is puffed up, indulging in pride and luxury, and gives and distributes to his relatives, and extends the limits of the law of the princes, and frequents unseemly friends, making gifts and giving to the rich and magnates, this is a wicked waste of the royal goods, and he is worthy of punishment. 7394 (7293). He has become worthy of apostolic honor; it is necessary to imitate their duties and conduct, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles witnesses: They distributed to all, to each as need required.

For the divine treasury, over which you were appointed overseer and steward, was given as a refuge for the needy, the orphans, and the widows; and if at any time some worldly danger should befall, you have no authority whatsoever to sell other properties, for the treasures were given for the salvation of souls. Now, if anyone sells them for other purposes, he shall be judged together with those who sell the sacred vessels on the day of judgment, and his honor shall be taken from him. For if temporal stewards of kings, by unjustly selling the royal properties, suffer punishments and fall from their honor, how much more shall those who waste the divine properties unjustly suffer punishments both here and in the hereafter. And if anyone connives by permitting such things, he shall be a partner in their evil deeds. [Year 585 of the Armenian Era (1136 AD)]. But you also, O faithful layman, who give your gifts for the salvation of your sins and for your vows, so that you may cast off the weight of your sins, know likewise concerning the many others: why do you hasten to take upon yourself these cast-off burdens? Concerning this, the prophet said the same: "Like a heavy burden, it has become heavy upon me; and would that you took only your own, and not that of others." For the more you hasten to take rather than to give, the more you increase the burdens of your sins, and you also accumulate upon yourself the cast-off burdens of others.

The laws and the companion's grace fallen under a burden do not command to neglect, but by raising up you shall raise up, it says. And you cast yourself down with an irreparable ruin, for if you had seen another fallen and broken, perhaps you would have pitied him, yet you neglect yourself, you plunder, you deny the orphan, the widow, the poor their wages, you rob the tables, and you cause abomination in the temples. Now give from yourself what is right; will you not rather give the gifts to the house of God, that is, cast away the weight of sins with that same faith, and hope to be worthy of eternal rewards? Then indeed, taking also, contrary to that, the burdens of sins thus accumulates upon you, and becomes a cause of eternal torments. What profit is there in such gain, which injures and destroys the soul, and finds no ransom for one's own soul? Heed the divine scriptures and learn with good intention, by which it commands to enjoy that wealth: The servants of the table, it says, enjoy from the table. And what is the food, it reveals: The sins of my people, it says, they shall eat. Therefore it warns you to be prepared, saying: You have not yet slept, who eat the bread of sorrows. Do you see the power of the food? For elsewhere it also clearly warns you, commanding you to take, saying: Be subject to them, for they labor for the sake of your souls, as they are to give account for you.

Now, why do you cast upon yourself such a burden and impossible exertions, that you might perhaps spend half the night in drunkenness, to say nothing of the others, and the fallen and prostrate companions, clattering and clamoring, and from the foulness of the belly, from the fluxes and violent vapors, so that you can scarcely even hear the voice of the service, let alone keep vigil and apply yourself to toil? Now, as you are far from the labor of the worker, you must also be far from the seizure of the rewards, and be content with your own. You, who have transgressed by your very words concerning orphans, and widows, and the destitute, wish to give your own after you, for the divine treasure is for their support, as we said above, for they are the special ones. "The orphans and the widows the Lord receives, and if the eyes of the poor look to me, and they call to me, I shall wash them." Now, why do you also make them a burden to yourself, and are not ashamed of the gifts? If the little bread were set before you, you would perhaps abhor it and consider the taking of it an insult, yet you ruthlessly extort their goods, and do not doubt that this is equal to begging.

they recount their miseries and afflictions and sorrows, until their tongues are dry in their mouths at the point of danger, showing their wounds and the mutilations of their body laid bare, torn, disheveled, trembling and shuddering—so that at least they might find some covering to make a shelter for their own nakedness. And you, with soothing and praiseworthy words, by flattering them, wish to turn them to forgetfulness, that you hasten to make your wife a widow and your children orphans, beggars and vagabonds, so that they may recount abroad among the base, and then remember the word of the Lord Jesus: "Blessed is giving, especially more than receiving" (Acts 20:35). Therefore I beseech and bear witness before God and Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead in his revelation and in his kingdom, that no one should find fault in these parts, which by giving commandment we teach the benefit and the splendor of soul and body. And what greater benefit than that, or what more delightful joy, could there be, when the bishop, according to the pleasure of God, takes care of the church, and the orders of ministers, urged on with praise, make the psalm resound with melody, and the rest, gathered together, give glory to the all-victorious dominion, the orphans and widows are provided for, the poor are cared for, the homeless are made secure.

Such orders are sufficient to open the doors of mercy, the heavens being filled with dew, the earth with grain and wine and oil, the pastures with verdant abundance for the animals, and altogether a desirable life for princes and kings in eternal peace, by the grace and benevolence of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom the Father and the Holy Spirit together have glory, power, and honor now and always, forever, amen.