Diarbekir has been an out-station of Harpoot. This was the ancient Amida; and no city in Turkey has so massive and so well preserved a wall as this. The bridge was doubtless of Roman construction, but the broad arches of the central portion are the repairs of some more modern power.

Armenian ecclesiastical history claims that the "Greeks," mentioned in the twelfth chapter of John, who wished to see Jesus, were Armenians, sent by their king, Abgar. The Apostle Thaddeus, assisted by Bartholomew and Jude, is supposed to have been the herald of the cross in that country. Many ancient churches are by tradition ascribed to him, but the gospel had indifferent success until about the year 300, when through the influence of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who belonged to the royal family, Christianity was formally adopted by the Armenian government. This is probably the first time the Christian Church was allied to the State; and like all such alliances, it was a disaster to the church. The Armenians rejected the decisions of the Council of Ephesus in 451, which condemned the theory of one nature in Christ, so they have generally been classed among those who hold that Christ's human nature was absorbed by the divine, "just as a drop of water is lost in the sea," and hence they have rested under the anathema of the Greek and Roman churches. In doctrine and worship they resemble the Greek Church, although they are more simple-minded and more easy of access than the Greeks. They have pictures in their churches, but not graven images. They believe in the intercession of saints; in prayers for the dead, but not in purgatory; in transubstantiation, and in absolution through confession to a priest and through penance. Their priests must marry once, and only once; but the higher clergy must never marry. The priests are generally very ignorant, but ignorance is no barrier to the priesthood, as they are not required to preach. If they can read the prescribed ritual for the morning and evening service at the church, and also at weddings and funerals, no other qualification is required.

The chief of the hierarchy is the Catholicos, and he lives in Russian Armenia. The duties of the Armenian Patriarch, who lives at Constantinople, are, like those of the Greek Patriarch, largely political, for each one of the nationalities of which Turkey is composed maintains a distinct organization, and retains certain prerogatives, such as the decision of questions pertaining to marriage and inheritance, the trial and punishment of the clergy, etc., although the government is gradually withdrawing these privileges. The Patriarch, as the representative of his people at the capital, also has duties somewhat like those of a foreign ambassador. So the bishops whom he appoints over the dioceses devote themselves more to the temporal than to the spiritual concerns of their people. They occasionally preach, but this service is more frequently performed by vartabeds, a class below the bishops, some of whom receive special training for this office. In the majority of churches preaching is seldom heard, but there is a great improvement of late years in this respect, as well as in the character of the sermons.

The reading of the Bible has never been formally forbidden, and it is received as possessing absolute authority. It was translated about the year 400. Parts of it are read or chanted in the daily service of the church, but the ancient

language is little understood, and the tone in which it is read renders it still more unintelligible. The modern translation, made by American missionaries, has

had a very wide circulation, and it is rapidly preparing the way for a complete reformation of the Armenian Church.

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