THE ARMENIANS 



263 



There is no nation in the East where, so it is said, women occupy so exalted a position 

 as among the Armenians. When a man dies leaving a widow, she becomes the head of a 

 community consisting of all her children, with their husbands and wives, and all her grand- 

 children. She is regarded by this little society in the light of a queen. It is not till her 

 death that the family breaks up, some of them perhaps to group themselves again under one 

 of her daughters as their chieftainess. 



At one time the Armenians seem to have been fire-worshippers, like the ancient Persians 

 and the modern Parsis. However, they have long been Christians, and are devout members 

 of a Church which is in many ways distinctive. Some are Xestorians, while a few are Roman 

 Catholics, Gregoriaus, and Protestants. The Nestorians of the Euphrates and Tigris Basin, 

 numbering about 200,000, reject both the name and the doctrine of Nestorius. The word is 

 a corruption of Nessarani, from Nazareth, commonly applied in the East to Christians. The 

 Armenian Church has a ritual of its own, approximating more closely to the Greek than the 

 Latin branch. One of the oldest translations of the Bible is in the Armenian tongue. There 

 are also many works of great antiquity, which deal with matters of Christian doctrine, composed 

 in Armenia. In Erivan they have a monastery, where resides the Patriarch, whom all orthodox 

 Armenians regard as their spiritual head. 



Other monasteries are found in different parts of Armenia and Asia Minor. Perhaps the 

 most celebrated Armenian monastery is on the island of San Lazzaro in Venice. This island 

 was handed over by the Republic of Venice in the year 1715 to the Armenian monks whom 

 Mekhitar had brought with 

 him in his flight before an 

 invading army of Turks. The 

 Mekhitarist congregation has 

 been permanently fixed there 

 ever since that time, and has 

 acquired a position of great 

 importance in the Armenian 

 world. The monastery has 

 a library containing 30,000 

 printed volumes and 2,000 

 Armenian manuscripts, some 

 of which are very ancient. 

 There are also the first 

 editions of the Armenian 

 classics, of which the owners 

 are naturally proud. The 

 community is under the 

 authority of a principal, who 

 is styled Archbishop of 

 Siouuic, and a chapter. The 

 resident brothers occupy 

 themselves with teaching and 

 composing or translating 

 educational, scientific, and 

 religious works. These books 

 are distributed in great 

 numbers among the Ar- 

 menians in every part of the 

 world. The Mekhitarists have 



also founded two colleges, one H>J peraMm of Mm Xeu>to/t A c , , 3 Fteet stralt & t , 

 in Venice, the other in Paris, KURDISH MOUNTAIN BRIGANDS, ARMENIA. 



