264 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Photo by Vittoiio Sella] 



[Bietta. 



PEOPLE OP TRANSCAUCASIA. 



where brothers of the order, assisted by French professors, educate young Armenians. Many 

 of their pupils afterwards enter the service of the Turkish, Persian, and Eussian Governments, 

 in which some of them prove the excellence of the education they have received by rising to 

 the highest administrative posts. 



Yriarte, in his work on Venice, gives a graphic description of the gorgeous ritual for 

 which the Armenian Church is celebrated. Describing a high festival at San Lazzaro, he 

 says that "the pontiff and his clergy, clothed in the sacerdotal vestments, intone the 

 sacred chants preserved for centuries by the national tradition. The robes worn by the 

 archbishop and clergy are of the richest materials and most delicate colours, enriched with 

 embroideries, pearls, and silk. . . . The costume of the archbishop consists of a pontifical robe, 

 hidden under the large folds of a Byzantine dalmatic; he wears the mitre ornamented with 

 the emblematic triangle, on the ground of which stands out the mystic eye of the Deity; 

 and in his hand he holds the episcopal staff, the symbol of his dignity. The second personage 

 is the Vartalud Ananias, vicar-general of the monastery. He wears the dress of the Armenian 

 doctors, the Greek cap on his head; he holds the doctoral staff, of which the top is in the 

 form of two serpents. Then follows the archdeacon, dressed in the alb, wearing the stole and 

 the sacerdotal cap; his function during the service is to hold the censer. The effect of all 

 this is extremely grand. The deacon also wears the alb and the stole as a scarf; it is his 

 duty to hold the gospel to be kissed by the clergy and assistants. The sub-deacon wears the 

 alb; the stole rests only on his left arm; during the ceremony he swings a metal instrument 

 (kechoth, in Latin flalelhtm), which is in the shape of a disk, ornamented in the centre with 

 the head of a winged angel. Eight acolytes, dressed in long albs, carry the insignia of the 

 archi-episcopal office, the mitre and pallium; others hold the cross, the Latin cross, the doctoral 

 staff, and the staff surmounted with the globe and cross, the badge of the diocese of Siounic, 

 of which the principals of the Mekhitarists are the titularies." 



