280 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



ECUADOR. 



(or Greek) Church; if to help the Orthodox 

 Church, that might bar friendly access to the 

 Coptic Church ; if to carry on a mission, that 

 would be to treat the land of the Copts as a 

 heathen country ; if to preach the gospel, that 

 might be regarded as implying that no gospel 

 was preached there at present. But the friends 

 of the movement for establishing intercourse 

 consider themselves as pledged to do something 

 toward carrying out that object. 



IV. The Armenian Church. The delegates of 

 the Armenian Church met at Etchmiadzin, in 

 May, to complete their functions in the election 

 of a new Catholicos, or Metropolitan Bishop. 

 When Armenia was an independent nation, the 

 election of the Catholicos was conducted by the 

 representatives of its own bishoprics assembled 

 in conclave ; but since the nation has been sub- 

 jected to foreign powers, and particularly since 

 its territory and people have been divided be- 

 tween Russia and Turkey, this method of elec- 

 tion has been impracticable. On the present 

 occasion, the Armenians of Turkey, constitut- 

 ing the majority of the nation, chose Monsig- 

 nor Nerses, the actual Patriarch of Constanti- 

 nople, by the highest number of votes ; while 

 next to him in the list of persons voted for, 

 stood Monsignor Melchizedek, Bishop of Smyr- 

 na, and the ex-Patriarch, Monsignor Khrimian, 

 the bishop who had visited England in 1878, 

 to represent the cause of the Armenians to the 

 British Government. The final election having 

 to be held, however, at Etchmiadzin, delegates 

 were appointed at this conclave to represent 

 the Turkish Armenians there. At this point, 

 the Russian Government interposed an objec- 

 tion to acknowledging the delegates thus chosen, 

 and, declaring that they would be regarded as 

 representing only the See of Constantinople, in- 

 sisted that the election of the Catholicos should 

 be conducted in accordance with the laws known 

 as the Balageria. These laws require that the 

 names of two or more candidates who have 

 obtained the largest number of votes shall be 

 submitted to the Emperor, and that he shall 

 decide which one among them shall be the 

 Catholicos. This stipulation has always been ob- 

 jected to by the Armenians, as contrary to the 

 canons of their Church and as detrimental to 

 their time-honored right of free and untram- 

 meled election. The conclave at Etchmiadzin 

 concurred with the Turkish bishops in the choice 

 of Monsignor Nerses as the first candidate, and 

 sent up, as alternative candidates for the approv- 

 al of the Russian Emperor, the names of Mon- 

 signors Melchizedek and Khrimian. Although 

 the choice of Monsignor Nerses was approved 

 by the Emperor, he declined to accept the office 

 of Catholicos under the conditions imposed by 

 the Russian statutes, because they were re- 

 garded as derogatory to the ancient privileges 

 of the Church. On the 7th of November, Mon- 

 signor Nerses died, in the forty-eighth year of 

 his age, after a life distinguished by services to 

 the Armenian people and Church. He was 

 born in Ilasskuei, a suburb of Constantinople, 



and was educated by the priest Der Kivork to 

 be a teacher at Adrianople, and afterward a 

 vartabed, or preacher. As his first public mis- 

 sion, he was dispatched to Zeitun, to defend 

 the Armenians there who had been in rebellion. 

 Having been ordained a bishop before return- 

 ing from Zeitun, he was immediately sent on a 

 mission to Russia, and afterward to Egypt, 

 where he succeeded in interesting the Arme- 

 nian minister, Nubar Pasha, in behalf of the 

 education of his people in Constantinople, and 

 returned with the means to found a superior 

 school for Armenians at Hasskuei. Unfortu- 

 nately, the endowment funds of this school were 

 invested in Turkish bonds, and were lost by the 

 bankruptcy of the Government. He was after- 

 ward made Bishop of Nicomedia, and finally 

 Patriarch of Constantinople, when only thirty- 

 six years old. He was consulted during the 

 negotiations which attended and followed th( 

 conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War, and se- 

 cured the insertion in the Treaties of San Ste- 

 fano and Berlin of articles binding the Turkish 

 Government to establish a just government in 

 Armenia, which should give full and equal 

 rights to the Christians. 



The elections for a new Catholicos were not 

 to take place for three or four months after 

 the death of Monsignor Nerses. The Turkish 

 candidates for the office were understood to be 

 Archbishop Coren de Lusignan andMonsigm 

 Melchizedek. 



ECUADOR, a republic of South America. The 

 area is about 206,200 square miles ; the popu- 

 lation is estimated at 946,000, exclusive of the 

 aborigines inhabiting the eastern provinces and 

 eastern slopes of the Andes. The population 

 is distributed over the eleven provinces as 

 follows: Pichincha, 120,280; Guayas, 94,442; 

 Manabi, 67,852 ; Esineraldas, 10,000 ; Los Rios, 

 60,065 ; Chimborazo, 128,310 ; Tunguragua, 

 70,143; Leon, 101,282; Imbabura, 93,659; 

 Azuay, 100,000; and Loja, 100,000. The num- 

 ber of wild Indians is estimated at half a mill- 

 ion. Six new provinces have recently been 

 organized, viz., Oro, Almedo,. Carchi, Bolivar, 

 Azoguez, and Oriente. The Galapagos Islands, 

 1,910 square miles, belong to Ecuador, but 

 have only 60 inhabitants. The capital is Quito, 

 population 80,000. Guayaquil, the principal 

 port, has 40,000 ; Cuenca, 30,000 ; and Loja, 

 10,000. 



Government. The President is Don Jos6 Maria 

 Placido Caamafio, inaugurated at Quito, Nov. 

 22, 1883, having been elected on October 23 

 for the term of four years. The Vice-Presi- 

 dent is Gen. A. Guerrero. The Cabinet is as 

 follows : Interior and Foreign Affairs, M. Espi- 

 nosa ; Finance and Public Works, V. L. Sala- 

 zar ; War and Navy, Gen. J. M. Sarasti. The 

 Governor of Guayaquil is Gen. J. A. Gomez. 

 The Archbishop at Qoito is J. J. Ordofiez. 



The Minister of Ecuador at Washington is 

 Don Antonio Flores, who has twice before 

 represented his country at the American capi- 

 tal. The American Consul at Guayaquil is 





