In nomine Domini. Amen.
A while ago to the audience of the most holy father and our lord, Pope Benedict XII by divine providence, and also long before, when he was in the office of cardinal, he frequently reached the audience of his predecessor, the blessed memory of Pope John XXII, that the Armenians in and about those things that pertain to the Christian faith and belief, commonly in both Armenias or specifically in one or the other Armenia, or something from one or the other they held and taught or even preached various and diverse errors, both against divine Scripture, general councils, as well as against those which the holy Roman Church, the mother of all and teacher, has determined, teaches and taught, and preaches. The same our lord pope, desiring to inquire more fully into the aforementioned matters and each of them, caused several Armenians to come into his presence, and some of them even came to the same presence by themselves, some also from the Latins who were in the regions of Armenia and had heard the said Armenians dogmatizing and holding many errors, made them come to him, from whom, Armenians and Latins, namely from some of them, by the said lord pope and by others by the reverend father, Lord Bernard, Cardinal Priest of the title of Saint Cyriacus in Thermis, by the command of the same pope, an oath was taken, that they held, taught, or preached about the aforementioned matters and others which they had heard or knew from those Armenians in those regions or elsewhere, both fully and purely, as witnesses would confess and testify the truth about themselves, as well as about others, living and deceased. Therefore, once they were received in this manner and afterwards, namely those who did not know how to speak or understand the Latin language, through suitable interpreters and others who knew how to speak and understand both languages, namely Armenian and Latin, through certain books written in the Armenian language, handed over to our lord pope by some of the said Armenians, which, as many of the Armenians asserted and still assert, Armenians commonly use both in Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia, diligently examined, to this end, a certain apostolic notary assigned to them, who, while the depositions and confessions were being made and certain errors were being interpreted or extracted from the aforementioned books, by certain persons who knew how to speak and understand both languages, namely Armenian and Latin, reduced and reduced them to writing. Consequently, from their depositions and confessions, it was found that the said Armenians or some of them held, believed, and taught the following articles:
I. And first, that some ancient Armenian masters said and preached that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father, but about six hundred and twelve years ago, masters, prelates, and other Armenians from Greater Armenia ceased to preach and say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. This was because at that time a council was held among the Armenians, where there were catholicos, bishops, Armenian masters, the patriarch of the Syrians, and there they determined that from then on it should not be said among them that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. They condemned the ancient Armenian teachers who were before the said council because they had said and taught that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. And from then on, all Armenians who held and taught that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son, as well as from the Father, were persecuted, imprisoned, and put in chains. So among the Armenians, no one dares to say or teach this, except those who are united with the Holy Roman Church. And if it is ever found in their books that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, they say that this procession is temporal, for the sanctification of creation and not from its eternal procession, which they say proceeded eternally from the Father and the Son in a personal understanding of existence.
II. Item, the Armenians pronounce the article of faith in the Creed concerning the Holy Spirit as follows: I believe in the Holy Spirit, uncreated and perfect, who spoke in the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels, descended on the Jordan, preached to the Apostles, and dwells in the Saints — making no mention that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father or from the Father and the Son. However, when they read the Gospel of John, where it is said that the Paraclete proceeds from the Father, they say and confess this; but many of them deny that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son; and even if some believe this, they do not dare to say it openly. Although it was not expressly determined in the Council of Chalcedon that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as from the Father, but this had been determined in the Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus, since the Council of Chalcedon approved what had been determined in the aforementioned councils, therefore, by rejecting the Council of Chalcedon, the Armenians rejected the statements of the councils that had been approved by the said council, among which was that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father.
III. Item, which the Council of Chalcedon reproved primarily, was that in the said Council of Chalcedon it had been determined that in the Lord Jesus Christ there were two natures, namely human and divine, and one person subsisting in two natures; and in the said council they determined that just as in the Lord Jesus Christ there was one person, so there was one nature, namely divine, and one will and one operation, and they anathematized those who said otherwise; and they persecuted those who said otherwise by imprisoning, binding, and handing them over to death. In the same council, they also condemned Pope Leo and his letters that he had sent to the Council of Chalcedon and to Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople, in which Blessed Leo had written that in the Lord Jesus Christ there were two natures and one person, two wills, and two operations. In the same council, they condemned Dioscorus, whom they canonized through the said Council of Chalcedon and wanted to be considered a Saint, and they still celebrate a feast in his honor three times a year as a Saint and praise him as a Saint; and they curse Blessed Leo and the Council of Chalcedon, who condemned the said Dioscorus. They also say that those who agreed with the determinations in the said Council of Chalcedon denied Christ.
IV. Item, that which the Armenians say and hold, that the personal sin of the first parents was so grave that all their children propagated from their seed, until the passion of Christ, were rightly condemned for their personal sin and cast into hell after death, not because they contracted any original sin from Adam, as they say that children have no original sin at all, neither before nor after the passion of Christ; but the said condemnation before the passion of Christ followed them by reason of the gravity of the personal sin committed by Adam and Eve in transgressing the divine command given to them, but after the passion of the Lord, in which the sin of the first parents was erased, children born from the sons of Adam are not subject to damnation and are not to be cast into hell by reason of the said sin, because Christ completely erased the sin of the first parents in his passion.
V. Item, that a certain master of the Armenians called Mechitariz, which means Paraclete, introduced and taught anew that the human soul is propagated from the soul of its father, just as the body from the body and also one angel from another; because, since the human rational soul and the angel of intellectual nature are certain spiritual lights, they propagate other spiritual lights from themselves; and in this, almost all follow him from the province of Argicium, which is a great province, containing seven dioceses. But other Armenians do not say this, but that God creates all souls. And the Armenians of the said province hold that Mechitariz as a Saint.
VI. The Armenians say that the souls of children born to Christian parents after the Passion of Christ, if they die before being baptized, go to terrestrial paradise, where Adam was before the Fall; but the souls of children born to non-Christian parents after the Passion of Christ and who die without baptism, go to the places where the souls of their parents are.
VII. Item, that the said Armenians say that the souls of adult men, who have died or will die after the passion of Christ, go in the air or on the earth, which is next to the earthly paradise, or elsewhere, where God ordains them to remain until the day of Judgment, whether they are Christians or not; however, none of their souls go to hell or heavenly or earthly paradise until the said time of Judgment. And, as they say, the souls of unbaptized children will come to the General Judgment with their bodies and after the judgment they will go to the earthly paradise, where they will fly like doves from one tree to another and like angels from heaven to earth and from one part of the earth to another; however, they will not have glory nor will they endure any punishment. After the general judgment, the souls of adults will go to the places assigned to them after the said General Judgment.
VIII. Item, that the Armenians say that the souls of baptized children and the souls of very perfected men will enter the kingdom of heaven after the General Judgment, where they will lack all the penal evils of this life, for they will neither hunger nor thirst nor feel any other deficiencies of the human body, nor will they marry or be given in marriage, but will sit like the angels of God in heaven, unable to sin or fall from the state they were in. However, they will not see the essence of God, because no creature can see it; but they will see the brightness of God, which emanates from His essence, just as the light of the sun emanates from the sun and yet is not the sun; and in this vision of said brightness, there will be different degrees, so that the angels will see the said brightness more perfectly than any men, and prophets and Apostles and martyrs and virgins more than baptized children; and in this they say that the beatitude of the Saints and perfected children will consist.
IX. Item, concerning unbaptized children and those who are not perfectly just, namely those who have not reached the perfection of the Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, the Armenians say that after the General Judgment they will go to terrestrial paradise and not celestial, where they will be free from all bodily affliction and will delight among the trees of paradise; however, they will neither eat nor drink nor marry nor be given in marriage, and thus they will remain there perpetually, and their happiness will consist in this. Yet there will be a difference between unbaptized Christian children and imperfectly just adults; for the imperfectly just adults will have a crown of the light of fire with which the earth will be burned before the Judgment; they will also see the brightness of the wood of the Cross of Christ, which brightness will then be greatest; for all brightnesses that are in this world will be added to the brightness of the Cross of Christ, and the said adults, according to how more or less perfect they will be, will have different crowns of light and will see the brightness of the Cross of Christ differently, according to their merits; however, the unbaptized children will not have these crowns of light nor will they see the brightness of the Cross of Christ; and this will be the difference between them.
X. They say that moderately evil Christians, after the General Judgment, will not go to the heavenly or earthly paradise, but will remain on earth, where people currently live, which will be entirely full of trees, like the earthly paradise, yet they will neither eat nor drink nor die from then on; and this place will be given to them because they were moderately evil. People call moderately evil those who are married and others living together in the world.
XI. Item, concerning the many evils of men, such as all unbelievers and Christians who lead a wicked and sinful life in general, they hold two opinions, one of which is that such individuals will be cast into the Ocean after the General Judgment, which will then be fiery, and there they will be severely tormented by worms that will be there, which will be as large as dragons; and as much as they have sinned more or less, so will these so-called dragons be greater or smaller; because, as they say, immediately when a person sins gravely, the said dragon is born in the Ocean and grows according to how much more or less the person sins; and some of the wicked men, who have committed many sins and various offenses, will have more dragons there, one of which will torment them in the eyes and another in the ears and so on with other body parts. Demons will also be tormented there, who will be there with them, according to what the Lord will say to the wicked: 'Go into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels'; and so the wicked men will be tormented there perpetually. — Another opinion of theirs, which is more common among Armenians, says that after the general judgment there will be no Hell, neither is there one now, nor was there after Christ descended to the underworld and completely destroyed Hell, but each sinner will be tormented for the sin they committed, and according to how much more or less they sinned, they will be tormented more or less for those sins; and thus such sins are said to be Hell, in which sinners will be tormented after the General Judgment.
XII. Item, the aforementioned Armenians say that moderately evil people will be placed in judgment with their deeds on a scale, and if their evils outweigh their goods, then they will be placed in the Ocean, according to the aforementioned opinion as mentioned above, and they will be afflicted there as they deserve. But if their goods outweigh their evils, then they will be placed in this land, which will be full of trees, yet not as delightful as the terrestrial paradise. And if their goods and evils are equally weighed, then at the prayers of the blessed Mary and other Saints, God will place them in this land, where they will suffer no afflictive evil.
XIII. Item, although it is contained in the Ordinary of the Armenians, that those who are baptized, even if they are children, who come to baptism from the servitude of the devil, nevertheless say that such children have no sin, but are completely innocent and immune from all sin, even original; nor do they say that they are baptized to obtain the remission of sins, but to be Christians and to enter after the General Judgment with the perfect Saints into the kingdom of heaven; and for these two reasons, baptism is valid for them according to them.
XIV. Item, that the said Armenians say and hold that Christ, descending into hell, preached there and justified those souls who wanted to believe in Him, but left in their sin those who did not want to believe in Him. However, when He left hell, He completely destroyed hell and brought out all the souls He found there, whether they were good or bad, and placed them in this air and earth and around the earthly paradise, where they will remain until the final judgment. In the meantime, souls that are moderately bad and simply bad do not suffer any sensible punishment, but only experience fear; moderately bad, because they fear their danger, which will be on the day of judgment, as written above, when they will be placed in the balance; simply bad, because they fear the punishment of the Ocean, where they will be placed after the General Judgment, they suffer the punishment of fear, which mentally afflicts them greatly. Moderately good and perfectly good souls, however, He placed in this earth or air around the earthly paradise; and, as they say, such souls are in great consolation because of the hope they have of the reward they will receive after the General Judgment. And they say that before the said General Judgment there will be no other reward for good or evil deeds, citing the words of the Apostle: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
XV. Item, that the said Armenians do not say or hold that Christ, descending into hell, preached to the demons, nor that he led demons out of Hell, but they do say that demons are in this air or on earth until the General Judgment. However, if they are there, they do not express that they suffer or will suffer any sensible punishment until the said General Judgment; they do say, however, that they suffer a lack of glory and that they, who were once bright, have become dark; and that they greatly fear the punishment of the Ocean, in which they will be placed after the General Judgment with wicked men.
XVI. Item, that among the Armenians there are two opinions about the time when the angels were created; because some of them say that the angels were created before this sensible world; while others say that they were created with this sensible world, namely with the empyrean heaven, before any day. They also say that all good angels were created and remained in that goodness, as some of them say, until the fourth day when God made the luminaries; while others of them say that on the sixth day, when Adam was created, the demons sinned and fell from heaven through that part of heaven which they call Arocea, but we call it the Galaxy; with whom also through that said opening one good angel fell and many others would have fallen if God had not said to them: Peace be with you, but that good angel who had fallen was restored to heaven through the prayers of blessed Basil. Some of them also say that on the sixth day Adam was created from nothing, but around the sixth hour of that day Eve was formed and according to some of them she was tempted by the devil on the same day, while according to others on the sixth day of the following week. They also say that no good angel will ever become evil, nor will an evil one become good.
XVII. Item, that the Armenians commonly hold that there is no purgatory for souls in another century, because, as they say, if a Christian confesses his sins, all his sins and the penalties for sins are forgiven to him. Nor do they pray for the deceased, so that their sins may be forgiven in another century, but they pray generally for all the dead, such as for the Blessed Mary, the Apostles, martyrs, and other Saints, so that on the day of judgment they may enter the heavenly kingdom or other places, as mentioned above, and that they may rest there. Concerning the souls of pagans, they say that their souls are above their graves or in the graves, until the day of judgment, and voices and moans are frequently heard in the graves of Saracens, and sometimes their souls or demons are seen around their graves in various forms of animals or humans; for this reason, Saracens do not willingly stand around the graves of Saracens, and sometimes Saracens have their children baptized and anointed in various places, so that after death they do not leave the graves; however, they do not have them baptized to become Christians.
XVIII. Item, that the Armenians believe and hold that Christ descended from heaven and was incarnate for the salvation of mankind, not because the children born of Adam and Eve after their sin inherit original sin from them, from which they are saved through Christ's incarnation and death, as they say that no such sin is in the children of Adam, but they say that Christ was incarnate and suffered for the salvation of mankind because through his passion the sons of Adam, who preceded that passion, were freed from Hell where they were not due to original sin in them, but due to the seriousness of the personal sin of the first parents. They also believe that Christ was incarnate and suffered for the salvation of children born after his passion, because through his passion he completely destroyed Hell, and so after his passion none of those children go to Hell. They also believe that for the salvation of adult Christian men Christ was incarnate and suffered, because if such individuals repent of their sins after his passion, when they die they do not go to Hell.
XIX. Item, that the Armenians believe and hold that the first parents and all their posterity until the death of Christ died in body and soul and descended into Hell not because of the original sin that the sons of Adam contracted from Adam, but by reason of the gravity of the personal sin of the first parents; for which reason, although their children did not sin, yet they suffered because of the sin of the first parents and their souls were punished with physical death and in Hell until the said time. They also believe and hold that after the passion of Christ and before, until the general resurrection, the sons of Adam have inordinate concupiscence of the flesh and mortality because of the gravity of the sin of the first parents and not because of the original sin they contracted from them; from which concupiscence and mortality the Saints will be liberated in the general resurrection through Christ; and to such an extent they say that the said concupiscence of the flesh is a sin and evil, that even Christian parents commit sin when they have marital relations; and because of this, penance is imposed on them by priests, because they say that the marital act is a sin and even marriage. They also believe and hold that if Adam and Eve had not transgressed God's command, there would have been no carnal intercourse between them and human generation would not be through the mixing of seed, but humans would propagate from humans without carnal intercourse, as light is propagated from light. They also say that God, knowing that humans would transgress His command, made genital organs in them, through which after sin the propagation of humans would occur.
XX. Item, which the Armenians believe and hold, that the eternal Son of God, born of the substance of the Father, in time united to Himself human nature and became man, in such a way that in the very union of human nature with the Son of God, human nature was transformed into His divine nature, so that after the said union in Christ there is only one nature, namely divine and not human, just as He is one person. And the Armenians curse all those who say the contrary and detest to such an extent those who say that after the union there are two natures in Christ, divine and human; that if any Armenian, previously baptized according to their rite, were to say this, they do not communicate with him, but treat him as if he were a pagan; and if he wishes to return to the faith of the Armenians, they rebaptize him, as if he had always been a pagan, and after the second baptism they impose on him a penance of twenty years.
XXI. Item, Armenians believe and hold that because, according to them, after the union of natures in Christ, the human nature was transformed into the divine nature, so that in Christ there was only the divine nature from then on, since the said divine nature in Christ was passible and impassible, mortal and immortal, as Christ pleased, they say that Christ suffered and died according to the divine nature, because he willed it so, even though the human nature in him was not present when he suffered and died. They also believe and hold that in the Lord Jesus Christ after the union there was only one intellect, one will, and one operation, namely divine and not human.
XXII. Item, that the Armenians say and hold that from the hour in which the Lord died on the cross, He descended into hell and completely destroyed Hell; so that from then on there was no Hell, nor were there any human souls or even demons in Hell from then on or afterwards; but when Christ rose again, leading out of Hell the souls of the Saints who were there, He led them into the earthly paradise and entered that paradise with them, saying to them: Behold the place where you were; and immediately He cast them out of that paradise and placed them on the earth or in the air around the earthly paradise.
XXIII. Item, that concerning the soul of the thief confessing Christ on the cross, there are various opinions among the Armenians: one of which is that what is stated in the Gospel: Today you will be with me in paradise; today, is not held there definitively for the day on which the Lord and the thief died, but is held for the day of the final judgment, when the perfect Saints will enter into the heavenly paradise, as the day is understood in the psalm: One day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere; for then, and not before, according to them, the thief will enter into the heavenly paradise with the other perfect Saints. Another opinion of theirs says that on the day the said thief died, his soul came to the gate of the earthly paradise wanting to enter there; but he was prevented from entering there by Angels, Enoch, and Elijah; but on the day of the Lord's resurrection, when the Lord came to the gate of the earthly paradise with the other souls of the Saints, whom He had extracted from Hell, He found there the soul of the thief, and when the Lord showed his hands and side to the Angels, Enoch, and Elijah, opening the gate of paradise for him, he entered there with the said soul of the thief and other Saints, and said to them: Behold the place from which you came out; with all the said souls he came out of paradise and placed them on the earth or in the air around the said paradise, where they will remain until the day of Judgment; and then they will be introduced into the heavenly paradise. Others say that at the hour when Adam left paradise on a Friday, the Lord placed the soul of the thief in the earthly paradise; however, whether He later brought it out or not, they do not say.
XXIV. Item, that the said Armenians say and hold that the souls of evil men, who have committed many actual grave sins, who died before the Passion of Christ, were placed in Hell, and there endured infernal punishments for their sins; but when the Lord destroyed Hell after His Passion, He placed those souls on earth or in the air; and there they go here and there, not enduring any sensible punishment, until the Day of Judgment. However, the souls of wicked men who died after the Lord's Passion, when these men died, evil and terrible angels receive them and lead them to the Ocean, mentioned above, and show them the Ocean and the worms or dragons that are there; and tell them that after the General Judgment they will be placed there and will be tormented by the said Ocean and dragons; and because of this, these souls fear greatly for the punishments they will suffer after the General Judgment; however, in the meantime, they will not endure any other sensible punishment. But the souls of good and perfect men, when they die, are received by good angels and led to heaven before the throne of God; and they see under the throne of God, which are angels, the glory they will have after the general judgment; and they are greatly comforted by this; however, afterwards they are led by angels to earth or to the air and are there until the Day of Judgment and are said to rest because of the said hope. They also say and believe that after the General Judgment, evil men, who were either before the Lord's Passion or after, will be placed body and soul in the said Ocean and will be tormented there forever.
XXV. Item, that the Armenians, saying that there is only one nature in Christ, namely divine and not human, cannot respond to the statements made in Scripture, by which it is clearly shown that Christ had a human soul, which was not divine in nature, such as: Not to abandon my soul in hell; nor to that: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; nor to that, which Peter says, that descending spiritually, he preached in Hell; nor to that which the Lord says: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, and bowing his head, he gave up the spirit. By all these things, Scripture clearly states that there was a human soul in Christ after the union. But when these things are said to them, not having anything to respond, they resort to sticks or bodily punishments, to mistreat those who say such things to them. They also say and believe that when the soul of Christ descended into hell, so as not to be recognized, it clothed itself in divinity, just as when it was in present life, so as not to be recognized, it clothed its divinity with a body.
XXVI. Item, Armenians say and believe that although the resurrection from death pertains only to the flesh that had died, yet in Christ, because there was only divine nature after the union, He Himself, as He wished, performed the works of the flesh and the works of the soul, although in Christ there was neither flesh nor soul after the union.
XXVII. Item, that the Armenians believe and hold that the Lord rose on the Sabbath day after the sixth hour of the Preparation; and they say they have this from the tradition of Gregory, who was their ancient catholicos, to whom, as they say, it was revealed, when he was in the Lord's Sepulchre, that the Lord rose at the sixth hour of the said Sabbath day; and so it is determined among the Armenians; and at that hour they celebrate the feast of the Lord's resurrection; and afterwards on the same day they eat eggs and cheese, but not meat. They count three days and nights during which the Lord was in the earth, thus, because on the following night, being Thursday, the Lord delivered his body and blood to his disciples, who were of the earth, they ate and drank his body and blood and thus buried Christ in themselves; and they count that night; and then the following day until that hour, when on the day of the Preparation darkness covered the whole earth, as the first day and night; but that time during which the said darkness lasted, they count as the second night; and the day that followed the said darkness, they count as the second day; the night preceding the Sabbath, they count as the third night; and the day of the Sabbath until noon as the third day; and they say that their aforementioned opinion was confirmed by the blessed Pope Sylvester at the insistence of the said Gregory; and they believe more in the said opinion than in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, who say that on the first day of the Sabbath, that is, Sunday, the Lord rose.
XXVIII. Item, that the Armenians do not know how to respond to those things contained in the Gospels, where it is clearly written that after his resurrection Christ had a true human body, when they say that in that very union human nature was transformed into divinity; except only that the divine will did and showed itself to have a human body, although it did not have one.
XXIX. Item, although according to the Armenians in Christ after the union there was only the divine nature, into which his human nature was converted, the Armenians nevertheless say and hold that the divine nature was subject to the will of Christ, so that it could do whatever he wanted; and thus, as they say, when his divine nature wanted, it was mortal and even died, and when it wanted, it became immortal, as it happened after his resurrection, taking to prove this what is said in John: I live, and you will live.
XXX. Item, Armenians say and hold that because Christ ascended into heaven, after the union, human nature ceased to exist in Him; otherwise, if human nature had been in Him after the union, He would not have ascended into heaven, but would have been transferred to the earthly paradise, as happened with Elijah and Enoch.
XXXI. Item, that the Armenians hold that those authorities of the Prophets and Apostles: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, and that Christ stripped Principalities and Powers and led them into himself, are not understood to have been done when Christ ascended into heaven, but are understood to have been done when Christ, ascending from the depths, brought with him the souls of men who were there and placed them on this earth or in the air until the day of judgment.
XXXII. Item, Armenians say and believe that when Christ descended into hell, He bound the demons who were there and also on earth, so that they could not tempt or harm humans as they did before; but it has been three hundred years since all demons have been unbound and have led humans away from the faith of Christ throughout the world, except for the Armenians; however, for thirty years before them, people from Lesser Armenia and for twenty-five years before the Armenians from Greater Armenia have been led away from the faith of Christ, because, as they say, since then the Armenians have put water in wine during the Sacrifice and have celebrated the Nativity of the Lord on the twenty-fifth day of December, and thus, being seduced by demons, they have abandoned the faith of Christ.
XXXIII. Item, that the Armenians say and hold that Christ, after His ascension, had humanity, but did not have a human nature, nor human will, nor human operation. They also say and hold that Christ, ascending into heaven, did not immediately reach the right hand of the Father, but on the tenth day after His ascension and in the nine days from the day of His ascension to the day of Pentecost, Christ was among the angels, so that for one day He was in one order of angels and on another day in another, and each order of angels celebrated Him for one day; but on the tenth day He reached the right hand of the Father, and then immediately sent the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and for this reason the Armenians celebrate those ten days.
XXXIV. Item, that the Armenians of Greater Armenia say and hold that they are the Catholic and Apostolic Church, and because of this they have the Catholicon, and also their Church is apostolic, because they hold the faith that the Apostles preached; and because of this they are the Catholic and Apostolic Church. But the Greek church is not the Catholic or Apostolic Church, because they put water in wine in the Sacrifice and because they say there are two natures in Christ and because they celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord on the twenty-fifth day of December. They also say and hold that the Roman Church is not the Catholic and Apostolic Church, for the same reasons they say about the Greek church and also because it corrupted the Christian faith by convening and accepting the Council of Chalcedon at the insistence of Pope Leo. They also say and hold that the Roman and Greek Churches will cease before the general resurrection or during the time of the Antichrist; however, the Armenian Church will endure until the end; and that those from Lesser Armenia, except the king and some nobles, belong to the Greater Armenian Church and are worse than those from Greater Armenia, and they do not want to accept any teacher unless they are from Greater Armenia. They also say that the king and nobles of Lesser Armenia, because they hold the above-mentioned articles with the Roman and Greek Churches, are not of the Catholic and Apostolic Church.
XXXV. Item, Armenians say and hold that the Catholic Church was spread throughout the whole world from the beginning, because some from all nations believed in Christ; but later in the Council of Chalcedon, the faith of the Church was corrupted and destroyed, because it was determined there that in Christ there were two natures and one person; and all who accepted the said council were... (sic!) the Catholic Church; and because the Armenians did not accept the said council, but condemned it, therefore the Catholic Church exists only among them, except for a few from the Church of Lesser Armenia.
XXXVI. Item, that the Armenians believe and hold that there is only one Catholic Church among them, because, as they say, they have those things that make one holy Church, namely one baptism and the unique faith of Christ and one Holy Spirit and one God and Lord; which are not present in other churches called Christian, because, as they say, the Armenians have true baptism, for which reason they rebaptize all who come to them from other churches, indeed, as they say, they truly baptize, because they do not consider the baptism given in other churches to be true baptism. They also have, as they say, true faith, which other churches destroyed by accepting the Council of Chalcedon. They also have the true Holy Spirit and true God and Lord, which other churches do not have, because they denied God and the Lord in the Council of Chalcedon, saying that in Christ there are two natures and one person; therefore, in the creed, they do not simply say: And in one holy church; but in this holy church; taking the word this to mean the church of the Armenians.
XXXVII. Item, that from the time of the Emperor Heraclius, there were three catholics in Armenia, holding different faith and different baptism from each other; for the catholic of the Doves says that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were crucified on the cross; and those who are subject to him baptize in water; but the middle catholic and his subjects say that only the Son of God was crucified on the cross; and for the most part they baptize in water, but a few baptize in wine, yet they do not immerse those who are baptized. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; but the third catholic, for fifty years before, holds what the Greek Church holds. However, the said three catholics and their subjects agree in this, that in Christ there is one nature, as there is one person, which nature is divine; and that they do not mix water with wine in the Sacrifice, nor do they celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord on the twenty-fifth day of December, except the third catholic, who for fifty years before has been separated in these matters from the first two; but each of the said catholics says that he holds the true faith and has true baptism, and that the other catholics do not have true faith or true baptism from him; and thus, because they are different from each other, there is not one Church among them, but one and another.
XXXVIII. Item, Armenians believe and hold that in other Churches outside the Armenian Churches, there is no remission of sins, because other churches denied the true faith by accepting the Council of Chalcedon; nor do they have true baptism, because they mix water with wine in the sacrifice, saying that the water that flowed from the side of Christ gives power solely to the sacrament of baptism; and therefore those Churches that mix water with wine have lost baptism; for this reason, the remission of sins does not occur among them, but only in the Armenian church; and therefore Armenian priests prohibit their subjects from receiving sacraments from others than Armenians, because those others do not have those sacraments.
XXXIX. Item, Armenians say and hold that the people subject to one catholicos can receive the said sacraments from another catholicos or his priests, and the said sacraments are valid for the said people; but bishops and priests of one catholicos cannot receive sacraments from another catholicos or his subjects, and if they were to receive such sacraments, they would not be valid for them.
XL. Item, Armenians believe and hold that no Armenian can obtain the remission of sins through bishops or priests of the Roman or Greek Church; but some Armenians say that the remission of sins can be done among Armenians by Armenian bishops and priests; others, however, say that Armenian bishops or priests do nothing for the remission of sins neither primarily nor ministerially, but God alone forgives sins; nor are Armenian bishops or priests employed to perform the said remission of sins, except because they have received the power of speaking from God; and therefore when they absolve they say: God forgive you your sins or: I forgive you your sins on earth and God forgive you in heaven.
XLI. Item, Armenians say and hold that after someone loses the grace of God by sinning, they never rise again in equal grace.
XLII. Item, the Armenians say and hold that only the passion of Christ, without any other gift of God, even gratifying, suffices for the remission of sins; nor do they say that for the remission of sins the gratifying or justifying grace of God is required, nor that gratifying grace is given in the Sacraments of the New Law.
XLIII. Item, Armenians say and hold that human free will is not sufficient for sinning, but the devil makes and instigates humans to sin; so that if demons did not exist, no one would sin.
XLIV. Item, although the Armenians pray in the Mass and elsewhere for obtaining both spiritual and temporal goods and for removing evils, yet they do not pray for the dead to obtain rest in the present, but only in the future.
XLV. Item, that among the Armenians, when one of them dies, such observance is made: that in the evening clean animals according to the Law of Moses, such as sheep, goats, and oxen, covered with silk cloths are led to the church door; to which place the clerics of the said church go out and the priest blesses salt and places from the blessed salt into the mouths of the said animals; and afterwards, the said animals are anointed with linseed oil; and then, after their blood is shed, they are slaughtered and the clerics eat the meat of the said animals the following night with salt; but the priest, who is to celebrate the Mass for the dead, does not eat of the meat of the said animals until after the Mass. They do the aforementioned because they say and believe that although the forgiveness of sins is primarily through the blood of Christ, yet the said forgiveness of sins would not occur unless the blood of the aforementioned animals was shed, for the remission of sins of the living and the dead, because the Law of Moses states that the remission of sins is through the shedding of the blood of clean brute animals and without it there is no remission of sins of the living and the dead; and the Lord says in the Gospel that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, which He would have abolished if the forgiveness of sins occurred without the shedding of the blood of clean brute animals. And Damascenus also reproaches them for this, saying that the said Armenians, adopting the errors of the Jews, Saracens, pagans, and other erring people, composed their faith from those errors; and from this faith, they composed a book in the Council of Mananalis, which among them is called Root of Faith.
XLVI Item, that the said Armenians observe the distinction of clean and unclean foods of animals, as the law of Moses says; and although some of the Armenians eat pork, yet according to them, if a priest were to eat pork, afterwards he could not expel demons from possessed bodies, because, as they say, the Lord expelling demons from two men, sent them into pigs.
XLVII. Item, when Armenians fast on the days of fasting established among them, on those days they do not eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese, butter, milk, or oil; because they say that all these are certain kinds of meat; but they only eat herbs, bread, and wine; however, they can eat as much as they want on those days when they fast. They also say and preach that those who eat fish, eggs, cheese, butter, and oil on fasting days are cursed, unfaithful, opposed to the faith, and are separated from the flock of Christ.
XLVIII. Item, the Armenians say and hold that if Armenians commit any crime once, with some exceptions, their Church can absolve them as far as guilt and punishment for said crimes, but if anyone were to commit said crimes again, they could not be absolved by their Church.
XLIX. They say that if any of them takes a first and second wife after baptism, he can be absolved by them, but if he takes a third or fourth and beyond, he cannot be absolved by their Church, because they say that such a marriage is fornication and they consider it pagan, so that they neither communicate with him in the end nor bring him out of their house to be buried through the door of the house, but they break the wall of the house and bring out his body through a hole in the wall; they do not celebrate Mass or bury him with ecclesiastical burial, but they treat him as a pagan. However, if the one who takes a third wife dismisses her while she is alive in such a way that he does not return to her afterwards, they receive him for penance and impose fifteen years on him for penance in such a way that during those years he does not eat meat, fish, and the aforementioned dairy products; and if he completes the said penance and then dies, they treat him as any other Christian in life and in death.
Armenians say and hold that if anyone commits any sin of carnal lust before receiving the Sacred Order, he must confess that sin to the confessor and then the bishop who ordains asks the confessor if he is worthy to be ordained; to which the priest replies that he is not; and thus he is rejected from receiving the Sacred Order. But if after being ordained, he commits such a sin of lust, he must confess to his confessor if he wants to be absolved; and then that confessor removes him from the execution of the Order; and if he later performs the acts of the said Order, the confessor tells the bishop, even in the presence of others, and reveals to him or her with whom he sinned. Women also, with whom they have sinned, boast by saying: I have deposed such a priest; hence it happens among the Armenians that many do not want to confess these sins while they are alive, lest they be rejected from receiving the Sacred Orders; and if they are received, they are not later deposed from the execution of the Order.
LI. Item, that the Armenians say and hold that these sins are unforgivable and their Church cannot forgive these sins, because Christ did not give the Church the power to forgive such sins, namely if someone commits the sin of lust with a man or woman or blasphemes Christ or the Christian faith or the cross; and they do not consider such blasphemers as Christians, nor do they administer the church sacraments to them while they live, nor do they treat them as Christians when they die, nor do they receive their children for baptism unless they convert and repent.
LII. Item, that the said Armenians say and hold, that if anyone once commits the sin of adultery, sodomy, bestiality, or homicide, or apostasy from the faith, by becoming a Saracen or Jew, and even if anyone says that in Christ there are two natures and one person, he can be absolved by their Church, but should not be communicated with until the end of his life. And if anyone commits the said sins or others repeatedly, he cannot be absolved by the Church, except the first time; and if, after having confessed and been absolved once of any of the aforementioned sins, he commits the said sin again, the first absolution is not valid.
LIII. Item, that the said Armenians say and hold, that if a priest having a wife commits sodomy with her, he does not sin, and even if he confesses this, he is not deposed, but in this he leaves it to his conscience, whether he confesses or not, if he wishes.
LIV. Item, that among the Armenians, the catholicos and bishops excommunicate Armenians without any fault of the excommunicated and without any prior warning, as they wish. And they say that those excommunicated by them cannot be absolved of any sin, except by the catholicos or bishops who excommunicated them; however, if they go to another catholicos or bishops, other catholicos subject to them can absolve them from the said excommunication and their sins. They also say and hold that the sacraments of the church should not be administered to the excommunicated. And if any excommunicated person dies, his friends go or send to the one who excommunicated him and give him money or other things worth money, as agreed with him; and then the excommunicator gives them permission to bury him in a church burial. Those who do for him what is said above about animals; however, they do not absolve him from excommunication in any other way.
LV. Item, the Armenians say and hold that by the sentence of excommunication, even if justly pronounced according to the Lord's ordinance, because he does not want to obey the Church's warning nor correct the sin he has committed, he does not fall from the kingdom of God, because as well, excommunicated as not excommunicated, he goes to the kingdom of God; but fornication, adultery, homicide, and if a priest takes a second wife, and if anyone among the Armenians says that there are two natures and two operations in Christ and one person, these are excluded from the kingdom of God and not excommunication pronounced for disobedience to the Church; hence the Armenians consider excommunication to be of little or no value.
LVI. Item, that the Armenians say and hold that if someone had been baptized in the Armenian Church and later lapsed into heresy or apostasy from the faith, by becoming a Saracen or Jew, and then wished to return to the Armenian Church, they are not rebaptized, but only anointed with chrism, and not absolved in any other way; however, it is imposed on them to go to the place where they committed apostasy from the faith, confess their sin before everyone there, and renounce the perfidy they committed. If someone had been baptized in a cathedral of the Armenians and later converted to the faith of the Roman or Greek Church, and later wanted to return to the original church where they were first baptized, that church would baptize them as if they had never been baptized, but had always been a Saracen or pagan. If someone had first been baptized in the Roman or Greek Church and later wanted to come to the Armenian Church, the church they came to would baptize them as if they had never been baptized, but had always been a pagan or Saracen. And because the Armenians say that those baptized in the Roman or Greek Church must be rebaptized when they come to the Armenian Church, as the Roman and Greek Churches, by saying there are two natures in Christ, have denied the faith and because they put water in wine in the Sacrifice, they do not have baptismal water, because the water that flowed from Christ's side can only serve as a sacrament of baptism, so when it is placed in the Sacrifice by those Churches, those same Churches do not have baptismal water, without which baptism cannot be performed; also, those Churches do not have baptism because they do not have true Chrism, without which true baptism is not given; and because of the aforementioned reasons, the Latin and Greek Churches do not have true baptism, but only the Armenian Church has true baptism, because it holds and has beliefs contrary to those Churches; therefore, the Armenian Church baptizes those baptized in the Latin or Greek Church when they come to it.
LVII. Item, the Armenians say and hold that true chrism is made in this way: they have various aromatic flowers and others that they can find on Palm Sunday, and they cook them in wine. Then they take the said wine and for four days before the day of the Last Supper, they put the said wine in oil and cook them together. Many bishops and priests stand by, saying many prayers while this concoction is being made. Then on the day of the Last Supper, they take a flask of the said oil, and in that flask they put balsam, and then they celebrate Mass with the balsam. When the balsam raises the Body of the Lord, one bishop standing by raises the said flask and says prayers over the balsam. Then the balsam is put in various vessels that stand there next to the altar, and thus true chrism is made only in the aforementioned way by the balsam; and without such chrism, true baptism cannot be given. Hence it happens among them that children brought for baptism, because the priest does not have the said chrism or those who brought the child do not want to give as much for the chrism as the priest would like, often die without baptism. Of these children, the Armenians say that on the Day of Judgment they will be baptized with the blood that flowed from the side of Christ, because, as they say, when Christ was dying on the cross, the moon descended and received the blood of Christ, which still remains in the moon; and from this, some darkness appears on the moon, which did not appear before; but on the Day of Judgment, the said blood will flow from the moon, from which the said little ones will be baptized, so that they can enter the kingdom of heaven.
LVIII. Item, that the Armenians say and hold that for true baptism, these three things are required, namely water, chrism made in the manner mentioned above, and the Eucharist; so that if someone were to baptize someone in water, saying: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, and then not anointed with the said chrism, it would not be baptism. If the sacrament of the Eucharist were also not given to him, he would not be baptized. Also, among them, children are not baptized before they are eight days old. And the species of the sacrament of the Eucharist liquefy in water or wine and are placed in the mouth of the newly baptized first, and thus they receive the sacrament of the Eucharist and are then said to be truly baptized. If these three things were not done, the Armenians would not consider the child to be truly baptized. They also say that children are not baptized for the remission of sins because they have no sin; but adults are baptized for the remission of sins, not because they are baptized in water, but because they are anointed with the said chrism and receive the sacrament of the Eucharist.
LIX. Also, that the Armenians baptize in various ways both in terms of the material and the form of baptism. In terms of the material, some, though few, baptize in pure wine, others in milk, and others commonly in water. As for the form, there is no fixed form of baptism among them, but each bishop or priest ordains a form for himself in which to baptize and follows the manner of baptizing as he wishes. Some of them who baptize in water do not name, while baptizing, the three divine persons by saying: Let this one be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; but while washing the baptized in water, they recite the gospel from that place: Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, up to that point: and a voice came saying: This is my Son. Others, while washing the baptized, say: The voice of the Lord over the waters; the God of majesty thundered; the Lord over many waters. Others, while washing the baptized, recite an antiphon, namely: 'While the Apostles were in the upper room, suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a mighty wind and it filled them with fire, without burning. They also recite another antiphon: Suddenly the Holy Spirit descended in the likeness of glory upon the Apostles; and another one, which is as follows: 'Blessing in the highest of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, through whom the Apostles were intoxicated with immortal wine and invited the earth to heaven'. Those who baptize in wine, while washing the one being baptized, say: 'I wash you in wine, so that you may be strong and not suffer from cold. For those who baptize in milk, no form is expressed. Others, while washing the candidates, say that they would like to commit indecent acts with the mother of the child being baptized. Some Armenians, when they place the one to be baptized in water, say: 'Let such a one be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit' and then, while washing the one to be baptized, they repeat the same words; and then when they take them out of the water, they say the same words; and then they anoint the one to be baptized with chrism in the eyes, ears, forehead, nostrils, mouth, and under the armpits, in the knees and under the knees, in the feet, in the soles, saying certain words and afterwards they communicate the baptized from the sacrifice of the altar. And thus, as they say, a person is truly and fully baptized, and not otherwise.
LX. Item, that if any Armenian baptized in water or wine or milk in the ways mentioned above, even if, while being baptized in water, it is said: Let this one be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, let him go to the Latin or Greek Church and then return to the first Church, he is rebaptized as if he had always been a pagan; but if he moves from one catholic Church to another catholic Church, the Church to which he goes makes him deny the faith of the Church that baptized and anointed him in the manner mentioned above, saying that the anointing of the other catholic Church is worthless, except for the catholic Church of Lesser Armenia, which rebaptizes and anoints those baptized and anointed in the churches of Greater Armenia coming to the Church of Lesser Armenia in the manner mentioned above.
LXI. Armenians say that by the power of the sacrament of baptism, the baptized becomes a member of the Church and can partake in the Sacraments, becomes a Christian, and after the final judgment, unless something else prevents it, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
LXII. Item, Armenians say and hold that although it is stated in their ancient Ordinance that through baptism remission of sins is given, they have explained it in such a way that it does not hold true for children who are baptized in their childhood under the age of twelve years, as they consider such children innocent and without sin; because the Armenians regard the sin of lust as the greatest sin, which such children cannot commit; but concerning those who are baptized after committing sins of lust, they say that such are baptized for the remission of sins. The said Armenians also hold that those who have not committed the sin of lust are virgins and innocent, even if they were to die without being baptized.
LXIII. Item, among the Armenians of both Armenias, the Sacrament of Confirmation is not given, because, as they say, those who preached faith to them in the beginning did not give them such a Sacrament; and although the Apostles sent Peter and John to those who had been baptized in Samaria by Philip, to lay hands on them and receive the Holy Spirit, which seems to pertain to the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Armenians say that those who were baptized by Philip did not receive true baptism, because Philip was only a deacon and not a priest or bishop, as only priests and bishops can give true baptism; and therefore the said two Apostles were sent to them, so that they might receive true baptism and the Holy Spirit. The Armenians also say that the eunuch baptized by Philip did not receive the Holy Spirit in such baptism, but after Philip was taken away from him, the Holy Spirit came upon the eunuch.
LXIV. Item, catholicon Minoris Armeniae dicit, quod Sacramentum Confirmationis nihil valet et si valet aliquid, ipse dedit licentiam presbyteris suis, ut idem Sacramentum conferant.
LXV. Item, The Armenians say and hold that the anointing with chrism made in nine places, of which it is mentioned above, is valid for Christians, while they live, for all anointings that are done by the Latin Church; hence among them there is no Sacrament of Confirmation nor Extreme Unction nor, when priests or bishops are consecrated, are their hands or heads anointed; but when bishops or priests are dead, they are carried before the altar and there their heads and foreheads and right hands are anointed, and then the people come and kiss the right hand of the aforesaid and make their offerings as if they were going to celebrate the first Mass; and afterwards clean animals covered with silk cloths are brought to the church door and are killed in the manner mentioned above and then eaten.
LXVI. Item, all Armenians commonly say and hold that by these words placed in their Canon of the Mass, when they are said by the priest; 'He took bread and, giving thanks, broke it, gave it to his holy chosen disciples and reclining disciples, saying: Take and eat all of this: This is my Body, which is distributed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Likewise, taking the cup, he blessed and broke it, gave thanks, drank, gave it to his chosen holy disciples and reclining disciples saying: Take, drink all of this: This is my Blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins, it is not consecrated, nor do they intend to consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ themselves, but only recite the said words recitatively, reciting namely what the Lord did when he instituted the Sacrament. And after these words, the priest says many prayers placed in their Canon and after these prayers, he comes to the place where it is said in their Canon: 'We adore, supplicate, and ask you, kind God, send into us and into this proposed gift the consubstantial Spirit of the Holy Spirit, through whom you will truly make the blessed bread the Body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ'. And the priest says these words three times. Then the priest says over the chalice and the blessed wine: 'You will truly make the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ'; and by these words, they believe that the Body of Christ and Blood are consecrated. The said Armenians also have a different rite in celebrating the Mass, because some of them place two chalices on the altar, in which they place bread and wine; and some place only one, in which they place wine; and the chalices among them are either of earth or wood. And some celebrate Mass in common clothes and some dress in sacred vestments; and some celebrate with the people present and some with the people excluded and the doors closed. The celebrating priest alone enters the church and exits and does not show the body of the Lord to the people at all; and still in many places it is done in this way, that they celebrate with the door closed, until the priest says: Look; when he raises the sacrament, so that the people can see; and then the doors of the church are opened.
LXVII. Item, that the Armenians do not say that after the said words of consecration of bread and wine, there is made a transubstantiation of bread and wine into the true Body and Blood of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered and rose again, but they hold that that sacrament is an example or likeness or figure of the true Body and Blood of the Lord; and some Armenian masters have specifically said this, namely that the true Body and Blood of Christ were not there, but its example and likeness. They also say that when Christ instituted the Sacrament, he did not transubstantiate the bread and wine into his body and blood, but only instituted the example and likeness of his body and blood; for this reason, they do not call the Sacrament of the altar the body and blood of the Lord, but host or sacrifice or communion. Also, a master named Narces has in his books expressed that when the priest says these words: 'This is my body', then there is the dead body of Christ; but when the priest says: Through whom, as intended, there is the living body of Christ; however, he did not specify whether it was the true body of Christ there or its likeness. And also, the Armenians interpret what is placed in their Canon of the Mass: 'Through whom the blessed bread becomes the true body of Christ', as true body of Christ, because there the true likeness and example of the body and blood of Christ is made. Hence, Damascenus, reproaching them for this, said that two hundred years had passed, that the Armenians had lost all the Sacraments and that the Sacraments they had were not handed down to them by the Apostles or by the Greek or Latin Church, but they themselves, as they wished, had devised the Sacraments for themselves.
LXVIII. Item, the Armenians say and hold that if a priest or bishop ordained commits fornication, even in secret, he loses the power to perform and administer all the Sacraments that pertain to a bishop or priest; and such Sacraments performed by them have no efficacy or virtue. However, if it is public that they have committed fornication, no Armenian would receive the Sacraments performed by them, because they believe that such Sacraments have no virtue or efficacy, as those fornicators have lost the power to perform and administer the Sacraments; nevertheless, they say that a good layperson and faithful person can administer the Eucharist made by a bishop or priest having the power to perform the Sacrament of the Eucharist to others.
LXIX. Item, the Armenians say that if a bishop or priest commits fornication or any other form of lust, secretly or publicly, he loses the power to perform and administer the Sacraments that pertain to him; but if he becomes a heretic or apostate from the faith, such as if he becomes a Saracen or Jew or commits any other crime, such as homicide, perjury, and so on with other crimes, he does not lose the power to perform and administer the Sacraments, but it suffices that he repent of such sins, whether he commits said sins publicly or secretly.
LXX. Item, Armenians do not say or hold that the sacrament of the Eucharist, worthily received, operates in the recipient the remission of sins or the relaxation of penalties due to sin, or that through it the grace of God or its increase is given, but they only say that the effects of the sacrament of the Eucharist are these, namely that he who receives this sacrament, Christ remains in him, because the Body of Christ enters into his body and is converted into it, just as other foods are converted into the one who eats. And because the Eucharist remains in the recipient, they say that a priest who receives the Body of Christ should not be bled afterwards for three days; and because a certain priest did the opposite, blood and fire came out of the bleeding. The Armenians also say that the effects of the Eucharist are that the recipient is protected from lightning and hail and from other harmful atmospheric influences and from bodily infirmities and such bodily evils of themselves or their loved ones. And they say the same regarding these bodily penalties of the Sacrament of Penance, namely that people are protected from such penalties through the said sacrament.
LXXI. Item, that six hundred and twelve years ago, the aforementioned council was celebrated by the Armenians in the city of Manazkert, and there the Patriarch of the Syrians, the Catholicos, bishops, and Armenian masters determined that water should not be mixed with wine in the Sacrifice of the altar; and nevertheless, they determined there that those who mix water with wine in the Sacrament of the altar do not have true baptism, because that water which flowed from the side of Christ on the cross can only serve in the Sacrament of baptism; and therefore, those who put water in wine have lost the Sacrament of baptism. They also determined in the said council that if water were placed in the Sacrifice of the altar, that Sacrament would be null, because the Lord, after the consecration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, said: I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, and thus, only the fruit of the vine should be placed in the sacrifice and not water. In the same council, they also anathematized those who placed or would place water in the said sacrifice; and to such an extent do they detest this, that if Mass is celebrated in any Armenian church where water is mixed with wine, a part of the church roof is uncovered so that the sun's rays can enter, through which the consecration of the said church is annulled, and before any Armenian celebrates Mass in the said church, the church must be reconciled.
LXXII. Item, the ancient Armenians said and held that no one, not ordained as a priest, no matter how good their life was, could consecrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist; and that those ordained as priests, if they led a bad life, could not consecrate the said Sacrament; but good priests could do this and not others. However, modern Armenians say that good and bad priests, as long as they have not abandoned the Armenian law, have not become subject to the law of the Latin or Greek Church, and have not committed the sins mentioned above, can consecrate the said Sacrament. But those priests who have abandoned the Armenian law or have become subject to the law of the Greek or Latin Church, because by abandoning it they have become heretics, cannot consecrate the said Sacrament.
LXXIII. Item, Armenians have in a certain canon, that if anyone had been baptized in whatever churches, which held that in Christ there are two natures and one person, and wanted to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist from Armenian priests, the same Sacrament would not be given to him by said priests, unless he first renounced the baptism he had previously received and cursed those who say there are two natures in Christ and who mix water with wine in the Sacrifice; after doing which, they rebaptize him in the Armenian way and then give him the Sacrament of the Eucharist prepared by them in the Armenian way; and that Armenian priests, while celebrating Mass with the church doors closed, as mentioned above, curse those who say there are two natures in Christ and who mix water in the Sacrifice and who show any reverence to images of God or the Saints.
LXXIV. Item, that among the Armenians of Greater Armenia there is no image of the Crucified nor are other images of Saints held.
LXXV. Item, that a certain master of the Armenians, when he had come to a certain place where a solemnity was taking place and the priest had elevated the Sacrament of the Eucharist to be seen by the people, the said master cursed the same priest saying that the mystery of faith should be kept in secret and not shown to the people, and that by showing the said Sacrament, the priest seems to say to the people: 'Do not be afraid, for this sacrament is but a piece of bread'.
LXXVI. Item, that there were three Armenians in Bologna, who had previously been baptized in the Armenian form and later baptized in the Latin Church form (namely conditionally, if they were not properly washed by baptism, as is evident from pontifical letters), who, when they later came to Florence, were asked by Armenians if they had been bathed, calling the bathing received in the Latin Church baptism; and when they replied that they were, they were told to renounce the said bathing. As they refused to do so, they beat them so severely that one of them died a few days later; the other two were detained in prison until they renounced the said bathing, saying that they considered the said bathing as if a dog had urinated on them; and they were, as believed, rebaptized by them in the Armenian manner; otherwise, they would not give the Sacrament of the Eucharist to such individuals, even in the end, no matter how much they asked for it.
LXXVII. Item, when certain clerics and lay Armenians had been baptized in the form of the Latin Church, the catholicos of Lesser Armenia had them seized and dishonored by completely shaving their heads and half of their beards, tearing their clothes, and then putting them in prison and forcing them to renounce the Sacrament of Baptism they had received in the form of the Roman Church; and because they refused to do so, he kept them in prison for a long time.
LXXVIII. Item, that when two archbishops, doubting whether they were truly ordained and baptized by the Armenians, came to the catholicon which is now in Lesser Armenia, the said catholicon called the aforementioned archbishops and forbade them this: first, that they should not celebrate the Latin Mass, but the ancient Armenian Mass; second, he commanded them not to observe the fasts of the Roman Church, but the ancient fasts of the Armenians; third, he commanded that they should not baptize anyone who doubted their baptism and came to them to request true baptism, but to tell them that the Armenian baptism is better than the baptism of the Roman Church; fourth, he forbade them to make their Armenian people Latin, because the said catholicon said that it was better for his people to go to Hell as Armenians, than if they became Latin and all went to paradise; fifth, he commanded them not to teach Armenian boys either the Latin language or letters, because when they learned the Latin letters, they would lose the Armenian language. And as testimony and confirmation of these statements, in the same year the aforementioned catholicon consecrated six Armenian bishops and received from them a public letter stating that they would not send boys from their regions to learn the Latin letters nor dismiss any Latin preacher who preached the truth of the Holy Roman Church in their diocese and province. Also, any bishop he consecrates, he causes to anathematize those Armenians who wish to become true Catholics and obedient to the Roman Church. Sixth, he forbade them to preach that the Roman pope is the head of the Church in the Eastern parts, but he himself declares and makes the pope in the Eastern parts from the sea to the great empire of the Tartars. And many other inappropriate words and errors of wisdom he spoke, and all these things he forbade them; and because they did not want to obey him in the aforementioned matters, he persecuted them severely, for which one of them, after a year and a half, went to the island of Cyprus and there heard that the said catholicon, with the consent of the king of Armenia, had those whom they and some other Latins had baptized or ordained conditionally in the form of the Roman Church, captured and degraded some priests among them and put them in the harsh prison of the king; others he imprisoned and are still imprisoned, and their goods and possessions were confiscated and sold to others.
LXXIX. Item, that the priests and bishops of the Armenians impose penance on those Armenians who come to be baptized in the Greek or Latin Church, for some years, so that they fast in the Armenian manner. The manner is such that during the said time they should not eat meat, fish, milk, cheese, or eggs; however, they can eat whenever they want during the day. But to those Armenians who receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the Greek or Latin Church, they impose a penance of five years, so that they fast during the said time in the manner mentioned above.
LXXX. Item, that among the Armenians during Lent, which begins on the Sunday before Lent, Mass is not celebrated in churches except on Saturday and Sunday; nor is it said in other weeks of the year when the Armenians fast. Moreover, they celebrate Mass more on Saturday than on other days at the times mentioned, because generally all feasts that fall in the week are celebrated on Saturday, except for the feasts of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which they celebrate on Sunday. At other times of the year, generally they do not celebrate in churches except on those two days of the week, and then they also bring animals to the church door and slaughter them in the ways mentioned above.
LXXXI. Item, that among the Armenians, the people do not communicate except on the eve of Epiphany and on the day of Epiphany; so that those who have fasted for a week before the said vigil, on the said vigil or the following night, communicate; and there they anathematize all those who celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Lord on the 25th day of December. On the next day, however, they celebrate the feast of Epiphany, and then those from the people who wish, communicate; even those who have not fasted the said week; some also communicate on the day of the Supper and on Holy Saturday.
LXXXII. Also, when some are to communicate through a priest, a general confession is made, stating the types of sins, without descending to any particular sin; and afterwards the people repeat the said confession; however, rarely or never does an Armenian confess his sins to a priest in secret; and if he confesses, he does not say that he committed this or that particular sin, but says that the devil committed the said sin or that he committed the said sin at the suggestion of another person. They prefer to confess their sins secretly and individually, as their priests would reveal their sins and impose severe penances on them; therefore, Armenians commonly do not confess except in general terms. After the said general confession by the people, the priest says either: 'I forgive you your sins' or: 'May God forgive you'; and some say: 'I forgive you your sins on earth and may God forgive you in heaven'. The said priests state that unless they fulfill the said penances, they should not communicate in the present life nor enter the kingdom of God; they will be excluded from God's grace and blessing. Among the Armenians, priests and clergy have no fixed form for absolving their subjects from their sins. Also, the Armenians say and believe that the said general confession is sufficient for the remission of sins and absolution; it is not necessary for anyone to confess his sins to a priest in secret and individually; the said general absolution is valid for the absolution of sins, even if contrition did not precede it.
LXXXIII. Item, when Armenians who are seriously ill are told that death is approaching, they or their friends request communion and have it brought to them; and sometimes, when they are very weak, priests place communion in their mouths; and when they are very close to death, priests make the sign of the cross with communion over their mouths and thus bring back communion.
LXXXIV. Item, Armenians say and hold that the catholicos, bishops, and priests of the Armenians have the same and equal power of binding or loosing as Peter the Apostle had, to whom it was said by the Lord: 'Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven'; and in this respect, the priests of the Armenians do not have less power than their catholicos and bishops.
LXXXV. Item, Armenians say and hold that until the Council of Nicaea, the Roman Pontiff did not have greater power than the other patriarchs; but then by the will of the said council, it was ordained that the said Roman Pontiff should have power over the other patriarchs. This power was held by the Roman Pontiffs until the Council of Chalcedon; but because in the said council, convened at the insistence of Pope Leo, it was determined that in Christ there were two natures and one person, the Roman Pontiffs lost that power and all those who consented to the said council; and from then on, that full power of binding or loosing, which Christ had conferred upon the Church in the person of St. Peter, remained only with the Armenians; and the Armenians also determined this in the aforementioned Council of Manazkert, which was convened there by order of a certain Saracen, a nephew of Mohammed.
LXXXVI. Item, the Armenians say and hold that, after the Council of Chalcedon, the Roman Pontiff does not have more power over his subjects than the one who presides over the Nestorians over the Nestorians or the one who presides over the Greeks over the Greeks. They also say further that the pope knows what he can do, and the Armenians know what they can do.
LXXXVII. Item, that the king of the Armenians asked the catholicos of Greater Armenia, if the pope were to excommunicate him, would he consider himself excommunicated; who replied that he would not, because the pope has nothing to do with him and he has not received anything from the pope. However, the king told him that if the pope ordered him to depose the said catholicos, he would depose him.
LXXXVIII. Item, the catholicons of the Armenians are chosen, instituted, and confirmed in the following manner, and they receive the power pertaining to the catholicon and are deposed and otherwise punished; because the catholicon of the Pigeons and the catholicon of Dehactamar, while living, choose someone from their own people, whom they desire, and then consecrate him as catholicon; however, he does not exercise this power until the catholicon who chose him has died. But after the said first catholicon has died, the next catholicon goes to the emperor of the Tartars, who is a pagan, and is confirmed as catholicon by him; and in order to be confirmed by him, money is demanded from him, as much as he can pay. This method of choosing and confirming the catholicon was introduced into the Church of Greater Armenia by Sapor, king of the Persians, a pagan, who worshipped fire and continues to this day. With this confirmation made by the said king, the same king gives his letters, that the bishops and subjects obey him, because he is confirmed by him; and that they give him certain amounts of money and afterwards annually others; and all the priests give him at least the value of one florin annually and from every act of the Christians and subjects he has annually the value of at least six silver groschen; and the said catholicon has to give a certain sum of money to the said king every year, which if he does not give or commits another crime, the said king deposes him and punishes him to death according to the quantity of the crime committed by him. The catholicon of Lesser Armenia is made in this way: when the catholicon dies, the king of Armenia summons the bishops he wishes and they choose three bishops of Lesser Armenia as catholicon and present them to the king; the king kneels before each of the aforementioned elects; and then of the said elects, the one who has given more money to the king is appointed catholicon by the king and confirmed by this, that the king places a ring on his finger. And this catholicon, who is now, gave fifty thousand groschen or their value to the king for his confirmation, and every year gives him twenty thousand groschen or their value. However, the said king can depose the said catholicon and punish him otherwise, whenever he wishes; and among the Armenians, the catholicon, bishops, and priests do not confer any Order on anyone, unless money is involved, nor chrism nor any other Sacrament, but all such things are venial among them.
LXXXIX. Item, the Emperor of Greater Armenia, when confirming the aforementioned catholics, says to them: '_ Go and perform your duty according to your faith, and we command that you are able to bless and curse, bind and loose, according to your faith, as you see fit, and we want the Christians who are under you to obey you, and if they refuse to obey, we want those who preside over them to compel or punish them, _ and he grants them this privilege. And in the same way, the King of Greater Armenia does the same for the catholic of Lesser Armenia, and the King of Lesser Armenia chooses bishops and priests, accepting money from them; and afterwards, he sends those elected as bishops to the catholic, to be consecrated by him and priests as bishops, to be ordained by them; these bishops and priests are also ordained by the catholic and bishops for money. And as soon as they are consecrated or ordained, they immediately receive from God the power to bind and loose similar to that which Christ gave to the blessed Apostle Peter; and priests have as much power as bishops and the catholic.'
XC. Item, Armenians say and hold that the power which Christ gave to blessed Peter, saying to him 'Whatever you bind on earth etc', was given solely to the person of Peter and for him alone, so that this power did not pass to any of his successors.
XCI. Item, Armenians say and hold that the general power over the whole Church of Christ was not given to blessed Peter or his successors by Christ, but this power was given to them by the Council of Nicaea, which, however, the successors of Peter later lost.
XCII. Item, that among the Armenians there are only three Orders, namely the order of acolyte, the order of deacon, and the order of priest; which orders are conferred by bishops, for a promised or accepted sum of money. And in the same way, the said Orders of priest and deacon are confirmed, namely by the laying on of hands, saying certain words, with the only change being that in the ordination of a deacon the Order of deacon is expressed, and in the ordination of a priest the Order of priest. No bishop among them can ordain another bishop, except the sole catholicos; who holds the pontifical office, in which is contained the manner of consecrating a bishop. However, the said catholicos consecrates no one to the office of bishop without a given or promised sum of money, according to the resources for consecrating to the office of bishop or the value of the bishopric. And in Greater Armenia, those consecrating bishops, priests, deacons, or acolytes, stand in common vestments while they perform the aforementioned acts and also ordain.
XCIII. Item, that when someone is ordained as a deacon, the bishop gives him permission to marry a virgin; and once this marriage is contracted, he serves in said Order and can also be promoted to priest even while the marriage stands; but if a deacon takes a second wife, he is not later promoted to the priesthood.
XCIV. Item, in Greater Armenia, when someone is ordained as a deacon, no book of Gospels or stole is given to him in specific words; and when someone is ordained as a priest, a chalice with wine and a paten with bread are not given to him in specific words used by the Roman Church; his hands are not anointed; and when someone is ordained as a bishop, a book of Gospels is placed on his neck and shoulders; neither his head nor hands are anointed with chrism, as is done in the Roman Church. Only the Catholicon of Greater Armenia consecrates bishops, without other bishops assisting them.
XCV. Item that the catholicon of Lesser Armenia gave the power to a certain presbyter, so that he could ordain as deacons whomever he wished from among the subjects; however, among the Armenians of Greater Armenia, no one can ordain any deacon or presbyter, except the bishop alone.
XCVI. Item, catholicon Minoris Armeniae, when he wants to consecrate bishops, puts on sacred vestments; however, he alone performs the said consecration; if there are any bishops present there for his honor, they do not consecrate a bishop with him, but only assist in the Mass when the catholicon celebrates, like Cardinals when the pope celebrates; they do not hold the pontifical book or say the prayers that are said by the bishops assisting in the consecration of bishops.
XCVII. Also, that the catholicoi of the Armenians agree with the bishops subject to them, who do not come through succession, to give him a certain amount of money annually; and if they do not pay, he deposes them and consecrates another bishop in their place, and writes to their people with his letters, that he deposed the first bishop and appointed another; hence it happens that frequently, for such a reason, there are three or four bishops living together in one bishopric. He also reinstates the bishops he deposed back to their bishoprics if they pay him the money they agreed upon. But those bishops who come through succession, when they do not pay him the money agreed upon with the said catholicoi, he excommunicates them and does not give them chrism until they pay the said money.
XCVIII. Item, the catholicon of Lesser Armenia holds in his possession the forearm and hand of blessed Gregory, who was a catholicon and was ordained a bishop in the manner of the Greek Church; the said catholicon places this forearm and hand upon the head and hands of those whom he ordains as bishops; and he says that if the imposition of the said hand and forearm were not done upon the head and hands of those ordained as bishops by him, they would not be ordained as bishops, because the imposition of the said forearm and hand perform the consecrations of bishops; and for this reason, he does not accept any bishops as bishops who were ordained by other catholicons of Greater Armenia, because no other catholicon, except himself, possesses the said forearm and hand of Gregory.
XCIX. Item, that Armenian bishops, coming to Italy, say they were expelled from their bishoprics by the Saracens; although this is not true; and they claim to be archbishops, although there is no archbishop in Armenia; in order to be able to sell the bishopric to mendicant Religious for money; and many of them have extorted large sums of money in this way and made many bishops in this manner; and in the Roman Curia they have also ordained many as priests and deacons, without the permission of the diocesans in whose dioceses they resided; and for money. And they have persecuted and continue to persecute those Armenians who are baptized according to the rite of the Roman Church and those who hold the faith of the Roman Church; and they say that the Roman Church is in error, but the Armenians themselves hold a good and right faith.
C. Item, that among the Armenians there is no fixed form of words expressing the marital consent between a man and a woman; indeed, many are compelled by their parents and friends to come to the church for the marriage to take place between them; and although one or both may say that they do not wish to be joined in matrimony, nevertheless the marriage takes place between them in the presence of the church.
CI. Item, that among the Armenians the degrees of consanguinity and affinity, which are considered the same among them, are observed up to the seventh degree; however, if any, being in the third degree and below, contract marriage with each other, they are allowed to remain in such marriage and are not disturbed about it by the bishops.
CII. Item, that among the Armenians, if after a marriage contract, even after a physical union and offspring have been conceived, the wife is not pleasing to the husband; or conversely, if the husband is displeasing to the wife, or both, if they do not please each other, they go to the bishop or priest and give money and agree between themselves, the bishop or priest separates the said marriage and gives permission for one to marry another, even if the other spouse is unwilling; and this happens frequently among the Armenians.
CIII. Item, that among the Armenians there are many who have many wives at the same time, because men who have wives in one place, when they are transferred to other places for the sake of trade or other reasons, take other wives in the said places to which they have moved. Also, there are many who, while living in their own places, have two wives at the same time, taking one after the other, even making such marriages in front of the church. Even bastards among them succeed to inheritance as if they were legitimate; and they are promoted to all Orders and to the episcopate and even to the status of catholicos without any other dispensation, as is the case with the nephew of Zachariah, who was the son of the concubine of the brother of the said Zachariah, who was promoted to bishop after his uncle.
CIV. Item, because the Armenians say that in the very union the human nature in Christ was transformed into divinity, the said Armenians say and believe that Christ will appear in divine form at the Judgment and will judge, not in human form.
CV. Item, Armenians say and hold that after the General Judgment the just and the unjust will live forever, because from then on they will not die; however, they say that some of the just will go to the heavenly paradise after the Judgment, and others to the earthly paradise, and others to this earth, as mentioned above; in those places they will suffer no punishment. However, they say that eternal life, even for those who will go to the heavenly paradise, does not consist in the facial vision and enjoyment of God, because the essence of God will never be seen by any creature, but only His brightness.
CVI. Item, a certain catholicos of the Armenians said and wrote that in the general resurrection all men will rise with their bodies, but nevertheless in their bodies there will be no distinction of sexes, because if such a distinction of sexes existed among them, then men would lead wives and women would marry; of which the Lord says the contrary; but men and women will rise with their bodies in another form, in which there will be no distinction of sexes.
CVII. Item, Armenians hold that if someone is in danger of dying and does not have time to receive Communion, they make the sign of the cross with their hand on the ground and take a little bit of earth from each arm of the said cross and eat it; and this eating of earth is considered by them as Communion.
CVIII. Item, that some great lay Armenians have said that just as beasts expire in death and die, so do humans; and just as beasts, once dead, will never rise again, neither will humans, once they have died, ever rise again.
CIX. Item that among the Armenians no one is punished for any error they may hold.
CX. Item, that among the Armenians there are many other errors than those mentioned, which errors are contained in the following books of the Armenians, the first of which is entitled Tenophacer, that is Against the Festivals celebrated by the Roman and Greek Churches. The second book is called Anadoarmat, that is Root of the Faith. The third book is called John of Mandag . The fourth book is called John of Ossin. The fifth book is called Myascosutum, that is Of One Expression. The sixth book is called Michael, Patriarch of Antioch. The seventh book is called Paul of Taron. The eighth book is entitled Octavensis. The ninth book is called Matthew. The tenth book is called The Book of the Canons of the Apostles, in which all the errors of the Armenians are contained. The eleventh book is called Sergniz. The twelfth book is called Marocha, named after a master who was so called; in this book the Gospels are explained. The thirteenth book is called Nanam, in which the Gospel of John is explained. The fourteenth is called Ignatius, in which the Gospel of Luke is explained. The fifteenth is called Ganazan, that is The Book of Rods. The sixteenth is called Neguig pataracum, in which the Mass is explained. The seventeenth is called Textorquire, that is The Book of Epistles. The eighteenth is called Aismanorc, that is Martyrology. And there are many other books of the Armenians, in which many errors are contained.
CXI. Item, Armenians say that Christ did not shed the superfluities of nature, and, as they say, the reason is that the corruption of such superfluities is the generation of sins; and because Christ did not commit sins, therefore such corruption did not dominate Him.
CXII. Item, they say that although Christ was circumcised according to the Law, his foreskin was not cut off, because it was not permitted to amputate anything from a deified body; especially since it was ordained that the firstborn should be circumcised by cutting the skin of the foreskin and not removing anything; and Christ was the firstborn.
CXIII. They say that God was overcome by love for man, because in His threats He was not found to be truthful, but somewhat partial; for He had told man that he would die if he ate the forbidden fruit, yet he did not completely die after eating the fruit, because his soul was never dead. Also, he did not die in body until the nine hundred and thirtieth year. Moreover, because all animals did not rebel against him, but remained necessary in his service.
CXIV. They also say that God placed a sign on Cain not to kill him, and it was so literally, because according to them, no one killed him, but he himself threw himself off a cliff. From this, they suggest that the Scripture of Genesis in this respect is false, which seems to say that Lamech killed Cain.
CXV. Item, that when two bishops were suffering severe persecutions from the catholicos of Lesser Armenia, of whose persecution mention was made above, they wrote a supplication, which they sent to the king, begging him to make the said catholicos cease from the aforementioned persecution; however, the king replied to them that they were in his power and could not leave his territories, neither by sea nor by land, unless they went to the said catholicos and showed him reverence and reconciled with him, and became his subjects in all matters, and gave him a public letter about this, as requested by the said catholicos; stating that he, the king, was appointed by the Armenians and not by the Latins, and as long as he lived, he should work for the faith of the Armenian Church and honor the catholicos of the Armenians, because he was their head. The letter, which the said catholicos requested from them, contained that they should honor the holy Armenian Church and preach its faith, obey the catholicos of the Armenians, and recognize him as their sole head in place of God; and that they should not baptize anyone and honor the chrism of the Armenians, as that alone is the true chrism; and that all they taught about the holy Armenian Church and its rules should be honored as commands of God.
CXVI. Item, that when the king of the Armenians, called Ethom, summoned all the bishops of Armenia and teachers and the catholicos, to unite the Armenians with the Roman Church, to debate with the envoy sent to them by the Roman Church, and after the said debate, the said king realized that the Holy Roman Church held the truth and that the Armenians were in error from the truth, from then on the kings of Lesser Armenia held the faith of the Holy Roman Church, but the bishops, teachers, and princes of the Armenians were not content with this. And after the departure of the said envoy, a certain teacher, called Vartam of Nigromonte, composed a book called Risma, that is Versus pedem, against the pope and his envoy and against the Roman Church, in which he called the Roman pope a proud Pharaoh, with his subjects drowned in the sea of heresy and his envoy, the ambassador of Pharaoh, had returned with great shame; and he said that the Roman Church was greatly deceived, because it received the nativity and water from the accursed Arthomono; and he wrote many other blasphemies in the said book, which is great. And many ministers of the Armenians and bishops and priests honor the said book as if it were the canons of the Apostles.
CXVII. Item, that the Armenians do not have the true faith at all, which the Holy Roman Church holds, nor do they blaspheme the Sacraments of the Holy Roman Church and the Pope and the Cardinals, saying that they are heretics; and that the catholicos of Lesser Armenia said that the Pope and all the Cardinals, every day, have more hairs on their heads than he does, cause men to be killed. And although they preach that simony should not be committed, they themselves, without the stain of simony, do not grant any favors; and there are very few men in Lesser Armenia, besides the king and some nobles, who hold the faith of the Roman Church.
*Acts of Pope Clement VI (1342-1352), vol. IX, Vatican Polyglot Press, 1960, pp. 119-155.
H. Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum, 43rd bilingual edition, ed. by Peter Hünermann, Centro editoriale dehoniano, Bologna, 2012, pp. 522-529.