fort this benediction of the lamp is pronounced, is obliged, accordir to the direction of the ritual, if his strength will penit him, Benediction to draw near to the celebrant, who places him in a conof the Lamp. venient seat, with his face towards the east. The priests then hold the book of the Gospels, and a cross over his head, and lay their hands upon him. The senior priest then reads the prayers appointed for that particular occasion; after which they raise the sick person up, give him a blessing with the Book of the Gospels, and rehearse the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, &c. Then they raise the cross above his head, and at the same time pronounce the general absolution over him which is inserted in their liturgy. If time will permit, there are several other prayers added, and a formal procession is made all round the church, with the sacred lamp, and several lighted wax-tapers, to beg of God that he would graciously vouchsafe to heal the person for whom their prayers are desired. If the patient happens to be so far indisposed as to be incapable of approaching the altar himself, some friend is substituted in his room. When the procession is over, the priests perform the usual unctions upon the sick person, and afterwards a single unction upon one another.

Nuptial Ceremonies.

A writer gives the following description of one of their weddings, at which he was personally present. The bridegroom and the bride attended at the church-door, where a kind of nuptial-bed, or couch, was erected for that purpose. The abuna, or patriarch, seated them both upon it, and then went in procession round them with the cross and censer. After that he laid his hands upon their heads, and said, As ye this day become one flesh, ye must be both of one heart and one will. After a short harangue, suitable to the foregoing words, he proceeded to the celebration of the mass, at which the newly-married couple attended, and, after it was over, he pronounced the nuptial benediction.

Gaia has furnished us with some other ceremonies observed by them in their nuptials, amongst which the following are the most remarkable :— "The celebrant, after he has cut a lock of hair from the heads of the bridegroom and the bride, and dipped them into wine mingled with honey, exchanges the locks, and places that which belonged to the former on the head of the latter, and so vice versa, in the very same place from whence they were taken, sprinkling them at the same time with holy water. After this ceremony is over, the newly-married couple, attended by their friends, go home, and never stir abroad for a month. When the bride goes out, she wears a black veil over her face, which she never turns up till after the expiration of six months, except she proves with child.” We have before taken particular notice of the nuptial crowns amongst the ceremonies of the Greeks; and among the Abyssinians, these crowns are put upon the heads of the newly-married couple, and they wear them for the first eight days; after which, the priest who put them on takes them off again, with much formality, and pronounces several prayers.

Each monastery has two churches, one for the men and the other for women. Their musical instruments are little drums, which they hang about their necks, and beat with both hands. The gravest ecclesiastic amongst them looks upon this drum as an ornament, and always wears one. They have, likewise, pilgrim's staffs, which they strike upon the ground, regulating the motion of their bodies to the cadence. They always begin

with a beat of the foot, and, then, play gently on these drums; after which, they lay them aside in order to clap hands, jump, dance, and bawl as loud as their power will permit them. These acclamations are intended as an act of devotion, the merit of which is grounded on a passage in the Psalms of David, in which he invites all nations to cry aloud, and clap their hands for joy!

To conclude, the Abyssinians commemorate their deceased friends, and have proper prayers for them. The collection of canons which they make use of, enjoins them to offer the sacrifice of the mass, and to pray for the dead, on the third and seventh day, at the month's end, and at the conclusion of the year. They have prayers, likewise, for the invocation of the saints, as well as legends, relics, and miracles, without number.

General account.

Sec. 7.-Religious Tenets and Customs of the Armenians. The Armenians, from Armenia; a province of Asia, consisting of the modern Turcomania and part of Persia, were formerly a branch of the Greek Church. They professed the same faith, and acknowledged the same subjection to the see of Constantinople, till nearly the middle of the sixth century, when the supposed heresy of the Monophysites spread through Africa and Asia, and comprehended the Armenians among its votaries. But, though the members of this church still agree with the other Monophysites in the principal doctrine of that sect, respecting the unity of the divine and human nature in Christ, they differ from them in so many points of faith, worship, and discipline, that they hold no communion with that branch of the Monophysites who are Jacobites in the more limited sense of that term, nor with the Copts or the Abyssinians.

The Armenians allow and accept the articles of faith according to the council of Nice, and use the Apostles' Creed. With respect to the TriTenets. nity, they agree with the Greeks in acknowledging three

persons in one divine nature, and that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father. They believe that Christ descended into hell, and liberated thence all the souls of the damned, by the grace and favour of his glorious presence; that this liberation was not for ever, nor by a plenary pardon or remission, but only till the end of the world, when the souls of the damned shall again be returned into eternal flames.

The Armenians believe, that neither the souls nor the bodies of any saints or prophets, departed this life, are in heaven, except the blessed Virgin and the prophet Elias. Yet, notwithstanding their opinion, that the saints shall not be admitted into heaven till the day of judgment, by a certain imitation of the Greek and Latin churches, they invoke those saints with prayers, reverence and adore their pictures and images, and burn to them lamps and candles. The saints commonly invoked by them are all the prophets and apostles, and also St. Silvester, St. Savorich, &c. They worship after the Eastern manner, by prostrating their bodies, and kissing the ground three times. When they first enter the church, they uncover their heads, and cross themselves three times; Worship. but afterwards they cover their heads, and sit cross-legged carpets. The greatest part of their public divine service is perform the morning, before it is light. They are very devout on vigils to

and on Saturday evenings, when they all go to church, and, after their return home, perfume their houses with incense, and adorn their little pictures with lamps. In their monasteries, the whole Psalter of David is read over every twenty-four hours; but in the cities and parochial churches, the Psalter is divided into eight portions, and each portion into eight parts, at the end of each of which is said the Gloria Patri, &c.

Rites and

The rites and ceremonies of the Armenian church greatly resemble those of the Greeks. Their liturgies also are essentially the same, or at least ascribed to the same authors. The fasts, which they observe Ceremonies. annually, are not only more numerous, but kept with greater rigour and mortification than is usual in any other Christian community. They mingle the whole course of the year with fasting; and there is not a single day which is not appointed either for a fast or a festival. They commemorate our Lord's nativity on the 6th of January, and thus celebrate in one festival his birth, epiphany, and baptism.

The Armenians practise the trine immersion, which they consider as essential to baptism. After baptism, they apply the enyrop or chrism, and anoint the forehead, eyes, ears, breast, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet, with consecrated oil, in the form of a cross. Then they administer to the child the eucharist, with which they only rub its lips. The eucharist is celebrated only on Sundays and festivals. They do not mix the wine with water, nor put leaven into their bread, as do the Greeks. They steep the bread in the wine, and thus the communicant receives both kinds together, a form different from that of the Latin, Greek, and Reformed churches. They differ from the Greeks in administering bread unleavened, made like a wafer; and from the Romans, in giving both kinds to the laity.

Before any persons, whether men or women, presume to enter their churches, they pull their shoes off at the church-door, where there are chests to lock them up in, during the time of divine service. On entering, they cross themselves three times, but after the same form, according to Father le Brun, as is observed in the Latin Church. The men are all uncovered. The clergy themselves are without shoes in the choir; but those who officiate in the sanctuary put on black slippers. During the celebration of the mass and other parts of divine service, all the communicants either stand, or sit upon the ground, the men cross-legged, and the women upon their heels. Many of the people stay a long time in the church, and are often there by break of day. Father Monier relates, that he was very much affected with the modest deportment observed in the exercise of their devotion; and Ricaut says, his heart was melted with the warmth and ardency of their piety, which is considerably augmented at certain seasons, particularly in the Holy Week.

Fasts.

In their fasts they are much more rigorous than the Greeks, and no dispensation is allowed on any account. During the forty days of their Lent, which precedes their Easter, they must eat nothing but herbs, roots, beans, peas, and the like, and no greater quantity of them than is just sufficient to support nature. The Armenians, however, according to Tournefort, are allowed to eat fish on Sundays. To these acts of self-denial, we must add another, which is the natural result of an habitual practice of such long and severe fasts, viz.-their abstinence from