NOTE: — 30 —

...[whether provincial], they were ever found [to be] in accord with the undeniable evangelical words of Jesus our Savior, even as it is commanded: "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican... Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:15–20). And after His self-empowered and wonder-working Resurrection, He confirmed in every respect the power of His undeniable words in the assemblies of the holy Apostles by His grace-bestowing, manifest appearance: "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John 20:19–23). Therefore, all the Spirit-assembled holy councils are found [to be] in agreement with the commands and precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, their third error is this, which they write: "[In] accordance with the three holy-convened former councils, namely, of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Constantinople." What shall we say here? Shall we consider this an error of their learned minds, or an oversight born of their being unacquainted with the literary idiom of our tongue, that they write "former councils" with respect to Nicaea, Ephesus, and Constantinople? For according to the property of our language, the word *former* [*nakhkin*] signifies the first or the primordial. Holy Step‘annos is called former and first, according to that [hymn]: "Proto-deacon and first martyr, who wast crowned by Christ" (*Sharakan*). Likewise, the holy Apostles...