NOTE: — 50 —

...of [Ch]rist our God, which the Holy Scriptures teach us and the Doctor-Vardapets of truth preach, which the heathens and the erring schismatics and heretics reject, whereby they are also deprived of the light of divine grace; as it is written: “The path of the righteous shines forth as the light, they lead and give light until the day dawns; the ways of the ungodly are dark, and they know not how they stumble” (Prov. 4:18, 19). “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall receive the light of life.” And: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness” (John 8:12; 12:46). “Having their hearts darkened, and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts” (Eph. 4:18). Behold, all these truths our First-Hierarch preached and confirmed in our minds, saying: “The truth of the faith is the light unto the eyes of the mind's motions and of the thoughts' recollections, clothed in the light of knowledge and the wisdom of the graces of the Holy Spirit, which enlightens the governing intellect, and through the Holy Scriptures sets before it the invisible as the sun's light seen by the eyes. For that light also appears thus—the unsearchable greatness of the Divine Dominion, which is unequalled and incomparable, ineffable and boundless, unapproachable and infinite to created beings. But it is recognized by undoubting faith by him who, in affliction and in tranquility, having been strengthened by faith in the Holy Trinity, stands fast, unassailable before the adversary of the faith. For having been enlightened by orthodox faith in the unoriginate Essence, in the everlasting Light, in the immutable Truth, in the life-giving Life, let us no longer turn aside unto vain babblings” (Hachakhapatum, Homily 4). Unto this [same] accords our spirit-bearing, gracious holy Doctor-Vardapet Sargis: “To call wisdom our sister, and to embrace her, and to write her upon the expanse of the heart, and to consider her more precious than all precious things.” And thus the tastes are trained in the choosing of good and evil; thus can we make distinction between the life-giving food and that which brings death. Now then, let us be zealous for this discipline, I beseech you, lest having taken into the mouth any coarse thing of schismatic opinions, we chew...