NOTE: - 62 -

"...renowned, harmoniously inscribed with the sevenfold confession according to the measure of the mystical period of the beginning and the consummation of this age, the chosen and gloriously adorned Kephas" (*In Praise of the Apostles*). To this also testifieth Saint Cyprian in his discourse on the unity of the Church (Book II): "Verily, what the other Apostles were, the same also was Petros, endowed with equal fellowship and authority; yet the beginning proceedeth from unity, and the primacy is given unto Petros." Wherefore also the Holy Council of Nicaea, in its sixth canon, decreeth thus: "Let the ancient custom remain unalterable in Egypt, in Libya, and in Pentapolis: that the Bishop of Alexandria have authority over all these; for to the Bishop of the city of Rome this is customary. Likewise also in Antioch and in the other provinces, let the prerogatives of each church remain unchanged." And just as for the good government of every secular State, the vigilant preservation of the constitutions of councils established upon ancient custom is necessary, so then, having comprehended all this, we are able to affirm and maintain that, according to various pre-eminences, not only the blessed Petros, but also certain others among the Apostles, may be named chief, and head, or first in the ranks of the holy Apostles; as it is written in the Hymnal (*Sharakan*): "Having become the foundations of the holy Sion for the arms of the World-bearing Word, immovable mountains, blossom-bearing valleys, true rocks of faith, Petros and Andreas." And see further that the Holy Apostle Jacob, called the Brother of the Lord, was also styled the head of the holy Apostles; forasmuch as, having been appointed the first Bishop of Jerusalem, he obtained great pre-eminence, as is sung in the Hymnal composed by Yovhannes the Philosopher of Odzun: "He became the head of the holy Apostles, and was called the Brother of the Lord from the house of David." Here we deem this much alone to be sufficient for now; but if anyone desireth to philosophize [further] upon these matters, let him read what was composed by us, *The Theater of Orthodoxy of the Armenian Church*, which was printed in Constantinople in the year of the Lord 1854 (on pages 226–239). Now therefore, fair-minded readers, let us hasten with a sound spirit to decipher also the vainly-grafted article of feeble-minded confessio[n]...