Page:Armenia, Travels and Studies, Vol. 2.djvu/586

 of the Committees on finances, on wills, and on the Hospital, and to examine at certain times the books of the Councils of different quarters, and present a report to the Political Assembly.

Two months before the beginning of a new year it should ascertain from the Committee on finances the incomes and expenses for the coming year, prepare a budget, and present it to the Political Assembly.

Article 47.—The Judicial Council is composed of eight persons versed in law, married, and at least forty years of age, four of whom should be ecclesiastics, and the other four laymen.

The vicar of the Patriarch is the President of the Judicial Council, and all the members are elected by the Mixed Assembly by the plurality of votes. The function of this Council is to settle family disputes, and to examine and decide any questions referred to it for solution by the Sublime Porte.

In case the Judicial Council should consider any question beyond its capacity, then, according to the nature of the question, it recommends that it should be referred to the Political or to the Mixed Assembly. Should any person protest against the decision taken by this Council, the question is examined again by one of the above-mentioned Assemblies as the case may require.

Article 48.—The monasteries are the property of the nation. Hence the supervision and control of their administration and the management of their finance belong to the nation.

Inasmuch as it is necessary for each monastery to have its own particular regulations, the Mixed Assembly, consisting of the Political and Religious Assemblies of the Central Administration, with due consideration of the opinions of the brotherhood of each monastery, and of the opinions of the Council for Monasteries, prepares a set of rules and presents it to the General Assembly for confirmation. The fundamental principles for such rules are:—

I. The special management of each monastery belongs to its brotherhood, but the right of the general superintendence of them all belongs to the Central Administration, of which the Council for Monasteries is the executive body.

II. The Abbot of each monastery is elected by its brotherhood, and is confirmed by the Patriarch with the consent of the Mixed Assembly of the Central Administration. The person to be elected Abbot should be over thirty years of age, a vardapet (doctor), and a subject of the Ottoman Empire.

III. All monasteries are obliged to promote the moral improvement of the nation. Hence each one, according to its capacity, should have a seminary, a library, a printing office, a hospital, and other similar useful establishments.