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432 vardapets. Only the monastic clergy now have deacons. The married secular clergy are poor folk, having little training and no hope of advancement. The priesthood often descends from father to son through many generations. Except in Russia (where the Government will not allow it) the laity has great influence in Church matters, and forms councils to administer Church property. Of three to four million Armenians, perhaps three-quarters belong to the Gregorian Church. She is not strictly in communion with even the other Monophysite Churches, and never has been. But the relations between them are friendly, and Armenians are careless about giving and receiving Communion from other people.

3. Churches and Vestments

An Armenian Church has a marked character, both inside and outside, by which it may easily be distinguished from any other. It generally has a dome in the centre, which is not a dome outside, but a low round tower with a conical roof. In front of the larger churches is an atrium, an open court, around which are the priests' lodgings, the school, rooms for parochial business, and so on. Inside there is no ikonostasion. Perhaps it is more exact to say that the altar stands in front of the ikonostasion. Across the far east end there is a high screen, sometimes covered