Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/289

 24ft HISTORT OF ARMENIA.

panied by Vardan. The emperor, having pe* rused the letters addressed to him, and being pleased with the elegant manners of St. Mesrop, granted the request of St. Isaac, and moreover appointed Vardan generalissimo of the Armenian troops belonging to his division of the kingdom. AtticuSy also, the patriarch, as far as regarded his spiritual authority, bad no objection to St. Isaac assuming the government of the Arme- nian church. He appointed St. Mesrop an hierarch, or ecclesiasticus, who proved vigilant and wise in his sacred function, like restless and pious conventuals.

A. D. 421. On the return of St. Mesrop, the Armenians received St. Isaac as their spiritual guide, and also founded schools for the instruction of their youth in the knowledge of the newly invented Armenian letters. After a short time, when St. Isaac and St. Mesrop had taken a little rest from their labours, they commenced regulating the church ceremonies, agreeably to the eccle^* siastical code and calendar. St. Mesrop, for a season, devoted his time wholly to this work, and in consequence of the zeal he displayed in it, the book, containing the regulations, was called Ma^toz, which was one of his surnames. These two blessed saints also composed

A. D. 426. anthems to be sung by eight voices. After all these works were finished, St. Isaac convened a

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