Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/195

Rh of the Creator, which is sharper than a two-edged sword, and which reaches to the inmost heart, piercing to the dividing asunder of the members, to oppose it, abridge it, or counterfeit it. And, whosoever shall thus offend, shall be excluded from all Christian laws, and from a participation in all Christian privileges.

"Furthermore, the elect head who shall be found fit for this noble dignity, and shall fill this glorious See, shall consecrate Metropolitans, and perfect the ordination of Bishops. These he shall choose from such as keep the ordinances and customs, and who are not opposed to the statutes drawn up by the Holy Fathers and elect Shepherds who confirmed the truth with their blood, and who were under the guidance of the Spirit. Nevertheless he shall not ordain a Metropolitan or Bishop unless there be two Bishops with him. And when a Bishop is ordained by a Metropolitan, he shall not take his place with the heads until he shall have presented himself before the Father of fathers, the chief of the flock, the reverend Patriarch, who shall bless him, and confirm to him the episcopal authority, even as the companions of Aaron were presented to Moses the prophet. And when he is to be ordained, let there be read over him the chapter of the head of the twelve, the Cephas of the Church, and the foundation of the law, wherein our delivered to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and His authority to bind and to loose, to set up and to bring down, in things above and things below, in heaven and in earth. Let this be a covenant and testimony to him of his having been gathered, and of his authority to do what he has heard of Him. Over the Supreme Head, the Chief of the chiefs, the appointed prayers shall be read, after which let his calling be relied on, for he is the diadem of the Church, and the crown of the priests, and the excellency of the flock. Then they shall invest him with the garment of perfection, and deliver unto him the staff, and bid him to put his trust in God, to obey His, to observe what He has commanded, to be zealous in the discharge of the oflice confided unto him, to walk in the way of the righteous, and to turn away from the path of the ungodly.

"But should the Patriarch transgress in his office, and turn aside from God in his rule, and be found deceitful in his belief, then, if there be a king at the head of Christianity at the