vartabeds

Updated: May 14, 2025

It was not an uncommon thing to hear of sermons on Repentance, the Sabbath, the Judgment-day, etc.; and sometimes the preachers were largely indebted for their materials to the publications of the mission. Indeed, one of the most respectable vartabeds in Constantinople made repeated applications to the missionaries to furnish mutter for his sermons.

Rufus Anderson - History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I.

As two or three vartabeds and some of the priests continued to attend the preaching of the missionaries, and others were known to be friendly, something must be done to operate upon those spiritual guides of the people. Bedros Vartabed was the first to be made an example. He was ordered to perform a mass, but declined on conscientious grounds.

Rufus Anderson - History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I.

It was a favorable sign, that bishops and vartabeds began now to give instructions from the sacred Scriptures, instead of the legends of the saints. It subsequently appeared, indeed, that most of them were influenced in this more by public opinion, than by personal interest in the subject. They probably had exaggerated notions as to the actual prevalence of evangelical sentiments.

Rufus Anderson - History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I.

There had been, also, a favorable change in the general style of preaching at the capital; and among the people there was a growing disposition to compare every doctrine and practice with the Scriptures. This the vartabeds, or preachers, could not disregard.

Rufus Anderson - History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I.