NOTE: — 60 —

Petros: «The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.» It seemeth to me that by the title of elder [presbyter], all leaders of the Church were called with equal dignity; for titles had not yet been divided according to ranks—that is to say, the Catholicos, and the Bishop, and the Priest—because these divisions of titles entered in afterward. But in the days of the Apostles, they called all persons with equal dignity by the single title of elderhood [presbyterate], not only those whom they ordained unto the presbyterate, but also themselves. Not only this [Apostle], but also the son of thunder, the theologian-disciple Yovhannēs, at the beginning of both his epistles employeth this title, as also when he saith: «From the Elder unto Gaios and unto the elect Kyria.» Hast thou seen that he employeth not the title of apostleship, but that of elderhood? The same doth Pōghos also intimate, writing unto Timot‘ēos: «Take heed,» saith he, «unto the grace that was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.» And he saith this of himself, for he himself ordained him unto the episcopate of the Ephesians; because it was not that elders gave ordination unto bishops, but bishops unto priests. And especially from the epistle of Dionēsios, which he wrote unto Timot‘ēos concerning the heavenly hierarchies, do we most properly learn these things; for at the head of all his epistles he setteth this title: «From the Priest Dionisios,» saith he, «unto our fellow-priest Timot‘ēos.» And lo, they were bishops, and not merely simple priests. It is evident from these [examples], then, that the Apostles and their disciples called even themselves priests. For the same reason, the blessed Petros here, writing unto the leaders of the churches, dealeth with them by this title, and reckoning himself among them by this same name, saith: «The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder.» They have indeed the right to ask me: how is the holy Apostle Petros named in many places the head of the other Apostles, especially in our Hymnal [*Sharaknots‘*]: «Unto the head of the chosen little flock,» and so forth; [and] «Thou Who didst name the blessed Petros to be the supreme [head] of the chosen orders of the Apostles, the head of the holy faith, the foundation of the Church» (*Sharak.*); and in the versified words of Nersēs Shnorhali: «Unto the supreme of the disciples, of the Church...»