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This obligation of spiritual pastors—the leaders of each of the churches, the ministers of Christ, bishops, vardapets, and priests—is made known by the holy Apostle Petros with exceedingly humble exhortations, saying: “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly according to God; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Pet. Cathol. 5:1–4). If thou desirest to take well to heart the exposition of these apostolic counsels with the necessary particulars, read the lucid commentary of Sargis Shnorhali, which he writeth in the interpretation of this word, as follows: “‘Feed the flock of God which is among you.’ From this earthly labor of pasturing, he requireth of them the spiritual works of pastorship; for the shepherds of irrational sheep not only feed the flocks in green pastures, and nourish [them] beside the still waters, and gather [them] into the fold, but they also drive away the wolves, bind up the lame, heal the leprous, and show many other such cares. In like manner—or rather, even more exceedingly—the shepherds of rational sheep are bound to show care toward the flock: to feed [them] upon the commandments of God as in green pastures, and to nourish [them] upon doctrine as beside the still waters, and to gather [them] into the church as into a fold; to bind up that which is broken by sins, to heal that which is spotted with leprosy, and to put to flight the evil beast, [namely] the Slanderer, and the bands of the heretics. This is [the meaning of] saying, ‘Feed the flock of God which is among you’; as if to say: ‘As for the flock among you, which hath been committed and entrusted [to you] by God, ye ought with vigilance to care for it, toiling by night and by day. Because the flock is God’s, ye are therefore also accountable to render an account unto God. How great caution, then, is necessary for you, that ye lose none of the sheep!’ To this also the God-receiver Pōghos testifieth: ‘Take heed,’ he saith, ‘unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.’”