“The election of the bishops, like that of all the Armenian clergy, takes place by universal suffrage,” the ordinations take place generally at either Etchmiadzin, Akhtamar, or Sis, by the presiding bishop and his associates. The priests or presbyters (Yeretzk) are chosen by the people among themselves. They are expected to have tolerable knowledge of the Bible and the liturgy of the church (some in former years knew very little of either) and are ordained by the bishops. The priests live with their families among the people and attend their daily duties in the church services morning and evening; they perform baptism for the infants, and marry and bury the young and old as the occasion may require. “The Armenian clergy receive no stipends, and exact no contributions like those of the Greek church; their revenues depend entirely on the voluntary contributions of the faithful; it is therefore rare to meet with a wealthy priest, though some few were in easy circumstances. With respect to morals, also, though it is difficult to pronounce absolutely on the subject, the Armenian clergy appear to be very superior to the Greeks.”[55] The deacons are elected and ordained like the priest, and have no income whatever; they serve the church and assist the priests in the daily ministrations and attend to their business, whatever it may be. There is another class of the clergy of the Armenian church called _Vartabeds_, or doctors in theology. It is very probable that the very necessity of the case created this order. In former years, after the conversion of the Armenians to Christianity, most of the literary men were of the clergy, and the monasteries became the seats of learning. Those who loved a literary life would retire to those places and pursue such a course. Asceticism of the East also must have played a good part in it. Those who were ordained evangelists to visit the churches and to preach the gospel to the people, who were so often persecuted and oppressed by their enemies, at first, most likely voluntarily preferred celibacy in order to devote their whole time to the work of the church. But what was with them optional has become now a condition for that order, though “the Vartabeds form the most enlightened and learned portion of the Armenian clergy,” from whom the bishops are elected and ordained, are unfortunately “restricted to celibacy.”