"In the time of the war between Russia and Persia, when the crooked sabres of Aderbidjan's Tartars had driven the Cossack lances across the Araxes, a short pause ensued in the operations of the campaign, Count Paskewitch awaiting reinforcements from the interior of Russia before crossing the Araxes and marching upon Tauris. A division of the Persian army, chiefly Kurds and Tartars, attempted to surprise Eshmiadzini; but the reverend tenants were on their guard, and intrenched themselves behind their lofty earthen walls. Besieged and sorely pressed by the wild hordes, Narses (then archbishop of Eshmiadzini) sent a courier to a Russian colonel, who lay, with a few battalions, a short day's journey distant. This colonel was an Armenian by birth, and entertained a child-like veneration for Archbishop Narses. Unable to resist the latter's earnest entreaty for assistance, he made a forced march upon the convent, although he had been strictly forbidden by his general to quit his position without express orders. Meanwhile the Persians had been reinforced by a detachment of Abbas Mirza's regular troops, and were five times the strength of their advancing foe. In front of Eshmiadzini the Russians suffered a defeat, and the fault was imputed to Archbishop Narses, whose priestly influence had moved the colonel to disregard the orders of his chief. By imperial command, Narses was removed from Eshmiadzini, and sent as archbishop to Kischenew. But in 1843, when, in spite of his disgrace with the emperor, the venerated prelate received the unanimous suffrages of the electors, convoked at Eshmiadzini, Nicholas would not oppose the manifest wish of priests and laymen, but confirmed the election. Once more the sun of imperial grace and favour shone full upon Narses. He was sent for to St Petersburg, was received with the utmost distinction, and soon the star of the first class of the order of St Anna glittered upon his blue caftan. In the autumn of 1844 he crossed the Caucasus, met a joyful reception at Tefflis, and, amidst sound of bells and song of priests, re-entered, as spiritual chief of Armenian Christendom, the old convent upon the Araxes, which, sixteen years previously, he had quitted almost as an exile. Narses is eighty years old; his intellects, which long preserved their healthy tone, have latterly, it is said, become weakened."