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bers, and presided over by a layman. All the members must belong to the Lutheran Church. The superin- tendent is the vice-president. The consistories have jurisdiction in all matrimonial affairs. As the members do not reside in the same place, plenary meetings are only called at intervals for disposing of the more impor- tant affairs, while ordinary matters are treated by a committee. The General Consistory of St. Petersburg is the central Church board and court of appeal in mat- rimonial affairs. It is composed of deputies who meet twice a year in St. Petersburg, and are elected for a term of three years. Candidates for this office are nom- inated in a similar manner to those for the office of su- perintendent. The election of one of the candidates is made by the ministry, upon the recommendation of the General Consistory. The presidents are appointed by the emperor. Preachers' synods are held in all the con- sistorial districts, and one half of the clergy are always required to be present. A Lutheran general synod is to be convoked from time to time as a deliberating assembly. It consists of clerical and lay delegates, who are partly chosen by the consistories, and partly elected by the consistorial districts. The candidates for the ministry receive their theological education at the Uni- versity of Dorpat. The total number of Lutherans amounts to about 2,400,000 in Russia proper, to 300,000 in Poland, and to 12,000 in Asia.
(2.) The Reformed Church. — The membership of this Church in all Russia does not exceed 200,000, about one half of whom live in Lithuania, in the governments of Wilna and Grodno. Lithuania is divided into four dis- tricts, at the head of each of which are a superintendent and vice-superintendent. Annually a synod is held, which lasts from three to four weeks. This synod gov- erns the Reformed Church of Lithuania, under the su- perintendence of the State ministers.
(3.) Other Protestant Denominations. — The Mennon- ites have established a number of flourishing colonies in Tauris (where they numbered in 1876 about 15,000 souls), and on the Volga. Quite recently, when the Russian government had revoked their exemption from military service, they began to emigrate to the United States.
The Moravians have in Livonia and Esthonia prosper- ous societies, with more than 250 chapels and above 60,000 members. In accordance with the general char- acter of the Moravian societies in the diaspora, the members do not sever their connection with the State churches. See Moravians.
The German Baptists have recently established some missions, chiefly among the Germans of Russia, and the}' report encouraging progress.
3. The Gregorian A rmenian Church. — By the con- quest of the Persian province of Erivan in 1828 the head of the Armenian Church, the catholicos of Etchmiad- zin, became a subject of Russia. When the catholicos Ephrem died, in 1830, the emperor of Russia, who was desirous of restoring the ancient order of election, de- creed to leave the election to all the clergymen, and to the most distinguished lay members of the Armenian Church, and that in future also members of the same Church in other states might be admitted. A new regulation for the government of the Armenian Church was drawn up by the St. Petersburg Department of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Foreign Creeds, on the basis of propositions submitted by two commissions, one con- sisting of prominent Armenian clergymen and laymen at Titlis, and the other consisting of Russian officers at St. Petersburg. The draft was examined and com- mented upon by the commander-in-chief of the Trans- caucasian provinces, and sanctioned by the emperor in March, 1836. This new regulation is divided into ten chapters, of which six relate to the administration of eparchies and convents, while the first four treat of the administration of the Armenian Church of Russia in general. According to the first cliapter, the Armenian Church and the Armenian clergy enjoy equal rights
with those of other foreign (non-Russian) creeds. The clergy are free from taxes and corporal punishments. The second chapter treats of the privileges and jurisdic- tion of the catholicos. For this office the clergy and the notables of the nation are to propose several candi- dates, one of whom is to be appointed by the emperor. The catholicos has the right to send a deputy to the coronation of the emperor. On leaving the palace, he is accompanied by an honorary guard of Armenians. He has the exclusive privilege of preparing and consecrating the holy oil, and of selling it to all Armenian churches. The third chapter refers to the synod, which constitutes the council of the catholicos, but with only a delibera- tive vote. The synod consists of a number of promi- nent ecclesiastical dignitaries, who are proposed by the patriarch and appointed by the emperor. An imperial procurator is appointed at Etchmiadziu, as also at the seats of the supreme ecclesiastical authorities of other foreign creeds. The fourth chapter provides that the archbishops and bishops be solely appointed by the ca- tholicos, and that they be responsible for the adminis- tration of their eparchies both to the catholicos and to the emperor. The number of eparchies which recognise the authority of the catholicos amounts to about fort}-, but only six are situated within the Russian empire, namely, Astrakhan, Erivan, Grusia, Nachitshevan, Ka- rabagh, and Shirvan. See also Armenian Church. The number of Gregorian Armenians in 1878, as report- ed by the Russian government, was 38,720 in Europe- an Russia, 595,310 in Caucasia, 15 in Siberia, and 1 in Central Asia.