The General Epistle

...of our Armenian Church. And in the third, the well-reasoned writings addressed to various individuals, arranged one by one. With them, we have included an alphabetical index for each specific chapter at the end of the book. We did not, however, consider it acceptable to include the letters to Manuel, Emperor of the Greeks, and their Patriarchs, in the same series with the others, because there was no necessity for our nation in them, nor [was it right] to leave them entirely hidden. Therefore, we judged it worthy to include only two of those writings here, as a sample for the general [public]. So that you may be able to study them with wisdom, and through that, ascend with sound mind to an understanding of the love-inflamed yearnings of their hearts for unity with our Eastern Catholic Church.

For our effort was to bring to light, with authentic editing, the books of the Orthodox Faith [and] the diligent labors of the holy Patriarchs, so that they might not remain in the corners of libraries, covered in dust.

Since the Holy Scriptures are [often] wrapped in words like a shell, while the beauty and sweetness are hidden inside, [we must ensure] they do not, through complete forgetfulness, remain buried in dust by us. For this reason, we did not consider the labor heavy, nor did we spare the expense in bringing this to light, so that we, the light-born children of the Illuminator, might be able—among the myriads of worthy deeds boasted of in the Lord—to hold a place of pride, as an Example of the Tree of Life and the Manna of the Heavens.

For which reason, at the end of the Book, we have also placed the worthy eulogy written regarding the Nine-Fold Four-Wheeled [Chariots] of the Lord, the Earthly Cherubim, and the co-throned of Christ, whose honey-flowing words are...