Office and Obligations
Article 8.—The duties of the Patriarch are to act according to the principles of the Constitution and to watch diligently over the exact execution of all its points.
The Patriarch refers all business that comes before him to the Assembly to which it belongs for investigation and decision. The takrirs and other official papers of the Patriarch cannot be valid and admissible if they be not also sealed and signed by the Assembly that has given the decision. If there be any urgent business for the consideration of which it might be impossible to await the day of the meeting of the Assembly, or even to convoke an extraordinary meeting, the Patriarch may do what is necessary, taking the responsibility upon himself. But he is bound to make a due record of what he may have done, and to present it for confirmation in its next meeting to the Assembly under the jurisdiction of which the case may come.
Article 9.—The Patriarch before signing any papers containing the decisions of the General Assembly taken in his absence may make his observations concerning them and submit the case to a second consideration, but after this revision he is bound to sign those papers if he does not find there anything contrary to the requirements of the Constitution.
Article 10.—The Patriarch may propose to the competent Assembly or Council the dismissal of any ecclesiastic, teacher, agent of a church, monastery, school, or hospital who has not acted in accordance with the principles of the Constitution.
Article 11.—The Patriarch himself has no right to dissolve and change the Religious and Political Assemblies and the Councils belonging to them, but, if he notice in any of them conduct contrary to the Constitution, first he demands an explanation of the Chairman of the Assembly or the Council. The second time he warns him, but the third time he applies to the General Assembly if the accused be one of the National Assemblies, or to the Political Assembly if he be one of the Councils, and, giving his reasons, he proposes the dissolution of the accused Council or Assembly.
Article 12.—The Patriarch having a salary appointed to him from the National Treasury provides himself for the internal expenses of the Patriarchate.
II. The Bureau of the Patriarchate
Article 13.—There will be a Bureau at the Patriarchate for all necessary national documents. This bureau will be divided into three departments:—
I. The department of correspondence, for the documents sent by the Patriarchate and for those received there.