Article 56.—The rules to guide these Councils are to be prepared by the Political and Religious Assemblies.
The office of these Councils lasts four years. They are changed in the beginning of the fifth year, and their members may be immediately candidates for re-election.
VIII. The National General Assembly—Its Organisation and its Duties
Article 57.—The National General Assembly is composed of 140 deputies, of whom
I. One-seventh, that is twenty, are ecclesiastical deputies elected by the ecclesiastics in Constantinople.
II. Two-sevenths, that is forty, are deputies from the provinces.
III. Four-sevenths, that is eighty, are deputies elected by the different quarters in Constantinople.
Article 58.—The members of the Religious and Political Assemblies attend the sittings of the General Assembly, but if they are not elected deputies they have no vote in the General Assembly.
Article 59.—The General Assembly can have no sitting if the majority of its members, that is at least seventy-one persons, be not present.
Article 60.—The functions of the General Assembly are to elect the Patriarchs, to participate in the election of the Katholikos, to elect the chief functionaries of the nation and the members of the Religious and Political Assemblies; to oversee the administration of the National Councils, to settle questions which belong to these Councils but are considered beyond their capacity, and to preserve the National Constitution intact.