The interpretation of Matthew 16:18-19 in in Moralia Et Ascetica Armeniaca (Yačaxapatum Čaŕk) (6th Century)

  

₂₇And the Lord said this to Peter in the Gospels: “You are rock, and on this rock I will build my church”; that is, the faithful people of God. “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against them”; (namely), the saints and the righteous by true faith, those who were released from earth into heaven. “And those you bind on earth” are the unholy and the unjust and those who believe differently; “shall be bound in heaven,” for the ominous punishments (Mt 16:18–19). ₂₈The words spoken by the Lord to Peter are spoken to all holy overseers, those who really have the truth. (Discourse 16.27-28 in Moralia Et Ascetica Armeniaca: The Oft-Repeated Discourses [trans. Abraham Terian; The Fathers of the Church 143; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021, 229)