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Armenian Apostolic Church
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Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church (Armenian: Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցի, romanized: Hay Aṙaqelakan Ékełetsi) is the autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church uses the Armenian Rite. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state in history to adopt Christianity as its official religion (under the Armenian Apostolic traditions) during the rule of King Tiridates III, of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century.
According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude) in the 1st century. St. Gregory the Illuminator was the first official primate of the church. It is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Church or Armenian Gregorian Church.
The Armenian Apostolic Church should not be confused with the fully distinct Armenian Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the See of Rome.
The Armenian Apostolic Church believes in apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude). According to tradition, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in AD 30. Thaddaeus was then commissioned by Abgar to proselytize throughout Armenia, where he converted King Sanatruk's daughter, who was eventually martyred alongside Thaddeus when Sanatruk later fell into apostasy. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the Virgin Mary, which he placed in a nunnery he founded over a former temple of Anahit. Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. Scholars including Bart Ehrman, Han J.W. Drijvers, and Walter Bauer dismiss the conversion of Abgar V as fiction.
According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, the last of whom was converted to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator. Ancient Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion, which has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as "probably the most crucial step in its history." This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence. According to Mary Boyce, the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids.
When King Tiridates III made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 300 and 301, it was not an entirely new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, and may have been present even earlier.
Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, and ordained many priests and bishops. While meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross. He was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the king's help he did so in accordance with his vision, renaming the city Etchmiadzin, which means "the place of the descent of the Only-Begotten".
Initially, the Armenian Apostolic Church participated in the larger Christian world and was subordinated to the Bishop of Caesarea. Its catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea (325). St. Vrtanes I, the third Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (333–341), sent a letter with specific questions to Macarius, the Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem (312–335/36), taken to Jerusalem by a delegation of Armenian priests on the occasion of the Encaenia, in dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in September 335. In Macarius's letter to the Armenians in 335, it seeks to correct irregularities in the initiation rites of baptism and the eucharist in use in the Armenian Church by articulating the practices in Jerusalem. In so doing, it reveals the divergent forms being practiced in Armenia, which have strong echoes of old East Syriac Rite. Orthopraxy was conceived by Vrtanes and his Armenian colleagues in terms of liturgical performance in Jerusalem. In 353, King Papas (Pap) appointed Catholicos Husik without first sending him to Caesarea for commissioning. The Armenian catholicos was still represented at the First Council of Constantinople (381).
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Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church (Armenian: Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցի, romanized: Hay Aṙaqelakan Ékełetsi) is the autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church uses the Armenian Rite. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state in history to adopt Christianity as its official religion (under the Armenian Apostolic traditions) during the rule of King Tiridates III, of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century.
According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude) in the 1st century. St. Gregory the Illuminator was the first official primate of the church. It is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Church or Armenian Gregorian Church.
The Armenian Apostolic Church should not be confused with the fully distinct Armenian Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the See of Rome.
The Armenian Apostolic Church believes in apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude). According to tradition, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in AD 30. Thaddaeus was then commissioned by Abgar to proselytize throughout Armenia, where he converted King Sanatruk's daughter, who was eventually martyred alongside Thaddeus when Sanatruk later fell into apostasy. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the Virgin Mary, which he placed in a nunnery he founded over a former temple of Anahit. Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. Scholars including Bart Ehrman, Han J.W. Drijvers, and Walter Bauer dismiss the conversion of Abgar V as fiction.
According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, the last of whom was converted to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator. Ancient Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion, which has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as "probably the most crucial step in its history." This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence. According to Mary Boyce, the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids.
When King Tiridates III made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 300 and 301, it was not an entirely new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, and may have been present even earlier.
Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, and ordained many priests and bishops. While meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross. He was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the king's help he did so in accordance with his vision, renaming the city Etchmiadzin, which means "the place of the descent of the Only-Begotten".
Initially, the Armenian Apostolic Church participated in the larger Christian world and was subordinated to the Bishop of Caesarea. Its catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea (325). St. Vrtanes I, the third Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (333–341), sent a letter with specific questions to Macarius, the Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem (312–335/36), taken to Jerusalem by a delegation of Armenian priests on the occasion of the Encaenia, in dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in September 335. In Macarius's letter to the Armenians in 335, it seeks to correct irregularities in the initiation rites of baptism and the eucharist in use in the Armenian Church by articulating the practices in Jerusalem. In so doing, it reveals the divergent forms being practiced in Armenia, which have strong echoes of old East Syriac Rite. Orthopraxy was conceived by Vrtanes and his Armenian colleagues in terms of liturgical performance in Jerusalem. In 353, King Papas (Pap) appointed Catholicos Husik without first sending him to Caesarea for commissioning. The Armenian catholicos was still represented at the First Council of Constantinople (381).
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