Armenian Rite

The Armenian Rite (Armenian: Հայկական պատարագ) is a liturgical rite used by both the Armenian Apostolic and the Armenian Catholic churches. Isaac of Armenia, the Catholicos of All Armenians, initiated a series of reforms with help from Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century that distinguished Armenia from its Greek and Syriac counterparts. These reforms included a retranslation of the Bible and a revised liturgy. During the Crusades and afterwards, missionary activity by the Latin Church influenced liturgical norms and induced some Armenians to join the Catholic Church. The modern Armenian Rite features elements and interpolations from the Byzantine Rite and Latin liturgical rites, with the celebration of the Eucharist emulating the Liturgy of Saint Basil.

Christianity in Armenia was first attested to by Roman historian Tertullian during the 2nd century AD. An apocryphal claim within an ancient Greek source claims that the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew introduced Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century AD. Early Greek and Syriac Christian missionaries evangelized Armenians out of the Christian nexus at Caesarea in Cappadocia. Later, Gregory the Illuminator launched a program of evangelization in Armenia that included the conversion of the king, Tiridates III. Gregory subordinated Armenian Christianity under the see of Caesarea in the early 4th century.

The subordination to Caesarea placed Armenian Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch. During the 4th century, there were debates regarding the level autonomy that the Armenians enjoyed, with Basil of Caesarea protesting these challenges. There is no evidence that Armenia ever formally broke from Caesarea during this period. Basil significantly influenced Armenian Christianity, with monasticism–particularly cenobitic monasticism–enjoying growth.

The 5th century was one of significant upheaval in Armenia and the Christian hierarchy there. After Mesrop Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet around 405, the Bible, Divine Liturgy, and other texts were soon translated from the Greek by a group known as the Holy Translator Doctors. Both Mesrop and Isaac of Armenia, a later Catholicos, further expanded the role of monastics following the Basilian monks.

The period between the 11th and 14th centuries saw liturgical latinisation of the Armenian Rite. Following the Bagratuni dynasty's collapse in 1045, fleeing Armenians established a new kingdom around Cilicia and Cappadocia. Armenian Christians began interacting with Latin Crusaders after the establishment of the Armenian see at Cilicia in the 12th century.

The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Rite is referred to as the "Liturgy of our Blessed Father the holy Gregory the Illuminator, revised and augmented by the holy patriarchs and teachers Isaac, Mesrop, Kud, and John Mantakuni", though Donald Attwater described these ascriptions as "patriotic flourishes". It is derived from the Liturgy of Saint Basil and has seen substantial influences from the Byzantine, Syriac, and Latin rites. The Armenian eucharistic liturgy, with its substantial interpolations, has also been identified as a blending of the Liturgy of Saint James and Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. Celebration of the Divine Liturgy is generally reserved to only Saturdays, Sundays, and great feasts; during Lent, celebrating the Divine Liturgy is relegated solely to Saturdays and Sundays.

Historically, there were at least ten anaphora used within the Armenian Rite. Presently, only one anaphora–the Patarag–remains in use, a rarity among Eastern Christian liturgies. An early recension of the Basilian anaphora from the survives in the historical record in an Armenian text, where it is described as coming from Gregory the Illuminator. This and other anaphoras were replaced in Armenian usage by a Cappadocian Greek anaphora attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria, among several translated by Catholicos John Mandakuni in the 5th century. By the mid-10th century, it is likely that Mandakuni's translated anaphora was the sole anaphora in use. The anaphora's attribution to Athanasius might explain why a 1314 Lyonese codex containing the Armenian Divine Liturgy is entitled the Missale Sancti Athanasii.

The liturgist Robert F. Taft hypothesized that there was also once a as well as an Armenian Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. While there is no evidence of such a Presanctified liturgy, Taft held that it may have originated from Palestinian Typika and evolved into the Armenian Liturgy of the Word, which formed the third canonical hour on Sundays.