Considering itself autocephalous, the Armenian church traces its origin from the preaching of St. Gregory the Illuminator at the beginning of the fourth century and also claims to be an apostolic foundation through St. Thaddeus. This double tradition stems from two evangelizing waves: the earlier came from Syria-Palestine and reached southern Armenia before the end of the second century, the other represented the hellenizing tradition of Cappadocian Caesarea introduced by Gregory into Armenia and continued by his descendants. This second wave, which predominated in the northern part of the country, ultimately prevailed over the Syrian one, whose existence was all but expunged from the sources.
The Armenian church only recognizes three ecumenical councils. It rejects the Council of Chalcedon as Nestorian, while simultaneously condemning Monophysitism, and holds to the Christological definition of Cyril of Alexandria: "One is the nature of the Incarnate Logos." Armenian primates ceased to be consecrated at Caesarea after the death of St. Nersis I the Great in the fourth century, but a break with Constantinople came only considerably later.
Despite this breach, adherents of Chalcedon remained numerous, especially in the western provinces of Armenia. The Armenia patriarch or katholikos resided from the fifth to the ninth century at Duin on Persian territory and was thus free to defy Byzantine ecclesiastical authority. Nevertheless, western Armenian bishops disregarded his injunctions and continued to attend Byzantine church councils. After the new partition of Armenia in 591, the Emperor Maurice even succeeded in installing a rival katholikos at Awan near Erevan, thus creating a schism that lasted some twenty years. Herakleios and his successors continued efforts to bring the Armenia church back into communion with Constantinople, but all compromise formulas failed, and in 725/6 the Council of Mantzikert proclaimed the union of the Armenian and Syrian churches, while maintaining the rejection of extreme Monophysitism. Some attempts at negotiation continued in Bagratid times. Armenian patriarchs corresponded with Photios and Nicholas I Mystikos, but the Council of Ani in 969 again condemned Chalcedonianism and its adherents in Armenia. Relations worsened in the eleventh century with polemics and forced rebaptisms occurring on both sides. During the sojourn of the katholikoi in Cilicia (1051-1444), a final attempt at union under the katholikos St. Nerses the Gracious (1166-73) failed after Emperor Manuel I died (1180); negotiations then focused, ultimately without success, on the Latin church, although relations between Armenia and Byzantium were not entirely severed.
Armenian liturgy follows the Greek liturgy attributed to St. Basil and the custom of distinguishing between black (celibate, monastic) and while (married, secular) clergy follows Byzantine usage. Other customs, however, differed from those of Byzantium: the use of Azymes and unmixed wine for the Eucharist, for example, as well as the early traditions involving hereditary patriarchs and clan bishops are purely indigenous.
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Last modified: Mon Dec 14, 1998