ARMENIAN CHURCH

[s. 67] : Its own writers claim that its history goes back to the time of Christ. One Abgar or Abgarus, King of Ede a, is said by Moses of Khorene, the Armenian historian, to have been converted by hearing of the wonderful works of Jesus and to have been baptized by Thaddeus, one of the seventy disciples first This Abgar is held sent out as mi ionaries. by the Armenians to have been their king, although Tacitus calls him King of the Arabs. It was not, however, until the 4th century that the Armenian nation, as a whole, accepted Christianity. At the beginning of that century Gregory the Illuminator preached at the that from Court of Armenia with such effect has been the that day to this Christianity For this national reUgion of the Armenians often called reason the Armenian Church is Armenians them”the Greg or i an Church.” The Church of the Ill us elves, however, call it “the minator (Lusavorchagan).” m,,,,^!. Church Persecution only served to endear the it has been time that from and people, to the Turkish Under identified with their nationahty. political organ rule each religious body is also a The Armenian Church is httle more than ism St therefore inseparably It is at present. pervaded by identified with the race, and is much of the corruption of Oriental Christianity. that Church Doctrine: 1. By accident— some say nurposely— the Armenians were not represented Ecumenical Church Council m the FourthChalcedon in 451 a.d., and which which met at condemned Nestor i an ism and Eutychianism When the decisions of the Council were reported of their poverty to them, owing po ibly to the proper language at that time, it not having words to distinguish the two ideas of the nature Christ, the decision of Christ and the person of Armenian was misunderstood. In a synod of ot bishops in 491 the decision of the Council Chalcedon was rejected, and at one of the synods now in Ru ia, their capital at that Tivan, Mono time they declared decidedly for the made physite doctrine. This doctrine is not prominent in their modern creeds. Other leading characteristics of the Armeof nians are: 2. „. ii. j- They beUeve the Spirit proceeds from the,. Father only. m. altho 3 They accept seven sacraments, unction practice, baptism, confirmation, and are intermingled. ^ j or old 4 They baptize infants eight days offering immediately immersion, threefold.,, i ^ le by them the communion. and worship 5. They accept transubstantiation,. the consecrated elements as God., use unleavened bread, which is 6. They dipped in the wine and given to the people, who receive it into the mouth from the hand ot, the priest. 7.,,, -r,, They pray for the dead, but deny Purga, confe ion to the 8. They practice auricular absolupriest, who imposes penance and grants tion, but gives no indulgences. saints, and 9. They pray to the Virgin and to have great faith in their mediation. With’ the _ Greelvs, they reject images and accept pictures. 10. They believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary “the Mother of God.” 11. i?hey regard baptism and regeneration as the same thing, and have no practical concepAll are saved who partake tion of a new birth. obof all of the sacraments, do proper penance, serve the fasts of the Church, and perform good works..,,. i- Original sm is removed by baptism, actual sin by confe ion and penance. Services are held in the church each morning at sunrise and each evening at sunset throughout the year. The altar is invariably toward the east. The sacrament of the Lord s Supper partake is observed twice a week, but the people Ma is observed usually only twice a year. Conas one of the formal rites of the Church. 12. 50 Armenian Clinrcli Armenians fe ion to the priest for participation. is a nece ary preparation,, „ m. t. Church Church Goi-ernmeni.— Originally the Catholicos the head, spiritual was under one.. He resided at the general bishop. arose, and at Sivas but later contentions with them divisions, until now there are three who hold his office: one, recognized as the Supreme Catholicos, resides at Echmiadzin, their holy city, now in Ru ia; one at Aghtamar, who was first upon an island in Lake Van, in Eastern Turkey; and one at Sis, in the ancient province of Cilicia. the consecration ot the Echmiadzin Catholicos the dead hand of Gregory the Illuminator is even now employed as a It is said that at medium of succe ion. The Catholicos alone can ordain bishops and consecrate the sacred ceremonies of oil which is used in the various the Church. Turkey Besides the Catholicos, there are two patriarchs, one of whom resides at Const an These offices tinople and one at Jerusalem. were established by Mohammedan authority The patriarch must for political purposes alone. have a bishop s office ecclesiastically, but to this is added considerable influence with the government and over all Greg or i an Armenians -mi m The patriarch of Constantinople is, by virtue of his office, the recognized Turkey. civil head of the Armenian Church in There are nine different grades of Armenian whom are consecrated by the clergy, all of laying on of hands. These, in the order of rank, are: Catholicos, bishop, priest, deacon, in civil matters. sub-deacon, candle-lighter, reader, exorcist, There is also a cla called vartaThe priests, beds, who are preaching monks. are married, and must have a wife at the time The remarry. of ordination, but can never priest cannot become a bishop unle his wife and porter. dies..^,. Work Among The idea that the Church is Armenians: coextensive with the Armenian race, so that one who withdraws from the Church rejects Church is already 2. The nationality. his Christian, and consequently Christian life has Obstacles Peculiar to Mi ionary 1. 3. relation to the Christian profe ion. from the side of the Turkish in Government, in erecting buildings and little The difficulty, maintaining Christian and educational insti- 4. The existing poverty and opprestutions. sion, accompanied by Oriental penuriousne . 5 The turning of the attention of young men oppresto the Western world, as a refuge from and ma acre, and the consequent emigration of large numbers. Encouragements: 1. The religious Peculiar nature of the race, and the fact that they accept 2. The desire the Bible as the Word of God. peculiar relation of 3. The education. for the Armenians to the 14,000,000 of other races among whom they dwell, and who must be reached through the evangelized Armenian largely Church. 4. Since mi ion work began among the Armenians, there has been a gradual rejection of their superstitions and reliance upon of rites, and a marked awakening in the line owing to the late years, 5. Of education. urgent demands of the people for the Gospel preaching, the vartabeds, bishops, and sometimes the priests and teachers, preach, and their sermons are often evangelical in tone and full of wholesome advice. sion. _ ’ 61 In ecclesiastical matters the Armenian Church reckons a.d. 551 as the year 1. This is the point of departure for the dates found in nearly all old manuscripts of the Church. Fortescue (E. F. K.), The Armenian Church, London, 1872, Bianchini (P.). The Armenian Ritual (with European musical notation); Venice, 1876, 4to; Lynch (H. F. B.), Armenia, London, 1901; Anderson (R.), History of Miaaiona to the Oriental Churches, Boston, 1870, 2 vols. 8vo.: ARMENIAN LANGUAGE: Belongs to the the Iranic branch of the Aryan family of lan It has two marked divisions, the anguages. cient, written language, which is rich in vocabulary and inflection, and the modern, spoken, which has dropped many of the older forms and constructions, and contains Persian and Turkish roots and idioms. The difference between these two branches of Armenian is very marked; it is something the same as that between The ancient language the Latin and Italian. was the product of an age of learning, and was then embodied in literary works. The modern tongue is the result of centuries of ignorance, without books, literature, or education. The difference between these two branches is now so great that an uneducated person can understand little or nothing of the cla ical language. There are two principal spoken Armenian dialects at the present time the Ararat dialect, which is spoken by many of the Armenians in Ru ia and Persia, and the western dialect, which is used in Southern Ru ia, Western Armenia, and Eastern Asia Minor. The Bible has been translated into both these dialects. The difference between these two dialects consists mostly in forms and constructions. Altho there was a language, there was no Armenian alphabet until the beginning of the 5th century. At that time Mesrop, one of the learned saints of the Church, invented 36 of the 38 characters; the two others were added later. The relation of Armenian to other languages is yet a question of discu ion and doubt. Perhaps one-third of the Armenians in Turkey, especially those in the southern and western parts, and in the Kurdish Mountains, have lost their vernacular, and speak only Turkish or Kurdish. An effort is being made in Ru ia to force Ru ian upon the Armenians in place of their own tongue. — ARMENIANS: It is probable that no country of the size of that anciently called Armenia now has so many separate races preserving their identity among inhabitants. its The early history of these peoples is so mixed with myth and legend that the truth is difficult to find. During the A yrian and Median periods there was evidently a great organized monarchy, with a strong military power, in the Lake Van basin. The Van inscriptions show a line of kings who were, both in civilization and in military powers, far in advance of any of their contemporaries in neighboring kingdoms. At times tliey were formidable enemies to the Medes. This country was well known to the A yrians as early as the 9th century b. c. At tliat time three principal races occupied the territory. These were the Nairi, who were spread from the mountains west of Lake Van along both sides of the Tigris to the Euphrates, and even farther; thQ Urarda (people of Ararat), who dwelt to the north and east of the Nairi, on the Upper Euphrates, about Lake Van and po ibly on the Araxes; and the Minni, whose country lay to Armenian Chnrch’ Armenians soutlieast of the Urarda, in the Urmia basin. The Nairi, Urarda, and the Minni were propably Turanian or, at least, non-Aryan, races. Their congeners in Western Asia were tlie early Babylonians, and not the Medes, the Persians,, or the Plirygians. Besides tliese tliree races, it is evident, according to Sayce, from inscriptions recently deciphered, that, even at the time of the Egyptian King Tliotmes IV., there was a powerful race in tlie north called the Hittites, or Khiti. In the records of the conquests of A ur-nazir-pal mention is made of his conquests among the Hittites. As far as we can learn, nearly all of these conquests were made within the limits of Armenia or upon its borders. What became of this people is not known at the present day. These races appear to have maintained their independence until the time of A ur-bani-pal, about 640 b. c, when tlie last king of this series succumbed to the A yrian yoke. But, at the time of Hero dot us, everything seems to indicate that a strange people had entered the land, bringing with them a new the new names and customs, and a new The source from which they came is doubtful. Hero dot us and Stephen believe they came from Phrygia, while their language and religion would indicate Media. One thing is certain: the old Turanians had ceased to rule, and the Armenian race had been formed, which is undoubtedly a mixture of the ruling Aryan language, religion. tribes with the primitive Turanian populations. The word “Armenia,”used in Isaiah xxxvii:38 and 2 Kings xix:37, is an incorrect translation for “the land of Ararat.” Armenian histories describe the events of some sixteen centuries respecting which contemporary evidence has not yet been found. According to them, the first ruler of Armenia was Haik,, the son of Togarmah, the son of Gomar, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah. This Haik is said to have left Babylon to escape the tyranny of Belus, the King of As syria. Belus pursued him to the land of Ararat, and there, in a great was slain by Haik. This occurred some twenty-three centuries b. c. At this time the battle, Armenian kingdom was set up. Even to this; day the Armenians call themselves Haik, and their country Haiasdan. Several centuries later, they say, Aram, the seventh from Haik, having incurred the hatred of the Queen of As syria, was slain in a battle with that nation, and his kingdom became an A yrian province. It may be mentioned in pa ing that the name Aram appears among the kings who left inscriptions upon the roclcs at Van. But neither his race nor his language shows any affinity to the Armenian. The Armenian histories narrate that at the time of the captivity of Israel a certain number of the Hebrews escaped to the mountains of Armenia and intermarriages took place. Later the Armenian King Dikran (Tigranes) was the friend and ally of Cyrus. His succe or was Vahakn, celebrated in song and story for his great victories, and deified after deatli. The last of the Haik dynasty was Vahe, who was an ally of Darius III. against the Maced on i ans, and was defeated and slain by them. From that time Armenia was trampled by conquering armies until 190 B. c, when the country was freed by two Armenian nobles, -K’ho divided it, one of them ruling over Armenia Major, and With the Jews. in this respect, as in others, world, however their dispersal throughout the which was north the other over Armenia Minor, division conand west of the Euphrates^ This (Tigranes) tinued until 89 E. c, when Dikran II. (Artaxus), conquered of the line of Ardashes Armenia Minor and united the two kingdoms. other races and the Armenians intermarry with disintegration has a distinct tendency to race ally ot Kome, In 67 B c. Armenia became an was captured but rebelling, their king, Ardavaz Alexandria by bv Pompey and beheaded in became Cleopatri, 30 b. c, and the country turwas tributary to Rome. The country moil for two and a half centuries thereafter. became In 261 of the Christian era Armenia royal family again subject to Persia. All of the son of the were slain except Durtad, the young 286, by the escaped to Rome, and m m He kino the ArmehelS of Rome, was established upon the Armenian throne. It was through him that nians as a nation accepted Christianity. Persia to subvert It was the constant effort of Armenian Christianity and establish Magianism To this end, cruel persecutions in its stead. were were undertaken, and frequent incursions the From 632 to 859 a. d. Armenia was made between the scene of almost ince ant struggle and it Eastern Empire and the Mohammedans, became by turns subject to each. came In 859 the dynasty of the Pagratidae by both the into power, and was recognized Constantinople, Caliph and the Emperor of country but in 1079 the greater part of the became dependent upon Constantinople. Taurus the A small kingdom remained itself Mountains, north of Cilicia, which alhed crusades. with European monarchs during the maintained its independence until 1375, when m It the last Armenian king, Leo VI., bv the Egyptians and banished. was captured Armenia lost its separate The greater part of the east country was annexed to Turkey, while the Persia and the ern section remained subject to From national • this time existence. northeast to Ru ia.^ Ru ia took another large section of Armenia in 1878. Personal Characteristics: As far as moral concerned, the Armenian compares Ages favorably with the other races of the East. disposed them to of subjection have generally They have now little hope quiet submi ion. altho a con of political restoration as a nation, end stant agitation is carried on with that Armenians are cultivators of the traits are view The soil, artisans, m merchants, They and bankers dealings. are persevering and shrewd in financial compare In Asiatic Turkey the Greeks alone can in trades, profe ions, busine abihty, with them and general intelligence. The Greek more is more speculative and the Armenian slower and In the finances of the Turkish Gov cautious. ernment some Armenians hold high positions, and in many ways they have rendered them and lite selves indispensable to the prosperity In spite of the general increase of the country. poverty throughout Turkey, the Armenians, of the ma acres of 1895-96, held their own better than the other races. of up to the period The number of Armenians who are now scattered throughout the world is estimated at from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000. Perhaps two The rest thirds of the race reside in Turkey. are in 5S Armenians Arya SomaJ Ru ia, Persia, India, China, Africa, Europe, North and South America, and in nearly every country of the world. Up to the present time the nation has preserved its individuality to a remarkable degree, resembhng Language, aad ““^^ee ako Armenia, Armenian Armenian Church. vols, 8°.; Cur- 1901, 2 Lvnch (H F. B.), Arm-enia, LondonErzroom, London, 1854, zon (R ), Armenia: A Year at Armenia, New 8° Harris York (J. R. & H. B.), Letters from 1897. 12°. 70