Armenian Religion

The Armenian Religion

Most people in the world do not have a lot of knowledge on the history or culture of the Armenian religion, yet some may not even know where it stems from. As a matter of fact, Armenian people are one of the oldest Christians in the world. The stepping stones of the Armenian religion comes from parts of Christianity. Although this group is considered Christian, their individuality still continues on to this day. Armenians take the name of the Christians and combine it with Eastern Orthodox. Some focuses of the church are technically different from Catholics, but still believe in the same concept just different ways. These people are considered to be under the denomination of Oriental Orthodox, and their beliefs are considered

This religion is a part of the Oriental Orthodox, but mostly takes on some habits of Christianity. This church originates in the undertakings of the great Apostles names Bartholomew and Thaddeus. The main church is known as the Gregorian Church or the Armenian Orthodox Church. The church is named after the founder of the religion St. Gregory the Enlightener because of the way he spread the religion throughout the world. St. Gregory became well-known for his brave actions in converting Armenia from paganism to Christianity in 301 A.D. He was the son of an Armenian Parthian noble, who was a part of the Iranian army. St. Gregory got in trouble with the king and was sent to prison for 14 years because of his betrayal of the Roman Empire to the Persian or Median Empire. The King of Armenia, decided to release him after his term and make him his mentor. St. Gregory became the Father of the First Armenian Church, and the king asked him to baptize his child and the rest of the people who converted to Christianity. This conversion was a unity of the nation to boost the ethnic identity between the two superpowers, the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. The same year Armenia adopted Christianity, the Mother Church of Etchmiadzin, which is the country's spiritual capital, was built. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Armenian Apostolic Church experienced multiple difficulties that caused the church to shrink. While the Ottoman Empire was in rule, the members of the church were assassinated by the Turks, causing the numbers of the church to decrease drastically. "Some Armenians took their faith with them, and now Armenian Apostolic churches are located in a number of countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, and the United States. The Armenian Apostolic Church has approximately six million members" (Mohn