Eastern Christian Monasticism - Armenian Monasticism

Armenian Monasticism

In 301, Armenia became the first sovereign nation to officially accept Christianity as a state religion. The Armenian Apostolic Church eventually became a great defender of Armenian nationalism.

In 451 the Armenian church rejected the Council of Chalcedon. and today is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion (not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox communion). The first Catholicos of the Armenian church was Saint Gregory the Illuminator. St. Gregory soon withdrew to the desert to live as a hermit, and his youngest son, Aristakes, was ordained a Bishop and appointed head of the Armenian Church.

In the 5th century, the Sassanid Shah Yazdegerd II tried to impose the Zoroastrian religion on his Christian Armenian subjects. As a result, a rebellion broke out with Vartan Mamikonian as the leader of the rebels. Eventually, the Treaty of Nvarsak (484), guaranteed religious freedom to the Armenians.

In 591, the great Byzantine warrior and Emperor Maurice defeated the Persians and recovered much of the remaining territory of Armenia into the empire. The conquest was completed by the Emperor Heraclius in 629.

In 645, the Muslim Arab armies of the Caliphate attacked the country, which fell before them. Armenia, which had at times been under the contol of its own rulers and at other times been under Persian and Byzantine control, now passed into the hands of the Caliphs.

After the fall of the kingdom in 1045, and the subsequent Seljuk conquest of Armenia in 1064, the Armenians established a kingdom in Cilicia, where they established cordial relations with the Europeans and prolonged their existence as an independent entity until 1375. Greater Armenia was later divided between the Ottoman Empire and Imperial Russia. Armenians then suffered in the genocide that was inflicted on them by the Ottomans. As a result, 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and the rest of the Western Armenians were dispersed throughout the world via Syria and Lebanon. Armenia, from then on corresponding to much of Eastern Armenia, once again gained independence in 1918, with the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, and then in 1991, with the Republic of Armenia. Throughout the waxing and waning of the Armenian's political vicissitudes, monasticism remained a central aspect of their spiritual life.

The Armenian church has both married (secular) and monastic (celibate) clergy. Armenian monks follow much the same monastic tradition as the Coptics and Byzantines, but are much stricter in the matter of fasting. The novitiate lasts eight years.

A Hieromonk, or celibate priest, declares a vow of celibacy the evening of the same day he is ordained and is given a veghar, a special head-cover, which symbolizes his renunciation of worldly things. A celibate priest is given the title of Monk (Armenian: Abegha). Upon successful completion and defense of a written thesis, on a topic of his choosing, the Monk receives the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet). This indicates that he is a “Doctor” of the Church and receives the right to carry the staff of an Archimandrite. A higher rank of Senior Archimandrite (Dzayraguyn Vardapet) can be granted after completing and defending a doctoral thesis. The rank can only be granted by Bishops who themselves have attained the rank of Senior Archimandrite. The bishops are elected from among those celibate priests who have achieved the rank of archimandrite.

Most Armenian bishops live in monasteries. Etchmiadzin, the residence of the Catholikos of all Armenians, is the spiritual center of the Armenian Church. There is also a Catholicos of Cilicia, who resides in Antilyas in Lebanon, and leads the churches belonging to the Holy See of Cilicia. Since 1461 there has been an Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. The Armenians possess the huge monastery of St. James, the centre of the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, where their Patriarch of Jerusalem lives, and the convent of Deir asseituni on Mount Zion with numerous nuns.

At present, there are three monastic brotherhoods in the Armenian Church: the Brotherhood of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Brotherhood of St. James at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Brotherhood of the Holy See of Cilicia. Each Armenian celibate priest becomes a member of the brotherhood in which he has studied and ordained in or under the jurisdiction of which he has served. The brotherhood makes decisions concerning the inner affairs of the monastery. Each brotherhood elects two delegates who take part in the National Ecclesiastical Assembly.

The Mechitarists (Armenian: Մխիթարեան), also spelled Mekhitarists, are a congregation, founded in 1712 by Mechitar, of Armenian Benedictine monks in communion with the Catholic Church. They are best known for their series of scholarly publications of ancient Armenian versions of otherwise lost ancient Greek texts.