The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian institutions. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates III, of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus of Edessa in the 1st century. St. Gregory the Illuminator was the first official primate of the church. It is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Church or Armenian Gregorian Church.
Jacob Baradaeus, also known as Jacob bar Addai or Jacob bar Theophilus, was the Bishop of Edessa from 543/544 until his death in 578. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Churches and his feast day is 31 July. Jacob's missionary efforts helped establish the non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Church, also known as the "Jacobite" Church after its eponymous leader, and ensured its survival despite persecution.
The Bachkovo Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa is a major Eastern Orthodox monastery in Southern Bulgaria. It is located on the right bank of the Chepelare River, 189 km from Sofia and 10 km south of Asenovgrad, and is directly subordinate to the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The monastery is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine, Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith.
The Mileševa Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Prijepolje, in southwest Serbia. It was founded by King Stefan Vladislav I, in the years between 1234 and 1236. The church has frescoes by the most skillful artists of that time, including one of the most famous in Serbian culture, the "White Angel", which depicts an angel at Christ's tomb. Mileševa is considered to contain one of the most beautiful works of European arts from Middle ages.
The Church of Kish, also known from different sources as Church of Saint Elishe or Holy Mother of God Church, is a Georgian Orthodox church, probably dating to the early 12th century, inactive due to lack of parishioners since the 19th century, although -as of 2000- mass was still regularly held by a Georgian priest. It is located in the village of Kiş approximately 5 km north of Shaki, Azerbaijan. Archaeological research undertaken in 2000 concluded that it was first built as a diophysite Georgian church, later to become a Chalcedonian church. Previous research had proposed that it had functioned at different times as a Caucasian Albanian Apostolic church, a Chalcedonian church within the Georgian Orthodox Church, and later as an Armenian Apostolic Church.
Armenian architecture comprises architectural works with an aesthetic or historical connection to the Armenian people. It is difficult to situate this architectural style within precise geographical or chronological limits, but many of its monuments were created in the regions of historical Armenia, the Armenian Highlands. The greatest achievement of Armenian architecture is generally agreed to be its medieval churches and seventh century churches, though there are different opinions precisely in which respects.
Coptic history is the part of the history of Egypt that begins with the introduction of Christianity in Egypt in the 1st century AD during the Roman period, and covers the history of the Copts to the present day. Many of the historic items related to Coptic Christianity are on display in many museums around the world and a large number is in the Coptic Museum in Coptic Cairo.
Akhtala, also known as Pghindzavank is a 10th-century Armenian Apostolic monastery located in the town of Akhtala in the marz of Lori, 185 kilometers (115 mi) north of Yerevan and 87 kilometers south of Tbilisi. The monastery is currently inactive. The fortress played a major role in protecting the north-western regions of Armenia (Gugark) and is among the most well preserved of all in modern Armenia. The main church at the compound is famous for its highly artistic frescoes, which cover the inside walls, the partitions, and the bearings of the building. The frescoes of Akhtala Monastery, in Armenian-Chalcedonian style, were commissionned by the Zakarid ruler Ivane I Zakarian in 1205-1216.
Hovhannavank is a medieval monastery located in the village of Ohanavan in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. The monastery stands on the edge of the Kasagh River canyon, and its territory is adjacent to the village of Ohanavan. The deep gorge is carved by the Kasagh River.
There is a very small community of Armenians in Ethiopia, primarily in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Armenians had traded with Ethiopia as far back as the first century AD.
Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils—the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches.
The Church of Albania or the Albanian Apostolic Church was an ancient, briefly autocephalous church established in the 5th century. In 705, It fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Catholicosate of Aghvank centered in Caucasian Albania, a region spanning present-day northern Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan.
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is one of the oldest branches in Christianity.
Bana is a ruined early medieval cathedral in present-day Erzurum Province, eastern Turkey, in what had formerly been a historical marchland known to Armenians as Tayk and to Georgians as Tao.
Sanahin Monastery is an Armenian monastery founded in the 10th century in Sanahin in the Lori Province of Armenia.
Zakarid Armenia alternatively known as the Zakarid Period, describes a historical period in the Middle Ages during which the Armenian vassals of the Kingdom of Georgia were ruled by the Zakarid-Mkhargrzeli dynasty. The city of Ani was the capital of the princedom. The Zakarids were vassals to the Bagrationi dynasty in Georgia, but frequently acted independently and at times titled themselves as kings. In 1236, they fell under the rule of the Mongol Empire as a vassal state with local autonomy.
Arakelots Monastery was an Armenian monastery in the historic province of Taron, 11 km south-east of Mush (Muş), in present-day eastern Turkey. According to tradition, Gregory the Illuminator founded the monastery to house relics of several apostles. The monastery was, however, most likely built in the 11th century. During the 12th-13th centuries it was a major center of learning. In the following centuries it was expanded, destroyed and renovated. It remained one of the prominent monasteries of Turkish (Western) Armenia until the Armenian genocide of 1915, when it was attacked and subsequently abandoned. It remained standing until the 1960s when it was reportedly blown up. Today, ruins of the monastery are still visible.
The Chapel of Dzordzor, is part of an Armenian monastery located in Maku County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, on Zangmar River near the village of Baron. The monastery had its heyday in the fourteenth century before being abandoned and destroyed in the early seventeenth century, when Shah Abbas I decided to displace the local Armenians.
Avag Zakarian or Avag Mkhargrdzeli was an Armenian noble of the Zakarid line, and a Court official of the Kingdom of Georgia, as atabeg and amirspasalar of Georgia from 1227 to 1250.
Shahnshah Zakarian was a member of the Armenian Zakarid dynasty, and a Court official of the Kingdom of Georgia, holding the office of amirspasalar (Commander-in-Chief) of the Georgian army. He was the son of Zakare II Zakarian, and the father of Zakare III Zakarian, who participated to the Siege of Baghdad in 1258.
