goodne.ws

Armenian Apostolic

Grew from
Oriental Orthodox
From
301 AD
Origin
Armenia

Armenia adopted Christianity as the religion of the kingdom in 301, before any other state. Fighting the Persians at Avarayr in 451, the Armenian bishops were absent from Chalcedon and later declined its formula. The church held national identity together through centuries without a state, and through the genocide of 1915.

What marks it out

Its own alphabet, devised by Mesrop Mashtots around 405 specifically so that scripture and liturgy could be Armenian — the script is still the national one. The Catholicos of All Armenians at Etchmiadzin, on the site where Gregory the Illuminator is said to have been shown where to build. Unleavened bread and undiluted wine at the eucharist, unlike the Byzantine practice.

Alongside it

Also from Oriental Orthodox.

In the record

  1. 451 AD Division

    Council of Chalcedon

    Defined Christ as one person in two natures. The Coptic, Syriac and Armenian churches rejected the formula, becoming the Oriental Orthodox.

This body appears in the history but does not carry recorded doctrinal positions here, so it is absent from the comparison panels.

Go deeper in church history

Go deeper in church history on Amazon