A nation rooted in Christianity
Can one be Armenian without being a Christian or, better yet, without belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church? The figures speak for themselves: 90% of the Armenians in Armenia and in the world are faithful to the national Church, the rest being divided between Catholics and Protestants. Despite the predominantly Muslim environment since the 7th century, cases of apostasy have been rare and many preferred exile rather than denying their faith during the Seljuk invasions in the 11th century. After the loss of their independence, Armenians experienced the fate of other Christians in the Ottoman and Persian Empires, but this inferior status (they were called raya in the Ottoman Empire) did not result in mass conversions. Islam was imposed on them by force at times in the Ottoman Empire, where Armenian and other Christian children were abducted and made into Janissaries, the most beautiful women entering the harem. It was also noted that there was a community of Muslim Armenians in Hamchen, on the Turkish-Georgian border. Finally, the genocide has provoked cases of forced conversions to Islam, whose descendants were revealed in the 2000s in Turkey. Because of this close interweaving of nation and faith, which is also peculiar to other Eastern Christians, it is difficult to distinguish between national and religious identity. The Church has often been seen as the last refuge from attempts at assimilation, and the clergy has taken an active part in defending the nation; and Armenians, whether or not they are practicing after 70 years of Soviet atheism, still regard their places of worship as markers of their identity.
From the pagan pantheon..
Before their conversion, Armenians worshipped a rich pantheon, whose deities have their equivalent in those of other Indo-European peoples. By dominating Urartou in the seventh century B.C., the Armenians put an end to the cult of the god Khaldu and other deities, but the Indo-European gods they had brought with them on their migration from the Balkans adapted to the local cults. This pantheon gave a major place to the god of fire and light, Vahagn, whose epic cycle was magnified by Armenian poetry: born of a thin reed stem emerging from a molten sea, he embodies the triumph of freedom and light over the dragon(Vichap), master of darkness and water, who thirsts men and torments them, along with the devils of pagan times. Agrarian and patriarchal, the Armenian civilization nevertheless gave a major role to Anahit, goddess of fertility and "mother of all purity", the "Lady of the Armenians" (Diguin Hayots). The Armenian pantheon was then enriched by Iranian and Hellenistic contributions, thanks to interactions around the Mediterranean basin. Armenia thus grants a large place to the Persian god Mithra (Mitra in India) to whom the temple of Garni was dedicated, and whose cult had even reached Rome.
... To Christianity
It was in this context that the first Christian communities appeared, persecuted as in Rome. Long before its conversion, Armenia had been evangelized by the apostles Thaddeus (43) and Bartholomew (68), both of whom had been martyred, which earned its Church apostolic status. The Church reports that these early saints had gained such prestige through their miracles that they led to a large number of baptisms by immersion, a rite which is still in force, with the baptized grouping together in a Syriac-type Church. If Bartholomew and Thaddaeus are the first "illuminators", it is to Saint Gregory (Krikor Lusavoritch) that this title is due, for having converted Armenia, which prides itself on being the first nation to adopt Christianity as the state religion, in 301 (tolerated by Constantine in 313, Christianity would not be the official religion of the Roman Empire until 392). The conversion of the nation was achieved through the "enlightenment" of its king, Trdat III. The Christians were then subject to the worst persecutions, which led to the martyrdom of Hripsimée and Gayanée, who were canonized and to whom two churches in Echmiadzin were dedicated, and also to Gregory, an Armenian nobleman who had studied Christianity in Cappadocia. He is thrown into a well (at Khor Virap, a popular place of pilgrimage) near the ancient capital Artachat, where he miraculously survives for 13 years until he is called to the king's bedside, suffering from madness.
According to the tradition reported by the historians Agathange and Moses of Khorene, King Trdat was transformed into a fawn beast, through cruelty to Christians; Gregory returned his humanity to him, a cure for which the king thanked him by embracing Christianity. Consecrated bishop in Caesarea of Cappadocia, Gregory baptized the king and the dignitaries of the state in the Aratzani, a tributary of the Euphrates, and became the first Catholicos of Armenia. Enlightenment" was not so sudden for all the inhabitants of Armenia, but Christianity was sufficiently established there by 451 to resist Persian efforts to restore paganism at the Battle of Avaraïr.An independent church
By adopting Christianity, Armenia was writing a new page in its history, with the letters of an alphabet created in 406 by Mesrop Machtots, later canonized. The creation of the alphabet sealed the union of Armenia and Christianity, of which the Holy Scriptures were the first texts translated into Armenian. The Armenian Church's rejection of the dogma adopted by Christendom at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 led to accusations of monophysitism (which recognizes only the divine nature of Christ), but the catholicos sitting in Etchmiadzin (Vagharchapat) gained in independence, while overcoming the threats of schism or division. The unity of the Armenian Church, however, was severely tested by the break-up of the nation: two patriarchates, one in Constantinople (legalized by the Ottomans in 1461) and the other, since 1311, in Jerusalem, where it manages part of the Holy Sepulchre; above it, two catholicossates, that of the Great House of Cilicia, created in Sis in the 12th century and seated in Antelias (Beirut) after the genocide, and that of Etchmiadzine, near Yerevan, whose catholicos, Karekine II, has a primacy of honour under the title of 'Catholicos of all Armenians'. Sovietization aggravated these divisions. Repressed under Stalin, who had the Catholicos Khoren I assassinated in 1938, the Church of Etchmiadzine was recovered by the Soviet regime in order to rally the diaspora to the Armenian SSR and neutralise the influence of the Catholicossate of Cilicia, which was independent. The collapse of the USSR put an end to this rivalry, re-establishing the unity of the Church, which is now preoccupied with its restoration in a country where it was only tolerated, and with the fight against the sects which have taken root in the spiritual vacuum. Armenia is composed of five dioceses - Aïrarat, Chirak, Siounik, Outik and Artsakh - but the Holy See of Etchmiadzine extends its authority over the dioceses created in the diaspora. The unity of the Armenian Church is based on its rite, one of the five great rites of the Church of the East, and its liturgy in ancient Armenian(Grabar), dating back to the5th century, with Byzantine contributions. Long accused of heresy for having remained faithful to the dogma of the early Churches according to which "Christ is one" - a unity illustrated by the celebration of the Nativity, Theophany and Epiphany on 6 January - the Armenian Church has been able to lift this long dogmatic misunderstanding about the nature of Christ, and is treated as an equal in the great Christian family, where it continues its ecumenical dialogue. This is the case with the Church of Rome, as shown by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 2001, and then of Pope Francis in 2017, especially since it does not have to fear the proselytism of Catholics, of whom Armenia has only a small community, as well as Protestants, who are more active. In close contact with Orthodoxy, represented in Armenia by a few thousand Russians and Ukrainians, the Armenian Church also promotes dialogue with Islam, which has no followers since the Azeris left the country in 1988-1990 because of the Karabakh conflict, and "protects" the Yezidis, the country's main religious minority. The Armenian Church is also actively fighting to preserve the diocese of Artsakh (Karabagh), hard hit by the 2020 war which cost it the superb monastery of Dadivank, which, along with the Ghazantchetsots cathedral of Shushi, came under the control of the Azeris, who are trying to exhume the ancient diocese of the Caucasian Albanians, a people now extinct who gravitated to the Armenian orbit before the arrival of the Turks (ancestors of the Azeris) in the region in the 11th century, to deny the Armenians any right to the places of worship in Karabagh, and more generally to the region.
Long-lasting traditions
Traditions are lost, they say, and Armenia is no exception to the rule, even if it prides itself on preserving them better. Paradoxically, the Soviet period, impervious to Americanization, allowed it to preserve many traditions. Beyond folklore, the traditions resisted, after independence, the effects of globalization, visible especially on the youth, who nevertheless remain proud of their customs, as well as of their language and culture. With the return in force of the Church, guardian of national traditions, the religious calendar has once again become a source of rehabilitated traditions and customs. Organized above all around the family, even if the patriarchal model is threatened by economic constraints that give an increasingly important role to women, the life of Armenians is punctuated by baptism, marriage and burial, which are each time an opportunity to meet and celebrate, even if it is a question of saying goodbye to a loved one. The tradition of madagh, the ritual sacrifice of an animal, sheep or more often lamb and chicken, is increasingly widespread in the cities as well as in the countryside on special occasions, to ward off bad luck. In the same way, the tradition of votive ribbons is still very much alive, all generations included: numerous wish trees bear witness to this, more often near holy places, displaying in their branches a multitude of multicoloured ribbons, papers and plastics which are all tangible signs of the wishes formulated elsewhere in churches, where a candle is lit for the occasion, before leaving, always backwards, signing and looking at the altar. Another tradition is that of eating grapes only after they have been blessed by the Church on August 15, which is less restrictive than observing the Lenten fast at Easter for 40 days. The development of tourism has also unearthed some buried traditions in the countryside, where old regional costumes are brought out of the closets. There is another tradition that has never been lost and to which Armenians are proud to sacrifice, despite the difficulties, that of hospitality. It is honoured even more in the countryside, where it is a duty to welcome the passing stranger and to break bread and salt with him, as the Church wishes, by inviting him to share his table, where a plate is always waiting for him, just in case..
