Vahe H Apelian
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| Courtesy Արշակունիններ Facebook account |
The Arshakuni King Drtad III, not only had the Armenian nation adopt Christianity in 301 as its state religion but also established the Armenian Church. However it also planted the seeds of the Armenian State and the Armenian Church conflict.
I would like to note that the schisms in Armenian church started in the 18th century. The Armenian Catholic Church came about on November 26, 1742, and the Armenian Evangelical Church came about on July 1, 1846. Before those dates all Armenians, without exception, belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church which was known as the Armenian Church. The designation as Armenian Apostolic Church, in distinction to the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Armenian churches, is relatively recent. It is within that context that I have titled my blog as the conflict between the Armenian State and the Armenian Church.
Thirty and a few more years into the third (second?) republic, Armenia is brewing with state and church conflict. A few days ago, on June 13, 2024, before embarking on his final presentation in the National Assembly about the 2023 annual state budget implementation, the PM addressed the confrontation that happened the day before, on June 12, between the police and the demonstrators who were pressing to enter, if not storm, the government building where the government was in session. In his address he named two persons who, he claimed, stood behind the protesters, the former president Robert Kocharian and the Catholicos of All Armenian Karekin II. I wonder if such an outright naming an Armenian bishop leading the conflict with the Armenian state had happened before.
But the Armenian State and the Armenian Church conflict is not something new. Save through the centuries when there was no Armenian state and the Armenian church was de facto acting as the state, there was no reason for church and state conflict, which started almost right after the Arshakuni king Drtad III, had Armenians convert to Christianity. In my previous blog, I had highlighted on the matter of the national conversion to Christianity and noted that, there appeared to be more to the conversion than just embracing the new faith for the new faith’s sake. Those interested may read the blog I linked below.
It is interesting to note that it is claimed that the coat-of-Arms of the Arshakunis was the eagle and that after converting to Christianity, the dynasty still kept the eagle as their coat-of-arms, but had the eagle depicted with two heads (see the picture above). It is not far-fetched to imagine that not all embraced the conversion and that many, among the nobility and the laity, may have very well fiercely reject it. We should bear in mind that some of the Arshakunis themselves and some among nobles of the court, were also Zoroastrian priests, including King Arshak I who had the Roman temple built at Garni that stands to this day and is one of the must-see touristic sites. It is said that some of the rituals of the Armenian Church service and the pageantry of the mass may have their roots in Zoroastrian worship services.
It can be argued that the Arshakounis adopted the eagle with two heads to placate the old believers who may have converted to Christianity but had not given up on zoroastratism altogether.
We should bear in mind that with the establishment of the Armenian Church in 301, there came about a hereditary ecclesiastical dynasty. The firs person who occupied the spiritual throne, Gregory the Illuminator was a true princely blue blood himself.
Who was Gregory the Illuminator?
I post the following from Wikipedia:
““Gregory the Illuminator[a] (Classical Armenian: Գրիգոր Լուսաւորիչ, reformed spelling: Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ, Grigor Lusavorich;[b] c. 257 – c. 328) is said to have been the son of a Parthian nobleman, Anak who assassinated the Arsacid king of Armenia Khosrov II (Note: The father of Drtad III). The young Gregory was saved from the extermination of Anak's family and was raised as a Christian in Caesarea of Cappadocia. Gregory returned to Armenia as an adult and entered the service of King Tiridates III, who had Gregory tortured after he refused to make a sacrifice to a pagan goddess. After discovering Gregory's true identity, Tiridates had him thrown into a deep pit well called Khor Virap for 14 years. Gregory was miraculously saved from death and released after many years with the help of Tiridates' sister Khosrovidukht. Gregory then converted the King to Christianity, and Armenia then became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD. Gregory, the Illuminator, then healed King Tiridates, who the hagiographical sources say had been transformed into a boar for his sins, and preached Christianity in Armenia. He was consecrated bishop of Armenia at Caesarea, baptized King Tiridates and the Armenian people, and traveled throughout Armenia, destroying pagan temples and building churches in their place.”
In a master stroke, King Drtad III may have taken the power of the Zoroasterian order, but in its place, he established a Christian spiritual ecclesiastical dynasty, a power base nonetheless. The throne of the Catholicos in Etchmiadzin remained the property of the descendants of Gregory the Illuminator until the year 438, when the Artshakuni dynasty came to its end as well. St.Gregory’s last descendant to occupy the throne was Catholicos Sahag Bartev, who with the young monk Mesrob Mashdots is credited to come with the Armenian alphabet. Catholicos Sahak Bartev, passed away on September 7, 439. With his death the line of St. Gregory the Illuminator occupying the throne at Etchmiadzin came to an end. Catholicos St. Sahag Bartev had a daughter named Sahaganush and three grandsons, her sons. One whom became the most famous general in the Armenian history, Vartan Mamikonian.
The occupants of the ecclesiastical throne in Etchmiadzin, Gregory the Illuminator and his descendants, did not have the military resources of the state. But they commanded no less an effective resource, their spiritual reach and gave legitimacy to the Armenian king by baptizing him.
The Arshakunis thus not only founded the Armenian Church but also planted the seeds of a possible conflict between the Armenian secular state and the Armenian Christian church, which was bound to erupt and it did.
To be continued.
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Link:
The Arshakunis - The pagan dynasty who embraced Christianity.
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-arshakunis-pagan-dynasty-who.html
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