The Armenian Church Its Sister Churchs
By Jennifer Ounjian Staff Writer
Introduction: Throughout my studies I have always been interested in the
interaction and sharing between cultures. I hope that this two part series
will help us as Armenians identify our religious allies and build even
stronger "family" relations.
What
makes a people? What makes a culture? It has been said that the term "ethnic"
or "cultural" group can be used to define a group of people that share
a common land, history, and language. But what is the bond that holds us,
the Armenians, together in the Diaspora? If we no longer live in our homeland
and only know parts of our history what makes us call ourselves Armenians
after a few generations in America? Aside from language, the bond that
links Armenians to the homeland is religion. It is the thread that has
been woven into our memories and binds us to our ancestors. But what makes
our religion special and different? Are we the only people in the world
whose church belongs to the Lesser Eastern Orthodox family?
The
answer is no. There are actually 4 other churches that belong to our family.
They are the Syrian Church, the Indian Church of Malabar, the Egyptian
Coptic Church, and the Ethiopian Church. Christianity spread first from
Palestine through Northern Africa through Ethiopia, in Syria, Iran, as
far as India, and also in Anatolia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. But what
made us separate from the others?
Two
early Coptic contributions lead us to that answer. The first was the Catechetical
School of Alexandria before 200A.D. It was here that the Bible and Christianity
were studied by a wide variety of theologians and philosophers of the time
including St. Basil and Cyril the Great. This led to the Ecumencial Movement,
a series of four meetings or Councils of the hierarchy of all Christian
Churches to discuss Early Christian beliefs and traditions and decide upon
which rules and laws should be followed
It was
the Fourth Council, the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. which
marks the separation of East and West. At this meeting the Western Churches
accused the Coptic Church and its sister churches of following the Bishop
Eutyches, who believed in monophysitism, or the idea that the Lord Jesus
Christ has only one nature, the divine. However, it was not true that they
followed Eutyches. The Encyclopedia Coptica states that the Council wanted
to exile the Churches because of their belief in separation of Church and
state. It has also been theorized that the Eastern Churches resented the
growing political power of the Western Churches.
Despite
the reason, it is here that the Eastern Churches adopt the definition of
St. Cyril of Alexandria, which was stated at the 431 A.D. council, "the
one nature united in the Incarnate Word of God." This is to say that there
were two natures before incarnation but only one after the union, the human
nature (of Lord Jesus Christ) was not dissolved in the Divine but rather
the Divine made the human nature immediately it's own. This is what originally
bound us together as a family.
However,
questions still remain. It is maintained by most religious scholars that
Christianity was brought to the Armenians by the apostles St. Thaddeus
and St. Bartholomew in the 1st century; later the official conversion was
made by St. Gregory the Illuminator in 301 A.D. during the reign of King
Tiridates. The Coptic Church of Egypt traces its conversion back to St.
Mark in the first century and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to the time
of the Apostles and officially during the reign of King Ezana (320-356
AD.). But what was the relationship between the Armenian Church and its
sister churches in the 1st century and after the 451 A.D. Council? Dr.
Papazian, a professor of History at the University of Michigan, writes
that Armenian merchants frequented Antioch, Edessa and Nisibis (Northern
Mesopotamia) some of the earliest Christian sites. Aziz Atiya, a world
renowned scholar of Mediaeval and Near East studies and UNESCO committee
member, writes that the Egyptian Coptic missionaries moved freely through
Palestine, Syria, Cappadocia, Caesara, Arabia, and India.
What
relationships, if any, were held between the Armenians and the Copts? Did
Egyptian Copts or Ethiopians visit Armenia? Did Armenian merchants or missionaries
travel into Africa?
Unfortunately,
after 451 A.D. Egyptian Copts were under heavy religious persecution from
the ruling Byzantine Empire until 641 A.D. when they fell to Arab conquerors
and the promise of religious freedom. Armenia, which had won religious
freedom from the Persians in 484 A.D., also fell to Arab conquests in the
7th century. Dr. Atiya writes that during Arab rule Ethiopia had no contact
with anyone except Coptic Egyptians from about 650 A.D. until 1270 A.D..
In 1965
then Bishop Karekin Sarkissian writes that the Muslim conquests "had such
repercussions on the situation of these churches that their numbers and
influence were very much reduced and weakened....all such tribulations
converted these churches into inward looking, self contented communities."
Did
this massive Muslim domination keep the Eastern Orthodox Churches separate
and individual?
What
is the relationship between these Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 20th
century?
Of what
importance was the Conference of the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches
in 1965?
What
are the relationships of the Eastern Orthodox family in Fresno?
In Part
II I will attempt to answer these questions and explore some connections
between these peoples, these cultures that share one of the strongest bonds
that characterize a culture, religion.
For more information
on this subject: Atiya, Aziz. A History of Eastern Christianity. University
of Notre Dame Press, Indiana. 1968.
Bishop
Karekin Sarkissian. The Witness of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. 1968.
Papazian,
Dennis. Armenians. Web site http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/armenia.html