βØàôðæ

KAMURJ

It was in the year 301 AD., at the beginning of the fourth century, that Christianity became the prevailing religion in Armenia. Before that date it had never ceased to be the object of persecution. But we must admit that the accounts which have come down to us of the existence and of the progress of Christianity in Armenia during the three previous centuries, are as scanty as they devoid of importance. They cannot bear, from the point of view of fullness of information, comparison with the records which deal with the same period of Graeco-Roman history. But deficiency of records by no means establishes a proof of the non-existence of an actual fact.

The Graeco-Roman world, then the apogee of its civilization, comprised within it a large number of writers and scholars, and through its school was in the forefront of intellectual progress. Armenia, on the other hand, was still plunged in ignorance. Far from being in possession of a national literature, she was still in search of an alphabet. Under these conditions, one must admit that it has been of interest to posterity. Nevertheless, whatever facts have handed down to us by national tradition, with the additional support of the narratives of foreign writers, are more than sufficient, we presume, to prove the existence of Christianity at definite periods. Now, common sense precludes us from thinking that the spread of the faith could have undergone intermittent eclipses during this space of time. Records such as these, detached and with no connecting bond between them, follow each other during that period, and prove the unbroken existence of Christianity in Armenia.

In this connection we should mention an early tradition ascribing to the see of Ardaze a line of seven bishops, namely, Zakaria for a period of Sixteen years; Zementus, four years; Atirnerseh, fifteen years; Mousche, thirty years; Schahen, twenty-five years; Schavarsch, twenty years; and Ghevondius, seventeen years. A computation of these periods carries us to the end of the second century.

Another tradition assigns to the see of Sunik a line of eight bishops, who were the successors of St. Eustathius, the first evangelizer of that province. These bishops are Kumsi, Babylas, Mousche, who was afterwards translated to the see of Ardaze, Movses (Moses) of Taron, Sahak (Isaac) of Taron, Zirvandat, Stepanus (Stephen), and Hovhannes (John). With this last we are brought to the first quarter of the third century.

Moreover, Eusebius quotes a letter of the patriarch Dionysius of Alexandria, written in 254 AD, to Mehroujan (Mitrozanes), bishop of Armenia, who was a successor of the above mentioned bishops of Ardaze.

The Armenian Church contains in her martyrology the commemoration of many Armenian martyrs of the apostolic era. We notice therein the names of St. Sandoukhte, of royal blood; of St. Zarmandoukhte, a noble lady; of satraps such as St. Samuel and St. Israel; of a thousand Armenians who were martyred at the same time as the apostle St. Thaddeus; of St. Ogouhie, a royal princess, and of St. Terentius, a soldier, who were martyred with the apostle St. Bartholomew; and of the holy virgins Mariam of Houssik, Anna of Ormisdat, and Martha of Makovtir, disciples of St. Bartholomew. The Church calendar contains the festivals of St. Oski (Chryssus) and of his four companions, of St. Soukias and of his eighteen companions, who were martyred at the beginning of the second century. The Latin martyrology commemorates St. Acacius with ten thousand militiamen, who were martyred on Ararat, in Armenia, in the reign of Hadrian.

To these facts must be added the passage in Tertullian, the well-known ecclesiastical writer of the second century, who in quoting the text of the Acts of the Apostles (II. 9), where the countries are enumerated whose languages were heard by the people on the of Pentecost, makes mention of Armenia, lying between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, in place of Judaea, which is the one named in the text of the ordinary Bible. Judaea could not have been included among foreign countries, and we know that it is not situated between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia. Logically speaking, the country indicated is no other than Armenia. St. Augustine likewise follows the reading of Tertullian. We thus see that the two fathers of the African Church were impresses with the conviction that Christianity was spread among the Armenians in the apostolic age.

Indeed, the almost instantaneous conversion of the whole of Armenia to Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century cannot be explained but by the pre-existence of a Christian element which had taken root in the country. As a matter of fact, history records religious persecutions which must have been perpetrated by the kings Artasches (Artaxerxes) about the year 110 AD, Khosrov (Chosroes) about 230, and Tirdat (Tiridates) about 287. These would certainly not have occurred if there had not been in Armenia a large number of Christians. It was during the last of these persecutions that the martyrdom took place of St. Theodore Salahouni, who was put to death by his own father, the satrap Souren.

Confronted by such facts, we are justified in interring the existence of Christianity in Armenia during the first three centuries; that it counted amongst its adherents a considerable number of the people; and that this first nucleus of the faithful, by its steadfast energy, at length succeeded in gaining the mastery over both obstacles and persecutions.