One of the founders of the Armenian church

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St Mesrop the Teacher​

Celebrated on February 19th

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A bishop born in 345, this saint was one of the founders of the Armenian church. He worked with St Isaac the Great as a missionary among his people.

St Mesrop developed an alphabet for the Armenian language and set up schools around the country. He then accomplished the massive task of organising a translation of the Bible - with students travelling as far as Rome to collect manuscripts. He contributed the Armenian version of the New Testament and the Book of Proverbs himself. St Mesrop also worked as a missionary in Georgia, where he also had a literary influence.

It was Mesrop and Isaac who began the formation of the Armenian liturgy of worship based on that of the mother church of Caesarea in Cappadocia. The Armenian translation of the Bible has a special value for scholars as it is so ancient. St Mesrop died in 439.

(from ICN)
 
I went to an Armenian cultural festival once—it was really fascinating.
They don’t believe that Jesus is human, only that He has divinity.
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
They don’t believe that Jesus is human, only that He has divinity.
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:confused::confused::confused:

Creed of the Armenian Church
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only-begotten, that is of the substance of the Father.

God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten and not made; of the same nature of the Father, by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible;

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, took body, became man, was born perfectly of the holy Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

By whom he took body, soul and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance.

He suffered and was crucified and was buried and rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father.

He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.

We believe also in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated and the perfect; who spoke through the Law and through the Prophets and through the Gospels;

Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles and dwelled in the saints.

We believe also in only one catholic and apostolic holy Church;

In one baptism with repentance for the remission and forgiveness of sins;

In the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies, in the kingdom of heaven and in the life eternal.
 
So am I not correct?
(Because one of the ladies at said cultural fair, who is Armenian, told me they only believe in His divinity, in which case she needs to be catechized, too!)
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
So am I not correct?
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I can only quote from the Armenian Creed @0Scarlett_nidiyilii, .

" Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, took body, became man, was born perfectly of the holy Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

By whom he took body, soul and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance."
 
Yes, that certainly looks like the lady told me something wrong 😳
 
That’s what we’re trying to get to the bottom of 🙂
 
The Armenian church is non-Chalcedonian, which places it in the same league as the Coptic and Ethiopian churches in the Oriental Orthodox communion. They confess, along with the other Oriental Orthodox churches, Miaphysitism, as compared (but not opposed) to the Chalcedonian Dyophysite formulation.

The Catholic Church does not consider Miaphysitism heretical (unlike Monophysitism).

This is probably what the Armenian lady meant, but was poorly worded, probably due to language barriers (?). While non-Chalcedonian, the Armenian church most certainly rejects Monophysitism.
 
Porthos is correct. The Armenian Apostolic Church does not accept the Council of Chalcedon. There is, however, an Armenian Catholic Church of essentially the same rite that is in union with the Holy See. It is a very unique rite, and one of the most exclusive within all of Christendom – its particularism, of course, befitting Armenia’s distinct place in history as the first nation converted en masse. If you ever have a chance to witness it, I would not hesitate to take it up.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
So the Armenian Apostolic Church is essentially the “Armenian Orthodox Church”, is that correct?
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They don’t go by that title, but yes, they are Orthodox in the “Oriental Orthodox” sense, not the “Eastern Orthodox” sense (and no, the baffling fact that “oriental” is a synonym for “eastern” is not lost on me). And to get ahead of any ignorant Catholics who would say otherwise, they are not Monophysite heretics either.
 
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Yes. But it is Oriental, not Eastern, Orthodox, the difference being that the Eastern Orthodox accept the Council of Chalcedon.
 
porthos11 said:
The Armenian church is non-Chalcedonian, which places it in the same league as the Coptic and Ethiopian churches in the Oriental Orthodox communion. They confess, along with the other Oriental Orthodox churches, Miaphysitism, as compared (but not opposed) to the Chalcedonian Dyophysite formulation.

The Catholic Church does not consider Miaphysitism heretical (unlike Monophysitism).

This is probably what the Armenian lady meant, but was poorly worded, probably due to language barriers (?). While non-Chalcedonian, the Armenian church most certainly rejects Monophysitism.
Click to expand...
Whuu?
(All those words made my brain asplode)
 
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