Patriarch over Armenia?

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belgianwaffles9

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Just a quick historical question:

Was, at any time, the Armenian Church under one of the Patriarchates of the Pentarchy (Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem) before it split off after the council of chalcedon?

thanks!
 
I believe the Primate of the Armenian Non-Chalcedonian Church uses the title “Catholicos”. Under him are some with the title “Patriarch”.
 
belgianwaffles9 said:
Just a quick historical question:

Was, at any time, the Armenian Church under one of the Patriarchates of the Pentarchy (Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem) before it split off after the council of chalcedon?

thanks!
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An interesting question. To be honest, I don’t believe they were ever under one of the Pentarchy Patriarchates. The concept of Patriarchates itself was a relatively late one in the Church, at least with reference to the pre-Chalcedonian Communion; there was no ancient, Apostolic notion of Patriarchates as such, though Rome was given a pre-eminence from the earliest times.

The Armenians were rather far flung from the “Roman Empire” politics that caused the development of Patriarchates as we understand them, and even after the split of Chalcedon they developed a number of different “Primary Sees” depending on which era and population center of Armenians we refer to.

In short, I’ve never heard of them being directly under any of the other Patriarchates, though they’ve had a few of their own in different areas depending on the Armenian population of the locale. Perhaps someone else knows of them falling under another Patriarchate?

Peace and God bless!
 
They were under a proto-patriarchate, namely Caesarea.

There were a number of Sees which had a preeminence. Besides those that became patriarchates (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch), and on (Jerusalem) which was elevated later, there were others (e.g. Ephesus, Thessalonika, Edessa, etc. and Caesarea). Before the full fledged pentarchy was established, Constanople eclipsed (and absorbed) Ephesus and Thessalonika, and Caesarea, as did Antioch Edessa. Armenia’s Catholicos was ordained/confirmed by the bishop of Caesarea in the early days.

Btw, the Catholicos of Georgia was established in turn by the Armenians. Later, she accepted Chalcedon and went EO.
 
belgianwaffles9 said:
Just a quick historical question:

Was, at any time, the Armenian Church under one of the Patriarchates of the Pentarchy (Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem) before it split off after the council of chalcedon?

thanks!
Click to expand...
Nope.

The original members of the “Pentarchy” were part of the same church for about 5-6 decades if I recall.

Much more is made of “the pentarchy” than “the pentarchy” ever made for itself.
 
ASimpleSinner said:
Nope.

The original members of the “Pentarchy” were part of the same church for about 5-6 decades if I recall.

Much more is made of “the pentarchy” than “the pentarchy” ever made for itself.
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Yup, you’re right… the first split in Christendom was when the Assyrian Church left in 431, after having declared independence from the Patriarch of Antioch and creating their own Patriarchate.

Then the see of Alexandria, one of the sees of the Pentarchy, split off in 450, along with a segment of the see of Antioch and the Armenian Church.
 
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