 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Armenian Catholic Church" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 Armenian Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
| Armenian:Հայ Կաթողիկէ Եկեղեցի | |
 Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator inBeirut, the seat of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia. | |
| Classification | Eastern Catholic |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Patriarch | Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian |
| Region | Armenian diaspora |
| Language | Armenian |
| Liturgy | Armenian Rite |
| Headquarters | Cathedral of St Elias and St Gregory the Illuminator,Beirut, Lebanon |
| Founder | Abraham Petros I Ardzivian |
| Origin | 1742 Ottoman Empire (modernArmenia) |
| Separated from | Armenian Apostolic Church |
| Members | 150,000 (independent estimates)[1][2] 757,726 (2017Annuario Pontificio)[3] |
| Official website | www |
TheArmenian Catholic Church[a] is anEastern Catholicparticular churchsui iuris of theCatholic Church. It accepts theleadership of thebishop of Rome, and is therefore infull communion with the universal Catholic Church, including theLatin Church and the 22 otherEastern Catholic Churches. The Armenian Catholic Church is regulated by Easterncanon law, summed up in theCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
The head[4][5] of thesui iuris Armenian Catholic Church is theArmenian Catholic patriarch of Cilicia, whose main cathedral andde facto archiepiscopal see is theCathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator, inBeirut, Lebanon.
Armenian Caritas is the official aid organization of the Catholic Church in Armenia.
TheArmenian Church took issue with the 451Council of Chalcedon and formally broke off communion with the Chalcedonian Churches at the 3rd Synod of Dvin in 610. Some Armenian bishops and congregations made attempts to restorecommunion with the Chalcedonian Churches after the 6th Ecumenical Council of 681. During theCrusades in 1198, the Church of theArmenian kingdom of Cilicia entered into union with the Catholic Church, an attempt that did not last. The union was later re-established during theCouncil of Florence in 1439,[6] but did not have any real effects for centuries.
Some Armenians converted to Catholicism, and in the absence of any specific Armenian Catholic Church in effect becameLatins. In medieval China,local Armenians were converted to Catholicism byJohn of Montecorvino inBeijing and there was also an Armenian Franciscan Catholic community inQuanzhou.
In 1740,Abraham-Pierre I Ardzivian, who had earlier become a Catholic, was elected as thepatriarch ofSis. Two years later, PopeBenedict XIV formally established the Armenian Catholic Church. In 1749, the Armenian Catholic Church built a convent inBzoummar, Lebanon. During theArmenian genocide in 1915–1918, the Church was scattered in neighboring countries, mainly in Lebanon and Syria.
An Armenian Catholic community was also previously formed byArmenians living in Poland in the 1630s. The Armenian bishop ofLeopolis (seeArmenian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv),Nicholas (Polish: Mikołaj) Torosowicz had entered into union with the Catholic Church. The community which had been historically centered inGalicia as well as in thepre-1939 Polish borderlands in the east, was expelled afterWorld War II to present-day Poland and now has three parishes: inGdańsk, inGliwice and inWarsaw.
There is also a history of conversion of Armenians inTransylvania, which went hand in hand with theiracculturation under Hungarian influenceand policies (seeGherla andDumbrăveni). Their descendants are part of theArmenian community of modern-day Romania and are tended to by theOrdinariate for Armenian Catholics of Romania.
TheArmenian Riteliturgy, as celebrated in theArmenian language, developed prior to the post-Chalcedonian interruption of communion and hence is historically common to all Armenian Christians. It is patterned after the directives of SaintGregory the Illuminator, founder andpatron saint of the Armenian Church. It is used by both theArmenian Apostolic Church, by the Armenian Catholic Church, and by a significant number ofEastern Catholic Christians in the Republic of Georgia. Unlike theByzantine Church, church buildings of the Armenian rite usually have only a fewicons, but like some other Eastern churches have a barrier concealing the priest and thealtar from the people during parts of theliturgy. The use of bishop'smitre is reminiscent of the influence Western missionaries once had upon both themiaphysite Orthodox Armenians as well as upon the Armenian Rite Catholics.[citation needed]
Apart from Armenia, Georgia and Russia, the Armenian Catholic Church is found widely in theArmenian diaspora, notably in Lebanon (where the Armenian Catholic Church is headquartered), Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, France, U.S.A., Canada, Argentina, Uruguay and Australia.
Armenian Catholics originated in what is today Armenia, Georgia and Eastern Europe. Beginning in the late 1920s, persecution caused many Armenian Catholics to emigrate. In 1991, after the fall of theSoviet Union, theBishop of Rome,Pope John Paul II merged the communities in Georgia and Russia with those in Armenia, creating the newOrdinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Eastern Europe, with its residence in Gyumri. The city was not chosen by chance: most Catholic Armenians live in the northern parts of Armenia. This has become a kind of basis for fence-mending with the coreligionists on the other side of the border.[citation needed]
In 1992,Vasken I, Catholicos of theArmenian Apostolic Church, announced that"The presence of the Armenian Catholic Church in Armenia is unacceptable and to be refuted", a decision made as a result of a Holy Synod held on 26 September 1992.[7]
Today Catholic Armenians of Samtskhe-Javakheti live together in Akhaltsikhe and in the nearby villages, as well as in the regions of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda. The communities in the last two regions, which are mainly rural, are found in rather distant areas, but the most important link is the historical memory of Catholicism.
A small seminary was established inGyumri, Armenia, in 1994; there candidates for the priesthood engage in basic studies before moving to the Pontifical College of the Armenians (established 1885) in Rome, where they pursue philosophy and theology.
There are also tens of thousands ofArmenian Catholics in Russia, due to the extensive migration from Armenia to Russia that occurred during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
_crop.JPG)
Currently around 1.5 millionArmenians live inNorth America, of which 35,000 belong to the Armenian Catholic Church.
In the 19th century Catholic Armenians fromWestern Armenia, mainly from the towns and cities of Karin (Erzurum), and fromConstantinople andMardin, traveled to the United States seeking employment. By the end of that century, many survivors of theHamidian Massacres had concentrated in several U.S. cities, chiefly inNew York. Catholic Armenian communities were also founded inNew Jersey, inBoston andDetroit, as inLos Angeles and other cities ofCalifornia.
Catholic Armenian educational organizations were also founded in many cities. InPhiladelphia andBoston, schools were founded by Armenian sisters.[citation needed] Later, a school was founded inLa Crescenta, but later moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood ofSunland, eventually being decommissioned.[8]
Many Armenians came to the United States and Canada from the Middle Eastern countries of Lebanon and Syria in the 1970s and in later years. Moreover, many Armenians migrated from Argentina, because of the economic crisis there. At the same time, many Catholic Armenians moved within the United States toSan Francisco,San Diego,Chicago,Washington D.C.,Atlanta,Miami andIndianapolis.
In 2005, byPope Benedict XVI's decision, theCatholicExarchate of the USA and Canada was raised to the status of adiocese. It serviced 35,000 Catholic Armenians in the United States and some 10,000 in Canada.Manuel Batakian became the bishop, or eparch, of the diocese, which has jurisdiction over Canadian and American Catholics who are members of the Armenian Catholic Church. According to a news release by theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops published on Monday, May 23, 2011,Pope Benedict XVI, namedArchpriestMikaël Antoine Mouradian, superior of the Convent of Notre Dame inBzommar, Lebanon, as the new bishop of theEparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in New York for Armenian Catholics. The appointment of Lebanon-born Bishop Mouradian was publicized in Washington on May 21 byArchbishopPietro Sambi,Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.[9]
Next toNorth America, France holds the largest number of Armenian Catholics outside the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The Eparchy of Sainte-Croix-de-Paris was established in 1960 with Bishop Garabed Armadouni as exarch. Since 1977, the eparchy has been led by Bishop Krikor Gabroyan.
There are some 30,000 Armenian Catholics in the eparchy, the headquarters of which are in Paris. Apart from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Paris, the eparchy has six churches inArnouville-lès-Gonesse,Lyon,Marseille,Saint-Chamond,Sèvres andValence. A community ofMekhitarist Fathers resides in Sèvres and a convent ofArmenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception runs a school in Marseille.
The Catholic Armenian Community ofSão Paulo was founded in 1935, as theChaplaincy of the Catholic Armenian Mission, responding to requests from Armenian immigrants who had settled in Brazil since 1923, mostly fromMarach, now in modern day Turkey. The church is between themetro stationsArmênia andTiradentes, at Tiradentes Avenue #718.[10]
Estimates from the 19th century varied between 40,000[11] to 150,000[12] Armenian Catholics worldwide, with 136,400 in 1911.[13]
Independent sources estimate the number of Catholic Armenians in the early 21st century at 150,000, with sizable communities in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jerusalem, France and the United States.[1][2]
.JPG)
The Armenian Catholic Church is divided intoArchdioceses,Eparchies,Apostolic Exarchates,Ordinariates for the Faithful of the Eastern Rite andPatriarchal Exarchates, each of which has functions similar to adiocese.
The Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of the See of Cilicia is the supreme authority of the Armenian Catholic Church. On 23 September 2021,Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian was elected as the Church's new patriarch.[14]
Below is a list of the jurisdictions with their number of adherents.[15]
Achrida (Ohrid), Pessinus, Traianopolis in Rhodope
Chalcedon, Colonia in Armenia, Mardin,Nisibis of the Armenians, Sebaste, Tarsus
Adana, Amida, Anazarbus, Ancyra, Artvin, Cesarea in Cappadocia, Garin, Kharput, Marasc, Melitene, Mush, Prusa, Tokat, Trapezus
The Armenian Catholic Church produces a number of publications:
The Armenian Catholic Church has presses that publish many liturgical, spiritual books, publications, pamphlets and translations from general Catholic publications.
According to Vatican sources, some 250,000 Armenians belong to the Armenian Catholic Church (others put the number closer to 150,000) with communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Jerusalem and the US.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Armenian Catholic Church hierarchy | ||
|---|---|---|
| Patriarchate | | |
| Metropolitan archeparchies (archdioceses) |
| |
| Non-metropolitan archeparchies | ||
| Eparchies | ||
| Apostolic exarchates |
| |
| Ordinariates for Eastern Catholic faithful | ||
| Patriarchal exarchates |
| |
| Titular Archeparchies |
| |
| Titular Eparchies |
| |
| Former circumscriptions | ||
| Patriarchal churches |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major archiepiscopal churches | ||||||
| Metropolitan churches | ||||||
| Othersui iuris churches | ||||||
 | ||
| Historic areas of Armenian settlement | ||
| Caucasus | ||
| Former Soviet Union | ||
| Americas | ||
| Europe | ||
| Middle East | ||
| Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| Oceania | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
33°59′04″N35°41′03″E / 33.9844°N 35.6842°E /33.9844; 35.6842
