Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Eastern Europe | |
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| Location | |
| Country | Armenia,Belarus,Estonia,Georgia,Latvia,Lithuania,Russia,Ukraine[1] |
| Statistics | |
| Population |
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| Parishes | 44 |
| Information | |
| Rite | Armenian Rite |
| Established | 13 July 1991 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs, Gyumri |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Patriarch | Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian |
| Bishop | Kevork Noradounguian,I.C.P.B. |
| Apostolic Administrator | Fr.Mikael Bassalé,I.C.P.B. |
TheArmenian Catholic Ordinariate of Eastern Europe is anOrdinariate (quasi-diocese) of theArmenian Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic,Armenian Rite inArmenian language) for its faithful in certainEastern European ex-Soviet countries without proper Ordinary for theirparticular churchsui iuris.
It is exempt, i.e.immediately subject to theHoly See (notably the RomanCongregation for the Oriental Churches), not part of anyecclesiastical province.
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Between 1720 and 1760 large communities of Armenian Catholic refugees from Turkey andPersia settled in the territory of the North Caucasus. The flow of Armenian immigrants to Christian Russia increased with theArmenian genocide executed by the Turkish authorities, especially since the late nineteenth century. Some of the faithful were able to take refuge in southern Armenia and Georgia. From 1907 inKrasnodar there was a special vicar for priests of the Armenian Catholic rite. In 1760 the Catholics in Astrakhan were 1/5 of the population of the city and they had a parish. Armenian Catholic communities were established in Astrakhan, Voronezh, Penza, Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Samara and Tsaritsyn.
Another region of mass residence of Armenian Catholics was Georgia, in Ajaltsije, Ajalkalaki, Bogdanovsky and Chirac. In 1848 the Diocese of Tiraspol was created with headquarters inSaratov, to which the Armenian Catholic parishes were added in Russian territory as a dean. In 1850Pope Pius IX established an Armenian eparchy of Artvin for the Catholic Armenian faithful of theOttoman Empire and Russia.[2] In 1878 Russia occupied all the territory of this eparchy and, by decision of the authorities, subjected its parishes to the Latin eparchy ofTiraspol. However, this situation was not recognized by Rome until 1912, but the eparchy of Artvin formally continued to exist until 1972.[3]
In 1909 the pope appointed Sarkis Der Aprahamian as apostolic administrator for Armenian Catholics, as a formal part of Artvin's non-existent eparchy. In the 7 ecclesiastical districts of the administration there were 86 parishes: Alexandropol or Gyumri (16 parishes), Lori (6 parishes), Ajalkalaki (12 parishes), Ajaltsije (17 parishes), Artvin (17 parishes), Karin (12 parishes) and Crimea (6 parishes).
The current Armenian Catholic community in the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine arose during the Armenian emigration fromTurkey after the peace treaties at the end of theFirst World War. With the fall of the communist regime, which had almost suppressed the Armenian Catholic Church in the Soviet Union, on 13 July 1991,Pope John Paul II established the Ordinariate for the faithful of the Armenian rite who live in countries of Eastern Europe[4] (except Poland, Romania and Greece) for Armenian Catholics in the former Soviet republics ofArmenia,Georgia,Russia andUkraine. The priest of theMekhitarist Order, Nerses Der Nersessian, was appointed first ordinary and consecrated bishop on 17 November 1992.
In 1630 inLviv the Armenian Apostolic ArchbishopMikołaj Torosowicz united his Church with theCatholic Church and received the Metropolitan title of Archbishop of Poland, Moldavia and Wallachia of the Armenian Archdiocese of Lviv. It existed until its suppression by the Soviet communist authorities in 1945 in the areas of western Ukraine that had belonged to theAustro-Hungarian Empire and were annexed by theSoviet Union at the end of theSecond World War. The faithful were transferred toSiberia or took refuge inPoland and the bishop died in prison. After the end of communism the archeparchy was not revived - although it was not suppressed, its cathedral of the Assumption of Mary was delivered by the Government to theArmenian Apostolic Church and its territory incorporated into the Ordinariate.[5]
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The ordinariate includes the jurisdiction over all Armenian Catholics in Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine. TheCathedral of the Holy Martyrs inGyumri, northwest of Armenia, is the cathedral episcopal see of the ordinariate.
In Russia, the faithful of the Armenian Catholic Church live mainly in the southern regions of the country and in large cities: Pskov, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Sochi, Irkutsk, Omsk, Ulan Ude and Chita. Because of the lack of their own Armenian Catholic hierarchy and clergymen, the faithful of the Armenian Catholic Church mostly visit theLatinparishes. In every Latin eparchies of Russia, there are clergymen (mostly Armenians) who are ordained by the Ordinariate of Eastern Europe with jurisdiction over the faithful of the Armenian Catholic Church residing in these Latin dioceses.In Moscow there is the "Parish of St. Grigor the Illuminator",[6] whose services are performed in theLatin Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Also in Ukraine, due to the smallness of the Armenian clergy, the communities are often entrusted to the Latin-rite clergy.
In Georgia there is the parish of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Tbilisi.
In 2016, there were 618,000 believers in 44 parishes. Especially in Russia and Ukraine, the faithful are entrusted to the Latin priests because of their small number.
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Armenian Catholic Church hierarchy | ||
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| Patriarchate |  | |
| Metropolitan archeparchies (archdioceses) |
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| Non-metropolitan archeparchies | ||
| Eparchies | ||
| Apostolic exarchates |
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| Ordinariates for Eastern Catholic faithful | ||
| Patriarchal exarchates |
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| Titular Archeparchies |
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| Titular Eparchies |
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| Former circumscriptions | ||
Hierarchy, including ecclesiastical circumscriptions | ||||||||||||||||
| Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church |
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| Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church |
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| Episcopal Conference of Ukraine of the Latin Church |
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| Armenian Catholic Church |
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| Apostolic Nunciature |
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| Province of Moscow |  | ||||
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| Exempt jurisdiction | |||||
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| Apostolic Nuncio | |||||
| Education |
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| Order of the Holy Sepulchre Magistral Delegation of Russia | Igor Kovalevsky (Chaplain) | ||||
| Eastern Catholic Churches |
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| Former |
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| Cathedrals | |||||
