Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Armenian rite has in many respects preserved the oldest layers of Christian worship, mirroring in its earliest stratum close affinities with the oldest Syrian liturgical material. The first missionaries to enter Armenian territory probably came from the south-west and thus Syrian influence manifested itself first and foremost in the origins and the earliest development of Armenian worship. Cappadocia and Jerusalem also contributed to the evolution of Armenia's liturgical tradition. Thus, from the beginning the Armenians had close ties first with the Syrian communities in and around EDESSA, then also with the Greek church in Cappadocia. In the Agathangeli historia the process of Christianization is tendentiously associated with Gregory the Enlightener who was not only educated in Cappadocia but also became the central figure in the narrative of the conversion of King Trdat and his baptism in the Euphrates. These efforts of the Armenians to associate themselves with the missionary activities of the fourth-century Greeks rather than earlier Syrian missionaries possibly originates in the fact that Armenia tried to veil its earliest contacts with groups in and around Edessa which later came under suspicion of heresy. Despite these efforts in Agathangelos to link the conversion of Armenia with Cappadocia, the description of King Trdat's baptism betrays features which clearly point ... log in or subscribe to read full text