{"id":16065,"date":"2026-08-05T09:17:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T09:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:17:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T09:17:29","slug":"the-armenian-catholic-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/","title":{"rendered":"The Armenian Catholic Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Founded in the 1st century by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus <\/strong>(Jude among the Latins), the Apostolic Church of Armenia became the national church of that country in the early 6th century following the conversion of Tiridates IV and his entire kingdom by Saint Gregory the Illuminator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Armenia was the first Christian kingdom.<\/strong> While at war with the Persians in 451, the Armenians did not participate in the Council of Chalcedon but rejected its teachings in 555 at the Synod of Dwine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following the Arab invasion and as relations with Byzantium grew strained, the \u201cmirage of Cilicia\u201d began to take shape. In the 11th century, when the Seljuk Turks established themselves permanently in Asia Minor and their control over Armenia destroyed all the kingdoms there, Cilicia\u2014with its access to the sea and Christian Europe\u2014became a refuge for many Armenians. The patriarch settled in Sis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1438, Gregory IX Mousabekiants, the Catholicos of Cilicia, acceded to the union pact with the Latins adopted at the Council of Florence. In response to this accession, a second Catholicos was installed in Etchmiadzin, the site of the country\u2019s conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1740, Archbishop Ardzivian of Aleppo was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of the Armenian Catholics. He was recognized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1742 and settled in Mount Lebanon. From 1915 to 1922, one and a half million Armenians were massacred during the genocide carried out by the Turks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics is currently His Beatitude Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian, in Beirut (Lebanon). There are more than 600,000 faithful worldwide: 450,000 in the East, including 400,000 in Armenia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Armenian Apostolic Church (non-Catholic) has approximately 6 million members divided between two catholicosates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Catholicosate of All Armenians (in Etchmiadzin, Armenia), which has jurisdiction over Armenia and the diaspora. <strong>His Holiness Karekin II is currently the 131st Catholicos<\/strong> since Saint Gregory the Illuminator;<br>The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia (in Antelias, Lebanon) has jurisdiction over the dioceses of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Cyprus, and dioceses in the United States. The current Catholicos is His Holiness Aram I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo-minassian-scaled-e1632756565634.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founded in the 1st century by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude among the Latins), the Apostolic Church of Armenia became the national church of that country in the early 6th century following the conversion of Tiridates IV and his entire kingdom by Saint Gregory the Illuminator. Armenia was the first Christian kingdom. While at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"thematique":[],"class_list":["post-16065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Founded in the 1st century by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude among the Latins), the Apostolic Church of Armenia became the national church of that country in the early 6th century following the conversion of Tiridates IV and his entire kingdom by Saint Gregory the Illuminator. Armenia was the first Christian kingdom. While at [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0152uvre d&#039;orient\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"325\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8\"},\"headline\":\"The Armenian Catholic Church\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":349,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/semi-or.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/semi-or.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/semi-or.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/semi-or.jpg\",\"width\":1135,\"height\":325},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/the-armenian-catholic-church\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Armenian Catholic Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0152uvre d&#039;orient\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8\",\"name\":\"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\\\/en\\\/author\\\/cmarroclatouroeuvre-orient-fr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient","og_description":"Founded in the 1st century by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude among the Latins), the Apostolic Church of Armenia became the national church of that country in the early 6th century following the conversion of Tiridates IV and his entire kingdom by Saint Gregory the Illuminator. Armenia was the first Christian kingdom. While at [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/","og_site_name":"\u0152uvre d&#039;orient","article_published_time":"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1135,"height":325,"url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/"},"author":{"name":"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8"},"headline":"The Armenian Catholic Church","datePublished":"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/"},"wordCount":349,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/","name":"The Armenian Catholic Church - \u0152uvre d&#039;orient","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-05T09:17:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/semi-or.jpg","width":1135,"height":325},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/the-armenian-catholic-church\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Armenian Catholic Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/","name":"\u0152uvre d&#039;orient","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/bedc2d03a4e67ce9d67f919a7c1aa1f8","name":"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1799d5ccc9031fd3f783efc1f24beb4ec872a035944bd0e1cef262e874b71950?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Catherine MARROC-LATOUR"},"url":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/author\/cmarroclatouroeuvre-orient-fr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16065"},{"taxonomy":"thematique","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeuvre-orient.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematique?post=16065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}