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→External links: Fixed broken link to CNEWA website.
==History==
===Christianity in Armenia===
Tradition tells us that the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew first brought Christianity to the land of the Armenians in the first century. However, it would not be for about 200 more years that Armenia would become the first country to adopt [[Christianity]] as a state religion, in AD 301, when St. [[Gregory the Enlightener|Gregory the Illuminator]], a missionary from [[Caesarea]], converted the king of Armenia, Trdat IV, to Christianity. In time, St. Gregory was sent back to Caesarea to be elevated to the [[bishops|episcopate]] and returned to Armenia as the first '''[[Catholicos]]''' (or "universal" bishop of an area). Gregory's son, Aristakes, attended the First [[Ecumenical Council]] at [[First Ecumenical Council|Nicea]] in AD 325.
In addition to the obvious spiritual benefits which resulted from the "baptism" of Armenia, this conversion aided in unifying various ethnic groups into a cohesive Armenian identity. The Armenian Church was instrumental in the early missions to neighboring [[Church of Georgia|Georgia]] and [[Caucasian Albania]].
===The Council of Chalcedon===
Historically, the Armenian church has been labeled [[monophysitism|monophysite]] because it (just as the [[Church of Alexandria (Coptic)|Coptic Orthodox Church]]) rejected the decisions of the [[Council of Chalcedon]], which condemned monophysitism. The Armenian Church officially severed ties with the West in 554, during the second Council of [[Dvin]] where the [[Chalcedonian|dyophysite]] formula of the Council of [[Chalcedon ]] was rejected.
However, the Armenian Orthodox Church argues that this is a wrong description of its position, as it considers Monophysitism, as taught by [[Eutyches]] and condemned at Chalcedon, a heresy and only disagrees with the formula defined by that council. The Armenian church instead adheres to the doctrine defined by [[Cyril of Alexandria]], considered as a saint by the Chalcedonian churches as well, who described Christ as being of one incarnate nature, where both divine and human nature are united. To distinguish this from [[Eutychianism|Eutychian]] and other versions of Monophysitism this position is called [[miaphysitism]].
*[http://www.stnersess.edu/ St. Nersess Armenian Seminary]
*[http://www.stvartanbookstore.com/ St. Vartan Bookstore]
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypgdefault.aspx?eccpageIDID=5&IndexViewpagetypeID=toc 9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 Eastern Christian Churches: Armenian Apostolic Church] by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar
*[http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Apostolic_Church Armeniapedia - Armenian Apostolic Church]
*[[Wikipedia:Armenian Apostolic Church]]
[[Category:Jurisdictions|Armenia]]
[[Category: Schisms]]
[[Category:Oriental Orthodox|Armenia]]