This is the third edition of the English translation of Ormanian's book "The Church of Armenia". The history of the Armenian Church is alomost identical to the history of the Armenian nation, at least in recent 2000 years. In this book not only the history of the Church and the nation is reflected but also more in depth information about the Armenian Church: her theology, literature, administration, liturgy. The book addresses many questions that people have about the Armenian Church. The English edition is useful for English-speaking Armenians as well as English-speaking persons generally. The new edition of the book has many color illustrations directly connected to the text. The book gives exact and general information about the Church of Armenia to the reader who wants to know better this old Oriental Church.
This book is a "bestseller" among visitors to Armenia who are seriously interested in one of the most ancient Churches of the World, who still preserves its authenticity in the Christian World and authority among Armenians.
"Ankyunacar Publishing" 2015
To acquire the book, please visit http://booksfromarmenia.com/item.php?item_id=861
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK
BY BISHOP WELLDON
THE task of writing an Introduction to Mr. Gregory’s translation of Mgr. Ormanian’s book upon the Church of Armenia is not free from difficulty; nor is it made the less difficult because the Bishop who should have written it, had his life been spared, was a man of such wide and various learning as the late Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Wordsworth. Yet in that Church there is much that is interesting to all Christians, and perhaps especially to members of the Church of England. For the history of the Church of Armenia is a witness to certain great principles of ecclesiastical life. It is a protest against the assumed infallibility and universality of the Church of Rome. For the Church of Armenia believes that “no Church, however great in herself, represents the whole of Christendom; that each one, taken singly, can be mistaken, and to the Universal Church alone belongs the privilege of infallibility in her dogmatic decisions.” She takes her stand then upon the national character and prerogative of Churches. She holds, as the Church of England holds, that it is a fraternity of Churches tracing their pedigree backwards to an Apostolical origin, developing themselves on separate lines, yet knit together by a common creed and by spiritual union with the same Divine Head, which constitutes the true ideal of the Universal Church.
The Church of Armenia claims descent from the Apostles St. Bartholomew and St. Thaddaeus. Whether it is or is not true that “Armenia was the first state in the world to proclaim Christianity as its official religion,” there is no doubt that Armenia as a whole was converted to Christianity at the very beginning of the fourth century A.D. by the preaching of St. Grigor Partev (Gregory the Parthian), better known as St. Gregory the Illuminator. He became the first Catholicos of Armenia. He ruled and organized the Armenian Church, and it is curious to notice that he died in the year of the Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325.
From St. Gregory’s day to the present the Church of Armenia has pursued an independent course. In her early history she resisted the controlling influence of the Churches of Caesarea, of Antioch, of Constantinople. In later times she has been subject to aggressions from the Greek, the Syrian, and the Latin Churches, and in some degree from missionaries of the various Protestant denominations. But although individual secessions from her communion have taken place, she has never compromised her separate national life. The quote Mgr. Ormanian, she has “always understood the meaning of union in the true and strict sense of term. She has desired to see its establishment on the basis of a spiritual communion between the Churches, of mutual respect for their several positions, of liberty for each within the limits of her own sphere, and of the spirit of Christian charity overruling all.”
One special merit of the book now recommended to English readers is that it is an appreciation of the Church of Armenia not from without, but from within. The author, as having himself been the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, is entitled to put forward the case of his own Church. It is thus that he claims a hearing for his repudiation of the Eutychian heresy so frequently associated with the Church of Armenia. It is thus too that he dwells with authority upon the unfailing tolerance characteristic of that Church in all the ages.
Not only is the Church of Armenia a standing instance of a Church developing on her own historical lines, but her independence is exemplified in numerous aspects of her past and present history. It will be enough to instance her recognition of three, and three only, Oecumenical Councils, the small number of the dogmas upon which she insists as necessary to salvation, her estimate and use of the sacraments, her hierarchical system, the strong influence of her laity in deliberation and administration, the dependence of her clergy upon voluntary offerings, her so-called dominical festivals, her special hagiology, and the democratical spirit which has endeared her to the nation.
It is probable that no other book gives so clear an account of the Church of Armenia in so brief a space as that of Mgr. Ormanian. If I do not mistake it, it will create in the minds of Anglican Churchmen not only a keen sympathy with the Church of Armenia, but a stronger confidence than ever in the strength of their own ecclesiastical position as accordant with the spirit and practice of the Christian Churches which are not merged in the Church of Rome, and as justified not only by ecclesiastical history, but by the Spirit and Will of Jesus Christ Himself.
J. E. C. WELLDON
March 16th, 1912
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In Armenia, Chrisitanity has been sealed and imbibed with the fragrance of the Holy Myron.
The author is a very reliable guide through the documents. The book therefore starts with Eusebius’ dedication sermon at Tyre, connecting the church with the Temple – not the Jerusalem Temple on earth but its model, the one in heaven. Synagogues were also connected with the heavenly Temple, although the author does not say so. The Beth Alphaa mosaic, for instance, has angels on the nave floor and in the picture of the sanctuary (see cover of Strata), and the simplest explanation is that this synagogue too represented the heavenly Temple. It was also true of Constantine’s church on Golgotha. But the area, which was known as Golgotha long before, already had a building on it – the Temple of Aphrodite: this being the principal reason for pulling the shrine to Aphrodite down. During the clearing of the site an unexpected event took place. The Tomb of Christ was discovered, and the author accepts the statements of Eusebius (Vita Const. 3.30.4) and Sozomen, who lived in about 400 CE (Hist. Eccles. 2.1.5), that inside it were pieces of the cross. She thus rejects as legendary their finding by Helena. The rock, now revered as the site of Golgotha, as Gibson and Taylor have said, is far too small for three crosses, and a wider area for Golgotha is also implied by calling the Martyrium, to use the words of Egeria, the ‘Great Church built by Constantine on Golgotha behind the Cross’. So what is the Rock of Calvary containing the cross itself? The author, judging perhaps from the unsuitability of the site, thinks that it must commemorate another miracle, and suggests Cyril’s luminous cross which extended fromtheMount of Olives to the Anastasis. But there is no need to suggest such a miracle. The cross may have been there since the first arrangement of Golgotha. In my mind it served as a focus for the whole Golgotha area, and, according to Egeria (Itin. 37.5) the people who looked at this cross during Holy Week thought simply of the suffering Christ.
English-Armenian dictionaries exist from 1821, and that first one was composed by Armenian Mechitarist congregation in Venice. Then, until now number of other extensive English-Armenian dictionaries were published. 
Those who know the website 
This epic has been transferred from generation to generation orally, and had different names, but the most common name, of course was "David of Sasoon". It consists of 4 branches, each presenting a biography of one of the characters.
The first book that we would like to present to your attention in 2016 is St. Augustine's "Confessions". 
This study aims to shed light in the eclectic amulet collection in the History Museum of Armenia, namely natural and artificial intriguing objects of charms used or worn in the XVIII-XX cc. It is the first attempt not only to bond the Armenian amulets with diverse cults and popular beliefs but also to reveal their functions and purposes in everyday life and rituals. The book is expected to be in the best interests of ethnographers, archaeologists, art theorists and those who feel curious about popular traditions, customs and rites in general.
The chronology of Hetoom Historian of Korikos (end of 13th, beginning of 14th century) composed in 1296 entitled as "Concise history of times collected from different histories" is presented in the book. The history is in three editions, research and annotations, as well as two other works of the author (in appendix), which are valuable sources about the history of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia and the state of Crusaders.
The monography is dedicated to the early, symbolistic period of the work of Martiros Sarian, one of the greatest Armenian painters of XX century. As a result of detailed and comprehensive analysis of main creations of Sarian of that time the most characteristic formal-stylistic and ideo morphological pecularitiesof his art are revealed. Early creation of Sarian is considered on the wide historical-cultural background of the epoch, and specific works are shown in comparison of russian and West European painters-symbolists of the end of XIX and beginning of XX centuries. In this monography are reflected opinions about Sarian of famous critics and figures in literature and art.
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