Three Churches of Armenian History
A Photo-Essay on the First Ethno-National Christianity
Armenia is well-known as the first dominion to enshrine Christianity as state religion, adopted in 301 AD upon the baptism of Arsacid King Drtad III by St. Gregory the Illuminator. The latter became the first Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the national church of Armenia and part of the Oriental Orthodox Communion. Consequently, Armenian ethno-nationality and Christian faith became primordially entwined. However, historical contingencies, combined with differences among Armenians within and without the Apostolic Church, have made Armenian Christianity more multi-faceted than most non-Armenians commonly realize.
A cluster of three institutionally distinct Armenian churches in New York City, within walking distance of each other, illustrates the grand historical turns of Armenian Christianity. These churches are herein presented according to the historical chronology of their ecclesiastical affiliations: St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral for the Holy See of Cilicia, and Armenian Evangelical Church of New York for the broader Armenian Evangelical reform movement. These diverging affiliations reveal the arcs of continuity and change within Armenian Christianity that have unfolded between homeland and diaspora.
St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral
Consecrated on April 28, 1968, St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral is the first North American cathedral and diocesan house under the jurisdiction of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The Mother See is the central governing body of the Apostolic Church, established shortly after state Christianization and headquartered at the Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia. Its leader is the Supreme Patriarch of the Apostolic Church, known formally as the Catholicos of All Armenians. The Eastern Diocese at St. Vartan is led by an Archbishop, referred to as the Primate, and it has jurisdiction over all American States except for California, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington.
The Cathedral is modeled after Saint Hripsime Church in Etchmiadzin and follows a radial design, with an austere limestone exterior conventional in Armenian architecture. It is but one part of a larger complex that hosts numerous offices and venues, including the Diocesan House, the Gulbenkian Cultural Center, and a large courtyard known as Kamborian Plaza. Altogether, the complex occupies an entire city block.
The main entrance portal is on the southern facade of the Cathedral, which asymmetrically projects further outward than the more shallow, identical western and northern facades. The eastern side of the Cathedral features a projecting apse that hosts the High Altar. This is different from typical basilican structures, where the apse is parallel, not perpendicular, to the main entrance. Therefore, walking into the Cathedral, one does not encounter the High Altar by looking directly ahead, but rather by looking to the right.
The interior of the Cathedral features other notable conventions of Armenian architecture. The overall structure has a vertical emphasis, with tall, narrow stained glass windows and the maximum height of the Cathedral exceeding its maximum length. Intersecting arches are also prominent, creating the elaborate vaulting necessary to support the large drum that raises the radially segmented, grand cupola.
Armenia and its Apostolic Church have often faced the pressures of being surrounded and subsumed by larger empires. Even in its early history, the Mother See was moved to difference cities to ensure its preservation and continuity. The 11th Century proved to be a turning point. In 1045, Bagratid Armenia fell to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 1071, the territory was further invaded by the Seljuq Turks. Subsequent Seljuq expansions provoked a large segment of Armenians, and Apostolic leadership with them, to migrate to southeastern Anatolia, a region known historiographically as Cilicia.
Protected by the Taurus Mountains, Armenians created a new state: the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1080–1375). Reflecting this new reality, Apostolic leadership became known as the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, or Holy See of Cilicia, which continues to exist to this day. As already noted, however, the Mother See of today is not of Cilicia but of Etchmiadzin. This discrepancy, and the role Cilicia had in the development of these dual Apostolic Sees, shall be explained via St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral.
St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral
St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral is named for St. Gregory. First built in 1843, the edifice was formerly the Rose Hill Methodist Episcopal Church before being acquired by Armenians in 1920. It was then consecrated as the first Apostolic cathedral in New York in April 1921, by the authority of the Holy See of Cilicia. Its architectural style is Greek Revival, but this is no longer aesthetically apparent due to external and internal renovations. For example, the portico, featuring a small drum with radially segmented cupola, was constructed later to add a conventional aspect of Armenian architecture to the acquired edifice.
As the Cathedral operates under the See of Cilicia, it does not answer to the Mother See Eastern Diocese Primate at St. Vartan. Rather, it is overseen by the Prelate of the nearby Eastern Prelacy, the parallel apparatus of the See of Cilicia, which has jurisdiction from the Atlantic Coast to the Rocky Mountains. The sustained existence of the See of Cilicia alongside the resurrection of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin are directly connected to the rise and fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.
The Kingdom of Cilicia fell to the Mamluk Sultanate in 1375 with the capture of Cilicia’s capital, Sis. However, the bulk of the existing Armenian population remained in the region. In 1441, a number of factors led to the transfer of the mother Catholicosate seat from Sis back to Etchmiadzin, culminating in the election there of Kirakos I Virapetsi as new Catholicos of All Armenians. The See of Cilicia in Sis was preserved, however, accepting the resurrected preeminence of Etchmiadzin while also maintaining its own parallel, autonomous Catholicos.
Since 1441, therefore, there have been two Catholicosates within the Apostolic Church. In 1914, the Armenian Genocide began in the Ottoman Empire, with surviving Armenians forced into yet another diaspora, this time on a truly global scale. The See of Cilicia in Sis also fled the Genocide, eventually settling in Antelias, Lebanon, where it has remained to this day. With Armenia and the Mother See falling under Soviet rule in 1920, many in the diaspora looked to the See of Cilicia as a source of genuinely independent Apostolic leadership.
The diverging experiences of Armenians between homeland and diaspora created passionate loyalties between the two Apostolic Sees, loyalties severely enflamed during particular periods. In 1933, members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), an anti-Soviet group that saw the Mother See as a Communist puppet, assassinated Mother See Archbishop Levon Tourian in New York City. The incident divided Armenian-Americans for decades to come, especially in the context of the emergent Cold War. As ARF members were known as Dashnaks, many Apostolic congregations became wholly pro-Dashnak or anti-Dashnak.
Armenia’s independence was restored in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. This, along with generational shifts, have tempered passions between Armenians of the two Sees, with many urging unification. In 1995, Karekin II, Catholicos of Cilicia during 1983-94, was elected Catholicos of All Armenians, ironically becoming Karekin I in the Mother See. However, despite the extraordinary experience of serving as Catholicos of both Sees, he was unable to effect a merger before his premature death in 1999 due to cancer.
The Armenian experience within the Ottoman Empire unequivocally changed the course of Armenian and Apostolic history, with the Genocide as the final, most devastating aspect. The Empire had also brought changes to Armenian Christianity early on because of its Millet system, a pre-modern form of communal confessionalism. In 1461, Sultan Mehmet II instructed Armenians to establish a Patriarchate of Constantinople, the leader of which would be both Patriarch and Ethnarch (Milletbaşı) of Ottoman Armenians. Ottoman leaders elevated the Patriarchate above the Catholicosates, but the former has fully recognized the preeminence of the Mother See since Ottoman dissolution.
Late Ottoman Armenian history also saw the birth of Armenian Christian reformism. Beginning in an academic study group under the auspices of the Patriarchate, Armenian reformism eventually consolidated as an independent intellectual and ecclesiastical endeavor. This movement ultimately became what is known as the Armenian Evangelical Church, which will be discussed via Armenian Evangelical Church of New York.
Armenian Evangelical Church of New York
Armenian Evangelical Church of New York (AECNY) is the oldest Armenian church in the New York metropolitan area, founded in 1896. Its edifice was acquired in November 1921, with funds donated by the Telfeyan family, and was dedicated on Christmas 1923. Designed by a cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the building was formerly a bank, which explains why its architectural style is thoroughly Neoclassical. Above the Doric order columns is entablature consisting of a plain architrave and a frieze of alternating triglyphs and circular bas-relief metopes. Its conventionally triangular pediment features a single Cross.
Like other Armenian Evangelical churches, AECNY traces its social roots to the 19th Century Ottoman Armenian community, specifically to an academic society known as the Pietistical Union. The Union developed within a school founded for the purpose of training qualified Apostolic clergy under the patronage of the Patriarchate. At Bible study meetings, Union members began to question Apostolic traditions and practices. In response, Patriarch Matteos Chouhajian excommunicated these reformists. With no place for them within the Apostolic Church, the reformists, thirty-seven men and three women, founded the Armenian Evangelical Church on July 1, 1846.
Per the Ottoman confessional system, the Evangelical Church was further registered as part of the relatively new Protestant Millet. Today, Armenian Christians of this persuasion dually self-reference as Evangelical or Protestant. Although the processes of scripturally-driven reform among Armenian Evangelicals are analogous to the Reformation in Europe, the Armenian usage of the term Protestant remains socio-historically distinct from its European usage.
Armenian Evangelicals continue to draw upon the deep historical legacy of Armenian Christianity, while also wanting to democratize and re-universalize their Christian faith. To paraphrase AECNY Pastor Rev. Haig Kherlopian, early Christianity was an egalitarian counter-culture to the Empire and much of that was lost once it became the Empire. For him, the best expression of the Evangelical disposition is striking a balance between particularism and ecumenism, to learn from other traditions while also respecting the differences between them as genuine. Consistent with its Evangelical disposition, AECNY is open to all. Even during the long weekend following the 4th of July 2019, roughly one-third of the congregants were non-Armenian.
Speaking with AECNY congregants yielded several eye-opening perspectives on the past and present. It is typical for most Armenians to ask each other about church membership to get their social bearings. Notwithstanding many traditionalists who delegitimize Evangelicals, many Armenian families are denominationally blended, consisting of varied combinations of Mother See, See of Cilicia, and Evangelical affiliations. Evangelicals wish to see themselves as universally Christian first with an Armenian foundation, shifting away from the primordiality of Apostolic ethno-faith. One particularly unexpected sentiment shared was the desire for Armenians to not be overly defined by the Genocide, to instead refocus on greater socio-spiritual engagement with the broader public beyond just the Armenian community.
Owing to their deep history and the dramatic shifts between homeland and diaspora, Armenians are continually, and justifiably, negotiating between past and present among themselves. It is a positive testament to the strength of Armenian identity that the calamities that generated so much traumatic change have not disrupted a sense of communal continuity. Notwithstanding the historical intricacies outlined in this exposition, faith has served as a consistent foundation of this continuity, proof of the uplifting role religion can play in a temporal life of fragility.
These photos were taken on three nonconsecutive days, exclusively utilizing a wide-angle lens. The presence of construction, foliage, cars, and street signs prevented other photographs from being taken at exterior vantage points. Limited, asymmetrical lighting affected the quality of interior photos at St. Vartan. The Genocide memorial at St. Illuminator’s was not featured in detail due to reflective surfaces that prevented the taking of a respectful photograph. Acknowledgments and gratitude go to Shant at St. Illuminator’s for his memorial insight and to Reverend Haig Kherlopian, Nancy, Mesrop, Talin, and Mark at AECNY for their hospitality, gracious sharing of personal perspectives, and reviews of the draft of this photo-essay.
