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The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in full union with the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
. It is in full communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with and accepts the authority of the Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 as regulated by Eastern canon law
Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
.

r the Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic Church

The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest national church and one of the most ancient Christianity communities.The official name of the church is the One Holy Universal Apostolic Orthodox Armenian Church ....
, along with the rest of Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christianity Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus....
, formally broke off communion from the Chalcedonian churches
Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon is believed to have been the fourth ecumenical council by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon , today the district of Kadik?y on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, incorporated into the city of Istanbul....
, numerous Armenian bishops made attempts to restore communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with the Catholic Church (Rome). In 1195 during the Crusades
Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious war waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against Paganism Slavic peoples, Jews, Eastern Orthodox Church, Mongols, Catharism, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemi...
, the church of the Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
n kingdom of Cilicia
Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia now known as ?ukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times....
 entered into a union with the Catholic Church which lasted until Cilicia was conquered by the Mamluk
Mamluk

A mamluk was a slavery soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans from the 9th to the 13th centuries....
s in 1375.






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The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in full union with the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
. It is in full communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with and accepts the authority of the Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 as regulated by Eastern canon law
Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
.

History

After the Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic Church

The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest national church and one of the most ancient Christianity communities.The official name of the church is the One Holy Universal Apostolic Orthodox Armenian Church ....
, along with the rest of Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christianity Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus....
, formally broke off communion from the Chalcedonian churches
Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon is believed to have been the fourth ecumenical council by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon , today the district of Kadik?y on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, incorporated into the city of Istanbul....
, numerous Armenian bishops made attempts to restore communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with the Catholic Church (Rome). In 1195 during the Crusades
Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious war waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against Paganism Slavic peoples, Jews, Eastern Orthodox Church, Mongols, Catharism, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemi...
, the church of the Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
n kingdom of Cilicia
Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia now known as ?ukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times....
 entered into a union with the Catholic Church which lasted until Cilicia was conquered by the Mamluk
Mamluk

A mamluk was a slavery soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans from the 9th to the 13th centuries....
s in 1375. The union was later re-established during the Council of Florence
Council of Florence

The Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV to convene in 1438....
 in 1439, but did not have any real effects for centuries.

In 1740, Abraham-Pierre I Ardzivian, who had earlier become a Catholic
Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
, was elected as the patriarch
Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
 of Sis
Kozan, Adana

Kozan is capital town of Kozan district in Adana Province, Turkey, 68 km north of the city of Adana, in the northern section of the Adana plain....
. Two years later Pope Benedict XIV formally established the Armenian Catholic Church. The headquarters of the patriarchate was later moved to Antelias, north of Beirut
Beirut

Beirut is the Capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut District area, which consists of the city and its suburbs....
. In 1749, the Armenian Catholic Church built a convent in Bzoummar
Bzoummar

Bzoummar also Bzommar is a village in Lebanon. It is located 36 km northeast of Beirut at an elevation ranging between 920 and 950m above the Mediterranean....
, Lebanon. During the horrific Armenian genocide
Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, the Great Calamity —refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian people population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I....
 in 1915–1918 the Church scattered among neighboring countries, mainly Lebanon
Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
 and Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
.

The Armenian Catholic Church can also refer to the church formed by Armenians living in Poland
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries in 16th and 17th-century Europe, formed by a Union of Lublin of Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569....
 in 1620 after the union of Leopolis by Mikolaj (Nicholas) Torosowicz, which has since established bonds with the older Armenian Catholic Church. The church which had been historically centered in Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
 as well as in the pre-1939 Polish borderlands in the east
Kresy

The term Kresy, meaning "Outskirts" or "Borderlands", was first used to define the Poland eastern frontier. The term referred to the eastern frontiers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
, now has two primary centers; one in Gdansk
Gdansk

Gdansk is the city at the centre of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. It is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship....
, and the other in Gliwice
Gliwice

Gliwice is an industrial city in southern Poland with 200,361 inhabitants on the Klodnica River, about 20 km to the west from Katowice.Gliwice is one of the main centers of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, the largest legally-recognized urban entity in Poland, with the population of the greater metropolitan area of 3,487,000....
. A number of its members migrated to Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, which holds its own chapter (see Catholic Church in Sweden).

Hierarchy

The Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of the See of Cilicia is the top authority of the Armenian Catholic Church headed by a Catholicos-Patriarch. The present head is Nerses Bedros XIX
Nerses Bedros XIX

Nerses Bedros XIX was born in Cairo, Egypt on January 17, 1940, the fifth of eight children, is the current patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church....
 Tarmouni.

  • Archdioces:
    • Beirut, Lebanon
    • Aleppe, Syria
    • Baghdad, Iraq
    • Constantinopole (Istanbul), Turkey
    • Lviv, Ukraine
  • Eparchies
    • Alexandria, Egypt
    • Isfahan, Iran
    • Al Qamishli, Syria
    • New York, NY, USA (Our Lady of Nareg, New York)
    • Paris, FRance (Sainte-Croix-de-Paris)
    • Buenos Aires, Argentina (San Gregorio de Narek en Buenos Aires)
  • Apostolic Exarchates
    • Latin America
    • Mexico
  • Ordinariates for the Faithful of the Eastern Rite
    • East Europe
    • Greece
    • Romania
  • Patriarchal Exarchates
    • Damascus, Syria
    • Jerusalem, Israel
    • Amman, Jordan


The current Catholicos-Patriarch is Nerses Bedros XIX
Nerses Bedros XIX

Nerses Bedros XIX was born in Cairo, Egypt on January 17, 1940, the fifth of eight children, is the current patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church....
. The church is one of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches
Eastern Rite Catholic Churches

The Eastern Catholic Churches are autonomous particular Churches in full communion Communion with the Bishop of Rome ? the Pope. They preserve the liturgical, theological and devotional traditions of the various Eastern Christianity with which they are associated, and between which doctrinal differences exist, in particular between the East...
 and uses the Armenian Rite
Armenian Rite

The Armenian Rite is an independent liturgy. This rite is used by both the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church Churches; it is also the rite of a significant number of Eastern Catholic Churches Christians in the Republic of Georgia....
 and Armenian language
Armenian language

The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
 in the liturgy
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
.

Today there are sizeable Armenian Catholic communities in Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
, Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, Lebanon
Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
, Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
, Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, Romania
Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
 and the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

See also

  • List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia
    List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia

    This is a list of The Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia. The Armenian Catholic Church patriarchate was established in 1740 and recognized by the Pope of the Catholic Church in 26 November,1742 following a Schism within the Armenian Patriarchate based in Cilicia....
  • Mechitarist Monks of the Armenian Catholic Church
    Mechitarists

    The Mechitarists , are a congregation of Benedictine monks of the Armenian Catholic Church founded in 1712 by Mechitar. They are best known for their series of scholarly publications of ancient Armenians versions of otherwise lost ancient Greek texts....
  • Vardapet
    Vardapet

    A vardapet or doctor-monk is a highly-educated Preacher monk in the Armenian Apostolic Church tradition who is also a Doctor of Theology....
    , doctor-monk


External links