Saints Vartanantz Armenian Church

 About the Armenian Church

• What is Religion?

Religion is a sacred and mysterious bond that unites a man with his Creator.

• What does religion teach us?

To know God, to love Him, to worship Him and to obey Him and thus become worthy of His love and of the beatitude of eternal life.

• Where is the Knowledge of true Religion found?

In the Doctrine of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which the Church delivers to us, in accordance with the teachings of the holy Apostles.

• Under what heads may the Doctrine of our Savior Jesus Christ be divided?

The Doctrine of our Saviour may be divided into three headings, namely; Faith, Sacraments, and Duty.

• When was the Holy Council of Nicaea held?

The first of the universal councils of Christ’s Church assembled in the city of Nicaea in the year of Christ, in which 318 Bishops (of whom one was our holy Patriarch Aristakes, son and successor of St. Gregory the Enlightener) condemned the heresy of Arius, who would not confess the Son of God to be of one substance, power and eternity with the Father, but considered Him to be a creature.

• When was the Holy Council of Constantinople held?

The general council of Constantinople was held A.D. 381, to condemn the heresy of Macedonius who denied the godhead of the Holy Ghost. One of the 150 holy fathers assembled there was our Holy Patriarch Nerses Parthev the Great, Nerses Parthev was the great-great-grand son of St. Gregory, the Enlightener.

• Why and when did the Holy Council of Ephesus assemble?

The Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius was denying the Divinity of Christ. He taught that in Christ were two persons, the person of God and the person of man, the person of God being, he said, united sometime after birth to the person of man. This took place in A.D. 431. Although our Holy Patriarch Isaac Parthiev was invited to this council, he was not able to be present personally but he communicated his confession of the orthodox doctrine by letter to the council.

• What is the Orthodox Doctrine respecting the Person of Christ?

The orthodox Faith is that there is but one person in Christ, that of God, and that this Divine person took manhood in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

• How does our Church honor these three Councils?

These three councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus the Holy Church of Armenia acknowledge as holy ecumenical, or general councils and commemorate them separately.

• What is the Holy Bible?

The Holy Bible is that wonderful creation of books, which were written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit one after another by different prophets and apostles. The whole being called also the Holy Scriptures and the Word of God.

• How many Books are there in the Bible?

In the whole of the Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) there are 66 books, which were written in a period of 1500 years extending from the time of the prophet Moses to that of the Apostles.

• How many Books are there in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament there are 39 Books written in the Hebrew language, which the Jews had before the coming of Christ and which they preserve and honor to this day.

• How many Books are there in the New Testament?

The New Testament contains 27 books all written by Apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ, transmitting to the Christians knowledge of the earthly life, death, resurrection and teaching of the Heavenly Master. Christianity has accepted and recognized this collection from the beginning as the books of the New Testament in greater honor than the Old Testament and as being its crown and completion.

• What is the Church?

The Church is the assembly or unity of orthodox Christians, who though they are spread throughout the world, form the same society and brotherhood, under the supervision of lawful Bishops.

• Who established the Church?

Christ our Lord established the Christian Church, therefore He is also the Head and Rock and Foundation of the Church.

• Into how many Communions is Christianity divided?

Christianity when geographically and ethnologically viewed, is found to be divided into several national Churches, which are classed under two principal divisions, the Oriental or Eastern Church and the Western Church.

• What is the Eastern Church?

The Eastern or Oriental Church is the original Church, which Christ founded in Jerusalem. The principal representatives of the Eastern Church are the Armenian, Greek, Syrian, Egyptian and other Churches which though they differ from each other by nationality, language and rites and have an ecclesiastical government absolutely independent of each other, yet have the same Divine Head who is Christ.

• What is the Western Church?

Western Church was that portion of Church, which was founded in Rome and gradually propagated into the rest of Europe, Africa and later to America. For this reason, the major portion of her called also the Roman or Latin Church, because it recognizes the Bishop of Rome (called the Pope) as its head.

• When did the Armenian nation become Christian?

Our nation was the first among the heathen nations that embraced the holy faith of Christ. The Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew went to Armenia, and preaching the Gospel, laid the foundation of the Church there. Thus ours became the First national Christian Church established among the heathen nations.