The Council of Chalcedon and Armenian Church

INTRODUCTION

Council of Chalcedon, held in 5th Century, has a great influence on the History of Christianity, and the Armenian Apostolic Church wasn’t an exception. It is now generally recognized, that the attitude of the Armenian Church to the Council of Chalcedon determined not only it’s doctrinal position within the Whole Christian world, but also, and at the same time, immensely affected Armenians’ orientation of the theological literature, and even more - the political life and the history of Armenian Church. In the period between fifth and twelfth centuries were deeply affected by the position of Armenian Church in relation to the Council of the Chalcedon.

The affection of political life is tragic: now is generally accepted, that Cilician Armenian kingdom (1098-1375) was rushed because of relations between Armenian and Catholic Churches: Catholic Church has offered his help against the Muslim countries surrounding Cilician Armenia, if they accept the doctrines of Catholic Church, especially decisions of the Council of Chalcedon, which was finally rejected by Armenian Church. The political affection is seen through the whole history of Armenians.

The 5th century was full of ups and downs for Armenian people. To this period belongs the downfall of the Arsakid kingdom (428) when Armenia was already divided between Persia and Byzantine. To face the political, cultural and religious pressure from both empires – was invented Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots (405) and with this started the cultural and religious renaissance in Armenia or “The Golden Age”, as that period is usually called. It was indeed, a time of great tension and culminated in great achievements in the literary, religious, missionary and educational spheres, namely the preservation of Christianity, the invention of Armenian alphabet, the translation of the Holy Scriptures, the liturgical literature and the Church Fathers, the remarkable flowering of Armenian literature and creation of national solidarity.^[1]

As we know, the Council of Chalcedon is the most controversial council in the tradition of the Christian Church: after the Chalcedon Church was divided into two sections – “Orthodox” and “Monophysite”. This was the first division of Ecumenic Church, and the final result was the Great Schism in 1054. However, our goal isn’t researching the Council and its theological issue, we’ll try to find out the historical background of and the main reasons of rejection of the Council by Armenian Church.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Council of Chalcedon, the rejection by Armenian Church has two aspects, theological and political. As we know, Christian Church was in close connections with politics beginning from the first century. The affection of politics on the Church has become stronger when Christianity was accepted in Roman Empire in 312.

In order to understand the ecclesiastical situation in which Armenians rejected the Council, we must pay attention on the political situation of the country.

Historically Armenia was on the cross-roads between Roman-Parthian and later Byzantine-Persian(Sassanid) empires. In this situation Armenia managed to keep his independence up to the end of 4th beginning of the 5th centuries. During this period Armenia oscillated between two great empires, but remained independent and autonomous country, it has his own place and identity. As we noticed in Introduction, Armenia was divided between Byzantine and Persian empires in 374 and in 428 finally lost his independence.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries there occurred some political changes which played a decisive role in the political history of Armenia. In 226 the rule of Parthian Arsacid dynasty in Persia was overthrown and replaced by the Persian Sassanid. In that time the ruling dynasty in Armenia was a branch of the same Arsakid dynasty. As a reflection of such political changes in Persia, Armenia turned to his Western neighbor, the Roman Empire. If fact, Armenia turned once for all to the West in the beginning of 4th Century, after accepting Christianity as a state religion. Although Christianity was rejected in Roman Empire in the beginning of the 4th century, it had a sympathetic attitude by the Armenian king Tiridates the 3rd, and in the time of acceptance it had already become a serious power in the country. After accepting Christianity in Roman Empire in 312 relations between Armenia and Rome became more closer, the orientation to the West was irrevocable after the acceptance of Christianity with its all cultural implications.^[2]  In religious sphere, it was an triumphant victory of Christianity against old but persisting yet paganism. However, turning to the West wasn’t so easy for Armenia, because some parts of country (feudals) were Iranophiles. They tried to help Persia to defeat Christianity in Armenia and restore paganism. Whereas, Romanophiles became the defenders of Christianity. After the partition of Armenia between Persia (387) and Byzantine Empire the greater part of Armenia was included into Persia. In that time it hasn’t lost his great autonomy and even remained his kingdom up to 428. During the period of being divided between Perisia and Byzantine empire Armenia had different forms of self-government, it was a distinct country with a special status of self recognition and self-expression. Armenia never became an integral part of either the Roman or the Byzantine empires, nor of the Parthian or Sassanid empires. The religious situation was more serious than political: greater part of Armenia was situated under the Persian overlordship which professed another religion to Christianity, so it had to show its loyalty to the Empire in political matters and to resist its policy of integration and assimilation. The other part of Armenia was under Byzantine Empire, with which it had a close relation in terms of religious and cultural affinities. The way to face the assimilation was one, the creation of national literature.