Armenian History
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Armenia Embraces Christianity—4B.C. to 406 A.D.
4 B.C. Death of Herod the Great, King of the Jews. Likely date for the birth of Jesus Christ, which the Holy Gospels place during Herod’s reign.
A.D. 30. Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, which takes place in his 33rd year, according to the Gospel account. Fifty days after Christ’s Resurrection (on Pentecost), the Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles gathered in Jerusalem.
43. Christ’s Apostle Thaddeus comes to Armenia to preach Christianity. He is martyred in Artaz in southeastern Armenia.
66-68. The Apostle Bartholomew preaches in Armenia. He is martyred in Aghbak, also in southeastern Armenia. The Armenian Church is considered to have an apostolic origin because of the preaching of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew in Armenia.
75. King Sanatruk and his daughter, Sandoukht, convert to Christianity. Under pressure from his lords and pagan clergy, Sanatruk renounces Christianity and puts his daughter to death. She is the first saint of the Armenian Church.
287. King Drtad III imprisons the Christian Gregory, whose father had taken part in the assassination of Drtad III’s father, King Khosrov I. Gregory is thrown into a pit in the royal castle of Artashat, where he remains for thirteen years.
301. Drtad III persecutes Christians in Armenia. He kills a group of thirty-seven Christian nuns who had fled to Armenia to escape Roman persecution, after one of them, Hripsimé, refuses his advances. The leader of the nuns is Gayiané, who with Hripsimé is revered as one of the founding saints of the Armenian Church. After committing this crime, King Drtad goes insane. Drtad’s sister Khosrovidoukht has a dream which tells her that the persecution of Christians must stop. She tells her brother that he will be cured if Gregory is released from the pit. The King agrees to release Gregory, who thereupon restores Drtad’s health and baptizes the King and the royal family. King Drtad declares that, henceforth, Christianity will be the national religion of his kingdom, and Armenia thereby becomes the world’s first Christian nation.
303. Now the Bishop of Armenia, Gregory has a vision in which Christ descends from the heavens to strike the ground with a golden hammer, whereupon a great Christian temple rises out of the town of Vagharshapat. He goes on to build the church that he saw in his vision, renaming Vagharshapat “Etchmiadzin,” which means “the Descent of the Only-Begotten.” For his role in bringing the Light of Christ to the Armenians, St. Gregory is called “the Illuminator” and is venerated as the patron saint of the Armenian Church.
325. Gregory’s son Arisdagés represents the Armenian Church at the Holy Council of Nicaea, convened at the order of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He returns to Armenia with canons of the renowned council—canons which are still venerated in the Armenian Church and form the foundation of its discipline and order. Arisdagés succeeds his father as “universal bishop” (catholicos) of Greater Armenia.
354. Birth of St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the great figures in the Western Christian tradition.
365. Catholicos Nerses I (“the Great”) calls the first Armenian Church Council at Ashtishat, which promotes order and uniformity in Armenia’s churches, establishes schools, hospitals and other charitable institutions.
387. Sahak Bartev, the son of St. Nerses the Great, becomes Catholicos Sahak I. With the financial support of King Vramshapuh, he encourages Mesrop Mashtots to create an Armenian alphabetic script, and acts as patron to the scholars who translate important Christian texts into Armenian. The translation of the Bible, along with the composition of original works, brings about the Golden Age of Armenian literature in the 5th century.
406. Mesrop Mashtots finalizes the Armenian alphabetic script.
