Armenian History

A Subject Nation--1453-1914

1517. In Germany, a Catholic monk, Martin Luther, posts the “95 Theses” on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral, launching what is later to become the Protestant Reformation.

1618/1619. Earliest record of an Armenian (identified as “Martin the Armenian”) arriving in the Americas.

1651. At the Council of Jerusalem, Philipos I Aghbaketsi, Catholicos of All Armenians, and Nerses Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, meet and establish canons defining the limits of the jurisdiction of the two Sees.

1666. The first printed Armenian Bible is produced in Amsterdam.

1715. Hovhannes Kolot Baghishetsi becomes Patriarch of Constantinople. He founds a school in Iskudar, a library in Kumkapu, and begins publishing the works of Agathangelos, Hovhan Mamikonian, Paustos Buzand, Mesrop Vayotstzoretsi, Grigor Tatevatsi and others. During the same period, the Armenian Catholic Mkhitarist order is invited to settle on the island of San Lazzaro by the Republic of Venice.

1717. Grigor Shirvantsi accepts the position of Patriarch of Jerusalem. He is called sheghtayagir (“chain bearer”) because he wears a chain around his neck until the debts of the Patriarchate can be paid. With the support of Patriarch Hovhanes Kolot, he raises a vast sum to meet Jerusalem’s needs.

1771. Under Catholicos Simeon I Yerevantsi (1763-80), the first printing press is set up at Etchmiadzin.

1828. Starting in the 1820s, some Armenians become Protestant converts under the influence of American missionaries in Turkey. A network of Armenian Protestants develops by the end of the 19th century.

1836. The Russian Tsar imposes a constitution, called the Polozhenye (Russian for “regulation”) on the Armenian Church, which allows internal autonomy for the church, while giving power to a synod of clergymen controlled by the Russian authorities.

Mid-1800s. Individual Armenians (mostly young men) come to the United States for education or work, largely on a temporary basis. Some are recorded as fighting in the U.S. Civil War.

1869. Birth of Komitas Vartabed (born Soghomon Soghomonian) in Kutina, Asia Minor. Before his career is tragically cut short, Komitas becomes the greatest figure in the modern development of Armenian music, preserving the traditional forms of folk and sacred music, and laying the groundwork for nearly every Armenian composer after him. In the same year, Bishop Mkrtich Khrimian becomes Patriarch of Constantinople. A renowned Armenian patriot, Patriarch Mkrtich is forced by the Ottomans to resign in 1873, but he is replaced by another patriot, Patriarch Nerses Varzhapetian.

1874. The Gevorgian seminary is founded at Etchmiadzin.

1879. Patriarch Nerses receives 75 Armenians who convert from Catholicism to the Armenian Church—among them Malachia Ormanian, the future Patriarch of Constantinople.

1880s. Larger numbers of Armenians start arriving in U.S. as refugees from Turkey; Armenian settlements in New York, Providence, Boston, Worcester and Fresno emerge.

1889. Fr. Hovsep Sarajian arrives as the first pastor to the Armenians of Worcester, Massachusetts, and celebrates the first Armenian Divine Liturgy in America. In 1891, the first Armenian church in America is consecrated as Sourp Prgich (“Church of Our Saviour”).

1892. Mkrtich Khrimian (affectionately called Khrimian Hayrig) is elected Catholicos Mkrtich I at Etchmiadzin.

1898. Through his official encyclical, Khrimian Hayrig establishes the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, with a jurisdiction encompassing all of North and South America, and a headquarters in Worcester, Massachusetts. Bishop Hovsep Sarajian is appointed as America’s first diocesan primate.