Armenian Catholic Church

(Refer to List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia)

The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church "sui juris" within the Catholic Church. Historically it represents a schism from the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is in full communion with and accepts the authority of the Pope in Rome as regulated by Eastern canon law.

History

After the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with the rest of Oriental Orthodoxy, formally broke off communion from the Chalcedonian churches, numerous Armenian bishops made attempts to restore communion with the Catholic Church (Rome). In 1195 during the Crusades, the church of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia entered into a union with the Catholic Church which lasted until Cilicia was conquered by the Mamluks in 1375.

The union was later re-established during the Council of Florence in 1439, but did not have any real effects until the year 1740, when Abraham-Pierre I Ardzivian, who had earlier become a Catholic, was elected as the patriarch of Sis. 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. In 1749, the Armenian Catholic Church built a convent in Bzoummar, Lebanon. During the horrific Armenian genocide in 1915–1918 the Church scattered among neighboring countries, mainly Lebanon and Syria.

The Armenian Catholic Church can also refer to the church formed by Armenians living in Poland in 1620 after the union of Leopolis by Mikołaj (Nicholas) Torosowicz, which has since established bonds with the older Armenian Catholic Church. The church which had been historically centered in Galicia as well as in the Polish borderlands in the east, now has two primary centers; one in Gdansk, and the other in Gliwice. A number of its members migrated to Sweden, which holds its own chapter (see Catholic Church of Sweden).

Hierarchy

"See below in the Hierarchy template for a list of Armenian Catholic dioceses"

The current Catholicos-Patriarch is Nerses Bedros XIX. The church is one of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches and uses the Armenian Rite and Armenian language in the liturgy.

Today there are sizeable Armenian Catholic communities in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Canada, France, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Romania and the United States.

ee also

* List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia
* Mechitarist Monks of the Armenian Catholic Church
* Vardapet, doctor-monk

External links

* [http://www.armeniancatholic.org/ Official web site]
* [http://www.opuslibani.org.lb/armenimenu.html Armenian Catholic Church in Lebanon]
* [http://www.armeniancatholic.ru/en/index.html Armenian Catholic Church in Russia]
* [http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Catholic_Church Armeniapedia - Armenian Catholic Church]
* [http://www.damian-hungs.de/Katholische%20Ostkirchen.html Catholic Churches]
* [http://www.ArmenianChurchLibrary.com Armenian Apostolic Church Library]
* [http://www.smacc.org St. Mark's Armenian Catholic Church, near Philadelphia, Pa.]