The Armenian Apostolic Church

Denomination·Founded 301 CE·est. ~9 million worldwide, most of them outside Armenia; diaspora figures are estimates rather than counts.

Judaism → Christianity → Oriental Orthodoxy → The Armenian Apostolic Church

The Mother See of Holy EtchmiadzinEastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America

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Overview Belief 3How to Live 1Practice 1Stories & Scripture 2 You × The Armenian Apostolic Church Discussion
Precept of The Armenian Apostolic Church

Translate, or lose it.

Mesrop Mashtots devised the Armenian alphabet around 405 so that scripture could be read in Armenian, and the church keeps a Feast of the Holy Translators — one of the few feasts anywhere dedicated to translators as such. The rule that follows is practical: an Armenian parish builds a school. Language maintenance is treated as a religious obligation and not a cultural hobby.

Add to My Beliefs →
What it asksLearn the language, and translate what is worth having
Who it bindsClergy first, then the schools every diaspora parish builds
Where it bitesIn the third diaspora generation, where the liturgy is understood by fewer people each decade
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Mashtots produced the alphabet around 405 and the first sentence written in it was from Proverbs. Within a generation the Bible, the liturgy and a shelf of Greek and Syriac theology had been translated, and the period is called the Golden Age. The Feast of the Holy Translators, in October, honours Mashtots, Sahak Partev, Movses Khorenatsi and others, and it doubles as a feast of Armenian letters. In the diaspora this is not sentimentality: parish day schools, Saturday schools and language camps are the church's largest expense after the buildings.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
T The great disciples. Buddhism · figure Meet them →
The Shatkhandagama, and the lost canon. Jainism · scripture Open the book →
Study, daily, as an obligation. Judaism · rite Go deeper →
The hafiz. Islam · scripture Open the book →
The Guru now lives in the book and the body. Sikhism · core tenet Go deeper →
Z Zhu Xi. Confucianism · figure Meet them →

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The Armenian Apostolic Church's How to Live roomback up one layer Propose a change to this passageone button — it routes to the review pool

Numbers count Panfaith activity only — never real-world adherence.

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