Church of Caucasian Albania

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Albanian Orthodox Church.

The Church of Albania or the Albanian Apostolic Church was an ancient, briefly autocephalous church established in the 5th century.[1][2] In 705, It fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Catholicosate of Aghvank[3] centered in Caucasian Albania, a region spanning present-day northern Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan.[4]

In medieval times, the Gandzasar monastery served as the See of the Catholicosate of Aghvank of the Armenian Apostolic Church,[1][5] which continued to exist until 1828 (or 1836[6]) when it was formally abolished by the Russian authorities,[5] following the forced cession of the last territories in the Caucasus maintained under Iranian Qajar rule per the Treaty of Turkmenchay and the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828).

Origins of Christianity in Caucasian Albania

According to local folk lore, Christianity entered Caucasian Albania in the 1st century AD

Thaddeus of Edessa, arrived to a place called Gis (Գիս), where he built a church and recited a liturgy, today commonly believed[by whom?] to be the Church of Kish north of Shaki, present day Azerbaijan. The church became the "spiritual center and the place of enlightenment of people of the East". On his way from Gis St. Elishe was killed near the pagan altar in the small Zerguni valley by unknown people.[7]

History

Initial Spread of Christianity in Caucasian Albania

Shortly after

Catholicos of Armenia.[8]

After

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) built by his grandfather in the canton of Haband in Artsakh.[11][12]

In probably the early 5th century, a local bishop by the name of Jeremy translated the Holy Bible into the language of the Caucasian Albanians,

King Javanshir.[16]

Struggle with Persian Zoroastrianism

According to the 5th century Armenian historian

Yeghishe Vardapet, in the year 450 the Sassanid King of Persia King Yazdegerd II ordered the highest nobles in Caucasian Albania, Armenia, and Georgia to come to his capital in Ctesiphon for the purpose of compelling their conversion to Zoroastrianism.[17] Prior to going, representatives from all three nations vowed to each other that they would never relinquish their faith.[18] Although while in Ctesiphon the nobles relented, were showered with gifts,[19] and sent back to their lands accompanied by Zoroastrian priests to establish the religion in their respective nations,[20] upon returning home these nobles were spurred by popular sentiment to hold more firmly to their Christian faith and rebel against King Yazdegerd II under the leadership of Armenian General Vardan Mamikonyan. The united Christian nations of Caucasian Albania, Armenia, and Georgia lost at the Battle of Avarayr in 451;[21]
however, at least part of the Caucasian Albanian nation has remained Christian to some degree even through modern times.

In the mid-5th century, under King Vache II, Caucasian Albania shortly adopted Zoroastrianism due to Persian influence. The return to Christianity resulted in a war between Persia and Caucasian Albania, during which Vache II lost his heir. Neither side won; eventually Peroz I, the King of Persia from 457 to 484, offered Vache II peace and the right to remain a Christian, but only if Vache would allow his mother and wife, who were both Persian and Zoroastrian by birth, to return to their homeland. Vache complied, and lived the rest of his life in solitude.[22][23]

Golden Age

Christianity reached its golden age in the late 5th century under Vachagan the Pious (ruled 487–510), who launched a campaign against

idol worship and witchcraft in Caucasian Albania and discouraged Zoroastrianism. Those who propagated idol worship were physically punished, enslaved, or ostracized. King Vachagan would personally arrange for their children to be taken to schools and raised Christian. He took an active part in Christianizing Caucasian Albanians and appointing clergy to monasteries throughout his kingdom. On his orders, the site of St. Gregoris' burial was discovered and venerated.[24][25]

In 488, King Vachagan convoked the Council of Aghuen in his summer residence near present-day

Mardakert. During the council, a twenty-one paragraph codex formalizing and regulating the important aspects of the Church's structure, functions, relationship with the state, and legal status was adopted.[9][26]

Proselytism among the Huns

In the 6th century AD the

Israel, Bishop of Mets Kolmanķ, to persuade the Hunnic ruler Alp Iluetuer to put an end to military actions, as the people of Caucasian Albania could not be held responsible for a deed committed "by the hand of one treacherous and vile man."[27] During his stay in the land of Huns in 681—682, Israel condemned their pagan beliefs and practices, and preached Christianity. His converts offered him to establish and lead a patriarchate there through a special request sent by Alp Iluetuer to Eliezer, Catholicos of Caucasian Albania.[28]
The request was turned down due to Israel already having been assigned a congregation in Mets Kolmanķ. Despite Israel maintaining further contact with the Huns, Christianity probably did not survive among the latter for long.

Decline and Subordination

After the overthrow of Nerses in 705, the Caucasian Albanian elite decided to reestablish the tradition of having their Catholicoi ordained through the Patriarch of Armenia, as was the case before 590.[29] This event is generally regarded as the abolition of the Church of Caucasian Albania through the loss of its autocephaly, and the lowering of its hierarchical status to that of a subordinate body within Armenian Apostolic Church; namely, the Catholicosate of Aghvank.[2]

The Arab conquest and the Chalcedonian crisis led to severe disintegration of the Church. Starting from the 8th century, some of the local population underwent mass

Lezgian, and Tsakhur ethnic groups,[30] whereas those that remained Christian gradually became the Armenians of Shaki and Vartashen (Oğuz) through assimilation[31]

Georgian Orthodox North centered around the bishopric of Kish and the Armenian Apostolic Church of the south[32]

At the beginning of

Islamized Udi.[32][33]

Modern Caucasian Albanian-Udi Church

Udi church of Nij
Detail from the Udi church in the village of Nij

In 2003, the Albanian-Udi Christian Community based in Nizh was registered in the Azerbaijan State Committee for Religious Organizations.[34] An estimated 4,500 out of the 10,000 Udis worldwide live in Azerbaijan.[citation needed]

Structure of the Church

Theology

The Church of Caucasian Albania was represented in the early

Jesus Christ) adopted at the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451, which was viewed as a return to Nestorianism[2]
by other Oriental Churches.

Nevertheless, in 491, Caucasian Albanian bishops, along with Armenian Catholicos Babgen I and Georgian bishops at Vagharshapat, decided to reject the Council of Chalcedon. It was not so much the dogmatic formula of Chalcedon which was the problem, the creed was accepted, but the rules on celibacy and other elements which appeared to assert Roman hegemony were a concern for Christians living under Sassanid and then Arabic rule. Later the Second Synod of Dvin held in 551 also condemned the Council of Chalcedon.[35]

At the First Council of Dvin held in 506, without ratifying Chalcedon, the Caucasian Albanian, Armenian, and Georgian churches all declared doctrinal unity with each other,

Roman Catholic churches.[37] Specifically, at this council the Church of Caucasian Albania rejected both Nestorianism and the legitimacy and conditions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.[36] As of the late 6th century, both Nestorian and Chalcedonian beliefs were popular enough in Caucasian Albania to provoke a letter of concern, dated sometime between the years 568 and 571, from Armenian Catholicos Hovhannes addressed to Bishop Vrtanes and Prince Mihr-Artashir of Syunik province.[38] Around the same time, representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem were actively promoting Chalcedonian practices in Caucasian Albania.[39] Indeed, it is likely that because of such advocacy and possible coercive pressure, dioceses of the Church of Caucasian Albania located in Jerusalem had already accepted Chalcedonian practices and had begun promoting them back home.[40] By probably the first decade of the 7th century, though, the Church of Caucasian Albania had already come back into communion with the Armenian Apostolic Church as a fellow non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Church.[41]

In the late 7th century, Catholicos Nerses attempted to install the

Chalcedonian decrees in Caucasian Albania. According to Kaghankatvatsi, Nerses was the Bishop of Gardman who adhered to Council of Chalcedon, as did the queen-consort of Caucasian Albania, Spram, the wife of Varaz-Tiridates I. In 688, with Spram's help, Nerses managed to be appointed as Patriarch, planning to bring the country in line with Chalcedonian practice. Many members of the ruling class and clergy accepted his ideas, whereas those that remained loyal to the original teachings of the Church (including Israel, Bishop of Mets Kolmanķ), became subject to repression. The growth of Chalcedonism was contrary to the interests of the Arabs who had taken over most of the Caucasus by the early 8th century, because although affirming Christ's humanity, which the Arabs welcomed, Chalcedonism was still Roman in essence and thus ratifying it was associated with territorial aspirations of the Byzantine Empire. In 705, the anti-Chalcedonian clergy of Caucasian Albania convoked a council and anathematized Nerses and his supporters. Elias, Catholicos of Armenia, followed up by writing a letter to Caliph Abd al-Malik notifying him of the political threat that Chalcedonianism was posing to the region. Abd al-Malik arranged for the arrest of Nerses and Spram, who were then bound in fetters and exiled.[42][43]

In light of the fact that leaders of the modern Caucasian Albanian Church are considering sending potential clergy to study in Russia,[44] its future may be with dyophysite Eastern Orthodox Christianity rather than Oriental Orthodoxy.

Liturgy

The liturgical language of the Church was likely one of the local tribal tongues, most likely Gargarian or

Persian Christians in 506, Babgen I, Catholicos of Armenia, stated that all three churches of the Caucasus were ideologically united despite each having its own language.[47] That Caucasian Albanians probably used their own national language as a liturgical language in their church is suggested by a bilingual Georgian-Old Udi palimpsest manuscript dating back to no later than the 7th century that was discovered in 1997 in Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt by Georgian historian Zaza Aleksidze.[48][49] Towards the abolition of the Church's autocephaly, it was increasingly becoming linguistically Armenized. Among the factors that might have contributed to that are constant raids of the Khazars and the "lawless" who burned churches and with them much of Caucasian Albanian religious literature.[50][51]

Hierarchy

The archbishop was considered the head of the Church of Caucasian Albania, and he had traditionally been ordained by the Armenian Catholicos until 590, when Caucasian Albania proclaimed its own locally ordained patriarchy.[2] In general, the seat of the Catholicos was passed down from uncle to nephew.[52] This continued until the abolition of the Church's autocephaly in 706. The city of Chola (possibly present-day Derbent, Russia) had originally been chosen to be the See of the Church of Caucasian Albania. However, in 551, due to plundering raids of "Khazars" (Kutrigurs) on Caucasian Albania, the seat of the archbishop was transferred to Partav.[11][53]

In various sources, the dioceses of Partav,

Kolmanķ are listed as dioceses of the Church of Caucasian Albania.[2][26][54]

List of Caucasian Albanian Catholicoi

Main article:
List of Caucasian Albanian Catholicoi

Lineage was established by St. Elisæus the Apostle also known as Yeghishe (dies c. 79) and considered the father of the Church of Caucasian Albania. Lineage continued with St. Grigoris, the grandson of Gregory the Illuminator. Grigoris was invited by Albanian king Urnayr to sit on the throne and continued to rule until 343 AD. Urnayr had converted into Christianity in the hands of Gregory the Illuminator. Lineage continued until 1836 when it was abolished by the Russian authorities and the position of metropolitan established from that date on.

Legacy

In the last chapter of book two, Movses Kaghankatvatsi lists monasteries that were established by Caucasian Albanians[clarification needed] in Jerusalem.[55]

  • Monastery of Pand
  • Monastery of Mrouv
  • Monastery of St. Theotokos of Partav
  • Monastery of Kalankatouyk
  • Monastery of St. Theotokos of Artsakh
  • Monastery of St. Gregory of Amaras
  • Four other unnamed monasteries repossessed by Arabs at Kaghankatvatsi's time

As a result of the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenian Apostolic Church has not had official representation in Azerbaijan outside Nagorno-Karabakh since the early 1990s. Even as late as 1997, the churches in Udi-populated locales were still closed as a result of the Bolshevik anti-religious campaign of the 1930s.[2]

Research and dating

Objects found on the site of the church dating to the end of 4000 B.C. and beginning of 3000 B.C.

In 2000–2003 the

Azerbaijan Architecture and Construction University and the Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise for the archaeological research and restoration of the church of Kish. Vilayat Karimov of Baku's Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography served as the director of excavations, and the archaeological advisor for the project was J. Bjørnar Storfjell. Radiocarbon analysis of various objects found on the site showed that the cultic site found beneath the altar of the church dates to about 3000 B.C., while the construction of the existing church building dates to about the 12th century (990–1160 A.D.)[56]

The existing church building cannot be dated to the times of St. Elishe, but the archaeological evidence demonstrates that the church is located on an ancient cultic site. It is very unlikely that St. Elishe built in Kish a church in the modern understanding of this word. Even if the person did exist, it appears likely that he built only the altar or used an existing pagan cult structure.[57]

Bjørnar Storfjell stated that there's clear evidence that this church was built as

Diophysite church. Excavations revealed that the church represented two different periods of use, with two different corresponding floor levels. According to Storfjell, since the architecture of the apse of the original church in Kish suggests a diophysite Christology, and since the Georgian Church was the only diophysite church existing in the Caucasus in the late medieval period, it seems reasonable to suggest that the Kish church was built as a Georgian church and was later taken over by monophysites.[56]

St. Bartholomew

According to the 6th-century archbishop and historian St. Sophronius of Cyprus, in 71, St.

Bolshevik campaign against religion.[63]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-253-20773-9 – via Google Books
    . ...Karabagh had been in ancient and medieval times part of the kingdom of the Caucasian Albanians. This ethoreligious group, now long extinct, had converted to Christianity in the 4th century and drew close to the Armenian church. Over time its upper classes were effectively Armenized. When the Seljuks invaded Transcaucasia in the 11th century, a process of Islamization began that resulted in the conversion of the peoples of the plain to the east of Karabagh to Islam. These people, the direct ancestors of present-day Azerbaijanis, adopted the Turkic language of their conquerors and adopted the Shi'a branch of Islam dominant in neighboring Iran. The mountains remained largely Christian, and in time the Karabagh Albanians merged with the Armenians. The central seat of the Albanian church at Gandzasar became one of the bishoprics of the Armenian church, and the memory of the once-independent national religion was preserved in the stature of the local primate, who was called Catholicos.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h (in Russian) Igor Kuznetsov.Udis
  3. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 40, 72, 80.
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  7. ^ Movses Kaghankatvatsi. History of Albania. Book 1, Chapter VI
  8. ^ M.L. Chaumont, "Albania," Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, pp. 806–810; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/albania-iranian-aran-arm (accessed on 17 May 2014)
  9. ^ a b (in Russian) Hieromonk Alexei (Nikonorov) History of Christianity in Caucasian Albania. Part VII.
  10. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, I.XI
  11. ^ a b c (in Russian) Caucasian Albania. The Eastern Orthodox Encyclopædia.
  12. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, I.XIV
  13. ^ Babian 2001, p. 50.
  14. ^ Gippert & Schulze 2007, pp. 201–212.
  15. ^ Gippert & Schulze 2007, p. 201.
  16. ^ Gippert & Schulze 2007, p. 209.
  17. ^ Babian 2001, p. 56-57.
  18. ^ Babian 2001, p. 57.
  19. ^ Babian 2001, p. 58.
  20. ^ Babian 2001, p. 59.
  21. ^ Babian 2001, p. 61.
  22. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, I.X
  23. Igor Diakonov. (ed.) History of the Ancient World
    . Vol. 3. Lec. 9: Transcaucasia and the Adjacent States between Iran and Rome. Christianization of Transcaucasia. Nauka. Moscow: 1983
  24. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, I.XVIII-XIX
  25. ^ Ivan Shopen. Materials for Description of Territory and Tribes of the Caucasus. N.Tiblen: 1856; p. 431
  26. ^ a b Kaghankatvatsi, I.XXVI
  27. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II.XXXVI
  28. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, XLV
  29. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, III.VIII–XI
  30. ^ Schulze 2005, p. 23.
  31. JSTOR 3012134
    .
  32. ^ a b http://udilang.narod.ru/papers/Schulze_History-of-Udi.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  33. ^ Սամվել Կարապետյան, «Բուն Աղվանքի հայերեն վիմագրերը», Երևան, ««Գիտություն»», 1997 – 132 էջ
  34. ^ Sergei Markedonov. Azerbaijan: an Islamist Threat to Religious Harmony. Memo.ru
  35. doi:10.1080/00043079.1972.10789382
    .
  36. ^ a b Babian 2001, p. 98.
  37. ^ Christian Caucasia between Byzantium and Iran: New Light from Old Sources, Cyril Toumanoff, Traditio, Vol. 10, (1954): 139.
  38. ^ Babian 2001, pp. 111–114.
  39. ^ Babian 2001, pp. 123–24.
  40. ^ Babian 2001, pp. 125–26.
  41. ^ Babian 2001, p. 246.
  42. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, III.III–VII
  43. ^ Kirakos Gandzaketsi. The Brief History. Chapter X.
  44. ^ Konanchev, Zurab (August 2003). "Udins Today Ancestors of the Caucasian Albanians". Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  45. ^ Gippert & Schulze 2007, p. 210.
  46. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II.III
  47. ^ Babian 2001, p. 94.
  48. ^ (in Russian) Zaza Aleksidze. Caucasian Albanian Scriptures Discovered
  49. ^ Gippert & Schulze 2007, pp. see generally.
  50. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II. VII, XXIV
  51. ^ (in Russian) Igor Kuznetsov. Materials for the Study of the Aghvan (Caucasian Albanian) Alphabet.
  52. Robert Hewsen
    (1972). The Meliks of Eastern Armenia, p. 317.
  53. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II.IV
  54. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II.VII
  55. ^ Kaghankatvatsi, II.LII
  56. ^ a b J. Bjornar Storfjell, Ph.D. "The Church in Kish. Carbon Dating Reveals its True Age." Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:1 (Spring 2003).
  57. ^ Official website of Baku eparchy of Russian Orthodox Church. Architectural heritage of Caucasian Albania
  58. ^ The Works of Sophronius, Archbishop of Cyprus (1911). Tiflis. p.397.30
  59. ^ Bartholomew — Some Thoughts[permanent dead link]. The Parish of Upper Coquetdale.
  60. ^ Evidence of the Resurrection Archived 24 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Christian Evidence Room.
  61. ^ Martyrs Mirror. p. 88
  62. ^ 25 August. Orthodoxy in China.
  63. ^ (in Russian) History of a Holiday. The Baku Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Bibliography

  • Babian, Gorun (2001). The Relations between the Armenian and Georgian Churches: According to the Armenian Sources, 300–610. Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon: Kevork Melidi Netsi Literary Award.
  • Gippert, Jost; Schulze, Wolfgang (2007). "Some Remarks on the Caucasian Albanian Palimsests". Iran and the Caucasus. 11 (2). Leiden, Netherlands:
    doi:10.1163/157338407X265441
    .
  • Schulze, Wolfgang (2005). "Towards a History of Udi" (PDF). International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
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