Tondrakians
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Tondrakians (Armenian: Թոնդրակեաններ, romanized: Tʿondrakyanner) were members of an anti-feudal Christian sect that flourished in medieval Armenia between the early 9th and the 11th century, centered on the district of Tondrak north of Lake Van.
History
The founder of the movement was Smbat Zarehavantsi, who advocated the abolition of the
Background
In the early 10th century, many regions of Armenia were undergoing peasant uprisings, which also first began in forms of open social protests, eventually adopting religious aspects. Contemporary historian and eyewitness
Resurgence
After the suppression of the peasant revolts, the Tondrakians suffered a minor decline. However, by the beginning of the 11th century, the movement enveloped many regions of Armenia. Tondrakian villages and communities appeared in Upper Armenia, Vaspurakan, Mokq and other provinces. Historians mention various leaders of the Tondrakians of this time such as Thoros, Ananes, Hakop and Sarkis. The wide acceptance of the movement began to worry secular and spiritual feudal lords, Byzantine authorities and even Muslims.
Decline
Armenian secular and spiritual feudal lords joined forces with neighbouring Muslim Arab emirs as well as
Beliefs
Tenth century Armenian theologian and monk Gregory of Narek wrote a critical summary of Tondrakian doctrines in his Letter to the Abbot of Kchaw Concerning the Refutation of the Accursed Tondrakians. He lists the following among other accusations:
- They deny our ordination, which the apostles received from Christ.
- They deny the Holy Communion as the true body and blood of Christ.
- They deny our Baptism as being mere bath water.
- They consider Sunday as on a level with other days.
- They refuse genuflection.
- They deny the veneration of the cross.
- They ordain each other and thus follow self-conferred priesthood.
- They do not accept marriage as a sacrament.
- They reject the matagh[2] as being a Jewish practice.
- They are sexually promiscuous.
Notes
- ^ See: Yianni Cartledge & Brenton Griffin, ‘Sunk in the…Gulf of Perdition’: The ‘Heretical’ Paulician and Tondrakian Movements in the Periphery of the Medieval Byzantine Empire', Cerae, 9, 2022, 235-271.
- ^ Ceremonial slaughter of an animal followed by a meal.
References
Primary
- (in English) History Regarding the Sufferings Occasioned by Foreign Peoples Living Around Us, Aristakes Lastiversti
- (in Russian) History of Armenia, Hovhanes Draskhanakertsi
Secondary
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition
- Vrej Nersessian: The Tondrakian Movement, Princeton Theological Monograph Series, Pickwick Publications, Allison Park, Pennsylvania, 1988 (online at internet archive)
- Vahan M. Kurkjian: A History of Armenia (Chapter 37, The Paulikians and the Tondrakians), New York, 1959, 526 pp.
- Arsen A. Guerguizian: The Movement of the Paulician-Tondrakians in the Armenian Apostolic Church-From the Seventh to the Twelfth Centuries, Beirut, 1970
- Yianni Cartledge & Brenton Griffin, ‘Sunk in the…Gulf of Perdition’: The ‘Heretical’ Paulician and Tondrakian Movements in the Periphery of the Medieval Byzantine Empire', Cerae, 9, 2022, 235-271.