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ARMENIAN ART. the north European art of early mediæval times, rather than with Byzantium. Religieuses, gold images, triptychs, crosses, chalices, book-covers, are among the forms taken by this jewelry. They are found in dozens of church treasuries. Wall-painting was very general during the entire period, and here again considerable independence of Byzantium was shown. The only example of the mosaic work so universal among the Greeks is at Ghelathi, and was a present to King David from Emperor Alexis Comnenus. Caucasian painting was far less stiff and classic than Byzantine. It admitted historic scenes more frequently, and the desire of the artists to glorify events of national interest is shown vividly in frequent portraits of the sovereigns of Georgia and Armenia. Such frescoes are at Sion (Eleventh Century), Nekresi (Eleventh Century), and especially Ghelathi and Bethania. On the other hand, in the numerous illuminated MSS. of the same period (Eleventh to Fifteenth centuries), Byzantine influence predominated. The Georgian are the earliest, and attained perfection in the Eleventh Century. More numerous, but later, are the Armenian. The largest collections of such MSS. are in the Armenian Library in Venice, and in that of the monastery of Etchmiadzin. The Thirteenth Century marks for this, as well as for most other branches of art, the highest point of perfection. In the Seventeenth Century foreign influences — especially Italian and Persian — began to predominate. See ; ;.

References. Consult for pre-Christian antiquities: Kondakoff (N.), Tolstoï (J.), and Reinach (S.), Antiquités de la Russie méridionale (Paris, 1891); see also Dubois de Montpérieux, Voyage autour Caucase (Paris, 1839-41); Brosset, Voyage archéologigue dans la Géorgie et l'Arménie (Saint Petersburg, 1849-51); Prince Gagarin, Le Caucase (Paris); Mourier (J.), L'art religieux au Caucase (Paris, 1887).

ARMENIAN CHURCH.' Christianity appears to have been introduced in Armenia as early as the Second Century. It was for the first time firmly established, however, when Bishop Gregory the Illuminator baptized Tiridates, the King (301), and a great party of the people became immediately baptized Christians. (See .) The Bible was translated into the Armenian language in the Fifth Century, by Mesrob and Sahak. After this period great animation prevailed in the Armenian Church. Numbers flocked to the colleges at Athens and Constantinople. In the ecclesiastical controversy concerning the twofold nature of Christ, the Armenian Christians held with the Monophysites (q.v.); refused to acknowledge the authority of the Council of Chalcedon; and constituted themselves a separate Church, which took the title of Gregorian from Gregory himself. For several centuries a spirit of scientific inquiry, especially in theology, manifested itself among them to a far wider extent than in the other Eastern churches. Their greatest divine is Nerses IV., Patriarch of Armenia, and Catholicos, from 1166 to 1173, whose works have been repeatedly published (Latin translation, Venice, 1833. 2 vols.); his Prayers in thirty-six languages (1882). The Gregorians have continued to entertain a deeply rooted aversion to the so-called Orthodox Church. The Roman Catholic Popes at various times, especially (1145, 1341, 1440) when the Armenians accepted the help of the West against the Mohammedans, tried to persuade them to recognize the Papal supremacy; but for the most part only the nobles consented to do so, while the mass of the people clung to their peculiar opinons, as we see from the complaint of Pope Benedict XII., who accuses the Armenian Church of 117 errors of doctrine. There is a sect of United or Roman Catholic Armenians in Italy, Galicia, Persia, Russia, and Marseilles, who accept the Papal supremacy. It dates from 1439. Seventeen dioceses are now subject to their patriarch, but he has no authority over Armenians in Russia and Austria. The attempt of Pius IX., in 1867, to Romanize the sect still further, led to a split, and the rebellious fraternized with the Old Catholics in 1872. The congregation of the Mechitarists founded by the Abbot Mechitar in 1701 at Venice, have done much to spread the Roman faith among their people. In theology the orthodox Armenian Church attributes only one nature to Christ, and holds that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, this doctrine, however, being held by it in common with the Orthodox Greek Church, although contrary to the theology of the Western churches. With respect to the "seven sacraments," it entertains the peculiar notion that at baptism one must be sprinkled three times and as often dipped; that confirmation is to be conjoined with baptism; that the Lord's Supper must be celebrated with wine and leavened bread; that the latter, before being handed round, must be dipped in the former; and that extreme unction is to be administered to ecclesiastics alone, and that immediately after (and not before) their death. It believes in the worship of saints, but not in purgatory. It exceeds the Greek Church in the number of its fasts, but has fewer religious festivals. These, however, are more enthusiastically kept. Divine service is held in Turkey chiefly by night. Mass is celebrated in the old Armenian language; preaching is carried on in the new. The sacerdotal constitution differs little from the Greek. The head of the Armenian Church is called the Catholicos. He resides at Etchmiadzin, in Russian Armenia. Under him are bishops. The Russian Government claims the right of appointing him. But of more consequence are the patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, who are nominally under the Catholicos. The monks of this Church follow the rule of Saint Basil. The wartabieds (vartabeds) form a peculiar class of ecclesiastics; they live like monks, but are devoted exclusively to learning and preaching. Secular priests must marry once, but none is at liberty to take a second wife. Since 1830 very successful Protestant missions have been carried on among the Armenians.

Consult Malan, Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church (London, 1870).

ARMENIAN LAN'GUAGE AND LIT'ERATURE. The Armenian language forms one of the eight main divisions of the Indo-Germanic group. Owing to the presence of many loan-words from the Iranian languages, Armenian was for a long time supposed to be an Iranian dialect, and this theory was defended especially by Paul de Lagarde and Friedrich Müller. A more scientific investigation of the language, however, has overthrown this view, and the independence of the Armenian has been conclusively