One Eastern Church or Two? Armenians, Orthodoxy, and Ecclesiastical Union in Nineteenth-Century Russia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Publication Title
Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies
First page number:
1
Last page number:
2
Abstract
Analyzing projects for union between the Armenian and Orthodox Churches in tsarist Russia, this article explores and problematizes the boundary between Orthodoxy and so-called foreign confessions. After considering plans for incorporating non-Orthodox believers into Orthodoxy from the 1820s to the 1870s, it examines discussions of Armenian-Orthodox union based on the supposition that differences between the two churches were trivial and based on “misunderstanding.” The article identifies two main factors in these projects’ failure: an emerging national ideology that promoted the religious reclamation of historically Orthodox communities (not including Armenians), and the foreign policy advantages of upholding the Armenian Church as a “foreign confession.”
Disciplines
History of Religion
Language
English
Repository Citation
Werth, P. W.
(2018).
One Eastern Church or Two? Armenians, Orthodoxy, and Ecclesiastical Union in Nineteenth-Century Russia.
Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies
1-2.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/joc.2018.0022