During his lifetime, the Armenian king Tigran II was called the Great and King of Kings. During the reign of this brave warrior and wise ruler, his country reached its greatest prosperity and unprecedented power.

Tigran II was the eldest son of Tigran I, the Armenian king from the Artashesid dynasty. He is believed to have been born in 140 BC. At the age of 35, the heir to the throne was taken hostage by the Parthians, who in 105 BC. attacked the Armenian kingdom and inflicted a crushing defeat on it. Tigran had to spend ten whole years at the court of King Mithridates II before he could return to his homeland. When news of his father's death arrived in 95, Tigran II managed to bargain for his freedom in exchange for several vast fertile Armenian valleys. The terms of the ransom were extremely harsh - Tigran had to give up lands that gave the Parthians direct access to the capital Artashat, and cede Lake Urmia, from which table salt was extracted.

Returning to Armenia, the king did not waste time. First, he annexed two small neighboring states of Korduk and Tsopk to his kingdom, then covered his rear by marrying the daughter of the Pontic king Mithridates VI and concluding a military alliance with him. It took Tigran II another year to create a strong and combat-ready Armenian army. When the goal was achieved, the king set out on the first of his many campaigns. After capturing Cappadocia, Iberia and Caucasian Albania, Tigran decided to get even with the Parthians for his humiliating captivity, and at the same time return the rich lands given for freedom. In 88 BC. he defeated the Parthian army and captured most of the country, including Mesopotamia and Mygdonia. In addition, the Parthian king Gotraz I ceded his title of King of Kings to Tigranes II.

Tigran II the Great surrounded by his subjects

After the victorious Parthian campaign, Tigran turned his gaze towards the Syrian possessions of the Seleucids. He could afford it: Armenia prospered like never before in its history, wealth flowed into the country like a river from all the captured lands. In 88 BC. the king went on a campaign against Syria and almost without difficulty conquered almost the entire country. He made the Syrian capital Antioch his main residence in the south. Bronze coins with the image of Tigran II soon began to be minted here. In 77 BC, having thoroughly strengthened his power and significantly expanded the borders of Armenia, which now stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, Tigran began to build his new capital. The city was named Tigranakert. Here the king resettled the inhabitants of the Greek cities and the highest Armenian nobility whom he had captured; This was also where his official residence was located.

The last major military campaign of King Tigran was the confrontation with the Romans. The latter watched with concern the growth of the power and authority of the Armenian kingdom. The formal reason for the conflict was the refusal of Tigran II to hand over to the Romans Mithridates VI, who fled to the protection of his son-in-law after the defeat in the battle of Kabira. In 69 BC. The Romans, led by Lucullus, invaded Armenia and besieged Tigranakert. The battle was lost, and the city itself was captured and plundered. A year later, Tigran the Great took revenge on the Romans for his fallen capital: in the battles of Aratsan and Artashat, he dealt a crushing blow to the enemy army.

However, the power of Greater Armenia had already been undermined. In subsequent years, Tigran had to fight for hegemony with two powers at once - Rome and Parthia. In the latter, the son of Tigran II sat on the throne, who betrayed his father and entered into an alliance with Gnaeus Pompey. The king of kings was forced to sign an agreement under which Armenia had to give up most of the captured lands and pay six thousand talents of indemnity. However, despite this, Armenia still managed to retain its status as one of the great powers, and the last years of the reign of Tigran II, who died at the age of 85 in 55 BC, were marked by peace and prosperity for the Armenian kingdom.

Brief analysis of ancient and medieval maps indicating the existence of Armenia in the Caucasus

1NEWS.AZ

Continuing the topic of Armenian historical falsifications, we think it would be very appropriate to touch on one interesting aspect of Armenian myth-making: the “art” of forging, falsifying and inventing “ancient” maps indicating “Great Armenia from sea to sea.”

Let's start with the most common trick among Armenian users with two maps of the Roman Empire placed on the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, where Armenia is indicated. Perhaps most of all, the Armenian side refers to these maps as supposedly a reliable source of the existence of “Great Armenia” over 2000 years ago. Usually these maps are put first - as irrefutable proof of the existence of the ancient Armenian state, and then after that they put up a lot of falsified maps, as a matter of course after the “ancient Roman” map indicating Armenia.

These two maps show the territories of the Roman Empire and neighboring regions from 146 BC. and until 14 AD. However, even with a cursory glance it becomes clear that these are not “ancient maps”, but just a modern concrete model attached to the wall of the Colosseum in order to introduce visiting tourists to the area Ancient Rome. In addition, the map is compiled in accordance with the modern boundaries and outlines of continents, rivers and seas, since it is a copy of a photograph taken from space of this geographical region. And it is clear to a schoolchild that the ancient Romans could not draw maps with the accuracy that can be achieved by taking photographs from space, much less the Romans could not predict what the outlines of the region would look like 2000 years after their lives.

However, despite these elementary things, the Armenian side everywhere presents this “ancient Roman” map as proof of the existence of the ancient Armenian state. The “ancient” map in the Colosseum indicates the geographical region “Armenia”, which says nothing about the state of Armenia and does not explain how all this relates to the Hay people who moved there, which we are now accustomed to calling Armenians, according to the place of their last residence.

In fact, no Roman maps, except the so-called. The Peitinger table does not exist, and the existing Peitinger table (to view additionally click on a fragment of the map - R.G.) is considered a copy of a Roman map of the 4th century, which was not preserved in the original and no one can prove whether it was in the original at all. This map schematically shows the road network of the Roman Empire from Iberia to the east. That's all. The Peitinger table itself was clearly corrected in the Middle Ages. We see how giant Persia (Persida) covers small Parthia, while these are states of different historical period. Armenia is not on this map in any form. But large area listed as Albania. Colchis is also there. But if you believe Armenian historians, the 4th century is the same time when “ Great Armenia"from sea to sea was still in its prime. So where is she?


There are also several ancient Greek maps of the world, this is the well-known map of Ptolemy and the maps of Herodotus and Strabo. However, the map “Cosmography of Ptolemy”, redone in 1467, has been preserved, in which, apart from the name, almost nothing remains from the ancient Ptolemaic map.

That is, all these are medieval copies of ancient maps, the originals of which are irretrievably lost. All these cards are like two peas in a pod and are similar to each other, as well as to other cards of that time. Moreover, on the first published ancient Greek maps no Armenia is shown. There's not much shown there at all. On some later copies Armenia already appears, as well as many other new names, but it is unclear by whom and for what purpose these names were included there. This suggests that even if there were some ancient originals, they were clearly carefully processed by medieval cartographers and supplemented with medieval names, existing and supposed. Instead of the ancient name Iberia, the map shows a later name - Spain, instead of Hellas - Greece, Germany is also added, while such a name did not exist in the ancient period and there are many more similar mistakes. In addition, Persia is located next to Parthia and Media (Media), although their existence as states is separated by centuries. And if you enlarge and carefully look at this “ancient” map, where Armenia (by the way, Great), Albania, Colchis (Georgia, therefore) is located, then it turns out that these countries are placed in the same form as on the later maps of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. That is, it’s the same as if the current United States were indicated as the borders of the ancient state of the American Indians, moreover, bordering on the Mayan and Aztec empires.


As we see, when checked, the so-called ancient maps attributed to the ancient period actually turn out to be the work of a whole galaxy of medieval and later monks, clerks and pseudoscientists, with each amendment and falsification made taking into account the political situation and sympathies of their time. The result is such a mess in which states that appeared 300-700 years later than each other are shown as contemporaries and neighboring countries.

And if you look at the Armenian maps, literally drawn under the influence of wild imagination and passed off as “ancient”, then you can simply be speechless.

Take a look at the fantastic Armenian maps, where some parallel world, created straight from the stories of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. If it were not for these maps, we would not have known that somewhere nearby there is a parallel world with its own history and states, which neither historical science, nor archeology, nor ancient written sources know about.

It’s simply amazing: just a few years ago, “ancient Armenian” maps of the Caucasus were invented with the names of the cities of Tigranakert, Ervandashat, Arshamashat, and there is even a coat of arms. Unless they forgot to come up with the “Great Armenia” anthem. But it’s not too late to correct this, I propose to make an ancient Armenian anthem to the tune of the song “Sary Gelin” - the Armenians know and love the melody.


Now let's go back to real maps Middle Ages. It is quite obvious that all these maps reflect the vision of the world of people of the Middle Ages, since almost all of them are compiled on the basis of rumors, stories, legends and assumptions, and not facts. Moreover, most often this vision of the world map is based on the Old and New Testaments. It is known that medieval cartography was greatly influenced by Arab cartography. As researcher Amir Eyvaz notes, Arab maps were then directly copied by Europeans and they were translated from Arabic at random. It is known that medieval Arabic writing often did not use vowels (vowels were not indicated), especially in maps where almost all geographical names were abbreviated. Therefore, the Arabic RMN is usually deciphered not as Armenia, but as Romania (Romea, Rum) or modern language- Byzantium. When Ptolemy's map appeared in Europe in the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Empire was still quite large. Moreover, it was called Rum for a very long time, even when it had long ago become the Ottoman Empire.

It is this territory of Rum that is shown on some medieval maps, translated from Arabic as Armenia Major, and the Ottoman Empire was localized there in the 14th century. The year 1453 has not yet arrived, Mehmet II has not yet taken Constantinople, and the empire has not yet spread to all of Asia Minor, but it is already Great! How is it possible - how did the “ancient” cartographers know what would happen in the future?

In addition, very often geographical names were arbitrarily introduced by some medieval monk just because they are in the Bible. And no one knows where they came from in the Bible.


It is not for nothing that Armenian ideologists primarily use “ancient” maps to justify the belonging of certain lands to “Great Armenia”. After all, proving that this is not so will not be so easy and there is a big risk of getting bogged down in useless pseudo-scientific disputes and discussions, in which the Armenian “experts” are very skilled. There have been centuries of controversy over the authenticity of many of these maps. Is it really possible to substantiate anything on such maps and the historical arguments emanating from them from the time of Tsar Gorokh, much less the redrawing of the borders of current real states? Such a manic desire to prove to everyone that the Armenians are the “first and ancient” in everything: from the adoption of Christianity to the landing from Noah’s Ark, allows Armenian nationalists to justify territorial and cultural-historical claims to other peoples.

At the same time, Armenians like to refer to “antique” or “ancient” maps, on which the word “Armenia” is written in someone’s light stroke, but when it comes to detailed maps, where settlements, then it becomes clear that it is impossible to find anything Armenian there even during the day. Armenian nationalists try to avoid these maps drawn up specific people, specialists who have spent more than one year in the regions, which they then describe and put on maps

Rizvan Huseynov

Expulsion of Transcaucasian Armenians to Persia. "Great Surgun"

Despite wars, invasions and resettlement, Armenians, quite possibly, until the 17th century, still constituted the majority of the population of Eastern Armenia. In 1604, Abbas I the Great used scorched earth tactics against the Armenians in the Ararat Valley. Over 250 thousand Armenians were evicted from Eastern (Transcaucasian) Armenia. Arakel Davrizhetsi, a 17th-century author, reports:

“Shah Abbas did not heed the pleas of the Armenians. He called his nakharars to him and appointed them as overseers and guides for the inhabitants of the country, so that each prince with his army would evict and expel the population of one gavar.”

The city of Julfa in the province of Nakhichevan was taken at the very beginning of the invasion. After this, Abbas' army fanned out along the Ararat Plain. The Shah followed a cautious strategy: he advanced and retreated depending on the situation, he decided not to risk his campaign in head-on clashes with stronger enemy units.

While besieging the city of Kars, he learned of the approach of a large Ottoman army led by Cigazade Sinan Pasha. An order was given to withdraw the troops. To prevent the enemy from possibly resupplying from this land, Abbas ordered the complete destruction of all cities and rural areas in the plain. And as part of all this, the entire population was ordered to accompany the Persian army in their retreat. About 300 thousand people were thus sent to the banks of the Araks River. Those of them who tried to resist the deportation were immediately killed. Previously, the Shah had ordered the destruction of the only bridge, and people were forced to cross the water, where a huge number of people drowned, carried away by the current, never reaching the opposite shore. This was just the beginning of their ordeal. One eyewitness, Father de Gouyan, describes the situation of the refugees as follows:

“It was not only the winter cold that caused torment and death to the deported people. The greatest torment was due to hunger. The provisions that the deportees took with them soon ran out... The infants cried, asking for food or milk, but none of this was available, because that women's breasts were dry from hunger. Many women, hungry and exhausted, left their dying children on the edge of the road and continued their painful journey. Some went to the nearby forests to try to find some food. As a rule, they did not return. Often those who died served as food for those who were still alive."

Unable to support his army in the desert plain, Sinan Pasha was forced to spend the winter in Van. The armies sent to pursue the Shah in 1605 were defeated, and by 1606 Abbas had again conquered all the territory he had previously lost to the Turks.

Part of the territory of Armenia since the 15th century was also known as Chukhur-Saad. Since the time of Ismail I, administratively it formed the Chukhur-Saad beglarbey of the Safavid state. After the death of Nadir Shah and the fall of the Afshar dynasty, local rulers from the Qizilbash Ustajlu tribe, who were the hereditary rulers of Chukhur-Saad, declared their independence with the formation of the Erivan Khanate. As a result of the displacement of the Armenian population from Armenia, the Armenians XVIII century accounted for 20% of total number population of Chukhur-Saad region. Later, the Turkic tribe Kengerli replaced the Ustajlu clan on the khan's throne. Under the rule of the Qajars, the Erivan Khanate recognized vassal dependence on Qajar Iran. The khan clan of Kengerli was replaced by a khan from the Qajar clan. The Nakhichevan and Karabakh khanates also existed on the territory of historical Armenia.

Eastern Armenia on the map of the Persian Empire. John Pinkerton, 1818.

From the beginning of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century, on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, under the Safavid Shah Abbas I, five Armenian melikates (small principalities) were created, collectively known as Khams. The Armenian population of Khamsa was ruled by princes from the families of Melik-Beglerian, Melik-Israelyan (later Mirzakhanyan and Atabekyan), Melik-Shakhnazaryan, Melik-Avanyan and Hasan-Jalalyan, of which the Hasan-Jalalyans, their younger branch the Atabekyans and Melik-Shakhnazaryans were the indigenous dynasties , the rest of the princes were immigrants from other regions of Armenia.

In the 18th century, David Bek and Joseph Emin led the struggle of Transcaucasian Armenians against the Turks and Iranians.

Armenian national liberation struggle of the 18th century

In Moscow, Israel Ori meets with Peter I and gives him a letter from the Syunik meliks. Peter promised to provide assistance to the Armenians after the end of the war with Sweden. Thanks to his wide erudition and his intellect, Ori attracted the sympathy of the imperial court. Ori proposed the following plan to Peter: to liberate Georgia and Armenia, it is necessary to send a 25,000-strong Russian army of 15,000 Cossacks and 10,000 infantry to Transcaucasia. The Cossacks must pass through the Daryal Gorge, and the infantry must sail across the Caspian Sea from Astrakhan. On the spot, Russian troops will have to receive the support of the armed forces of Georgians and Armenians. It was decided that it was necessary to send a special mission to Persia led by Ori, which would find out the mindset of the local residents, collect information about roads, fortresses, etc. In order not to arouse suspicion, Ori would have to say that he was sent by the Pope to to the court of Soltan Hussein to collect information about the life of Christians in the Persian Empire.

In 1707, after all the necessary preparations, Ori, with the rank of colonel in the Russian army, set out with a large detachment. French missionaries in Persia tried to prevent Ori's arrival in Isfahan, informing the Shah that Russia wanted the formation of an independent Armenia, and Ori wanted to become the Armenian king. When Ori arrived in Shirvan, he had to wait several days for permission to enter the country. In Shamakhi he met with local Georgian and Armenian leaders, supporting their orientation towards Russia. In 1709 he arrived in Isfahan, where he again negotiated with political leaders. Returning to Russia from Persia, Ori unexpectedly died in Astrakhan in 1711.

In 1722, the Armenians of Syunik and Nagorno-Karabakh rebelled against Persian rule. The uprising was led by David Bek and Yesai Hasan-Jalalyan, who managed to overthrow Iranian rule for several years. The uprising also spread to the Nakhichevan region. In 1727, the Safavids recognized David Bek's power over the region, and the commander himself even received the right to mint coins. In 1730, with the assassination of his successor Mkhitar Sparapet, the 8-year uprising of the Armenians of Syunik ended.

A new revival of the Armenian national liberation movement was observed in the second half of the 18th century. Thus, already in 1773, Sh. Shaamiryan, in his work “The Trap of Ambition,” outlined the republican principles of the future independent Armenian state. Significant figures in the national liberation struggle of the era were Joseph Emin and Movses Bagramyan, who put forward plans to recreate the Armenian state.

At the end of the 18th century, the Armenian meliks of Nagorno-Karabakh waged a tireless struggle against Ibrahim Khalil Khan in the hope of restoring Armenian statehood in Karabakh.

Entry of Eastern Armenia into the Russian Empire

Since the beginning of the 19th century, the territories of historical Eastern Armenia have gradually been annexed to the Russian Empire. As a result of the Russian-Persian War of 1803-1813, the Karabakh Khanate was annexed to Russia (formed in the mid-18th century after the capture of the Armenian melikdoms of Khamsa), which was populated predominantly by Armenians, as well as Zangezur in historical Syunik with a mixed population at that time. Twice attempts to besiege Erivan were unsuccessful. On October 5, 1827, during the Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828, Erivan was taken by Count Paskevich; a little earlier (in June), the capital of the Nakhichevan Khanate, the city of Nakhichevan, also fell.

The Turkmanchay Peace Treaty, which was then signed, gave the territories of these khanates to Russia and established within a year the right of free resettlement of Muslims to Persia, and Christians to Russia. In 1828, the Armenian region was formed on the site of the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates, and the descendants of Armenians who were forcibly evicted from Transcaucasia by the Persian authorities at the beginning of the 17th century were massively resettled from Iran to it. Subsequently, in 1849, the Armenian region was transformed into the Erivan province.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, another part of historical Armenia came under the control of the Russian Empire - Kars and its environs, from which the Kars region was organized.

Armenian region within the Russian Empire (existed until 1849)

Western Armenia

Mehmed II captured Constantinople in 1453 and made it his capital Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman sultans invited an Armenian archbishop to establish an Armenian patriarchate in Constantinople. The Armenians of Constantinople grew in number and became respected (if not full-fledged) members of society.

The Ottoman Empire was governed according to Islamic laws. "Infidels" such as Christians and Jews had to pay additional taxes to satisfy the requirements of their dhimmi status. The Armenians living in Constantinople enjoyed the support of the Sultan, unlike those who lived on the territory of historical Armenia. They were subjected to cruel treatment by local pashas and beys and were forced to pay taxes to the Kurdish tribes. Armenians (like other Christians living in the Ottoman Empire) also had to give up a portion of healthy boys to the Sultan's government, which made them Janissaries. It is known that some Ottoman generals were proud of their Armenian origin.

In the XVI - early XX centuries. The rulers of the Ottoman Empire actively populated the historical Armenian lands with Muslim Kurds, who were more loyal to Turkish rule and had fewer political ambitions than the Armenians. With the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century, the attitude of the authorities towards Christians in general, and towards Armenians in particular, began to noticeably deteriorate. After Sultan Abdulmecid I carried out reforms on his territory in 1839, the situation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire improved for some time.

Subscribe to the site by liking the official Facebook page (

What do these guys have in common? famous people, like Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov, marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky, priest Pavel Florensky, writer Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, poet Bulat Okudzhava? Link between all these outstanding people- that fact, unexpected for many, that Armenian blood flowed in the veins of each of them. Even the hero customs officer from the film " White sun desert” actor Pavel Luspekayev - and when filling out Soviet questionnaires in the famous fifth column he always proudly wrote “Armenian”. And his surname goes back to the Armenian princely family - Lusbekyan.

Armenia... An average person who has lived among fifteen Soviet republics immediately develops certain associations. The mountain peak of Ararat, whose snow-capped cap adorned the label of the cognac of the same name. Inimitable cuisine and sincere hospitality characteristic of all Caucasian nationalities. Apricots, pomegranates, grapes, which Armenia generously filled our markets with. But Armenia is also the notorious tragedy of 1988 in Spitak, which did not leave any people of the large “family” indifferent former USSR. These include the dramatic events in Nagorno-Karabakh, which claimed the lives of many young soldiers.

But despite general idea, after all, Armenia for many of us is like an iceberg, the religious, cultural, historical part of which remains hidden.

My personal acquaintance with Armenia began from afar, in the literal sense of the word, namely in Venice, at a conference on biblical studies. The delight from the report of Professor Bogos priest Levon Zekiyan and the visit to the Armenian island in the Venetian Lagoon prompted a deeper study of the history and traditions of this amazing culture. By the way, I noted for myself the innate desire to comprehend the unknown among the Armenians in the monastery museum on the Venetian Armenian island, where a unique collection of Byzantine glass, artifacts from Egypt and Sumer is collected, and the main attraction of the monastery museum is the Egyptian mummy of Nemethetamun (XV century BC. X.).

Noah's Ark and Yerevan stone passport

Each nation is territorially attached to some part of the land. As for the Armenians, they have two homelands: one is historical, and the other is inherited as a result of political injustice. Today this territory is equal in area to the modern Kyiv region.

My surprise knew no bounds when I first saw a map that recorded the culminating point of the expansion of the borders of the Armenian state during the time of Tigran the Great (1st century BC). Eastern part of modern Turkey, modern Lebanon and Syria, partly north modern Israel and Jordan, as well as parts of the north of Iraq and Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia - all of these were once the lands of Greater Armenia.

Indeed, the historical homeland of the Armenians is the Armenian Highlands, which can be called a mountainous island in relation to the Anatolian and Iranian plateaus located below. It is from here that the five largest rivers of the Middle East originate: Euphrates, Tigris, Aratsani, Chorokh, Kura. In the center of the Armenian Highlands rises the biblical Mount Ararat (now located in Turkey) - the highest point in the Middle East. At its top, as is known from Scripture, the Ark of the patriarch Noah stopped. Unfortunately, today the Turkish authorities do not give scientists access to Ararat, and the question of the remains of Noah’s Ark can only be investigated using photographs from space.

It can be assumed that it was on that part of the land that Noah first saw after the Flood that the city of Yerevan (the twelfth capital of Armenia) subsequently appeared, because in the Armenian language “ereval” means “to appear”, and “erevangal” means “to appear” .

The cuneiform stone “passport” of Yerevan is today exhibited in the State Museum of Armenia. According to his data, Yerevan is 29 years older than Rome! (The Eternal City was founded in 753 BC)

Aystan - Urartu - Armenia

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, 500 years before the anointing of the first king in Israel, a state had already been created in Armenia, uniting all Armenian tribes into a single people. Initially, Armenia was called Aystan, and the Armenians themselves still call themselves “ay”. We are probably better known from history textbooks as ancient state Urartu - that’s how it was called in the cuneiform sources of the Assyrian court office.

“Kingdom of Van”, “Kingdom of Yervanduni”, “Joining the Achaemenid Empire”, “Seleucids and Armenian Kingdoms”, “Armenian-Pontic Union” - all these are dry names of paragraphs from a textbook on the history of Armenia. But even a quick glance at the table of contents gives rise to respect for a people with such a past.

Christian Armenia

If someday, when solving crossword puzzles, you have to answer the question of which state was the first to adopt Christianity, know that it is Armenia. In Western and eastern parts The Roman Empire was still smoking before the Roman and Hellenic pagan pantheons, the persecution of Christians was still continuing - and in Armenia the gospel seed sown by the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew had already borne good and abundant fruit: in 301, Armenia became the world's first Christian state. For comparison: despite the fact that Emperor Constantine the Great stopped the persecution of Christians in 313, and in 325 I convened Ecumenical Council However, the Byzantine Empire officially became a Christian power only in 380, after the adoption of the edict of Emperor Theodosius I.

The first primate of the Armenian Church was the missionary-worker, confessor Saint Gregory, whom the Armenians with love and pride call the Enlightener.

The connection between Armenia and its neighbor and sister in Christ, the Eastern Roman Empire, was very close. Until 387, all Catholicos* from St. Gregory the Illuminator to Nerses the Great were consecrated in Cappadocia, while Armenia itself was a metropolitanate of the Church of Caesarea**. The liturgical tradition, as well as the liturgical language, were united throughout this period, and the Armenian episcopate actively participated in the life of the Universal Church. Armenian delegates took part in the work of the I and II Ecumenical Councils. However, due to the division of Armenia in 387 between Persia and Rome, the new Catholicos Isaac, finding himself on Persian territory, was imprisoned, as a result of which the Armenian delegation did not attend the Third Ecumenical Council. Nevertheless, after his release from prison, Catholicos Isaac convened the Ashtishat Council in 435, at which Nestorius *** was anathematized, thereby confirming the canonical symphony with the fathers of the Third Ecumenical Council. However, being irreconcilable opponents of the heresy of Nestorius, Armenian theologians unwittingly created the precondition for Monophysitism****.

* καθολικός - universal (bishop).

** In the signature under the acts of the First Ecumenical Council (325), Archbishop Leontius designated his title as follows: “Archbishop of Caesarea Cappadocia, Pontus Galatia, Paphlagonia, Pontus Ptolemaic, Lesser and Greater Armenia.”

*** At the same Council, Theodore of Mopsuetia and Diodorus of Tarsus were anathematized, as a result of which the Armenian fathers went further than the fathers of the III Ecumenical Council - after all, Theodore’s heresy would be condemned only at the V Ecumenical Council.

**** Monophysitism (µόνος - “one, only”, φύσις - “nature, nature”) is a doctrine that recognizes in Christ only the Divine nature and completely rejects His humanity.

Treason in Greek

The feeling of being close to such a strong state of the same religion as the Byzantine Empire gave the Armenians the illusion that at a critical moment they could count on intercession. This was the tragedy of the situation in which the Armenian people found themselves and which set the projection for the development of further inter-church relations between Byzantium and Armenia.

The year 451 in the history of the Church is known for the fact that the IV Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Chalcedon, at which the heresy of Monophysitism was condemned. But few people know the fact that in the same year in Armenia, Christians defended their faith far from theological discussions. In response to the demand of the Persian king to renounce Christianity and accept Zoroastrianism, the Armenians, having gathered for a meeting in Artashat, wrote a letter on behalf of the entire population justifying the refusal. This provoked the invasion of the Persian army into Armenia.

The Armenians were confident that in the war with the Persians for loyalty to Christ they would receive the help promised the day before from Byzantium. However, the Persians at that time had already received assurances of non-interference from Emperor Marcian...

On May 26, 451, the commander-in-chief of the Armenian army Vardan Mamikonyan and 1036 soldiers testified with blood their loyalty to the Christian faith in a battle with a disproportionately stronger enemy. The dead were canonized, like Catholicos Joseph, who was executed by the Persians a little later.

It is clear that the name of Emperor Marcian became hateful for the Armenians, and they transferred their hatred of the basileus to the oros of the IV Ecumenical Council...

We dare to assume that the boomerang of betrayal, once launched by Byzantium towards Christian Armenia, returned back to Constantinople in 1204, when the knights of IV approached its walls with Christian banners raised high, sparkling in the sun with swords and armor Crusade...

But Byzantium owes a lot to Armenia. And not only due to the fact that the imperial guard consisted of Armenians, just as the Papal Guard in the Vatican consists of Swiss. In general, the military power, military organization and military talent of Byzantium are the merit of the Armenians, both military leaders and ordinary soldiers. Armenian foot troops and Armenian cavalry were considered the best units of the Byzantine army, selflessly loyal to their emperor. By the way, of all the emperors of the Byzantine Empire, fifty-four (67%) were Armenians*. Some historians believe that it was the removal of Armenians from leadership of combat units on the eve of the IV Crusade that became the cause of the lesion, inflicted by the Turks.

* Some Byzantine emperors, despite having Armenian roots, persecuted their fellow tribesmen. Thus, some chroniclers report that in the 6th century. the rebellious prince Smbat, pursued by the Armenian emperor Mauritius, landed in the Crimea and climbed up the Dnieper. Attention, residents of Kiev! It was on the steep slopes, where Kyiv would later appear, that the Armenian prince built the powerful citadel of Smbatas on the mountain, which is called Castle to this day.

Between a rock and a hard place

I once read from the historian Neil Faulkner in his book “Apocalypse, or the First Jewish War” that Armenia was a kind of Poland of the Ancient East. Indeed, Armenia was of such strategic importance that the calm life of the country was constantly disrupted by military marches of the armies of the empires between which it had to exist. Unfortunately, in most cases, buffer Armenia itself was chosen as a platform for clarifying relations between the superpowers; in many conflicts, warring states attracted her to their side.

“The Armenians cannot be defeated, they must be divided,” these words were uttered in the 4th century. BC, King Darius I, who was defeated in Armenia. This attitude turned out to be not only effective, but also timeless - for centuries.

After the first division of Armenia between the Roman Empire and Parthia (in 387), its people more than once experienced a cutoff between the superpowers. Thus, the second division of the territory of Armenia took place in 591, but already between the Byzantine Empire and Sasanian Persia.

Throughout this period, the Armenians did not give up and, maintaining their devotion to faith in Christ, fought for their independence. Evidence of this can be the creation and existence of the Cilician Armenian Kingdom surrounded by the Seljuk Iconian Sultanate, which the Byzantine Empire could not resist. In fact, this Christian island was destined to become the second homeland of the scattered Armenians in Asia Minor. It was here that the throne of the Catholicos was moved from the city of Ani. Being surrounded by Muslims, the princes of Armenian Cilicia minted gold, silver and copper coins with their image and legend (inscription) in Armenian. It was during this period that trade ties were established with Venice and Genoa.

Surprisingly, when in the 13th century. The Mameluk Egyptian state conquered one after another the powers created by the crusaders in Palestine, the only unconquered Christian state in the Middle East remained the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia! And only in 1375 the Mamelukes managed to break the resistance of the Armenians, and Christian Cilicia fell - the Armenian people lost their statehood for more than 500 years.

1386, 1394, 1398, 1403 are the years in which Tamerlane’s army devastated Armenia, as a result of which most of the population was destroyed.

1453 - the year of the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, after which Ottoman Türkiye became the strongest state in the Middle East. The Balkan countries and all of Asia Minor came under her rule. It was precisely between Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran in 1555 that the third division of the territory of long-suffering Armenia was made, and in 1639, after the forced deportation of 300 thousand Armenians to Iran, the fourth redistribution took place.

Armenian Renaissance

Amazingly, it was during this tragic period that Armenian culture and art experienced their renaissance. From the 10th to the 14th centuries, many masterpieces of church choral music were created; at the same time, “khazy” were invented - special system signs for recording music, in fact an analogue of the Byzantine “neumas” and ancient Russian “hooks”. Armenian architecture flourished - temples were erected in Sanahin, Haghpat, Kecharis, Haghartsin, Goshovanka, and the famous monastery complex in Geghard was carved out of the rock. Probably the most famous architect of this time can be called the architect Trdat. It was he who took up the reconstruction of the dome of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, destroyed by an earthquake, when his Greek colleagues admitted their powerlessness. The dome of Hagia Sophia restored by Trdat still stands today!

Few people know that before the opening of the first European university in Paris in 1200, its analogues already existed in Armenia, called vardapetarans (higher schools), where the “seven liberal arts” were studied. There were separate medical vardapetarans. And the Gladzor Vardapetaran, created on a European model and having two faculties - theological and legal - in 1280 was the first in Armenia to receive the status of a university. Literature also experienced a revival: it was during this period that Grigor Narekatsi wrote the “Book of Sorrowful Songs,” which today has been translated into many languages ​​of the world.

It is impossible not to mention the genius of the architect Manvel, the creator of the Surb-Khach (Holy Cross) temple and the port harbor on the island of Akhtamar, and those famous khachkars that this talented man created.

Khachkars (literally translated as “cross-stone”) are a unique, purely Armenian type of stone decorative and applied art. Each khachkar is a stone stele with an image of a cross carved on it, elegantly decorated with ornaments. Not a single khachkar, even made by the same master, is repeated.

Vardapet Mesrop Mashtots

A person who is visiting Armenia and wants to get to know its culture better must visit the Matenadaran - the main repository of books. What has not happened in the history of the Armenian book are rolled up manuscripts. The first examples of Armenian books that have reached us from the 5th-6th centuries. stitched, stitched and have a binding and cover.

The Armenian tradition connects the creation of Armenian writing with the translation of the books of the Holy Scriptures*. But, undoubtedly, before the appearance of the new alphabet “Erkatagir”, in addition to cuneiform, Aramaic and Greek, the Armenians had their own way of writing. Unfortunately, no epigraphic evidence or artifacts recording ancient records have survived to this day.

* The first book of Holy Scripture translated from Syriac into Armenian is the book of Proverbs.

Mesrop Mashtots is the man who holds the honor of creating the Armenian alphabet. Today, Armenians, reading newspapers, sending SMS messages, sometimes do not even think about what treasure they own.

The famous linguist Meyer once said that the Armenian alphabet is a masterpiece. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that out of 36 letters, each symbol corresponds to one specific sound, and vice versa (for comparison: in the Russian alphabet there are only 33 letters, two of which do not indicate sounds).

In the Armenian alphabet (by the way, as in the Church Slavonic language), each letter has its own numerical value. Relatively recently, journalist and researcher Eduard Ayanyan added up the numerical codes of letters in the Armenian names of metals and obtained exactly the numbers that Mendeleev put in the upper corners of the cells of his table to indicate the atomic charges of the same chemical elements. For example, gold (Armenian “wax”) - 79; lead (Armenian "archich") - 82, as in periodic table. But Mesrop Mashtots did not invent words, much less the Armenian language, which was formed thousands of years before the official date of creation of the Armenian alphabet - 405!

Later, Mesrop Mashtots set up a school and, with the help of one hundred students, translated from Syriac to Armenian books of Holy Scripture. The Armenian translation of the Bible is called the queen of translation by paleographer F. Cross. And despite the fact that today philologists are wondering: is there anything left of the original translation of the Bible from Syriac, because in 432 it came to Armenia Greek translation Scripture - the Septuagint, the text of which was subsequently agreed upon with the original version - the work of Mesrop Mashtots is undoubtedly outstanding, for which Mesrop was awarded the title “vardapet” - teacher of the Church.

It is noteworthy that today about 30 thousand Armenian handwritten books are stored in museums and libraries around the world (and these are only those manuscripts that have survived). And if you consider that over the entire history of Byzantium, about 50 thousand handwritten volumes were created, this fact evokes even greater respect for the Armenians as a book-loving and reading nation.

As an assumption, we can assume a connection between such an impressive number of manuscripts and the know-how possessed by the Armenian book scribes and calligraphers who wrote under the dictation of the author. As a result of technical evolution, the habitual scribe's pen among the Armenians was quite early transformed into the first prototype of a “fountain pen”: a bottle of ink was attached to the top of the kalam pen. Thanks to this, scribes were freed from constantly dipping their pen into the inkwell. Thus, in the final chapters of manuscripts, Armenian scribes often add: “Each time, having typed ink into the kalam, he wrote 900, even 920-930 or more letters.”

After the fall of the Kingdom of Cilicia, the throne of the Catholicos returned to Armenia, and from 1441 to this day, the residence of the Catholicos of all Armenians is in Etchmiadzin.

The Catholicos, who throughout the history of Christian Armenia were the spiritual leaders of the Armenian people and made every effort to ensure that the Armenians remained faithful to Christ, did not lose hope for the return of independence. In 1547, 1562, 1677 they initiated an appeal to the governments of European states. But Europe, not interested in helping the Armenians, remained silent. Disillusioned with the policies of European monarchs, but still not losing hope, in 1701 the Armenian delegation led by Israel Ori appealed to Russian Emperor Peter I with a request to support the liberation campaign against the Turks and Persians. This audience marked the beginning of attempts Russian throne to help the long-suffering Armenian people. And only a century later, during the I and II Russian-Persian Wars, with the participation of the Armenian volunteer militia, the first victories were achieved in the liberation of Armenia and the return of the Armenian population from Iranian captivity. But still, a significant part - mountainous, western Armenia (Sasun, Zeytun) with an Armenian population continued to remain in the Muslim isolation of Ottoman Turkey.

Genocide

When a government changes, any nation connects its future with hopes for good changes.

In 1908, after a coup d'etat and the overthrow of the bloody regime of Abdul Hamid II, the Young Turk party came to power in Turkey. The Armenians had hope for the long-awaited restoration of the rights of Christians in the new country... But 1909 was marked by the mass extermination of the Armenian population in Cilicia with the tacit consent of the new government. 30 thousand people died. This was the terrible beginning of the total systematic destruction of the Armenian people.

These events at the beginning of the century are very similar to those that would occur two decades later in National Socialist Germany...

It is difficult to find words to describe what happened during this tragic three-year period from 1915 to 1918. Apparently, the decision to Turkishize all Turkish subjects and destroy Christians, made in 1911 at a secret meeting of the Young Turk party in Thessaloniki, found practical implementation in genocide, carried out according to a specific plan. Armenia lost one and a half million of its sons and daughters. An eyewitness to these atrocities, the famous Armenian composer and priest Komitas, lost his mind... It is noteworthy that the Turks and official Turkish historiography do not recognize the intentionality of the extermination of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, in a number of countries around the world (Switzerland, France, Argentina, etc.) there are laws that provide punishment for denying the Armenian genocide.

The tragic and sad fate of the Armenian people, coupled with constant struggle, can be felt by those who even hear the melody of the ancient instrument duduk for the first time. Outwardly, the duduk resembles an ordinary flute, but how majestic is the magic of the sound of this instrument! She does not leave even the hardest heart indifferent. Composer of the 20th century Aram Khachaturian very succinctly said: “Duduk is the only instrument that makes me cry.”

Instead of a conclusion

Almost every Orthodox church of our fatherland is a visible reminder of Armenia - the land of hopes of renewed humanity, the land of the biblical rainbow - this is our beloved image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. What is the connection with Armenia?

During the earthly life of Christ the Savior, the capital of Great Armenia was the city of Edessa, which once amazed Alexander the Great with its beauty to such an extent that he named his daughter Edessa. So, according to Armenian legend, King Abgar (Abgar) invited Jesus Christ here, to Armenia: “I also heard that many... are grumbling against You and want to give You up to torture. I have a small but beautiful city, it would be enough for both of us.” This is how King Abgar invited the Savior simply, sincerely, with the hospitality characteristic of Armenians. The Lord, in response to this invitation, sent the king a gift of ubrus (plate), on which the imprint of His face appeared. This is how the first original image not made by hands appeared in the history of iconography. This legend contains the entire Armenian people with all its characteristic qualities - cordiality, sincerity, devotion to Christ.

While visiting Armenia, I noticed that it is almost impossible to meet an offended or angry person here. Everyone is lively and inspired by something. People are friendly. Everyone has lively eyes that play with natural harmless cunning. You involuntarily recall the words of Osip Mandelstam: “The vitality of the Armenians, their rough affection, their noble working bones, their inexplicable aversion to any metaphysics and wonderful familiarity with the world of real things - all this told me: you are awake, do not be afraid of your time, do not be deceitful. ..”