New Britain herald., 1927-05-11
CHRISTIANITY IN ARMENIA OUTLINED
Dr. Hadidian Presents Interest," ing Paper to Ministers Assn.

The progress of Christianity in Armenia from the time Of Jesus to the present day was traced by Rev. Dr. Yervant H. Hadidian, Armenian minister of the First Congregational church and an instructor at the Hartford Theological seminary. in a paper read to the Protestant Minis ters' association yesterday after noon. The meeting followed at luncheon at the Y. W. c. A. Dr. Hadidan said in part:
 Christianity in Armenia, the tra- dition traces back to the time of the apostles. Bartholomew and Thad- deus were the apostles for the martyred in Armenia. A legend even carries the first introduction Of Christianity into Armenia to the time of Christ, according to which Abkar. the Armenian king at Edes- sa, was taken sick, and having heard of the reputation of Jesus as healer wrote to him a letter in- viting him to come and heal him. with the promise that he will have full freedom to preach his Gospel in Armenia. Jesus couldn't go, but sent one of his disciples who healed Abkar and Abkar became a full fledged Christian.
 We are not, however, to depend on traditions to prove that Cris- tianity in Armenia dates from the time of the apostles. Armenia's geo. graphical location as a land border- ing on Syria and Cilicia, inevitably would put her in direct touch with the new religious movement in these lands.
 For two following centuries. Christianity. facing opposition from the kings and priests of the ancient Armenian religion, penetrated into the rank and file of the Armenian people; so that when the time came to make 1t officially the national re- ligion of Armenia, the people were all ready to welcome 1t.
 'The man who was instrumental in the final adoption of Christianity as a state religion was Gregory the Illuminator. himself of the royal family. who for some time hid from the king and the officials of the court his Christian identity.
 Gregory was ordained priest and was appointed Catholicus of Arenia by Leontius, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Thus he became the first official bishop of the Armenian church and the adherents Of the Armenian Orthodox church are called after his name Gregorians. Tt was not a blind submission to l blind faith. it was not fanaticism, nor was 1t even the fear of losing nationality, that kept the Armenian character adamant in face of perse- cution and death. It was Q religion in which the Armenian had found the true faith, the aim of life. and with which he had identified his destiny. Loyalty to Christ was above everything. above loyalty to king, to ones national interests. national salvation. It was above life itself. The establishment of Christian ity in Armenia brought out the need l for the translation of the Bible to the Armenian language and result ed in the invention of the Armenian alphabet and a consequent prolific literary activity that gave to the students of classic literature and ancient history, a rich amount of source materials, many of which perished. or were destroyed by the Turks or others. ignorant of the value of ancient manuscripts. Were they extant today. they would have thrown great light upon the life and customs and beliefs of the classic times. One of the oldest manuscripts of the Bible is in Armenian trans lated in the fifth century from a Syriac manuscript of the second century.
 "Seljuk and Tartar invasions from the East under Jinlis Khan and Ti- murlane laid the country waste. Two centuries of war, massacre and plunder sapped the vitality of the churches and blinded their moral vision of the leaders. Before they had time to recover from the ruins of these Mongolian invasions, the <, Turks overpowered them. Ever since. for the following six cen- turies. the shadow of the Turkish rule kept them in darkness. They were never given opportunities for self expression or development They were made to scatter all over the country so that in every town over against a small number of Armenian population there was an outnumbering Turkish population They were cut off from all contact with the outside civilization. The church lost its vitality and was de- moralized. Monasteries became nests of corruption.
 Thus. you see. the environment nearly quenched the light. And al- though loyalty to their faith was the chief cause responsible for the sur vival of the Armenian nation, that was a loyalty to a national religion or. If you please, religious nation- ality, stripped of most of its living elements of the early centuries.
 Then came the American mis- sionaries about a hundred years ago. They came for the Turks and the Jews, but found the door closed, while the Armenians seized upon the opportunity and offered them a vast open and prolific field of edu- cational and religious activity. In the missionaries. the Armenians found channel to come into con- tact with the light and education of the Christian civilization from which they were cut off for six centuries, and in spite of the resist ance met from the Armenian Ma tional church, the work made such a progress as among no other people