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As of 2011, most Armenians in Armenia are Christians (97%) [2] and are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is one of the oldest Christian churches. It was founded in the 1st century AD, and in 301 AD became the first branch of Christianity to become a state religion.
Christianity was strengthened in Armenia in the 5th century by the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language by the native theologian, monk, and scholar, Saint Mesrop Mashtots. Before the 5th century, Armenians had a spoken language, but no script.
A substantial party of Armenian nobles sided with the Sasanian king and renounced Christianity, although the Sasanian efforts to root out Armenian Christianity ultimately failed. [54] Still, many elements of the pre-Christian religion became part of Armenian Christianity, and a small group of Armenians called the ArewordikĘż never converted to ...
Tiridates III (c. 250s – c. 330), also known as Tiridates the Great or Tiridates IV, was the Armenian Arsacid king [2] from c. 298 to c. 330.In the early 4th century (the traditional date is 301), Tiridates proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia, making the Armenian kingdom the first state to officially embrace Christianity.
As a Christian state, Armenia "embraced Christianity as the religion of the King, the nobles, and the people". [3] In 326, according to official tradition of the Georgian Orthodox Church, following the conversion of Mirian and Nana, the country of Georgia became a Christian state, the Emperor Constantine the Great sending clerics for baptising ...
The Aramaic-speaking world, Armenia's southern neighbor, also influenced Armenian civilization until the suppression of Armenian and Syriac presence in eastern Anatolia in 1915. Scholars like Paul Peeters investigated early relations between Syriac Christianity and Armenia, shedding light on the genesis of Armenian hagiography. [14]
Gregory then converted the King to Christianity, and Armenia then became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD. Gregory, the Illuminator, then healed King Tiridates, who the hagiographical sources say had been transfomed into a boar for his sins, and preached Christianity in Armenia.
Along with his fellow apostle Jude "Thaddeus", Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century; as a result, in 301 the Armenian kingdom became the first state in history to embrace Christianity officially. Thus, both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church.