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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 .
The Jewish population data includes Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews, Bukharan Jews (or Central Asian Jews), Krymchaks (all per the 1959 Soviet census), and Tats. [ 11 ] In 1828, the Russo-Persian War came to an end and Eastern Armenia (currently the Republic of Armenia ) was annexed to the Russian Empire with the Treaty of Turkmenchai .
The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state in history to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates III, of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude) in the 1st century.
A small number of Muslims were resident in Armenia while it was a part of the Soviet Union, consisting mainly of Azeris and Kurds, the great majority of whom left in 1988 after the Sumgait Pogroms and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, which caused the Armenian and Azeri communities of each country to have something of a population exchange, with ...
There are about 300–500 [25] Jews presently living in Armenia, mainly in the capital Yerevan. Although the contemporary relations between Israel and Armenia are normally good. The Jews have their religious leaders in Armenia headed by a Chief Rabbi and sociopolitical matters are run by the Jewish Council of Armenia.
Another source in favor of the 301 dating argues that the Roman Empire, though still anti-Christian, tolerated Armenia's conversion to Christianity since it was directed against Sasanian Iran. [36] Scholar Abraham Terian takes the information in Eusebius' Church History about the Roman emperor Maximinus Daza fighting a war with the Christian ...
The Constitution as amended in 2005 provides for freedom of religion and the right to practice, choose, or change religious belief. It recognizes "the exclusive mission of the Armenian Church as a national church in the spiritual life, development of the national culture, and preservation of the national identity of the people of Armenia."
Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion in 301, [108] [109] partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems, [110] becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius.