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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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This degeneration, however, limited to the 17th and the 18th centuries, when the Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire stood at the edge of the precipice (similar to the situation in the Roman Church of its renewal during the 16th century). The 19th century marked the period of regeneration for the Christian churches of the Orient, and in particular for the Armenian Church.

By the 19th century, it was evident that the Armenian clergy had returned to the important role of defender of the faith and customs of its nation. This realignment manifested itself in the role that the Armenian clergy undertook during the Armenian renaissance, including the work of the future Catholicos, Khrimian Hayrik; and the heroic deeds of the Armenian people during the events from 1895 to1896 28 and 1915 to1918, with the presence of countless bishops, priests and religious leaders in the first rows of the masses.

The Mkhitarists

The Armenian Church, therefore, acted as a shelter for the Armenian people throughout the long centuries awaiting the revival of its national identity. However, this was only made possibly through another agency, namely the admirable works of the catholic order of the Mkhitarists. This order was founded by of the Armenians who more than anyone else has influenced the destiny of the Armenian nation.

Precisely as Dulaurier writes: "At the beginning of the 18th century, the Armenian nation, having fallen to its knees after all the disasters it had encountered during foreign rule, was sliding fast towards a cultural and intellectual ruin and each day that passed it stood on the brink of losing its language, its customs and habits. To raise it from such a pitiful fall they needed a strong will and a burning love for the fatherland, a miracle which took the shape of the Mkhitarists." 29

Mkhitar was an Armenian priest who originally came from Sivas, but at that time lived in Erzurum. He had come in contact with the Jesuit missionaries and in 1701 came to Constantinople in order to try to unite the Armenian and the Roman churches.

Mkhitar, who had been harassed by the Armenians and the Turks, gained asylum at the French embassy, and from there left for Morea (Peleponnesos), which in those times was under Venetian rule, and then continued to the city of Venice. There, in 1717, on the island of St Lazar, he built an Armenian monastery and founded the Mkitarist Order.

"The fundamental thoughts of the founder of this order, who was both religious and intellectual, were the following: the renewal of the cultural life and thinking of his countrymen, the revival and the study of the old Armenian language, the publishing of the most important works in this language at a cheap cost, the enrichment of the Armenian language through the translations of the best western works, the starting of teaching based on the best European methods suited for the needs of the nation and the competence of the intellectuals, and finally the calling of the people to divine service and the unification with the great Catholic family. These were the fundamental ideas of Mkhitar and the tools which according to him were the best methods for the realization of his plan." 30