The Authority of the Church in the World:  A United Church of Christ Perspective, Rev. Dr. Susan E. Davies
 

Authority in the Armenian Church

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America 

The teachings of Jesus Christ, God-become-man [“mard egheal” in Armenian], both those written down and those transmitted by the Holy Apostles to the early Church—as well as the ecumenical councils of Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus—are the foundations of authority in the Armenian Church.  The implementation of this authority is carried out by the entire church, including the episcopacy, the priesthood, the different assemblies representing the faithful at various levels, elected bodies at such assemblies as well as appointed/elected councils and committees. 

The teachings of the Lord as well as the Apostolic Tradition and the canons of the three ecumenical councils form the dogma of the Armenian Church and cannot be altered by any one or by any local council.    There is even reluctance to alter or replace early canons of local Armenian councils.  Such behavior is not the result of a blind reverence for ancient custom and practice, but that of a great respect and sensitivity for established tradition that may have apostolic or very early Christian origin.  In the past, when the Armenian Church fathers felt obliged to introduce new canons for local enforcement, they did so only if they could not find earlier regulations.  In other words, had earlier canons existed, they would not dare legislate new ones. 

Unlike the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Armenian Church does not have a synod of bishops at her helm.  The term siwnhodos or “synod” in Armenian is a loan word from Greek and refers exclusively to the ecumenical councils.  Local councils convened in ancient Armenia always included not only bishops, but also priors of major monasteries, monks, occasionally married priests and laymen who represented the landowning clans.  The Armenian patriarchs presided over these councils that occasionally legislated canons and regulations.  The Armenian patriarchs could also issue canons in their name, presumably after consulting their bishops, but such consultation did not have the institutional form of a synod.  The body referred to as the “synod” during the Russian occupation of eastern Armenia from 1829 to 1917/18, was a government imposed institution intended to control the financial and managerial-administrative transactions of the patriarchs and the Holy See.  Therefore, the designation of this body as “Synod” was only in name.  In more recent times, meetings of bishops have become quite frequent and the term “council of bishops” has been put to use, but these “councils” are de jure and de facto consultations with the catholicos.   

At present, the highest legislative body in the Armenian Church is the National-Ecclesiastical Assembly that meets irregularly and elects the supreme patriarch of the Armenian Church, known as “catholicos” or “universal bishop,” and his “cabinet,” or the “Supreme Spiritual Council.”  The Assembly, consisting of all the bishops of the church as well as representatives (both clergy and laymen) from each diocese, has the final say in all church matters.  Lay representatives outnumber the priests with a ratio of two to one.  The catholicos, who presides over the assembly, can veto its decisions, but he is accountable to it.  The assembly has the right to try him and even depose him.   

In modern times, the catholicoi are elected by ballot from a list of candidates.  This is a relatively modern method, which has been in force only for a few centuries.  Traditionally, universal consensus was required for a candidate to the patriarchate whose name was proposed by the king of a major prince.  Even the common people had a say in the approval given to the candidacy of a bishop.  In theory, without a universal consensus of the assemblage of the faithful, namely the living church, one could not become “universal bishop” or catholicos.    

Because of political situations, it is very difficult to hold a general assembly, which is always convened at the invitation of the catholicos or, if he is deceased, by his locum tenens.  A newly drawn constitution, which is presently in the process of being examined, provides an article to the effect that general assemblies be held at regular intervals.   

The office of catholicos is a for-life position.  As the one elected by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly, the catholicos is recognized as the “chief bishop” of the Armenian Church and bears the title “Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.”  Liturgically he is both ordained and anointed.  The ordination, attested to since the early seventh century, is a repetition of episcopal ordination.  The anointment, in the Old Testament tradition, requires pouring Holy chrism on top of the head of the catholicos-elect.   

In disciplinary matters and in inter-diocesan disputes the catholicos has the final say.  In ancient times, he served as the supreme justice of the Armenian kingdom.  His judicial function remained in force under successive Armenian and Muslim regimes.

The resolutions of the National Ecclesiastical Assembly and council of bishops become universally enforceable only through the encyclical of the catholicos.  Since the National Ecclesiastical Assembly meets very rarely, the catholicos is not only the executive officer of the church but also its legislature.   

The office of catholicos is the ancient episcopate of Armenia, which claims to be of apostolic origin.  According to tradition, when the kingdom of Armenia converted to Christianity in early fourth century by St. Gregory the Illuminator, the latter ordained bishops and established all the Armenian bishoprics.  Ever since that time, the canon of the Armenian Church requires that ordinaries be ordained by the chief bishop of Armenia, accompanied by two other bishops, and that they receive their episcopal authority from the chief bishop.  In a sense these ordinaries, who from earliest times to the beginning of the modern period of history were members of noble families, were suffragan bishops of their metropolitan, namely the chief bishop of Armenia.  Thus a hierarchical order was established in the transmission of authority from chief bishop to ordinaries and they in turn passed it down to monastic priests and parish priests.   

In modern day practice, the pastor is the spiritual head of the parish.  He has full authority inside the parish sanctuary.  He also serves as the president of the parish council, which consists of laymen and tends to the administrative, financial and material needs of the parish headquarters, including the sanctuary.   The pastor and the parish council are accountable to the parish assembly.   

A group of parishes in a given geographical area form a diocese.  The ordinary who oversees the transactions of a diocese is usually a bishop or an archbishop.  He has authority over all the clergy and laymen in his jurisdiction.  The highest body in a diocese is the diocesan assembly, which consists of all the clergy and representatives of individual parishes.  The ordinary is elected by the diocesan assembly.  In many dioceses the ordinaries work with a diocesan council that is also elected by the diocesan assembly.  Diocesan ordinaries appoint the parish priests in collaboration with the parish councils or parish assemblies.  As for the ordinaries, when a diocese elects a clergyman as its primate, the name is submitted to the catholicos, who examines the election process and if it was done legally, he approves the election.  If he does not, a new election must take place. 

In the present hierarchy of the Armenian Church there are two jurisdictions that are different from ordinary bishoprics.  These are the patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople.  The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of the three custodians of the dominical sites in the Holy Land.  Armenian monks and pilgrims have been frequenting Palestine since the fourth century, if not earlier.  Mosaics with Armenian inscriptions, dating back to the fifth and sixth centuries, indicate Armenian presence in the city of Jerusalem itself.  Armenian monks lived in the early monasteries and gradually established their own monastic institutions.  Finally an Armenian bishopric was established in Jerusalem right after the takeover of the city by Muslim forces in 637.  Over the centuries, this bishopric attained national and international status as a patriarchate.  The Patriarchate of Jerusalem recognizes the authority of the Supreme Patriarch.  The Patriarch of Jerusalem and all of the archbishops and bishops under his authority are ordained by the catholicos.  Also the Patriarchate of Jersualem receives Holy Chrism that is blessed by the catholicos.  All of this is also true of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was established soon after the fall of the city of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.   

The catholicate of the Great House of Cilicia occupies the second place in the hierarchy of the Armenian Church.  The existence of a church official bearing the same title of catholicos may seem strange to Westerners, but in the Orthodox East it is not unusual to see a multiplicity of patriarchs.  In ancient and medieval times, as either parts of historic Armenia were severed and appended to neighboring lands, or large segments of Armenian population were politically and geographically cut off from the mainstream of Armenian church life, “lesser” patriarchates emerged.  While some of these accepted the catholicos of Armenia as their “metropolitan” bishop, others claimed to be the catholicate of the Armenian people.  At the beginning of the 19^th century there were, in addition to the Catholicate of All Armenians, four other such “lesser” patriarchates.  Of these only the Catholicate of Greater House of Cilicia, now located in Antelias, Lebanon, has survived.  It is recognized as a legitimate patriarchate and it recognizes the authority of the Catholicos of All Armenians in spiritual matters.  There are still unresolved issues and disputes between the two sees, but these have not in any way disrupted the cordial relations.  On important matters concerning Church and national matters, there is collaboration between the two sees.  Unlike the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the patriarch of the Cilician catholicate bears the title Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.