It was in the middle of the 1st century that two of Jesus Christ’s original apostles, Sts. Thaddeus and Bartholomew, introduced Christianity to Armenia. Repeated persecutions failed to stem the rapid growth of the new faith, and Christianity was declared the state religion of Armenia in 301 A.D., which makes Armenia the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.
This was largely due to the efforts of St. Gregory the Illuminator. Born a nobleman, he converted Armenia’s King Tiridates, with conversion of the rest of the population to follow soon. In 303 A.D., St. Gregory built the Mother Church in the city of Vagharshapat, naming it Holy Echmiadzin. In 451, at the battle of Avarayr, Armenians had to defend their faith in what was the first battle mentioned in history for the freedom of conscience. Christianity gave a powerful boost to the flourishing of a new Armenian culture.
Holy Echmiadzin is a primary spiritual seat of authority
for the six million Armenian Christians living in Armenia and in Diaspora
communities around the globe. Overt expressions of the Church's activity
in Armenia itself were severely hampered during that country's seventy-year
period of Soviet rule; however, since the demise of the USSR, the new independent
Republic of Armenia has experienced a vigorous revival of religious spirit
and the Church has resumed its traditional public role as the "national
faith" of the Armenian people.
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