The Armenian Church and the Empire of the East (6th to 9th century)

After the Synod of Dvin only the Churches of Iberia and Albania, and some of the Syrian Monophysites adhering to the Aphthartodocetic doctrine were still formally in communion with the Armenians of Persarmenia. But rifts were already beginning to show. When Catholicos John II (558–574) demanded Abas, Catholicos of Albania, insert the addition “you who were crucified for us” in the Trishagion, the latter refused, saying that it was against the position taken by his predecessors. Moreover, there were similar problems with the Bishop of Syunik, who must have shared the views of the head of the Albanian Church, and perhaps also with the Catholicos of Iberia. Chalcedonianism had set down firm roots with the Armenian subjects of the Roman Empire as well. The 6th-century Armenian monks who said the liturgical office in their native language in the monastery founded by St. Saba in Palestine, most certainly embraced the Chalcedonian Christology. Many Armenians followed it because they were convinced of its truth, not only for fear of imperial repressive measures or due to the intrigues of ambitious individuals. After the fall of the uprising against the Persians Catholicos John II and Armenian church leaders went into exile in Constantinople, and there he is said to have embraced Chalcedonianism, despite the threats sent to him in many letters from Persarmenia. The Catholicos died in exile in 574, and his companions settled in Pergamon, where there was still a large colony of Armenian Chalcedonians in the 7th century. The Armenian “schism” was limited only to Persarmenia and the Sassanid Empire.

From this time on all changes whatsoever in the Armenian Church depended on the way the political situation between the two countries developed. Shah Khosrow II Parviz (591–628), who owed his throne to Emperor Maurice (582–602), was not averse to the Christians of both countries maintaining Relations. In this period a substantial part of Persarmenia and Iberia lay within the borders of the Empire of the East, with only two Armenian provinces, Vaspurakan and Syunik, left outside. In this situation the Emperor tried to pressure all the Armenians into embracing Chalcedonian orthodoxy. In 591 he ordered a synod summoned to Karin-Theodosiopolis, to which all the Armenian hierarchs and vardapets were invited.