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Latin Old Roman Catholic Church of Flanders
(Independent and non-papal)© 2006-2007 Mgr Philippe Laurent De Coster, B.Th., DD
Apostolic Successions
of Archbishop Nils Bertil Alexander PerssonandArchbishop Philippe Laurent De Coster
Edition Eucharist and DevotionGent – Belgium© 1993 - 2007
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The Armenian Church
(The Apostolic Orthodox Church of Armenia)
The origins of The Church of Armenia are traced to
The First Enlighteners of Armenia
, two of the Twelve Apostles: St. Thaddeus (martyred in 66 A.D. inArmenia) and St. Bartholomew (martyred in 68 A.D. in Armenia). It is St.Gregory, however, who is credited with converting first King Tiridates of Armenia to Christianity and then the whole Armenian nation. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first nation to become Christian in the whole world.Soon after the King's conversion, St. Gregory was consecrated a Bishop. Inobedience to a vision from Our Lord, Bishop Gregory built the first ChristianCathedral in the world in 303 A.D. with the support of the King. This cathedralwas built in Vagharshapat, the capital of Armenia, not far from Mt. Ararat. Inmemory of the vision from our Lord to build this cathedral, the cathedral wasnamed
Holy Etchmiadzin
(
i. e.
, the place where The Only-BegottenDescended). Holy Etchmiadzin is still the official Seat of the head of theArmenian Apostolic Orthodox Church.The Church of Armenia participated in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea(325 A.D.), with St. Aristakes, the younger son of St. Gregory the Enlightener,representing his ailing father.The Patriarch of Armenia was the first to use the title
Catholicos
, a practicesince adopted by many neighboring jurisdictions in the Near East.In 485 A.D. the Seat of the Armenian Catholicos was moved from HolyEtchmiadzin to Divn , where a Synod of Armenian, Georgian, and Caspio-Albanian Bishops in 506 A.D. confessed The Faith of the Third EcumenicalCouncil of Ephesus (431 A.D.) while rejecting Nestorianism and the acts of theCouncil of Chalcedon (451 A.D.). When Dvin was sacked by the Muslims in927 A.D., the Catholicos' Seat was moved first to Aghtamar in Lake Van then tothe fortified city of Ani. When Ani was captured by the Greeks in 1045 A.D.,the Catholicos' Seat was moved to Romkla on the Euphrates River, then againtransferred (
c.
1293 A.D.) to Sis, the capital of the Cilician Armenian Kingdom.In 1441 A.D. the Seat was returned to Holy Etchmiadzin.Several subsidiary Armenian Patriarchates emerged over the centuries. Duringthe occupation of Armenia by the Arabs in the 7th century, the ArmenianPatriarchate of Jerusalem was recognized. Bishop Abraham was the firstArmenian Patriarch of Jerusalem (638--669 A. D.). The Patriarchate of
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Aght'amar was established as the result of a schism within the Church of Armenia in 1113 A.D. The Armenian Patriarchate of Sis was created in 1441A.D. The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople was created in 1461 A.D. bythe Ottoman government soon after their conquest of Turkey. The CatholicArmenian Patriarchate of Cilicia was created by Rome in 1742 A.D. ThePatriarchates of Aght'amar and Albania (which was semi-independent from theearliest of times) have lapsed. All the Armenian Patriarchates (except theCatholic Patriarchate of Cilicia) acknowledge The Patriarch of Holy Echmiadzinas
first among equals.
The Turkish genocide against Armenian nationals in 1890--1915 A.D. dealt asevere blow to The Armenian Church and decimated the Armenian populationin Eastern Turkey. Of the 5,000 priests living before the Turkish massacres of Armenians, only 400 were still alive at the end of World War I. Because of thisloss of population, the Patriarchate of Aght'amarian was abandoned. ThePatriarchal See of Sis was confiscated by the Turkish government (
c.
1920) .The Catholicos/Patriarch of Sis, Sahak II, with the help of the ArmenianPatriarch of Jerusalem and the French, moved south to Antelias, north of Beirut,Lebanon.The Primate of The Church of Armenia bears the title:
Patriarch and Catholicos of All the Armenians.
Apostolic SuccessionfromThe Church of Armenia
Gregory Petros VIII
, Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia of The Armenians,consecrated to the Sacred Episcopate:
Leon Chorchorunian
on 7 April 1861 A.D. as Titular Archbishop of Malatia.Archbishop Chorchorunian consecrated to the Sacred Episcopate:
Leon Chechemian
on 23 April 1879 A.D. as
"a Bishop at Malatia, Asia Minor"
. Bishop Chechemian consecrated to the Sacred Episcopate:
James Martin
on 2 November 1890 A.D. as Archbishop of Caerleon-upon-Usk.Archbishop Martin consecrated to the Sacred Episcopate:
Benjamin Charles Harris
on 25 July 1915 A.D. as Bishop of Essex. BishopHarris consecrated to the Sacred Episcopate:
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