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October 11, 2023

Fear of erasure fuels Artsakh exodus

Refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan ride in a truck upon their arrival at the border village of Kornidzor, Armenia, Sept. 27. Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians, most of them Christian, are fleeing the enclave Armenians call Artsakh following a defeat by surrounding Azerbaijan forces.

In a chilling reminder of the Nazi blitzkrieg that ripped through Europe in the 1940s, Azerbaijan, with a lightning military offensive on Sept. 19, dealt a fatal blow to Artsakh (also called Nagorno Karabakh), a disputed territory within its boundaries, sending almost all of its 120,000 Christian Armenians into forced exile.

Published in International
September 21, 2021

Armenian bishops elect former U.S. pastor as patriarch

Archbishop Boutros Marayati, patriarchal administrator of the Armenian Catholic Church, uses incense as he celebrates Mass with bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church at the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome Sept. 20, 2021. The bishops were meeting for a second attempt at electing a new patriarch to succeed Patriarch Grégoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan, who died in Beirut May 25. No candidate garnered the necessary two-thirds of the votes when the bishops had met for two weeks beginning in late June.

ROME -- The bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church elected Archbishop Raphaël François Minassian, the ordinary for Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe, to be their church's new patriarch.

Published in International
April 8, 2015

Protected zone for minorities sought in Iraq, Syria

Displaced Assyrians, who fled from the villages around Tel Tamr, Syria, gather March 9 outside the Assyrian Church in Hassakeh as they wait for news about abductees remaining in Islamic State hands.

AMMAN, Jordan - A call for an area to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq is gathering pace even as April marks the centenary of the 1915 genocide of Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Christians.

Published in International
February 25, 2015

Pope names St. Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church

St. Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century Armenian monk, has been named a doctor of the church. Pope Francis approved this designation on Feb. 21. A doctor of the church is a title given by churches to individuals who they recognize for their contributions to theology or doctrine. There are now 36 doctors of the church.

VATICAN CITY - A 10th-century Armenian monk has been named among the doctors of the Church.

Published in Faith