Is there a curse on the Armenian People – Part 1

Have you ever wondered why the Armenian people have suffered so much throughout history especially since they declared Christianity their state religion. I have pondered this question for most of my life and searched for an answer.
I am not a prophet or a soothsayer, but I try to study questions seriously and not always in the box, or within a conventional framework of learning where the accepted assumptions often preclude finding the right answer. It is similar to the person who lost his keys and was searching for them under a street lamp. A passerby stopped and asked him if he lost something. He said, “Yes.” The passerby asked if he lost the keys under the street lamp. The searcher replied, “No.” The passerby asked where did the searcher lose his keys. He replied “Over there,” and pointed to a dark area near a park. The passerby asked, “Why are you looking for your keys here under the street lamp?” The searcher said, “Because there is light here and no light there.”
Of course, he will never find his keys because he is looking in the wrong place. His search is comparable to staying “within the box of conventional assumptions” to find an answer. The question of human suffering and particularly of the Armenians is of universal importance. It is not subject to national or ethnic conventions or assumptions. This means that there are universal laws that operate on individuals and sometimes collectively on ethnic groups or nations whether the people understand them or not. These laws are race and gender blind. They cannot be understood without appeal to higher order spiritual truths which are exemplified by great spiritual preceptors like Jesus Christ.
One must look to universal principles of truth to find the enigmatic answer. Once we clearly understand the cause of the suffering, then we can do something to correct it by God’s grace and come out of this terrible predicament of continual destruction of the culture and people of Armenia as well as all other peoples and races.
A question to ask: “Is there an ancient curse on the Armenian people that has plagued them throughout our Christian history and is still pertinent today?”
We can understand something from the result or judge the act by the result. After 17 centuries or more of becoming a Christian Nation we have suffered terribly not because of Christianity. I want to emphasize that Christianity in the words of Jesus Christ teaches tolerance, forbearance and forgiveness. Hope, faith and charity are the words by which a Christian lives. The Bible teaches,
Luke 6:27-29
27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
Christianity in its pure form is not the religion of violence and brute force. Its force is the purity of the love and dedication to spreading the message of Jesus Christ and the hope He gives to all people for salvation. Christianity, by virtue of its teaching, is not at fault.
If there is a curse on the Armenians, it may be traced to the beginning of Christianity in Armenia and later, the establishment of Christianity as a state religion. The story of how Christianity was established as the state religion in Armenia has many admirable and some troubling aspects to it. Very few situations are black and white. There are often grey areas that complicate or confound our understanding. As a well wisher of Armenians (and especially since I was born into an Armenian family), I want to discuss this question although it may seem to be anathema by most Armenians to question the establishment of Christianity in Armenia. Why would such a discussion seem inappropriate? The answer is that the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of Armenia has been heralded as the defining event that has solidified the Armenian identity, caused the development of the unique Armenian alphabet and superb translation of the Bible and many ancient texts, and inspired tremendous artistic, poetic, and architectural marvels that have demonstrated the greatness of the Armenian genius. To question the establishment of Christianity in Armenia as the state religion might appear like an attempt to undermine the most glorious period of Armenian history.
This, however, would be a false argument. I am not questioning Christianity or the Armenian genius that was inspired by Christianity. I am going to examine some of the events and their consequences that took place during the period of conversion of most of Armenia to Christianity. It may be that some of the events that took place during the conversion of Armenians to Christianity provoked a curse on the Armenian people.
I want to summarize the early history of Christianity in Armenia before the establishment of it as a state religion. During the reign of Tigran the Great, 95-66 B.C., the Armenian Empire extended from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to the Caspian Sea. There were Jewish settlements in the major cities of ancient Armenia. The earliest preachers of Christianity began their missions in the Jewish communities. This is understandable since the apostles of Jesus were Jews who became disciples of Jesus Christ.
Eusebius of Caesarea, a fourth century Church historian and priest, records an exchange of letters between an Armenian king named Abgar and Jesus. King Abgar wrote a letter to Jesus asking him to come to Edessa (in Lesser Armenia) to have the protection of his kingdom and also to cure him of leprosy. It is said that Jesus appreciated Abgar’s invitation but declined to go. He did promise to send one of his disciples. After the ascension of Jesus, the Apostle Thomas sent Thaddeus, one of the Seventy, early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 10:1-24, to King Abgar.
The Apostle St. Thaddeus, arriving in Edessa, resided at the house of a Jewish nobleman Tubia. About the year 44 A.D., Thaddeus cured King Abgar of leprosy. After preaching throughout lesser Armenia, he ordained Bishop Addeh to serve in his absence as his temporary replacement of the Church and left for Greater Armenia to preach the Word of God. According to the Holy Tradition, Bishop Addeh was a royal robe maker by trade, and the maker of mitres to the Edessan court. After St. Thaddeus departed, King Abgar’s son, who ascended the throne after his father’s death, re-established paganism. He demanded that Bishop Addeh make him a mitre. Bishop Addeh refused, and soon after was martyred. He is remembered as St. Addeh.
St. Thaddeus continued his preaching in Greater Armenia, and converted many followers, including Princess Sandukht, the daughter of King Sanatruk of Shavarshan, in the province of Artaz. When the king learned of his daughter’s conversion, he used every means possible to convince her to return to paganism. Exhausting all efforts, the king finally offered his daughter a choice between Christianity and death or paganism and her crown. Remaining steadfast in her faith, she chose death, and became the first woman saint of the Armenian Church. In addition to her martyrdom, St. Sandukht is also remembered for her efforts in converting others.
By the order of King Sanatruk, St. Thaddeus, along with his converts, was martyred soon after the princess in 66 A.D., for preaching Christianity. Before he was killed, St. Thaddeus secretly buried the remains of St. Sandukht. A monk named Giragos discovered the remains of St. Thaddeus and St. Sandukht near a field of Shavarshan, sometime in the 4th or early 5th century.
St. Bartholomew arrived in Armenia after preaching in Persia, during the 29th year of King Sanatruk’s reign. He converted the king’s sister Voguhy and many nobles. He also was martyred by King Sanatruk’s orders in 68 A.D., in the city of Arebanos, which was situated between Lakes Van and Urmia.
From this history, we can understand that Christianity was spread in Armenia at great peril to the early preachers and converts. St. Bartholomew was one of the original twelve apostles and St Thaddeus was one of the seventy disciples sent by Jesus to spread the new religion. These early preachers and converts were an example of the teaching of Jesus as quoted by St Matthew 38-48:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Love for Enemies
43 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies[c] and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Jesus set a new standard that was not based only on the requirements of righteousness (i.e. giving each his due). He established the startling law of grace and love. The Old Testament, on the other hand, stressed justice based on equal retribution with some measure of grace. “If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe’ (Exodus 21:23-25). There are certain other quotes that seem to attenuate such a rigid standard of retribution for wrongdoing: ‘You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD’” (Leviticus 19:18). This statement, however, seems to be directed toward being merciful to one’s own people. What about other people than one’s own?
There are general statements which encourage more clement behavior: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” (Proverbs 25:21). “Do not say, ‘I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.’” (Proverbs 24:29)
Jesus enhanced the principle of mercy with grace and loving kindness. He discouraged categorically the principle of retaliation. This is the defining behavior of a real Christian. Jesus acknowledged that treating others as they deserve is the law of justice. But, he stressed more emphatically the imperative for a Christian to act on the basis of loving kindness and mercy.
A government applies the law of justice. A Christian applies the law of grace which returns evil with good. This frees the Christian from the downward cycle of retributive justice that may entrench malice, hatred, revenge, and resentment in the hearts of people permanently. Such Christian love and grace heals the embittered soul and prepares one to return to the kingdom of God and leave this embattled world of retributive justice that engenders revenge.
Another question to ask follows: Is Jesus’s law of grace to be applied only in one’s personal life or can it also be applied by a government or civil authorities? This is the crucial question that has confounded the teaching of Jesus in practical application. I will examine this question and the above question in the context of Armenian history.
Before we examine the events during the conversion of Armenia’s State government to Christianity, it will be useful to understand what the religion or religions of the Armenians were before the advent of Christianity. They are usually referred to as pagan. The Catholic Dictionary describes paganism:
Paganism, in the broadest sense includes all religions other than the true one revealed by God, and, in a narrower sense, all except Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism. The term is also used as the equivalent of Polytheism.
It is derived from the Latin pagus, whence pagani (i.e. those who live in the country), a name given to the country folk who remained heathen after the cities had become Christian. One of the pagan religions of Armenia was called Mithraism, which was the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-god Mithra. There was also Zorastrianism (the cult of Aramaszt and Anahit), Hellenic and Roman Gods, and the Vedic God Krishna.
The early Armenian religions cannot be understood until we correct our view of history. Due to the overbearing influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition many historical facts have been altered in order to maintain an artificial Judeo-Christian time line that corresponds to the Old Testament calculation of time. According to the Old Testament, recorded civilization began about 4000 years ago. The implication is that the creation also began about 4000 or 5000 years ago. With the descent of Noah’s Arc on Mount Ararat sometime after the creation the reestablishment of civilization began from the Armenian Highlands. This theory has lead to the concept that the Aryan race began somewhere in the cradle of civilization in or near the Armenian Highlands and spread into different directions including the Aryan Invasion of India. This is all speculation that begs to justify the Judeo-Christian time line of history which is seriously flawed.
From my studies based on Linguistic evidence, astrological and older scriptural sources than the Old Testament (i.e. the Vedas), it is more plausible to understand that ancient civilizations existed long before the Old Testament was written. The Vedic time line of recorded history goes back much farther than the Judeo-Christian. An example of this is the following which explains the time line that calculates when the Bhagavad-gita (the quintessential Vedic scripture) was first spoken (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, in the purport of Ch. 4, text 1):
In the Mahabharata (Santi-parva 348.51-52) we can trace out the history of the Gita as follows:
treta-yugadau ca tato
vivasvan manave dadau
manus ca loka-bhrty-artham
sutayeksvakave dadau
iksvakuna ca kathito
vyapya lokan avasthitah
“‘In the beginning of the millennium known as Treta-yuga this science of the relationship with the Supreme was delivered by Vivasvan to Manu. Manu, being the father of mankind, gave it to his son Maharaja Iksvaku, the king of this earth planet and forefather of the Raghu dynasty, in which Lord Ramacandra appeared.’ Therefore, Bhagavad-gita existed in human society from the time of Maharaja Iksvaku.
At the present moment we have just passed through five thousand years of the Kali-yuga, which lasts 432,000 years. Before this there was Dvapara-yuga (about 800,000 years), and before that there was Treta-yuga (about 1,200,000 years). Thus, some 2,005,000 years ago, Manu spoke the Bhagavad-gita to his disciple and son Maharaja Iksvaku, the king of this planet earth. The age of the current Manu is calculated to last some 305,300,000 years, of which 120,400,000 have passed. Accepting that before the birth of Manu the Gita was spoken by the Lord to His disciple the sun-god Vivasvan, a rough estimate is that the Gita was spoken at least 120,400,000 years ago; and in human society it has been extant for two million years. It was respoken by the Lord again to Arjuna about five thousand years ago. That is the rough estimate of the history of the Gita, according to the Gita itself and according to the version of the speaker, Lord Sri Krsna. It was spoken to the sun-god Vivasvan because he is also a ksatriya and is the father of all ksatriyas who are descendants of the sun-god, or the surya-vamsa ksatriyas.”
The Bhagavad-gita is part of the Mahabharata, which is the great history of the world from the creation to the end of the Battle of Kurukshetra. The battle, which took place in India about 125 miles northeast of Dehli, ended approximately 5000 years ago.
According to the Mahabharata, the recorded history of our earth planet begins with the Bhagavad-gita being spoken to Maharaja Iksvaku about two million years ago. However, the time line for the creation of the entire material creation is much older according to the following (Bhagavad-gita, Ch. 8, text 17):
sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmano viduh
ratrim yuga-sahasrantam
te ‘ho-ratra-vido janah
Translation
“By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahma’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.
Purport
The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahma, and one day of Brahma consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvapara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord Himself appears as the Kalki avatara, vanquishes the demons, saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one night. Brahma lives one hundred of such ‘years’ and then dies. These ‘hundred years’ by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahma seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the Causal Ocean there are innumerable Brahmas rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahma and his creation are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux.”
The Vedic history goes back more than 311 trillion years. The original Aryan civilization began in Bharat or ancient India. The word Aryan is a Sanskrit word. It refers to persons who know the value of human life which they consider an opportunity to achieve self realization. Such persons organize society so that the people can progress in spiritual realization to understand their eternal relation with God and orient all their activities toward the unalloyed service of God without any tinge of material greed, lust, anger, envy, illusion, or madness. In the original Vedic Aryan culture the goal of self realization was to surrender to the will of Bhagavan Krishna (or Vishnu). In the Rig Veda, this is emphasized by the verse “Om tad Vishnu paramam padam,” the goal of all spiritual activity is (to serve) the Lotus Feet of Lord Vishnu.
The non Aryans are persons who are captivated by the material conception of life. They do not understand that the aim of life is the realization of the Absolute Truth, Lord Vishnu or God. They have no understanding of liberation from material illusion and remain captivated by the external features of the material world. They perfect through science and technology ways to eat, sleep, mate and defend. They remain attached to the material body, land of birth, family, ethnicity, race and generally are disinterested in spiritual elevation. They consider god as a cultural phenomena that may be useful for less educated persons as a emotional crutch or belief for solace. Their ultimate goal in life is to prolong as long as possible their sense enjoyment for themselves and for others. They see death as the end of all existence. Therefore, they try to live this life dedicated to enjoying the senses in every way possible. In order to accomplish such material goals, they try their best to accumulate wealth and with it prestige and power. This inflates their egotism to such a point that they can justify anything to reach their material goals.
What we can understand from the above discussion is that the Judeo-Christian history has seriously restricted our view of world history and forced us to accept that our ancestors all proceeded from the Old Testament or, in other words, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc. However, linguistically we are not related to the ancient Hebrews. The Armenian language is part of the Indo-European family. The Armenian philologist Hratchia Adjarian compiled an etymological dictionary of Armenian. His compilation contains 11,000 entries of Armenian root words. Of these, the Indo-European roots number about 9%, loans words constitute 36% and more than half the vocabulary is undetermined or uncertain. Thus, Armenian is considered in the Indo-European family of languages and not Semitic.
The ancient cults of Armenia came originally from India. The cult of Mithra is an Indo-Irano cult with its orgins in the Vedic past. In the Vedic history, Mitra and Varuna are two members of the Vedic devas or demigods. Mithra later became prominent as a sun god in Iran and Armenia. Shrines for Mithra existed in Armenia into the 4th century AD . The historian Dio Cassius records a dialogue between Tiridates I and King Nero. The Roman Emperor conferred on the Armenian King the throne of Armenia. During the ceremony, Tiridates I knelt before Nero and declared, “Lord, I am your slave. And I have come to you as my god, to pay homage to you as I do to Mitra.” This happened around 52 AD.
Later Tiridates III converted to Christianity and declared Christianity the state religion of Armenia at the beginning of the 4th century. Up until the conversion to Christianity, there were temples of Mithra, Anahit, fire temples in the Zorastrian tradition, Hindu temples dedicated to Krishna, and some Roman or Greek temples. They were all originally influenced by Indo-European spiritual influences coming from ancient India’s Indus Valley Aryan civilization either directly or through Iranian influence. The three major deities of ancient Armenia were Aramasd (the legendary Ara who became Aramasd – a sort of combination of Ara and Ahura Maszda, the Zoroastrian supreme god), Anahit (the goddess of purity who originated in Laxmi the wife of Narayana or Visnu the Supreme Godhead of the Indian Aryans. She came to Armenia through the Iranian goddess Anahida) and Mithra (the Vedic demigod Mitra who came through Iranian influence and was considered the sun god).
A short history of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral is also of interest in this discussion. Twenty kilometers west of Yerevan is situated the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian Orthodox Church and the most visited pilgrimage site in the country. Long before the arrival of Christianity, the site was already considered a holy place. Called Vagharshapat at the end of the 3rd century BC, a Zoroastrian fire temple had been functioning there for untold centuries. Upon this fire temple, a Roman Temple of Venus was later constructed and at this exact site, in 303 AD, St. Gregory the Illuminator saw the Holy Ghost descend in a vision. The name Etchmiadzin means “Only Begotten Descended” and refers to the place where St. Gregory (Grigor Lusavorich) saw his vision. The first church was constructed in 309 AD upon the site of the Zoroastrian and Venus temples, and some remains of the Venus temple may be seen in the church crypt today.
Etchmiadzin was the capital of Armenia from 180-340 AD. The church was rebuilt in the 6th and 7th centuries, with more recent additions in 1654 and 1868. Relics in the church collection include one of the lances that pierced the side of Christ and wood from Noah’s Arc (this wood, which has been carbon dated as more than 4000 years old, was supposedly given by an angel to an Armenian monk who had tried to climb Mt. Ararat three times in the 13th century).
Our pre-Christian culture, religion and language was much more connected to origins in the Vedic past than the Hebrew past. The following discussion will give evidence to this fact from ancient Vedic texts.
In the Bhagavata Purana Canto 9 (SB 9. ch19 texts 22,23,24), known also as the Srimad Bhagavatam, there is an account of the origin of modern Aryan races of India and the reason why they gradually migrated from India to different parts of the world and, over time, the purity of their Aryan culture deteriorated. As they lost contact with their Aryan roots they partially retained their original culture but with many watered down or faulty practices or lost it entirely.
The Bhagavatam states that King Yayati had five sons: Yadu, Turvasu (also known as Yavana), Drahyu, Anu and Puru. Each of these sons became the forefather of a race. The sons of Yadu became known as the Yadavas, Turvasu’s sons were called the Yavanas., the sons of Drahyu are the Bhojas, Anu’s sons were the Mllechas and Puru’s sons were known as the Pauravas. Yadavas became strong in central India where they evolved the Aryan culture of the Indus Valley which had it core homeland extended from the Saraswati River (modern Pakistan) to Bihar and then expanded all over the world.. The Pauravas (Kurus and Panchalas were branches of this race) became strong in northern India. The sons of Anu were also called Anavas, thought to be the Iranian tribes, who were all grouped as Mllechas or races that fell away from the Aryan culture. The Yavanas became the Turk race and, along with the Anavas, established themselves in the far western regions (west of the Indus Valley). They (the Yavanas) became opposed to the Aryan culture.
The Indus Valley Culture was watered by the Saraswati River in the West and the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in the North and East with the many tributaries that connected to these two rivers. The Saraswati River disappeared in modern times. The Yadavas ruled the Vedic culture of the Indus Valley along with the Pauravas. The Vedic groups which integrally followed the Vedic teachings maintained the principles of Dharma (the Aryan culture) and spread them widely around the world by saintly kings. After the battle of Kurukshetra (5000 years ago), King Yudhistira became the king of the entire world. He sent his brothers, the Pandavas in the four directions to collect tribute or defeat any reluctant kings who refused to pay tribute. His brothers conquered all nations of the world at that time and established a world government. The Vedic culture spread throughout the world and also to ancient Armenia.
In the Bhagavata Purana (2.4.18), there is a very interesting verse with an extensive purport by His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that sheds light on the later history of Aryan civilization. This verse establishes that there were many races on the perimeter of the Vedic civilizations that were fallen from the pure path of Vedic Dharma (this is after the demise of Maharaja Yudhistira about 5000 years ago). However, with proper instruction by a genuine spiritual leader they could also reintegrate into the path of eternal Dharma. The different races are named and in the explanation approximate geographical positions are given. The Bhagavata Purana was written 5000 years ago.
kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa
abhira-sumbha yavanah khasadayah
ye ‘nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah
sudhyanti tasmai prabhavishnave namah
SYNONYMS
Kirata – a province of old Bharata; huna – part of Germany and Russia; andhra – a province of southern India; pulinda – the Greeks; pulkasah – another province; abhira – part of old Sind; sumbhah – another province; yavanah – the Turks; khasa-adayah – the Mongolian province; ye – even those; anye – others; ca – also; papah – addicted to sinful acts; yat – whose; apasraya-asrayah – having taken shelter of the devotees of the Lord; sudhyanti – at once purified; tasmai – unto Him; prabhavishnave – unto the powerful Vishnu; namah – my respectful obeisances.
TRANSLATION
“Kirata, Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.
PURPORT
Kirata: A province of old Bharata-varsha mentioned in the Bhishma-parva of Mahabharata. Generally the Kiratas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India, and in modern days the Santal Parganas in Bihar and Chota Nagpur might comprise the old province named Kirata.
Huna: The area of East Germany and part of Russia is known as the province of the Hunas. Accordingly, sometimes a kind of hill tribe is known as the Hunas.
Andhra: A province in southern India mentioned in the Bhishma-parva of Mahabharata. It is still extant under the same name.
Pulinda: It is mentioned in the Mahabharata (Adi-parva 174.38), viz., inhabitants of the province of the name Pulinda. This country was conquered by Bhimasena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of Mahabharata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over India (this predicts Alexander the Great). This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of Bharata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the kshatriya kings. But later on, due to their giving up the brahminical culture, they were mentioned as mlecchas (just as those who are not followers of the Islamic culture are called kafirs and those who are not followers of the Christian culture are called heathens).
Abhira: This name also appears in the Mahabharata, both in the Sabha-parva and Bhishma-parva. It is mentioned that this province was situated on the River Sarasvati in Sind. The modern Sind province formerly extended on the other side of the Arabian Sea, and all the inhabitants of that province were known as the Abhiras. They were under the domination of Maharaja Yudhishthira, and according to the statements of Markandeya the mlecchas of this part of the world would also rule over Bharata. Later on this proved to be true, as in the case of the Pulindas. On behalf of the Pulindas, Alexander the Great conquered India, and on behalf of the Abhiras, Muhammad Ghori conquered India. These Abhiras were also formerly kshatriyas within the brahminical culture, but they gave up the connection. The kshatriyas who were afraid of Parasurama and had hidden themselves in the Caucasian hilly regions later on became known as the Abhiras, and the place they inhabited was known as Abhiradesa.
Sumbhas or Kankas: The inhabitants of the Kanka province of old Bharata, mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Yavanas: Yavana (Turvasu) was the name of one of the sons of Maharaja Yayati who was later given the part of the world known as Turkey to rule. Therefore the Turks are Yavanas due to being descendants of Maharaja Yavana. The Yavanas were therefore kshatriyas(warriors), and later on, by giving up the brahminical culture, they became mleccha-yavanas. Descriptions of the Yavanas are in the Mahabharata (Adi-parva 85.34). Another prince, also called Turvasu and known as Yavana, and his country was conquered by Sahadeva, one of the Pandavas. The western Yavana joined with Duryodhana in the Battle of Kurukshetra under the pressure of Karna. It is also foretold that these Yavanas would conquer India, and it proved to be true.
Khasa: The inhabitants of the Khasadesa are mentioned in the Mahabharata (Drona-parva). Those who have a stunted growth of hair on the upper lip are generally called Khasas. As such, the Khasa are the Mongolians, the Chinese and others who are so designated.”
The abovementioned are different nations or races of the world that had fallen away from the Vedic Aryan culture. From the most ancient times the Yadavas-Kuravas, Iranians, Greeks, Turks, the others were either followers of the Vedic path (Aryans) or fallen from the path of following the Vedas (Mllechas), or opposed to the Vedic path (Yavanas). It is interesting to note that the followers of the Vedas are sometimes referred to as suras (godly) and those not following or opposed are called asuras. Later, this word asura became the root word of the Assyrian people who referred to themselves as asuras.
As stated above, all these nations or different people and races were united by Maharaja Yudhistira 5000 years ago. However, after the disappearance of Maharaja Yudhistira (very shortly after the disappearance of Lord Krishna), the age of Kali (the iron age of quarrel and hypocrisy) began and there was a steady deterioration of the pure Vedic culture and the emergence of many different groups of people and nations. They all retained certain aspects of the Vedic culture, but the original philosophical understanding of the purpose of life became confounded with materialistic concepts that undermined its purity and obscured the goal of human endeavor.”
This background is very useful in order to understand the origins of the Armenian people and their early religious beliefs. It is understood that prior to the emergence of an Armenian identity, there were more ancient people and cultures such as the Hittites, the Mitanni, Kassite and Urartu people who either inhabited Armenian Highlands or were very close. They might be considered the ancestors of the Armenians. The Aryan Kassites of the Middle East worshipped Vedic Gods like Surya and the Maruts, as well as one named Himalaya.( see http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/gallery/dance/images/IMG_1809.jpg) The Hitities have a treatise on chariot racing written in almost pure Sanskrit. The Indo-Europeans of the ancient Middle East spoke Indo-Aryan and thus show their origins from the Vedic culture.
If we construct a modern time line for the Armenian Highlands beginning more than 5000 years ago, it would look like this:
We begin with Medzamor, site of an ancient city and foundry of highly advanced metalurgy dating back almost 5000 years (3000 BC). The following is a description of Medzamor from an exerpt of “Ancient Man Thesis Doctoral Baugh’s Dr.Carl From ANCIENT HUMAN CULTURES APPEAR IN SOPHISTICATED FORM.”
“Site Medzamor in Soviet Armenia is of intriguing interest. An international scientific report published in 1969 expressed the belief that these finds point to an unknown period of technological development. ‘Medzamor was founded by the wise men of earlier civilizations. They possessed knowledge they had acquired during a remote age unknown to us that deserves to be called scientific and industrial.’ The preceding year Koriun Megurtchian of the Soviet Union unearthed the oldest large-scale metallurgical factory currently known. At this site over 4,500 years ago an unknown prehistoric people worked with over 200 furnaces, producing an assortment of vases, knives, spearheads, rings, bracelets, etc. The Medzamor craftsmen wore mouth-filters and gloves while they labored and expertly fashioned their wares of copper, lead, zinc, iron, gold, tin, manganese, and fourteen kinds of bronze. The smelters also produced an assortment of metallic paints, ceramics and glass. Scientific organizations from the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France and Germany verified that several pairs of tweezers made of exceptionally high grade steel were taken from layers predating the first millennium B.C.”
Medzamor is proof that an advanced civilization lived in the Armenian Highlands 5000 or more years ago. This helps us understand the Armenian Highlands in the context of Vedic history. The Vedic Aryan culture spread from India throughout the whole world and with it advanced knowledge of mathematics, astrology, spirituality, metallurgy, etc.
The noted archaeologist E. Khanzadian has written in an article on Medzamor, quoted from the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia:
“‘A very ancient fortress-settlement in the Ararat valley, near the sources of the Medzamor river.’ Its real name is unknown, hence at present it is called [provisionally] Medzamor after the name of the river. This most ancient settlement is situated on one of the volcanic cones of the middle anthropogenetic period and the surrounding plain, comprising an area of 30 hectares. It is surrounded with water on almost every side: on the northwest it is bounded by the Medzamor river and on the east it is protected by artificial moats. Archaeological excavations have proven that Medzamor has been continuously inhabited from the middle of the fourth millennium B.C. to the late Middle Ages. The layers of various cultures that have been dug so far relate to the early, middle, and late phase of the Bronze Age, the early and the developed phase of the Iron Age (pre-Urartian, Urartian and antique), and the Middle Ages. Medzamor is one of the centers of early Bronze Age culture (third millennium B.C.) of the Ararat valley. The fort on the big hill was protected by a turreted Cyclopean wall, and outside the wall, on vast elevations, were built the residences and the utility buildings. Artifacts discovered on the site prove that at Medzamor agriculture, animal husbandry and the crafts were at a developed stage. The lesser hills had astronomical as well as ritualistic significance, and, as studies have substantiated, in 2800-2600 B.C. the site was used to observe the rising of Sirius (whose appearance was probably related to the beginning of the new year and was worshiped). Studies made on Medzamor’s ziggurat-observatory that served for ritual ceremonies held in the open air, and on the monumental tower at Mokhrablur suggest the possibility of the formation of rural communities and the establishment of cities around these temples, in other words, the existence of an urban revolution in the Armenian Highland in the third millennium B.C., which had the consequence of shaking the foundations of the primeval social order.”
According to archeological records, we have proof of the Hittite people (1750-1180 BC) on the western borders of the Armenian Highlands, the Mittani people on the southern borders who were contemporaries of the Hittites, the Hayasa-Azzi (1500-1200 BC) in the area of Lake Van and north toward Trebizon, the Nairi people(1200-900 BC) stretching from LakeVan to Lake Urmia, the Urartu people in the Armenian Highlands (1000-600 BC), invasions of Medes and Scythians who were Aryan tribes from the east that swept through and subjugated Armenia until the 6th century BC, when we hear of the first Armenian kings. It should be noted that the city of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the Urartian fortress of Erebuni established by King Arguisti in 782 BC at the western extremity of the Ararat plain. The pre-Christian Armenian people are a composite of these ancient people who were all Indo-European stock. There is also influence from the Semitic people from the early Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Parthian, etc., and including the Indo-European Greeks and Persians who were off and on the rulers of Armenia after the 6 BC to the 14th Century AD.
If we consider the Old Testament history, however, we are confronted with a restricted time line. The creation began sometime about 5000 years ago after which there was a flood and the Arc of Noah landed on Mount Ararat (Gen. 8:4) about 4000 years ago. Noah had three sons (Ham, Shem, Japheth). Its seems that the Armenians either were descended from one of the five sons of Shem named Aram or one of the seven sons of Japheth named Gomer whose son was Torgam. Moses Khorenatsi claims that the Armenians descended from Torgom (or Togarmah) who was supposed to live in the Armenian Highlands.
However, the findings in Medzamor dwarfs the Biblical history and establishes proof that there were ancient settlements in Armenia dating back over 4000 B.C. and highly evolved by 3000 B.C. Let us look again at Medzamor for more information of the cultural and technological degree of advancement it documents by its archeological remains. You can find the following on Ancient-Wisdom.Co.Uk. There is a discussion of the amazing finds of ancient astronomy at Medzamor:
“The astronomical observatory (at Medzamor) predates all other known observatories in the ancient world. That is, observatories that geometrically divided the heavens into constellations and assigned them fixed positions and symbolic design. Until the discovery of Metsamor it had been widely accepted that the Babylonians were the first astronomers. The observatory at Metsamor predates the Babylonian kingdom by 2000 years, and contains the first recorded example of dividing the year into 12 sections. Using an early form of geometry, the inhabitants of Metsamor were able to create both a calendar and envision the curve of the earth. Elma Parsamian, a researcher at the Medzamor site is quoted:
‘The Metsamorians were a trade culture,’ Parsamian explains. ‘For trade, you have to have astronomy, to know how to navigate.’ The numerous inscriptions found at Metsamor puzzled excavators, as indecipherable as they were elaborate. Hundreds of small circular bowls were carved on the rock surfaces, connected by thin troughs or indented lines. But one stood out. It is an odd shaped design that was a mystery to the excavators of the site, until Professor Parsamian discovered it was a key component to the large observatory complex. By taking a modern compass and placing it on the carving, Parsamian found that it pointed due North, South and East. It was one of the first compasses used in Ancient times.
Another carving on the platforms shows four stars inside a trapezium. The imaginary end point of a line dissecting the trapezium matches the location of the star which gave rise to Egyptian, Babylonian and ancient Armenian religious worship.
Sketch the locations of the Jupiter moons over several nights and you’re repeating an experiment Galileo did in 1610. Chart a star over several years and you repeat an experiment the Metsamorians did almost 5000 years ago. By using the trapezium carving and a 5000 year stellar calendar, Parsamian discovered that the primary star which matched the coordinates of its end point was the star Sirius, the brightest star in our galaxy.”
To understand the pre-Christian spirituality and culture of Armenia, we can begin with a statement of Dr. H. Martkian, who writes: ‘The history of each nation has begun with a mythological worldview.’ An Armenian history should never lose sight of this point; herein lies the Gordian knot of our history.
Dr. G. Conteneau has said: “In remote antiquity no difference was made between a country and its gods.” With this in mind, we may expect to find that the name of the Armenian people known in ancient times as the ‘Armani or Armeni people’ was derived from the name of the principle deity worshipped by the people. The principle deity of the Armenians was indeed Ar or Ara. Armaniâ is a compound name. The first part is Arâ which is the name of the national sun-god of the Armens. The second part is Ma (or Me which is a variant). It means beget, offspring, son. Ma is a Sanskrit root word meaning mother. The Latin, mater, Sanskrit, mata, colloquial, ma, English, mother, Armenian mayrig, all these words come from the Sanskrit root ma, The Ma represents the patron mother goddess of Armenia. Anahit (also refered to as Nuard or Nane). Anahit is associated with the Sumerian goddess Inanna who, through the epic poem Gilgamesh, was identified with the star Sirius.”
We can see a development from Ar. Arma, Arme, Ara, Arame, Aram which forms the basis of the name Armani or Armeni. For a much more detailed explanation of these root words that form the basis of the Armenian nomenclature see www.ArattaKingdom.com, a website developed from the research of Gevork Nazaryan and Martiros Kavoukjian.
The goddess Anahita’s connection with the star Sirius is noteworthy because of the discoveries made by Elma Parsamian and Paris Herouni at another pre-Christian ancient site called Karahundj, the Armenian Stonehenge at Sissian in Armenia. The Sissian find is an accurate astronomical instrument or telescope made of 204 very large stones arranged in a very precise way with some of the stones having carved and polished telescopic holes pointing to sunrises and sunsets at specific times of the year. It was particularly important for ancient priests to determine the beginning of the new year or the beginning of a calender. The observatory in the Metdzamor complex and that of Sissian could precisely determine the first appearance of Sirius (in June) after its disappearance in late Winter (February). Like the ancient Egyptians who connected the re-appearance of Sirius (sometime in June) with the flooding of the Nile (a natural occurrence that would fertilize their fields for new crops), the inhabitants of Metsamor and Sissian probably related the first appearance of Sirius with the commencement of the year and the renewal of fertility and the rebirth of nature.
Parsamian has remarked about this: “The ancients had to know when the new year began, the exact moment. At Medzamor, they could observe Sirius (the brightest star) appearing in the rays of the dawning sun in the late spring. That was the cosmic event they looked for. The one they staked their reputations as priests by predicting. This was complicated stuff.” Paris Herouni has commented about the people who made the Sissian telescope: “They understood geometry and the laws of physics long before anyone in Europe began to look into the matter.” (Please refer to the article by Rick Ney, Karahundj – Armenia’s Stonehenge at www.tacentral.com and click on astronomy on the left of the homepage)
The culture and people of Sisian and Medzamor were able to precisely keep time and predict the changing seasons according to the movement of celestial planets and stars. They were able to use this detailed knowledge for their spiritual practices and rituals presented in the Vedas, as well as for all practical business and historical records. Precise times are required for beginning and ending ritual performances, fasting, begetting children (in Vedic times, precise astrological calculations were used for conceiving children), building, calculating auspicious times to begin and end activities, planting and harvesting, predicting weather conditions, knowing the exact date and time to begin a spiritual festival, reading the past and future, making agreements and contracts, keeping historical records, understanding the most opportune time to die, etc. We take for granted today how we keep in touch with time. An advanced culture needs to accurately keep time in order to conduct its business and spiritual activities. Knowledge of astrology and astronomy was preserved in the Vedas. The ancient Vedic culture spread this knowledge to other parts of the world like Armenia.
The Rig-Veda (the oldest of the Vedic texts written over 5000 years ago) contains astronomical references that are based on knowledge of the phenomenon of precession (the very slow change of the earth’s axis of rotation). The Vedic culture expressed through the Rig-Veda employed sidereal time (the measurement of time relative to the position of the stars). Thus, the points of vernal (spring) equinox or winter solstice would be mentioned as having occurred or occurring in particular lunar constellations, called nakshatras. This sophisticated Vedic knowledge existed in Armenia even before Sumer-Babylon or ancient Egypt. The remains of the telescope of Sisian and the excavation at Medzamor with its astrological finds are irrefutable proof of Armenia’s Vedic origins thousands of years before the beginning of, and later on contemporaneous with Biblical history.
As more excavation and research work is done in Medzamor, Sissian and other sites, the Vedic orgins of Armenia and western civilization will become more documented for the skeptics. At present, there is undeniable linguistic (Hratchia Adjarian), archeological (Sissian, Medzamor, Hittite and Mitanni), religious (cult of Mitra, Anahit, Ara or Aramazd before Christianity in Armenia), astronomic and astrological (Medzamor and Sissian) proofs of the existence of Vedic influence in pre-Christian Armenia.
As an added support to the above, Nikoghayos Adonts -(Ter-Avetikyan), a prominent Armenian Historian who died in 1942, claimed, after extensive study of pre-Christian history especially of Hittite and Urartian archeological remains, that Armenians were Indo-Europeans by their language and origin and they came from the Urartian civilization. But they have more remote antecedents to another civilization that dates back to the period prior to the 17th Century B.C.) See his book, “The Conceptions of Ancient Authors on the Origins of Armenians.”
Adonts states that Herodotus (500 B.C.) and Eudox (400 B.C.) both mentioned that the Armenian were of Phrygian orgin. The Phrygians were an Indo-European people who entered Asia Minor as soldiers from ancient Greece who were part of the Trojan army that seized Troy. This is about the 1200 B.C.
This may be true. In any case, the Armenians are associated with Indo-European origins. Adonts concludes his study with the conviction that the Armenians were also related to another civilization that dates back to the period prior to the Seventeenth century B.C.. He implies that much earlier than the Urartian and Hittite civilization there was an Armenian ancestry in a remote time before Biblical history. He would have been very impressed by the discovery of Medzamor and Sissian.
My purpose up to now has been to demonstrate that the Armenians have a much earlier history than Biblical time line and that they have been bereft of their illustrious background due to many invasions and impositions on them by more powerful nations and tribes. This is further complicated by the militaristic way they were converted to Christianity after the fourth century, which led to a systematic destruction of pre-Armenian religious sites and libraries of ancient texts.
I want to discuss the conversion of Armenians to Christianity. It will perhaps reveal the origin of the misfortune that has plagued the Armenians since the fourth century A.D. Again I want to emphasize that the misfortune of the Armenians is not due to Christianity’s teachings. It is perhaps due to non-Christian policies and strategies that characterized the implementation of the forced conversion to Christianity.
The conversion of Armenia to Christianity is a fascinating history that I want to examine from a different point of view that has not been given
much importance by other historians. The most prominent past historians who have chronicled the history of Armenia and its Christian conversion are:
Zenob, or Zenobias, who was a Syrian and one of the first disciples of St.Gregory the Illuminator, Agathangueghos (5th century), Movses Khorenatsi (5th century), Yeghisheh (5th century), Yeznik Koghbatsi (5th century), David Anhaght (6th century), Bishop Sebeos, Tovma Artsrouni (10th century), Aristakes Lastivertsi (11th century), Stepanos Orbelian (13th century), Khachatour Joughayetsi (18th century).
Before the official conversion of Armenia as a state government that declared Christianity as its official religion (AD 301), there was active preaching and conversion going on for three hundred years. Armenian travelers and merchants went often to Antioch which was a major center of Christianity and Edessa and Nisibis. These cities had active Christian communities since the time of the first apostles of Christ.
Tertullian (AD 155-222) in his answer to the Jews (Chapter VII), includes the Armenians among the very first Christians from the day of Pentecost. Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History quotes a letter from Dionysus of Alexendria to Meruzhan, Bishop of Armenia (c. AD 254). There were persecutions of Christians in Armenia under King Artashes (c. 110) and King Khosrov (c. 230). There were Christian followers and a small, organized movement in Armenia before the events of the official conversion of Trtad III by St. Gregory the Illuminator (c. 301 to 314). National chroniclers testify to the existence in the third century of two Christian Churches in Armenia, one at Artaz and another in the province of Sewniq.
Let us examine more specifically the events leading up the declaration of Christianity as the state religion of Armenia. This will clarify certain important facts that may help us understand the possibility of a curse on the Armenian people. This may shed light on why they have suffered so much after this eventful period at the end of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th. However, it should be noted that the Armenians suffered before their conversion to Christianity because of continual warfare on Armenian lands between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire and frequent invasions from the Northeast by fierce tribes coming from the Caucasian mountain areas.
The last Parthian king, Artavan, was deposed in 224 AD by the Persian named Artashir, who established the Sassanid dynasty. The Parthians were Persians who were favorable to Greek culture. They were considered Hellenized Persians by the more traditional Persians. The Parthians were Persians from the Northeastern area of Khurasan. Their dynastic founder was Arsaces, thus they were known as the Arsacids. Their empire, which at its height included most of Greater Iran, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, was known as the Parthian Empire. The Arsacid Empire or Parthian Empire was not ruled as a single coherent state. It was made up of numerous tributary kingdoms (meaning they paid taxes and other mandatory commissions). However, these kingdoms were in many ways independent. Because of this more liberal system, a branch of the Arsacid (or Parthian) ruling class eventually developed in Armenia. The Arsacid Empire (also known as Askhanian) or the Parthian Empire began in 247 BC and lasted until 224 AD. The Roman Empire was continually at war, with intermittent negotiated peace, with the Parthian Empire during the entire period. The battleground area was often Mesopotamia or Armenia.
The Parthian Empire also was beleaguered by wars with the Seleucid Empire which was gradually in decline. The Seleucids Empire (312 BC to 63 AD) was a vast area that extended during its height from central Anatolia to the far reaches of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. It was one part of the conquered dominion of Alexander the Great. It was ruled by an elite Greek-speaking Macedonian warrior class whose initial leader was Seleucus, a commander after Alexander’s demise, who initially became the leader of Babylon, but ruthlessly spread his dominion to Persia, Pakistan and Turkmenistan to the east and central Anatolia to the west. and most of Armenia. The Parthian Empire battled also with the Persian Sassanids, who were at one time minor vassals from Southwestern Persia.
A branch of the Arsacid or Parthian ruling class developed in Armenia. They were named the Arshakuni Dynasty. They ruled Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Although formerly a branch of the Persian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. At first, the new Armenian branch of the Parthian ruling class of Armenia had its king appointed by the Persian Parthian ruler. Then, the appointed king was anointed by the Roman ruler. Trdat I, the first Arshakuni king was appointed by the Parthian king and crowned in Rome by Nero in 66 AD. This arrangement gave rise to pro-Roman and pro-Parthian allegiances among the Armenian ruling classes. An independent line of Kings was established by Vologases II of Armenia (Valarses/Vagharshak) in 180 AD.
Khosrov II, the Great (216-238 AD), an Armenian King in the Arshakuni Dynasty, on the death of the Parthian King Artavan, marched into Persia, to dispossess the usurper Artashir of the crown. Several years elapsed in this war, until at length Artashir, being defeated, was obliged to quit Persia in 226 AD, and flee into India. Khosrov II then returned to Atropatia and built a city in that country, which he called Davrej. It was built to perpetuate the remembrance of the vengeance he had taken on Artashir. . Artashir the Sassanian, understood that while Khosrov II continued to live, he could not reign over Persia. He decided to destroy his enemy by treachery. For this purpose, he offered a great sum of money to any of his chiefs who would undertake to assassinate the Armenian monarch. A chief named Anak, of the tribe of the Surenian Pahlavies (Parthians), tempted by the rich reward, accepted the task. Pretending to be hostile to the interests of Artashir, he, with his family, came and settled in Armenia. He first arrived in the province of Artaz, and resided for a short time in the very place where the remains of St. Thaddeus the apostle were laid to rest.
Ogohey, the wife of Anak, conceived her child (c. 257 AD), named Suren, who later became St.Gregory the Illuminator. Anak with his family proceeded to the city of Valarshapat, where King Khosrov II had taken up his residence. Anak was received by the king with honour and respect, little suspecting the treachery of his honored guest. After some time, the assassin, having waited for an opportune time, mortally wounded Khosrov II, and fled. He was immediately pursued by the Armenian soldiers, who were able to kill him. It is said Anak was thrown in the river Arax. The troops then seized the family of Anak and massacred every member of it except one son, Suren. He was saved by his nurse Sophia, assisted by her brother Euthalius, both of whom were Christians and natives of Caesarea. They fled with the child, who later was baptized in Caesarea, which was in Roman territory. He was christened with the name Gregory (Krikor).
In Caesarea, which is the modern city of Kayseri in Turkey, Gregory was brought up as a Christian. Leontius, Archbishop of Caesarea, became his childhood protector and patron. It is believed that St. Firmilian, the learned bishop of Caesarea, paid special attention the boy’s education. When Gregory was of age, he married a Christian girl named Mariam, daughter of David. Mariam’s brother was St. Athenogenes, prelate of Bedochton, who was later martyred and is well known from the works of early Christian writers. Gregory and Mariam had two sons named Vertannes and Aristakes, who became a Christian monk. After the birth of the second son, Gregory and Mariam decided to part their ways. Mariam withdrew to a convent to raise her sons and later practice serious monastic vows.
Gregory learned of his father’s vile deed of assasinating King Khosrov II. He decided to makes amends for his father’s sin by becoming the secretary of Khosrov’s surviving son, Trtad, who was destined to become the king of Armenia.
When Khosrov II was assasinated, the king of Persia, Artashir, took advantage of the chaotic situation to attack Armenia with a powerful army (c. 260 AD). He was able to overpower the Armenian forces. He executed most of Khosrov II’s family except the youngest son named Trtad (or Tiridates) who was saved by Artavazd the Mandakunian, who took the young boy to Caesarea. Trtad’s sister named Khosrovadukht also survived. After some time, the boy was taken to Rome for his protection and education. The emperor of Rome received the young prince and endowed him with princely facilities. The prince Trtad was placed under the guidance of the celebrated Roman chief named Lucinius. Thus, Trtad received a formal Roman education and became a child of Roman culture. This is very significant for understanding the non-Christian way Armenia was, for the most part, converted to Christianity.
To understand the nature of the Roman culture, we need to examine its origin. If we look at the beginnings of Rome, we encounter the fascinating history of Romulus (c. 771 – c. 717 BC) and Remus (c. 771 – c. 753 BC), the legendary founders of Rome. They may or may not be factual historical persons. However, their story forms the basis of the Roman historical identity, society, culture, and national behavioral psyche, or the origin of epic prototypes that influence thought, behavior and personality for a group of people or nation. According to the tradition recorded by Plutarch and Livy, Aeneas, a hero of the Trojan war who escaped from Troy after it was destroyed, went with a group of followers to Italy. He settled on the West coast of Italy, married a local woman and built a new city named Alba Longa. Numitor and Amulius were brothers who descended from Aeneas. Numitor was the king of Alba Longa and his brother Amulius controlled the treasury.
Amulius detroned his brother and killed his sons, but feared that his brother’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, would have children who would one day claim the throne. He forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, a priestesse sworn to abstinence. One day Mars, the mythological god of war, seduced Rhea Silvia and two sons were born named Romulus and Remus. Learning of the birth of the twins, Amulius ordered Rhea Silvia buried alive. He ordered a servant to kill the twins. The twins were very beautiful and innocent. The servant decided to place the twins in a basket and floated it downstream on the Tiber river. The river deity Tiberinus guided the basket until it was caught in the branches and roots of a fig tree. The river deity brought the infant twins up to the Palatine hill where they were nursed by a wolf and a woodpecker, which brought them small morsels of food under another fig tree. Both the wolf and the woodpecker are favorites of the deity Mars. The shepherd Faustalus found the twins and becomes their guardian.
When Romulus and Remus attained adulthood, they restored the throne to Numitor, their maternal grandfather, after killing their uncle Amulius. They decide not to live in Alba Longa with Numitor and moved back to the Palatine Hill where Rome was founded. Due to sibling rivalry, Romulus murdered Remus and went on to become the founder of Rome, which was named after him.
At first, all the inhabitants under Romulus were men. They were shepherds, runaway slaves, and brigands. Romulus devised a plan to find women to marry the men. He invited neighboring communities called the Sabines to take part in games in honor of the god Consus. During the games, Romulus arranged for the Roman men to carry off the Sabine women and forcibly marry them. After negotiation with the Sabines, peace was made and the Sabines and Romans formed a unified kingdom. Later, Romulus became the undisputed ruler of the new kingdom.
Romulus, the epic founder of Rome, was the archetype or heroic personality that infused his patterns of behavior into the future generations of the Roman people and culture. Romulus was suckled on the milk of a wolf, a predatory animal, murdered his brother, killed his maternal uncle, and kidnapped the maidens of the Sabines. His example presaged the future mood of the Roman Empire which was often marked by violence, treachery, wolf-like predatory behavior that characterized its expansionist agenda, and a society that exploited slaves and marked by sexual promiscuity.
Trtad III was raised in the Roman territory of Asia Minor and later in Rome. He learned and embraced the language, literature, customs, religion and culture of Rome and its archetype hero Romulus. He was tall, with an athletic body, handsome, with apparent Herculean strength. It is reported that he once stopped a rival’s chariot in a race contest just by seizing the spokes of the wheels with his bare hands. Once, rebellious Roman soldiers attacked the palace of his friend Caius Flavius Licinus. They were determined to kill the Roman. Trtad single- handedly fought them and they were forced to retreat. It was Lucinius that brought Trtad to the attention of Diocletian who became emperor of Rome in 285 AD. Several years later, Diocletian empowered Trtad to return to Armenia with Roman soldiers and regain his rightful throne as king of Armenia.
A certain number of Armenian nobility accepted Trtad and welcomed him back as king of Armenia. At that time, Gregory, who became St. Gregory the Illuminator, became a secretary of king Trtad III. In 296 AD, the Sassanid King Narseh of Persia attacked Armenia forcing Trtad III to take refuge in Roman territory. With the help of Diocletian and his Roman army commanded by his son-in-law Galerius, Trtad III was able to rout the Persians. He again took possession of Armenian lands and his autonomous throne with the protective backing of the Romans (c. 297 AD). The Romans concluded a peace treaty with Narseh by which the Persians ceded more land to Trtad III, To avoid incursions by the northern Caucasian tribes of the Alans, Trtad III married Princess Ashkhen, daughter of Ashkatar, King of the Alans. A period of peace and prosperity followed for Armenia until the reign of Constantine, the Emperor of the Roman empire (c. 324 AD).
Agathangelos (a name in Greek which means the good news) was alleged to be the secretary of Tiridates III. A hagiographical biography (worshipful or idealizing life history) of Saint Gregory the Illuminator is credited to him. He writes: “During the first year of his reign, Trtad and his courtiers visited a provincial town to make a sacrifice to the goddess Anahid in her temple. He ordered Gregory to venerate her statue, and when Gregory refused Trtad asked him, “You have served me well these many years. Why in this one matter do you refuse to do my will?”
Gregory answered, “You speak truly. I have served you as God commands us to serve our earthly lords. But He alone is the creator of angels and men, of heaven and earth. We can worship only Him.”
Trtad frowned and said, “By saying this you render all your service to me completely worthless. I shall punish rather than reward you as I had planned. It will be prison and bondage for you unless you honor the goddess Anahid.”
Gregory replied, “My service to you is not worthless; God values it as He promises always to value our efforts for Him. It is He I seek to please. And if you punish me, I rejoice, for my lord Christ suffered affliction and death, and I will gladly follow Him into death so that I can be with Him in everlasting life. You speak of Anahit, perhaps demons once bedazzle men into building temples for them and worshipping them. But I will not worship lifeless objects of stone. We must worship the One who lives and gives life.”
Trtad then asked Gregory to tell him more about this living One. Gregory proceeded to explain that Christ is the Lord of creation and the true light for those in the darkness of idolatry. He exhorted the king to use his intelligence and put away the mulishly stupid devotion to mere images.
Trtad exploded in anger. He shouted, “You have insulted the gods and insulted me by calling me stupid for worshipping them. You had the audacity to speak to me as if you were my equal. You said I was stupid as a mule; now you shall feel the burden of such words.”
Trdat III in the early years of his reign held the views of Diocletian and Galerius towards the Christians, who were looked upon as disturbers of the social order. He was very hostile to the new religion, which had made converts in Armenia. By the time of Trtad III, Armenia had evolved a form of syncretic worship of Hellenized Indo-Iranian gods. The following provides a short history of the evolution of the gods worshipped in Armenia prior to the Christian era.
During the fifth century BC, the Zoroastrian gods were adopted by the Armenians: Ahura-Mazda, the father of the gods was worshipped as Aramazd, Mithra, god of light and justice was known as Mihr, Anahita, goddess of fertility and mother of all wisdom became Anahit who became the favorite goddess of the Armenians. Verethrangna, the god of war, was worshipped as Vahagn. Astghik was the goddess of love. Tir, the scribe of Aramazd, was the god of science and the recorder of man’s deeds of good and evil. Barshamin and Nane, probably of Syrian origin, also formed part of the Armenian pantheon. Later, with the dominance of Alexander the Great (c. 4th century BC), and the successor Seleucid Empire, Armenia became Hellenized and identified its gods with the Greek pantheon. Aramazd became Zeus, Mihr became Hephaestus, Anahit became Artemis, Vahagn became Heracles, Astghik became Aphrodite, Tir became Apollo, Nane became Athena and Barshamin retained his original name. Thus, a form of Irano-Greek religion existed in Armenia, along with the worship of the Indian god Krishna (from the 2nd century BC) and other local spirits until the establishment of Christianity in the 4th century AD.
Following his Roman mentors, Trtad III was suspicious of the small Christian minority in Armenia. Diocletion began persecutions of Christians in the Roman empire because he became convinced that they disrupted the sanctity of the Roman worship of gods. The disdain and utter contempt for the pantheon of Roman gods was expressed by Gregory to Trtad III. This was the prevailing attitude of the Christians toward the pagan gods and it was particularly manifested by the systematic destruction of all pagan shrines and deities that took place in Armenia after the conversion of Trtad III.
I want to discuss what I believe to be the unabashed fanaticism of early Christianity coming from its Old Testament origins and its disdain and intolerance of any worship except that of the dominant form of Christianity. This same intolerance was later expressed toward minor sects of Christians by the dominant sect of Christians. If we carefully read the Jewish history as given in the Old Testament of the Bible, it becomes apparent that the ancient Jews also practiced a form of extreme intolerance toward all religious persuasions except Judaism and toward people of other ethnicity and race. The following is Biblical evidence that the ancient Jews had a sacred authority given to them by their God to terrorize and massacre entire ethnic and racial groups of people such as the Hittites who were the ancestors of the Armenians and destroy their temples and desecrate their gods. They were also permitted by their god to take slaves and maintain them from one generation to another from their neighboring peoples but not of their own Jewish people.
Exodus 23:23-33 (New International Version)
23″ My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
27 I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
31 I will establish your borders from the Red Sea [a] to the Sea of the Philistines, [b] and from the desert to the River. [c] I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

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