The Armenian Catholic Church in the Middle East – Modern History,Ecclesiology and Future Challenges

Abstract

Although a small minority of Armenians accepted the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451), and continued to do so, it was not until 1742 that a separate Armenian Catholic hierarchy was established, centred in Lebanon. The Second Vatican Council and developments in Ecumenism brought the role of all the Eastern Catholic Churches under scrutiny. The tension that sometimes existed not only with the Orthodox but also with Latin-rite Catholics and even among themselves was acknowledged as counter-productive to Christian witness in the Middle East. Although there were sizable communities in the Diaspora, it was only after the demise of the Soviet Union that large numbers of Armenian Catholics began to emerge from obscurity, perhaps creating a dilemma for the Patriarchate as to its future. Other concerns also preoccupy the Patriarchate: the nature of its jurisdiction, discomfort in its relations with the Holy See, crisis in vocations and the continuing haemorrhaging of communities in the Middle East, the vast territories involved in caring for the faithful in the Diaspora, the language of the Liturgy, the threat of absorption into majority cultures and that ancient forms of worship and tradition may not survive under pressure, even in the Diaspora.