Catholic of Cilicia

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Antelias, seat of the Armenian Catholics of Cilicia

The Catholic of Cilicia ( alias of Sis ) is an independent part of the Armenian Apostolic Church .

According to the self-image of the "Catholic of the House of Cilicia", the two existing Armenian Catholics, that of Cilicia and the one in Etschmiadzin , have equal rights. The Catholicos in Etschmiadzin is of course (today) granted an honorary primacy . According to Etschmiadzin, the Catholic of Cilicia is only a regional Catholic and is subordinate to the "Supreme Catholicos of All Armenians" in Echmiadzin in all spiritual matters.

The Armenian Orthodox Catholic of Cilicia has an Armenian Catholic branch in the Armenian Patriarchate of Cilicia, united with the Roman Pope .

history

Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia at the consecration of St. Myron

The "Catholic of the High House of Cilicia" emerged from the settlement of the Catholicos of all Armenians in the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia . After the conclusion of a union with the Roman Catholic Church in 1439 at the Council of Florence , another Catholic was formed in 1441 in Etchmiadzin ( Greater Armenia ) , which gradually gained priority over the course of the following centuries. The "Catholic of the Great House of Cilicia" remained independent until the present day and claims equal rights and privileges. In particular, even today the Catholicos of Cilicia (in contrast to the Armenian patriarchs and bishops) independently prepares, consecrates and dispatches Holy Myron .

Building of the Cilician Catholic Church in Sis

In the Catholic of Cilicia, the Armenian rite acquired its current form. Since the Christian population of Cilicia partially accepted Turkish in the 19th century, it was permitted in the 19th century to read the gospel and preach in this language in addition to Armenian .

The seat of the Catholicos in Cilicia was in Sis (today Kozan , Turkey, province of Adana ) from 1293 to the 20th century , which had to be evacuated by the Armenians in 1915. The church treasure, especially liturgical books, vestments and utensils, could be saved with great effort. The cathedral, churches and monastery buildings in Sis (Kozan) were subsequently destroyed.

In the 19th century, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholicos of Sis extended over the Ottoman Paschaliks Adana, Maraş, Aleppo and Cyprus. In 1915 the Catholic had 15 dioceses with 284,000 believers.

Like all Armenian Catholics and patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire, the Cilician Catholic was dissolved by state law in 1916 in favor of a newly created Catholic of all Ottoman Armenians based in Jerusalem (1516 to 1917 under Ottoman rule). Catholicos Sahag II. Khabayan of Cilicia was appointed the first "Catholicos Patriarch" there in 1916, but in 1917 he was exiled from Jerusalem to Damascus. In 1918 he returned to Cilicia and tried to resettle his historic Catholic in the Cilician city of Adana .

present

After France withdrew from Cilicia and incorporated it into Kemalist Turkey in 1921, the seat of the Catholicos was relocated to Syria ( Aleppo ) and then to Lebanon for security reasons . In 1929 the Cilician Catholic took over the administration of the dioceses of Beirut , Damascus and Latakia from the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenians . Since 1930 the seat of the Catholic has been in Antelias near Beirut (Lebanon). A seminary, a printing press, a new patriarchal cathedral (" Gregory the Wonderworker ") and a martyrdom for the victims of the Armenian genocide were built there, and in 1998 the "Cilicia Museum" was opened.

Antelias, St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral
Antelias, chapel with the bones of the victims of the Armenian genocide

The Catholic of Cilicia has been a full member of the World Council of Churches since 1962 . At the 2nd Vatican Council of the Catholic Church it was represented with its own observers .

Since the Spitak earthquake in 1988 , the relationship between the two Armenian Catholics, which had not been free of tension, has normalized. The politically supported attempt to unite the two through the elevation of the then Cilician Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian to the chair of Etchmiadzin failed in 1995.

The current head of the Cilician Church is Catholicos Aram I.

Regional breakdown

The present day Catholic dioceses are:

See also

literature

  • Peter Halfter: The Papacy and the Armenians in the Early and High Middle Ages. From the first contacts to the fixation of the church union iJ. 1198 . Böhlau, Cologne 1996. ISBN 3-412-15395-8
  • Hermann Goltz : The saved treasure of the Armenians from Cilicia. Sacred art from the Antelias Kilikia Museum . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2000. ISBN 3-89500-194-5
  • Vahé Tachjian: La France en Cilicie et en Haute-Mésopotamie: aux confins de la Turquie, de la Syrie et de l'Irak (1919-1933) . L'Harmattan, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-84586-441-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History page in the English-language portal of the Catholic of Cilicia
  2. ^ English-language portrait of the Armenian Church on the side of the Etchmiadzin Catholicate
  3. ↑ Since 2015, the Catholic has been trying to take legal action to regain control of its property in Cilicia from Turkey.