The Armenian Church Face-to-Face with Tsarist Autocracy

• In Event: Religion, Nation and Empire in the Caucasus

Abstract

As Russia's other eastern Christian confession, the Armenian Apostolic Church enjoyed a distinct relationship with Russia's imperial government. This paper explores the most direct forms of contact between the church's representatives and those of the autocracy, beginning with Emperor Nicholas I's own visit to Echmiadzin 1837. The goal is to assess the role of personal contact and correspondence in the fate of the Apostolic Church across the long nineteenth century.

Author

• Paul William Werth, U of Nevada, Las Vegas