Christianity was a persecuted religion in the first three centuries of our era. Therefore Christians were not permitted to build their own church buildings and were forced to pray in catacombs, or in private houses. It was in the fourth century that Christianity became a free religion, first in Armenia in 301 A.D. and then in the Roman Empire in 323 A.D. After these dates Christians started to build their own houses of worship above ground; Etchmiadzin was the first Armenian Church of this kind. It is now the oldest Armenian house of prayer in existence. It was built in the year 303 A.D. by St. Gregory the Enlightener or the Illuminator, the great Apostle of the Armenian people, through whose efforts our country accepted Christianity as its national religion.

The Holy Etchmiadzin is the Seat or headquarters of the supreme head of the Armenian Church. In other words as the Vatican is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, so Holy Etchmiadzin is the center of the Armenian Church.

The word Etchmiadzin literally means “The only begotten (Son of God) descended”. It is so called in commemoration of a beautiful vision which St. Gregory saw in connection with this holy place.

According to a very old story5, St. Gregory, after converting the king of Armenia and with him the whole country to Christianity, was thinking one night about the place and the shape of the church which he was contemplating to build as the first house of worship in the capital city of the Kingdom of Armenia. As he was deep in his meditations he suddenly saw a beautiful vision: The heaven was opened, and a blazing flood of light poured upon the earth. Through that light a parade of angels started coming down to earth; at the head of this heavenly procession there was a tall and glorious figure. He was Our Lord Himself, the Only Begotten Son of God. He had a golden hammer in his hand. Descending from heaven down to the spot, where the present Church of Etchmiadzin is standing, he struck the ground three times with the hammer. Instantly a mighty golden column rose on the spot and then it was transformed into a magnificent church. Before the vision was faded away the form and the lines of this church were indelibly impressed in the mind of St. Gregory.

From that day on, in 303 A.D., a splendid church has always stood on the same place for over 1600 years. Around this Cathedral centered the national and religious life of Armenians.

Etchmiadzin has been one of the important Christian centers in the East. It has been one of the important bastions of Christian faith in the Near East. The faith has been maintained and preserved in Etchmiadzin in spite of all persecutions and insults to which Eastern Christianity has been 5 Told by historian Agathangelus, who was, according to a written tradition, the secretary for foreign affairs of King Diritad, and therefore, a contemporary of St. Gregory. It is assumed that Agathangelus’ Book of History was originally written in Greek, and it was translated into Armenian in the 5th century. This book is the main source about the life of St. Gregory and the conversion of Armenia to Christianity. subjected by non-Christian neighbors. It has been under all sorts of regimes and rules, barbarian, pagan, and Moslem, but it has survived all of them. They have all gone into history. Etchmiadzin is still standing and functioning. Here seed of Christianity have thrived when they might have been choked off by weeds of idolatry or by other religions. Here it was preserved by a devotion of heart and sacrifice of blood surpassed by no other church.

Etchmiadzin, as the headquarters of the Armenian Church, has played a very important part in Armenian history. It has helped in shaping the Christian character of the nation and in creating and guarding the spiritual heritage of the Armenian people. When the Armenians lost their political power they looked upon Etchmiadzin as the unifying center for all Armenians. In those disastrous periods of their national life, when invading barbarians crushed every human effort for freedom and higher aspirations, it was in the Church and its center, Etchmiadzin, that the Armenian people found their collective will for survival.

With the dispersal of an important part of the Armenians to the four corners of the world, Etchmiadzin became the magnetic pole which held together the different communities of Armenians all over the world. Etchmiadzin has efficiently preserved the love of and the initiative for national education. Before the first world war all the educational establishments in the Russian zone of Armenia were administered by the Church authorities under the supervision of Etchmiadzin. With the creation of an Armenian State in 1918, and its subsequent incorporation into Soviet Union, Etchmiadzin was stripped of all its non-religious privileges and responsibilities and kept only its physical existence. There is a sort of renaissance since the World War II, intensified with the election of His Holiness Vazken I to the See of Etchmiadzin as the 130th Catholicos in line of succession to St. Gregory the Enlightener.

Now Etchmiadzin is a religious center from which radiates spiritual guidance with fatherly love and the ecclesiastical authority to the members of the Armenian Church all over the world. Let us be thankful to God for preserving this Holy place through so many centuries and under as many trying conditions. Let us renew and rekindle our filial attachment and loyalty to this venerable Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

May God grant peace and stability to the whole world. May our Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin stand steady and strong through the centuries to come, for the greater glory of Almighty God now, always, and evermore.