2021/01/01 by Aleksan Hakobyan · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Byzantine Studies and History #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Historical and Religious Studies of Rome #Christianization #Ancient history #Emperor #SAINT #History #Armenian #Christianity #Archaeology #Art history
paper · doi:10.31857/s086919080014885-0
openalex publication_date 2021/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The article is devoted to the issues of clarifying the Chronology of official Christianization of Caucasian Albania, which took place in the beginning of 4th century AD. The study of the information from the “Life of Gregory” (a variant of Agathangelos’ “History”), “Letter of Giut to Saint Vachē”, “Tale of Vachagan”, “History of Albania” by Movses Daskhurançi and other Armenian sources suggest that Christianity in the Albanian kingdom was officially adopted in 313 or 315 years. The king of the country then was the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Albania Vachagan I the Brave (but not his grandson Urnayr), and the king of Armenia was Tiridat III the Great, also Arsacid. As M.-L. Chaumont established in 1969, the latter, with the help of Gregory the Illuminator, adopted the Christian faith at the state level in June 311, two months after the publication of the Edict of Sardica “On Tolerance” by Emperor Galerius (293–311). In 313, after the appearance of the Edict of Milan, Tiridat attracted the younger allies of Armenia Iberia-Kartli, Albania-Aluank' and Lazika-Egerk' (Colchis) to the process of Christianization. In the first half of 315, Gregory the Illuminator baptized the Albanian king (who had arrived in Armenia) and ordained the first bishop Tovmas (the founder of the Albanian church, with the center in the capital Kapalak) for his country: he was from the city of Satala in Lesser Armenia. Probably, at the same stage, Christianization covered the whole of antique Albania, i.e. territory north of the Kura River, to the Caspian Sea and the Derbend Pass.