Christianity is under attack across the world.
Western countries like Ireland, Canada, France & England, have had churches vandalized and burnt to the ground.
Fatal attacks are happening in places like Nigeria. The Vatican reported: “over the past 14 years at least 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered at the hands of Islamist militants” and “In the same period 18,000 Christian churches and 2,200 Christian schools were set ablaze. Approximately 34,000 moderate Muslims also died in Islamist attacks.”
Burnt church in Maiduguri, Nigeria (Copyright: Aid to the Church in Need)
There is a trickle of reports on Social Media from countries like Burkina Faso and Armenia.
This article highlights the historical & geographic issues with Armenia so CA readers can understand future reports about this remote area.
Where is Armenia?
Till recently, I couldn’t find Armenia on a map.
My only mental image of Armenia was of an old man on a mountain top, tending his sheep. I knew it was involved in battles during WWII as part of the campaign in the Caucasus. (Which include Georgia, the adjacent part of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.)
To westerners, Armenia looks like a nothing-burger on the map (sorry!) but it has a remarkable history.
Armenia is Catholic
Armenia is only Catholic country in the region & has BIG, BIG Moslem neighbours. (In 301 A.D., Armenia was the very first country in the world to take Catholicism as the state religion!)
To the north is Georgia which is also Christian, but they follow a version of Eastern Orthodox — Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia. Also, Georgia borders Russia which will give any aggressor…ah pause, to say the least!
Armenia is small fry in this region, though the people are obviously very resilient. Many of the problems are historical because ancient Armenia was much larger with parts subsumed into Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia (Map below.) Many of the people in those areas still have a strong identity as Armenian.
The brief violent attack in September 2023 was in the Nagorno-Karabakh province of Azerbaijan — which had been acting as the autonomous “Republic of Artsakh.” Azerbaijan took back the region by force though there are ~ 120,000 people of Armenian descent there. Armenia and Azerbaijan have had major conflicts over this territory before.
Last September, the Catholic News Agency reported that “…Azerbaijan launched a short but intense military offensive that included rocket and mortar fire. The offensive, labeled “anti-terror measures” by the Azeri government, resulted in the deaths of more than 200 ethnic Armenians and over 10,000 displaced civilians, according to the Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Additionally, there have been cultural crimes in the Nakhchivan province. (Marked on the map below.) For example, in 2009 the 10th Century St. Thomas Monastery of Agulis, was completely destroyed by Azerbaijan. Several relics within the monastery were destroyed also. (Reported on 𝕏 / Twitter by the Christian Alliance League: @Cadvleague LINK: https://x.com/Cadvleague/status/1762201754509201727?s=20)
St. Thomas Monastery of Agulis (formerly Armenian)
Some fear that Azerbaijan will now invade the southern portion of Armenia — the Zangezur corridor — to link the two parts of Azerbaijan.
Also, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently threatened the complete eradication of Armenia after Armenia suspended its involvement in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO: a military alliance of several post-Soviet states.)
History
Armenian history is….complicated!
Before Christ, Armenia was part of the Armenian Orontid Dynasty and then the Hellenistic Armenian / Artaxiad Dynasty. In 1 A.D., the Roman Empire took over, later falling to the Armenian Arsacid Dynasty. Armenian has been controlled by Persians; Byzantines; Arabs; Mongols; Turks; the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire/USSR!
The Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire [1915-1921] has sensitized Armenians to such threats: “…during World War I, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians. By the early 1920s, when the genocide finally ended, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were dead, with many more forcibly removed from the country.” The present country of Armenia became independent after the fall of the USSR, 1991.
Please pray for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Kevin Hay
You can follow Kevin on 𝕏 (formerly Twitter / Twi𝕏)
@kevinhay77
