Armenian and Caucasus studies at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

About 94 percent of the Armenian population is Christians. In 301 AD, Armenia declared Christianity as state religion, which made her the first state in the world to do so.

The Christian religion was firstly introduced in Armenia by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus in the first century AD. During this time the paganism was spread all over Armenia and practiced by the kings. Pagan practices did not discourage the Christian missionaries in spreading the word of God to Armenians. Among them was Gregory, who was thrown into a pit by the Armenian king Trdat III, who had survived for 13 years due to the mercy of a woman who secretly fed him. The legend says that king Trdat fell in love with a Christian nun named Hripsime, which refused to marry him, so the king tried to make her marry him by force but didn’t manage, so he killed her. Thereafter, the king went mad, and only after the king's sister released Gregory from captivity, the king was healed by him and regained his sanity.

After his baptisation by Gregory, king Trdat converted his entire kingdom to Christianity in 301 AD, thus making Armenia the first nation to accept Christianity as its state religion. After that Gregory was named the Illuminator and became the first Catholicos of Armenia (the patriarch). After a vision of the descent of the God’s Son, who pointed a spot in Echmiadzin (of nowadays), St. Gregory the Illuminator built the mother cathedral of the Armenian church. Another church was built in Khor Virap (“Deep Pit”) on the exact place where St.Gregory was captivated.

After the acceptance of Christianity, a lot of churches and monasteries were built throughout Armenia, some of them on the foundations of pagan temples.

Although it is a distinct church, the Armenian Apostolic Church is in communion with the universal church and is in the family of churches such as the Coptic and Syrian. The head of the Armenian Church is the Catholicos of All Armenians. His seat is in the Holy Echmiadzin, where St. Gregory the Illuminator established the Armenian Church in 301 AD. There are four hierarchical Sees - the Catholicate of All Armenians in Echmiadzin; the Catholicate of the Great House of Cilicia; the Patriarchate of Jerusalem; and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. On October 27 1999 the Armenian Christians chose Garegin II as the head of their worldwide church. There are also some small Roman Catholic and Protestant communities in Armenia.