Armenia’s History

Armenia has existed in some form for over 2,000 years. A lot of that history is very tragic, especially in modern times. One thing that has been constant in Armenia’s history is that it has been the battleground of empires. It was the land that the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire fought over, and later on, it was the battlegrounds of the Ottoman, Persian, and Russian Empires.

In the year 301 A.D. Armenia was the first country to become Christian when Gregory the Illuminator healed Armenian king Tiridates III of his madness. Then the king converted to Christianity and declared Armenia a Christian country. A Christian here told me that it was the Holy Spirit who led the King and 140,000 people to Christ after that and not because the king declared the country to be Christian. 

Christianity has been the majority religion of Armenia since that time. While it is mostly nominal with most people being Armenian Apostolic there are still a lot of genuine believers in Armenia. The Armenian Apostolic church I was told is kind of like the protestant movement within Orthodox Christianity but still looks similar to Orthodox. 

Also, just a fun little thing Mt. Ararat which is actually in Turkey, got that part of Armenia when Turkey and the Soviet Union divided Armenia, but Armenians still see it as theirs. That is the mountain where Noah’s Ark landed. (I remember being told evidence that supports this but I don’t remember it). Also, this is the land where wine was invented which someone told me they didn’t think is a coincidence considering Noah got drunk after getting off the ark.

In the last 107 years specifically, Armenia has had a very rough time. It started with the Armenian genocide which began on April 24th, 1915. The Ottoman Empire was in WW1 and they weren’t doing so well in the war. So the Ottoman Empire used the Armenian people as a scapegoat for how the war was going. The genocide lasted into 1917 and during that time upwards of 1.5 million Armenians died. To put into perspective Armenia’s current population is just under 3 million.

Then with the end of WW1 and the collapse of the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Armenia briefly became an independent country for the first time in centuries. But only for a few years, later it was divided up between the new Soviet Union and the Republic of Turkey. I don’t have a number for this but I’ve been told that, under Stalin, a lot of Armenians were sent to gulags, Siberian prisons in the middle of nowhere, and is freezing cold and most people don’t come back. Then in WW2 although the Germans never got far enough into the Soviet Union to reach Armenia, a quarter of Armenia’s population died in the war.

Fast forward to the early 90s and the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia and its neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan are free countries. Almost immediately after becoming independent Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war with each other because of Nagorno-Karabakh. A region that was part of Azerbaijan under the Soviet Union because Stalin divided the land up that way to keep people groups separate intentionally. Although it was part of Azerbaijan it is almost entirely Armenian and was historically part of Armenia. Armenia won that war and Nagorno-Karabakh became a republic that is unrecognized by pretty much the entire world.

Fast forward to 2020 and Armenia and Azerbaijan are at war again over Nagorno-Karabakh except for this time it wasn’t much of a fight. In the time since the 90s, Azerbaijan found oil and became very wealthy, and also had the support of Turkey during this war. The war only lasted 45 days and the Armenians lost badly. Even though it was a short war pretty much every Armenian knows someone who was killed in it. 

The only thing keeping Armenia on a map and not being divided up between Azerbaijan and Turkey is Russia. Just a week into being in the country I was told three Armenian villages were taken by Azerbaijan forces just to be pushed back by Russian forces since we were in the country. (Some of my teammates got into a taxi and when the driver realized they were American he said “Biden bad, Putin good”). The only neighbor that Armenia is friendly with is Iran because they both don’t like Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Even though Armenia has been through a lot it has also been a big country for sharing the Word of God. It sends a decent amount of missionaries into countries like Iran because it is very easy for an Armenian to get into Iran. It also sends them to countries in the Middle East.

Armenia is a country that I’ve been told by local missionaries is ripe for the harvest for people who just claim Christianity to become genuine Christians. So pray for that harvest and for laborers for that harvest. Also, pray that there would be genuine peace between Armenia and its neighbors.