Page 14 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

Introduction 15

INTRODUCTION

At the outset of the book, it is important
to address the following issues: the Ar-
menian Church's place in the world Chris-
tendom, the names and titles used for
the Armenian Church, and the worldwide
dispersion of the Armenian Church and
people.
A) Due to historical, political, and doc-
trinal factors and controversies, over time the
church was divided into different families.
Although the essential unity of the church
remained, the churches separated from each
other by doctrine, culture, ethnicity, history,
and geography; their identities were shaped
by these phenomena and they developed
their own theological thinking and liturgical
traditions, forming three major ecclesial
families or groups: Orthodox, Catholic, and
Protestant.
1) The Orthodox group comprises two
families: Oriental Orthodox churches and
Eastern Orthodox churches. These families have
also been referred to as non-Chalcedonian
and Chalcedonian churches, and wrongly as
Monophysite and Diophysite churches, as
we shall see later. The Oriental Orthodox