Page 140 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

CULTURAL ACTIVITY

The Armenian Church is the birthplace of
Armenian culture, and since the beginning
of the 5th Century it has been its epicenter,
not only creating the wonder of the Ar-
menian alphabet, but also playing a pivotal
part in promoting, enriching, and protecting
all manifestations of Armenian culture.
Christian faith thrived through culture, and
culture became an efficacious vehicle for the
expansion and strengthening of faith. Under
the strong leadership of the Church, the
creative spirit of the Armenian people ap-
propriated and assimilated pre-Christian
cultural trends and patterns and trans-
formed them into a distinct Armenian
Christian cultural ethos. Hence, the con-
version of Armenia to Christianity could be
rightly described as a process of encultu-
ration. The Christianization of Armenia was
followed by the Armenianization of Chris-
tianity. This remarkable spiritual and cultural
transformation had an inimitable impact on
the future course of Armenian history.
In fact, religion and culture, as one inti-
mately interwoven whole, became a strong
identity marker. Most branches of Armenian
culture flourished within the Church, which