Page 18 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

Introduction 19

work of inter-church relations and the ecu-
menical movement to identify the place of
the Armenian Church in the broader Ortho-
dox tradition in general, and in the Oriental
Orthodox family in particular.
These appellations, which have been
used in different times and in different con-
texts, sometimes cause confusion. Consider-
ing the worldwide diaspora of the Armenian
Church, I propose to use the term Armenian
Church (Hay Ekełec‘i) to denote the church
of Armenians wherever they are, and to
continue using Armenian Orthodox Church in
the context of inter-church relations and the
ecumenical movement.
C) In addition to cultural and ethnic
factors, the church is also distinguished by
its concrete geographical locality. Armenia
is the place where the Christian faith was
first preached and the Armenian Church
was founded and originally recognized as
the Church of Armenia. Because of its lo-
cation, Armenia was repeatedly invaded by
others. The longer this situation went on, the
more its people moved away until, finally,
the diaspora became a permanent reality in
the history of the Armenian people. The first
large migration was to Cilicia in the 10th
Century. There followed three more migra-
tion movements during the next 1000 years,
caused first by the fall of the Armenian