Page 34 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

Long History in Brief 35

alphabet ushered in a new era in the nation’s
history. The 5th Century has been rightly
described by historians as the Golden Age of
Armenian history.

The rejection of the
Council of Chalcedon

In 506 the Armenian Church rejected
the Council of Chalcedon (451); this act
had far-reaching consequences for the life of
the Armenian people and the Church. The
Byzantine Empire considered this rejection
a political act of disloyalty towards the
empire, as well as a divisive step towards
the Church of Constantinople. The Council
of Chalcedon was called to consider the
Nestorian and Eutychian heresies, the juris-
dictional quarrel of the three Sees, namely
Rome, Constantinople and Alexandria, and
the growing clash between the Alexandrian
theological school, which laid the emphasis
on the unity of Christ's divine and human
natures, and the Antiochian theological
school, which stressed the distinctiveness of
Christ's two natures.

According to some western church his-
torians, the Armenian Church rejected the
Council of Chalcedon because there was no
Armenian representative at the council and
the transcription of the council's teachings