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The '''Armenian Apostolic Church''' - also known as the '''Armenian Orthodox Church''' - is the national [[Church]] of Armenia and one of the constituent [[Church]]es of the [[Oriental Orthodox Church]].

According to tradition, [[Christian]]ity was brought to Armenia in the first century of the [[Christian]] Era by Bartholomew (Nathaniel) and Thaddeus (Jude), two of Jesus' twelve [[apostle]]s. [[Christian]]ity was adopted as the official religion of the country in 301 CE, when the '''Armenian Apostolic Church''' was founded.

In the fourth and fifth centuries [[Christian]] theologians disputed whether Jesus, as both fully divine and fully human, has two natures, a divine nature and a human nature, each distinct from, but very closely related to, the other (Dyophysitism) or only one nature, a divine nature which in some way includes or absorbs his humanity ([[Monophysitism]]). In 451 the [[ecumenical]] Council of bishops meeting at Chalcedon condemned [[Monophysitism]] as a heresy, and this led to a division within eastern [[Christian]]ity between, on the one hand, the '''Armenian Apostolic Church''', the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]], the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], and a number of other [[Monophysitism|Monophysite]] [[Church]]es, which rejected the Council's decision, and, on the other hand, those [[Monophysitism|Dyophysite]] [[Church]]es which accepted it. The former group of [[Church]]es today constitutes the [[Oriental Orthodox Church]], while the latter group constitutes the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].

The head of the '''Armenian Apostolic Church''' is known as the Catholicos (from the [[Greek]] word καθολικόϛ (''katholikos'', meaning 'general or universal')), and the present Catholicos of All Armenians is Karekin II (1951-; elected Catholicos in 1999), who has his seat at Ejmiatsin (also spelt Echmiadzin), a city with a popluation of about 60,000 some 13 miles west of Yerevan.

See further [[Christian Heresies]].

[[Category:Religion]]