The Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia (Armenian: Կաթողիկոսութիւն Հայոց Մեծի Տանն Կիլիկիոյ) is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church. Since 1930, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has been headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon. Aram I is the Catholicos of Cilicia since 1995.
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👉 Holy See of Cilicia in the context of Armenian millet
The Armenian millet (Turkish: Ermeni milleti, Millet-i Ermeniyân) or the Armenian Gregorian Millet was the Ottoman millet (autonomous ethnoreligious community) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It initially included not just Armenians in the Ottoman Empire but members of other Oriental Orthodox and Nestorian churches including the Coptic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East, although most of these groups obtained their own millet in the nineteenth century. The Armenian Catholic and Armenian Protestants also obtained their own millets in 1831 and 1850 respectively.
Mehmet II separated the Armenian millet from the Greek Orthodox millet because of the disagreements that they had over orthodoxy. By establishing a new Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople, members of the millet were not only able to handle things autonomously, they had the legal status to bring a case to the Islamic courts. The Armenian millet did not have the ability to hold authority over the many people they were supposed to, as the majority of the Armenian population in Eastern Turkey was far from Constantinople. This Patriarchate proved to be more powerful than the Catholicosates of Sis and Etchmiadzin. Ottoman Armenians had institutions such as courts of law, schools, prisons, and hospitals for their own community.
In this Dossier
Holy See of Cilicia in the context of Armenians in Cyprus
Armenian Cypriots (Armenian: Կիպրահայեր, romanized: Gibrahayer; Greek: Αρμένιοι της Κύπρου, romanized: Arménioi tis Kýprou; Turkish: Kıbrıs Ermenileri) are the ethnic Armenian population native to Cyprus. The Armenian-Cypriot community has had a significant impact upon the Armenian people as a whole despite its low numbers. During the Middle Ages, Cyprus had an extensive connection with the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, while the Ganchvor monastery had an important presence in Famagusta. During the Ottoman Era, the Virgin Mary church and the Magaravank were very prominent. Certain Armenian Cypriots were or are very prominent on a Panarmenian or international level and the survivors of the Armenian genocide have co-operated and co-existed peacefully with the Turkish Cypriots.
Currently, Armenian-Cypriots maintain a notable presence of about 4,000 on the island (including about 1,500 non-Cypriot Armenians), mostly centred on the capital Nicosia, but also with communities in Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos. The Armenian Prelature of Cyprus is located in Nicosia. According to the 1960 Constitution of Cyprus, together with the Maronites and the Latins, they are recognised as a "religious group" and have opted to belong to the Greek-Cypriot community and Armenian-Cypriots are represented by an elected Representative in the House of Representatives. Since May 2006, the Representative is Vartkes Mahdessian. The religious leader of the community, since July 2024, is Catholicosal Vicar Archbishop Gomidas Ohanian, accountable to the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.
Holy See of Cilicia in the context of Sourp Magar
Sourp Magar (Armenian: Սուրբ Մակար or Magaravank, Ս. Մակարայ Վանք) is located in a picturesque location on the Pentadhaktylos mountain range in Cyprus, at an altitude of 530 m. and about 1½ km to the west of Halevga or 11 km to the north-east of Kythrea. It is the most important Armenian ecclesiastical building and the only Armenian monastery in Cyprus, which celebrated on the first Sunday of May. Since 1974, it is located in the occupied part of Cyprus. Nowadays it is ruined and in urgent need of restoration.
In addition to its historical interest as a centre of Armenian culture, Sourp Magar is noted for its distant views of the Mediterranean and the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor. The monastery had close ties with the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, since 1930 located in Antelias, Lebanon.
Holy See of Cilicia in the context of Aram I
Aram I (Armenian: Արամ Ա; born Bedros Keshishian [Պետրոս Քեշիշեան] on 8 March 1947) has been the head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia since 1995 and he resides in Antelias, Lebanon.