The Armenian Rite () is an independent liturgy used by both the Armenian Apostolic and

Armenian Catholic Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

Churches.

Liturgy

The liturgy is patterned after the directives of Saint

Gregory the Illuminator Gregory the Illuminator ( Classical hy, Գրիգոր Լուսաւորիչ, reformed: Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ, ''Grigor Lusavorich'';, ''Gregorios Phoster'' or , ''Gregorios Photistes''; la, Gregorius Armeniae Illuminator, cu, Svyas ...

, first official head and

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the Armenian Church. Churches of the Armenian rite have a curtain concealing the priest and the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

from the people during parts of the liturgy, an influence from early apostolic times. The order of the Armenian celebration of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

is initially influenced by the

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

and Cappadocian Christians, then (from the 5th century AD onwards) by Jerusalemites, then by Byzantines (from circa the 10th century) and lastly by the Latins. The Armenians are the only liturgical tradition using wine without added water. They also use unleavened bread for the Eucharist, which has been their historic practice. From all the Armenian language anaphoras the only one currently in use is the anaphora of Athanasius of Alexandria. It became the standard anaphora of the Armenian Church before the end of the 10th century and is a translation of the Greek version. In research it is often attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus, or to an older version of the Armenian anaphora of St. Basil or seen as a composite text.

References

Bibliography

External links

New Catholic Dictionary: Armenian Rite

Armenian rite Written by: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Liturgy

See also

References

Bibliography

External links