Abraham Albatanetsi

Born in the middle of the VI century, in the village of Albatan, Gavara Rshtunik ^[3] . He was bishop of Rshtunik, in 607 he was elected Catholicos of all Armenians ^[4] . In his time, Armenia, being divided between the Byzantine and Persian empires, was at the center of the war between them . At the same time, the dogmatic struggle between the Armenian and Byzantine churches intensifies. The Persian Shah Khosrov II , wisely using these religious differences, begins to strongly support the anti-Chalcedonian position of the Armenian church ^[5] . With his help, during the military successes of Persia, the enemy of Abraham, the self-proclaimed Catholicos of the Byzantine part of Armenia, Hovhannes, was eliminated. Soon after, dozens of pro-Chalkidon-minded representatives of the Armenian clergy “admitted their mistake” and switched to Monophysitism ^[6] . Having strengthened his position, Abraham is developing construction and preaching activities. Enters into polemic discussions with the Georgian Catholicos Kirion , defender of Chalidonism. Seeking to confirm the Monophysite dogma in Georgia, he demands that Kirion switch from the Georgian liturgical language to Armenian. However, his efforts will not succeed, and Georgia officially adopted Chalcedonism in 608. In response to this, the Albatanians excommunicated Kirion, thereby finalizing the schism between the Armenian and Georgian churches ^[7] . In 609, he convened a church council in Dvina , on which the rule of nine ranks was established. The head of the Armenian Church was equated in status with the head of the Byzantine church and declared the patriarch , the head of the Albanian church - the archbishop , and the Syunyan - the metropolitan ^[8] . Being an ardent Monophysite, Albatanetsi also banned the Armenians from becoming related to the Chalcedonites ( Georgians and Greeks ), allowing only commercial relations to be maintained ^[9] .

The “ Book of Letters ” contains several of his letters sent to church and political figures of Armenia and Georgia. Of these, three letters to the Georgian Catholicos Kirion are of particular value. These letters are important for studying the relations of Armenian and Georgian churches, their dogmas. Albatanetsi tried to maintain the unity of the Caucasian churches (Armenia, Georgia and Caucasian Albania), while rejecting the Chalcedonian canons . Abraham’s letters, in addition to the “Book of Letters”, were preserved in later Armenian sources, in particular from Ukhtanes , who included 11 of them in his “History of Armenia”, in the chapter “The History of the Separation of Armenians and Georgians”, and from Movses Kagankatvatsi , which the 43rd chapter of the 2nd book of “History of the country of Aluank” was taken from Albatanetsi ^[10] .

In addition to letters, he wrote several ^[3] religious speeches and the theological work “Religion and Anathema” ( Armenian .ավանութիւնք եւ նզովք ) ^{[11] [12]} .

He is also credited with the legal work “On the Relation of Marriage of Relatives” ( Armenian Յաղակ ազգականաց ամոանութեան ), which subsequently entered the Code of Law of Mkhitar Gosh ^[11] . Marriage unions between blood relatives are cursed in it and the question of permissible (distant) kinship between marriages is examined.

• Works of Abraham Albatanetsi