Abgar, one of their kings, having had occasion to send ambassadors to the Roman general Marinus, in Syria, upon the return of his messengers, was apprised of the wonderful and miraculous performances of the Messiah.
Giving a ready credence to the report that this was indeed the Son of God, a second embassy was sent to entreat the great healer of the sick to visit the king Abgar, who was laboring under a distressing malady.
The letter was as follows: “I have heard that the Jews murmur against you, and seek to destroy you. I have a small but beautiful city, which I offer you to partake with me. It is sufficient for us both.”
It is said that the Saviour received this embassy with much satisfaction, and dictated to the Apostle Thomas this remarkable reply,—“When I shall rise to my glory, I will send you one of my disciples, who shall remove your pains, and give life to you and those around you.”
After the Ascension of Christ, according to his request, Thaddeus, one of the seventy, was sent to Edessa, who, having instructed the king in the true faith, baptized him and the citizens of that metropolis.
The seeds of Christianity were thus early sown in Armenia, still but little progress was made until the appearance of Gregory of Cesarea, three centuries later, who created such a revival of this faith, that he was called the Illuminator, and his followers, the Gregorians.
The Armenian resembles the Greek church in some respects. They are both Episcopal in their government. Both acknowledge the Trinity, and the Immaculacy of the Holy Virgin, and perform the ceremony of the Lord’s supper, or the mass, with even more pomp than the Catholics. The Armenians believe the divine and human nature of Christ to be so blended as to form but one; whereas the Greeks declare them to be entirely separate. Therefore the former, in administering the Eucharist, use only wine, and unleavened bread, and the latter mingle water with the wine, and use leaven in the bread. The Armenians, in case of necessity, partake of the holy sacrament in other Christian churches, whereas the Greeks acknowledge no church ceremonies as canonical but their own; always re-baptizing those who may wish to come under their spiritual jurisdiction. Their manner of signing the cross even differs, the one making it from left to right, and the other from right to left. They celebrate the church festivals on different days, and find many other occasions on which to disagree.
The Armenians are not, therefore, to be confounded with the Greeks, nor with that sect called Arminians, or the followers of Arminius, but as a distinct people, originally inhabiting the country about Mount Ararat, and professing Christianity at an early period.
The reason why they are known to the Western nations as the Armenians, and not by their proper name, Haiks, is, that when Aram, one of their early kings, and the father of Ara the Handsome, succeeded to the throne of Armenia, he, by his wisdom and policy, so greatly extended his dominions, that the power and valor of the nation was acknowledged from Mount Caucasus to Mount Tauris. This prince first raised his people to any degree of renown, both by the exercise of arms and the cultivation of the arts of peace; so that contemporary nations, in making mention of the actions performed by his subjects, called them the deeds of the Aramians, or the followers of Aram, a name which has been corrupted into Armenians; the country which these people originally inhabited was called by them Haikastan, or Hayasdan, and those regions which were added to their territories by the conquest of Prince Aram were called Aramia, or in contradistinction to each other, the former were called the Greater, and the latter the Lesser Hayasdan, which the Western nations transcribed as Armenia Major and Minor.
It will be perceived that they were at one time a very powerful and flourishing nation, and were the envy of all the neighboring tribes; facts well authenticated even by Roman historians.