History
The Armenian Church: A Brief Introduction
Structure
The Armenian Church is a national church, united to the family of Christian churches like a branch to a tree. It is one of the group of five churches variously called the Oriental Orthodox or the Lesser Orthodox because they are the smallest and the Easternmost group of the Orthodox family, the larger group being the Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek). The hierarchy is as in the Eastern Orthodox, with deacons, married priests, celibate priests, bishops and patriarchs. The Armenian Church has two patriarchs - one in Jerusalem and one in Constantinople - and a Catholicos with limited jurisdiction based in Antelias, Lebanon.
The spiritual head bf the Armenian Church is the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians who resides in Holy Etchmiadzln in Armenia, the world center of the Armenian Church.