ARMENIAN CHURCH IN THE PERIOD OF THE ABBASSID DYNASTY

Abstract

With the coming to power of the Abbasids, the condition of the Armenian Church seriously deteriorated. In the second half of the 8th century, the Armenian Church experienced one of the most difficult periods in its centuries-old history. The church simultaneously faced three challenges coming from the Muslim Arabs, the Chalcedonian Byzantines and the Paulicians. Under the conditions of the triple attack, the Armenian Church strengthened its independence, formed national legislation and ideology. The robbery of church property, the confiscation of lands, the resettlement of Arab tribes, the change in the demographic map of Armenia, accompanied by arbitrariness, became serious blows to the church, which personifies the autonomy of Armenia. As a result, the economic base of the spiritual-feudal structure - church land ownership - was weakened, and the income from it was reduced. Accepting the Armenian Church as an object of robbery and enrichment, at the same time, the Arabs could not ignore the fact that by doing so they weakened one of the important levers for spreading the influence of the main enemy of Byzantium in Armenia. The persecution of the Armenian Church especially intensified after the defeat of the uprising in 774-775, when the feudal houses of Mamikonyan and Kamsarakan, who were ardent supporters of church and state, left the political arena of Armenia. The clergy became more vulnerable because the Arabs did not disdain to torture or kill the clergy. The Arabs discredited the institution of the Armenian Patriarch, which was a symbol of unity for the Armenians. The expressed wary attitude towards the Arab officials did not prevent the Armenian Catholicos from selflessly fighting for the protection of the rights and property of the church.