“Taking a leaf from the Armenians’ book”

Few Western Christian realize that the first country in the Old World to become Christian wasn’t Constantine’s Roman Empire.  It was Armenia.

And one of Armenia’s great medieval figures, St. Gregory of Narek (ca. AD 951-1003), a monk, poet, theologian, and mystic, has just been declared a “doctor” (i.e., a major, recognized teacher) of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis.  This is a big deal:  There are fewer than forty such “doctors,” including eminent historical persons such as St. Jerome, St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Here’s a short little article about Gregory, Armenian Christianity, and, yet again, the plight of Christians in the Middle East:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11441193/Taking-a-leaf-from-the-Armenians-book.html