A Protestant mission was established among the Armenians by the American Board in 1830, after the way had been previously prepared by the conversion of three Armenian priests (two of whom were bishops) by tlf American missionaries of Syria, and by the fa- mous school of Pestitimalyan, a man conversant not only wiili Armenian, but also with Western literature and theology. The tirst missionaries were E. Smith and II. <i. (>. Dwight, who were joined in the follow- in- years l,y \V. Goodell, J. B. Adger, I!. Schneider,
<'. Hamlin, and others. 'II
ie missionaries soon organ-
ized several schools at Constantinople, IVra, Brousa. Eass-Keuy, Bebek, and through them worked success- fully for spreading evangelical views iii the Armenian Church. In 1834 the mis-i.ni press was transferred from Malta to Smyrna, and there soon began a most successful operation, printing, up to the 1st of Januarv,
1838, two and a half million pages in the Armenian languages. In the following }'ears Mr. Goodell com- pleted the translation of the whole Old Testament into the Armeno-Turkish language, and W. Adger issued an improved translation of the New Testament into modern Armenian. The missionaries early found devoted co-laborers among the Armenians ; among whom Sahakyan, who was converted when a student, in 1833, and a pious priest, Der Kevork, were promi- nent. Though not interrupted, they encountered a strong opposition, which was generally headed by the patriarchs and the chief Armenian bankers in Con- stantinople, and sometimes manifested itself as open and cruel persecution. That was especially the case when, in 1844, Matteos, formerly bishop of Brousa, was made patriarch of Constantinople. For two years he used all means within his reach against the favorers of the Protestant missions, and it required the inter- ference of the Christian ambassadors to obtain an or- der from the sultan, which put an end to further per- secutions (March, 184G). Up to that time the con- verts had not formally separated from the church; but when they were now formally excommunicated by the patriarch Matteos, and thus also cut off from the civil rights of the Armenian community [see Tur- key], they organized independent evangelical Arme- nian churches. The first churches thus organized were those of Constantinople, Nicomedia, Adabazan, and Trebizond. Their number has since steadily increased. In 1850 the Protestants were placed on an equality with the other Christian denominations, and, in 1853, even on an equality with the Mussulmans before the law. The report made by the American Board on the Armenian missions in 1859 shows them to be in a verjr prosperous condition. They are now divided into two separate missions, the Northern Armenian and the Southern Armenian. The Northern Arme- nian contained, in 1858, 13 stations, occupied by mis- sionaries ; 31 out-stations, occupied by native teachers or helpers ; 33 missionaries, of whom one is a physi- cian; 1 mission treasurer; 34 female assistant mis- sionaries ; 4 native pastors ; 21 native preachers ; 48 other native helpers (not including 38 teachers). The number of churches was 28, with G02 members ; the number of free-schools 44, with 928 pupils. There were also three male high-schools (Bebek, Erzrum, and Tocat), with 52 pupils, and one female boarding- school at Hass-Keuy, with 22 pupils. Nearly nine- teen millions of pages were issued during the year 1858. The Southern Armenian Mission presented the following statistics : 5 stations ; 14 out-stations ; 9 missionaries — one a physician ; 9 female assistant missionaries ; 1 native pastor ; 2 other ordained native preachers ; 1 licentiate ; 37 other helpers ; churches, 10; communicants, 489 ; average congregations on the Sabbath, 1851 ; theological students (at Aintab, Ma- rash, and Antioch), 2G ; common schools, 18, with 746 scholars. In 1859 the Turkish government appointed an Armenian Protestant censer, in order to relieve the Protestants from the annoyances which they had suffered from the (Gregorian) Armenian censor. The civil community of the Protestant Armenians is at present (1S60) greatly suffering from pecuniar}' em- barrassment, as the Protestants, on account of their poverty, find it difficult to pay the tax levied on them for supporting their civil organization. Until 1859 the American missionaries had mostly confined them- selves to the Armenians of Turkej', but in that year one of the missionaries visited several Armenian vil- lages of Persia for the purpose of establishing a Prot- estant mission.
V. Literature. — For the Armenian Church, see Ne- ander, Ch. Hist, ii, 113, 553; Ricaut, Greek and Arme- nian Churches (London, 1G79) ; St.-Martin, Mum ins historiques et geoffraphiquea sur VArmenie (Paris, 1819, vol. ii); Histoire, Dogmes, Tradition?, etc., de VEglise A rmemenne (Paris, 1855, 8vo) ; Ubicini, Letters on Tur-
ARMENIAN LANGUAGE
411
ARMENIAN VERSION
key, translated by Lady Easthope (Lond. 185G) ; Nealc, History of the Eastern Church, vol. i (Lond. 1850, 2 vols. 8vo); and especially the History of Armenia by the Mechitarist Tehamtchenanz (3 vols. 4to, Venice, 1784- 1786). On the introduction of Christianity, see F. Bodenstcdt, Ueber die Einfuhrung des Christenthums in Armenien (Berlin, 1850). On the statistics, Marsden, Churches and Heels, vol. i ; Newcomb, Cyclopozdia of Missions; Smith and Dwight, Missionary Researches in Armenia; Coleman, Ancient Christianity, ch. xxvii; Christian Remembrancer, xxiii, 349 ; Church of England Quarterly, July, 1854 ; Dwight, Christianity Revived in the East; Reports ofA.B. C. F. M. ; Schem, Am. Ec- clesiasi. Year-Book for 1859, p. 18, 33. See Asia.