Sign-In
Cart
Catholicos and Commissar: The Armenian Church Under the Soviet Regime (Volume 1)
Paperback
General Political ScienceGeneral SociologyGeneral World History
ISBN13: 9781909382848
Publisher: Gomidas Institute Books
Published: Aug 4 2025
Pages: 742
Weight: 3.76
Height: 2.02 Width: 7.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
Part of a two-volume set, this volume explores the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church under Soviet rule. Initially flourishing across the Russian Empire, the Church briefly enjoyed greater religious freedom after the February 1917 revolution. However, the Bolshevik regime imposed severe restrictions after October 1917: churches were seized, clergy were taxed and jailed, religious education was banned, and international ties were severed. By 1938, Stalin's purges had devastated the Church, culminating in the murder of Catholicos Khoren and the closure of almost all churches.
Despite this, a partial revival occurred after World War II. In 1945, Stalin permitted the election of a new Church leader, Catholicos Gevorg, who supported Soviet territorial claims and repatriation efforts. Although minimal, the Church's presence in the South Caucasus and southern Russia was gradually restored.
The book is based on extensive archival research, memoirs, and interviews, offering a vivid account of how the Church and its followers struggled to maintain faith under an oppressive regime.
Volume 2 continues the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Soviet Union, focusing on the leadership of Catholicos Vazgen I, who served from 1955 until 1994-the longest tenure of any religious leader in the USSR. Chosen by the KGB after a lack of suitable Soviet-based candidates, Vazgen publicly supported the Soviet regime but worked quietly to strengthen the Church's presence at home and abroad. The Church's seminary at Echmiadzin grew, and diaspora ties were cautiously encouraged, though most parishes remained isolated.
Despite the appearance of normalcy, the Church operated under heavy restrictions. Major decisions were often made by the state, and KGB agents were placed among the clergy. The harsh anti-religious campaigns of the Khrushchev era forced the closure of many churches. After Khrushchev's fall, restrictions eased somewhat, but the Church remained passive, neither resisting nor expanding.
Major change came under Gorbachev's reforms in the late 1980s. Long-suppressed Armenian national aspirations, especially around Nagorno-Karabakh, erupted, followed by the 1988 earthquake. The Church responded with new community efforts. Though initially cautious about independence, Catholicos Vazgen eventually played a key role in legitimising the new Armenian state and reaffirming the Church's place as its official religion.
Like Volume One, this book draws from extensive archival research, memoirs, and interviews to tell the story of how the Armenian Church and its followers navigated Soviet repression and shifting political landscapes.
Also from
Corley, Felix
Catholicos and Commissar: The Armenian Church Under the Soviet Regime (Volume 2)
Corley, Felix
Paperback
'London's Disgraceful Vardapet': Armenian Priest, Adulterer, Soviet Agent
Corley, Felix
Sukiasyan, Philippe
Paperback
Also in
General World History
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paperback
Titanic: The Ship Magnificent - Volume One: Design and Construction
Klistorner, Daniel
Beveridge, Bruce
Braunschweiger, Art
Hardcover
Titanic: The Ship Magnificent - Volume Two: Interior Design and Fitting Out
Hall, Steve
Beveridge, Bruce
Braunschweiger, Art
Hardcover
Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902 1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna
Hacohen, Malachi Haim
Hardcover
Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s
Howe, Sean
Hardcover
A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960
Van Slyck, Abigail A.
Hardcover
Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal: A Food Science Nutrition History Book
Bittman, Mark
Hardcover
The Rise of Thomas Cromwell: Power and Politics in the Reign of Henry VIII, 1485-1534
Everett, Michael
Paperback
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
Loewen, James W.
Paperback
The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II
Groom, Winston
Paperback
Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
McNeill, J. R.
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
Dangerous Games: Faces, Incidents, and Casualties of the Cold War
Baron, Scott
Wise, James E.
Hardcover
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
Green, John
Hardcover
The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Hardcover
1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World
Ahamed, Liaquat
Hardcover
The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy
Ross, Steven J.
Hardcover
Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution
Kiernan, Denise
Hardcover
100 Bible Verses That Made America: Defining Moments That Shaped Our Enduring Foundation of Faith
Morgan, Robert J.
Paperback
The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Hardcover
True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color--From Azure to Zinc Pink
Stamper, Kory
Hardcover
The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery
Tiffany, Kaitlyn
Hardcover
1,000 Days in America: An Illustrated History of the Moments That Defined a Nation
National Geographic
Hardcover
Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America
Reynolds, David S.
Hardcover
How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words
Galer, Sophia Smith
Hardcover
The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery
Kara, Siddharth
Hardcover
Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age
Tabor, James M.
Hardcover
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
Sides, Hampton
Paperback
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Hardcover
A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps
Elledge, Jonn
Paperback
Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics
McElya, Micki
Hardcover
No One's Coming: The Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns to When There's Nowhere Else to Turn
Hazzard, Kevin
Hardcover
Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, an Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History
Cohen, Adam
Hardcover
The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World
Pancevski, Bojan
Hardcover
Socialism: The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control [With Paperback Book]
Federer, William J.
Paperback
Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City
Brown, Kate
Hardcover
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Women's History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years
Miles, Rosalind
Paperback
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Anderson, Scott
Hardcover
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America
Williams, Geoff
Hardcover
American Pope: Leo XIV's Road from the South Side of Chicago to Vatican City
Burke, Daniel
Detrow, Scott
Hardcover
The Long Run: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and the Decade That Made the Marathon Cool
Dugard, Martin
Hardcover
The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising
Hyman, Elizabeth R.
Paperback
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
Gilliland, Haley Cohen
Hardcover
The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within Us Slave Culture
Woodard, Vincent
Paperback
Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America
Loeffler, James
Hardcover
The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
McGilchrist, Iain
Paperback
How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession
Blackwell Baines, Caitlin
Hardcover
Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat-And the American Revolution-Transformed Britain
Allen, Danielle
Hardcover