Armenian Orthodox Church in the United States

United States   United States Church Records   Armenian Orthodox Church Records

History in the United States
The pioneers of Armenian immigration to the United States were young high school graduates who, beginning in 1834, arrived in small numbers in search of higher education at American universities.

Larger groups began arriving in the 1880s and 1890s to escape Ottoman Turkish oppression, especially the massacres of 1895-96. The influx of Armenian immigrants to the New World reached its peak in the aftermath of the 1915 Armenian Genocide when large numbers of Armenians living in Turkey were systematically persecuted, deported, and exterminated by the Ottoman regime.

Beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the 1980s, another wave of Armenian immigrants—originating from such countries as Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq—came to America, a result of the rising political unrest in the Middle East. Immigration from Armenia itself was rare during that country’s period under Soviet domination, but this trend reversed in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of a free and independent Republic of Armenia.

The first Armenian Church was built in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1891. The first Armenian clergyman had arrived earlier, in response to a petition by 300 Armenian residents of the city. By 1897, as the number of Armenian immigrants grew, there were six clergymen serving the Armenian Church in America. With the exception of Worcester, services were held in non-Armenian sanctuaries, notably Episcopalian churches. The Armenian Church of America was established officially by Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian in 1898.

There are about one million Armenians in the United States and Canada today. The Church has two dioceses in the U.S: the Eastern Diocese—known officially as the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)—has jurisdiction over all of the United States except California, Washington, Nevada, and Arizona. The Western Diocese, consisting of the above western states, was constituted in 1928. There are 63 organized and mission parishes in the Eastern Diocese.

Writing for Records

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 * Armenian Church Eastern Diocese of America Directory