Armenia Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Armenia, go to the Religious Records page.

Background
Record type: Church records kept by parish priests of births/baptisms, marriages, and deaths/burials. The term is also used to refer to the records of denominations that had jurisdictions other than parishes.

General: Most Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church and small segments are Armenian Catholics, and Armenian Evangelicals though those congregations tend to exist mostly in the diaspora. Records for some congregations outside of Armenia are located in the Historical Archive. Registers were kept in Armenia only after the Russian annexation.

Time period: 1838-present.

Contents: Names of the person and other family members, residence, relationships, dates and place of birth and baptism, marriage, death and burial. Baptisms include names of godparents; marriages include the ages of the bride and groom; burials include the age of the deceased and cause of death.

Location: Historical Archive, Yerevan; Modern History Archive, Yerevan, and civil registrar offices.

Percentage in Family History Library: 95%.

Population coverage: 60% coverage for 19th century; 90% coverage for the 20th century through 1936.

Online Records
Primarily Armenian Apostolic Church records, but also includes some records for other religious denominations

1. Use the Locality List for Armenian Parish Registers, listed by historic name and former Russian Empire jurisdictions. Partially in Russian.

2. Use the fond, opis, and item number(s) (see the two far-right columns from the link above) to locate the records in the Family History Library catalog: The red link in the FHL catalog to the digital records is incomplete. Scroll to the list of microfilms to view the digital images.
 * State Historical Archive of Armenia: Fond 47 or Fond 62
 * State Historical Archive of Armenia: Fond 53 or Fond 357. (Example: fond 53, opis 2, file 109 = Ֆ: 53՝ ց: 2՝ մ: 109)

Armenian Apostolic Church
The forms below reflect a typical church record form for the Armenian Apostolic Church, but there will be some variation in column headers over time.

Baptism Record Form
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMD-N6T6?i=101&cat=2526331

Marriage Record form
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMV-N729-Y?i=23&cat=2526331

Burial Record Form
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMD-NXKQ?i=227&cat=2526331

Armenian Catholic Church
The Armenian Catholic church in the Transcaucasian region had four deaneries, (Akhaltsykh-Atskhur [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now in Georgia], Akhalhalak [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now in Georgia], Lori [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now split between Georgia and Armenia], and Alexandrapol [previously part of the Erivan province of Russia, now in Armenia) within the the Diocese of Tiraspol. This diocese was originally created on 3 July 1848 and was called the Diocese of Kherson until 1852. Prior to 1848 the area belonged to the Archdiocese of Mohilev.

Armenian Catholics in the Ėrivan province of the Russian Empire primarily lived in the Aleksandrapolʹ district (uyezd).

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholics in Armenia belonged to the Tiflis deanery which was also in the Diocese of Tiraspol.

Roman Catholics lived primarily in the Sharur-Daralagyoz district (uyezd) of the Ėrivan province of the Russian Empire.