Armenians, in their country, have a number of historical traditions relating to the rise of Christianity.
Firstly, take for instance passage 12.20-23 from the gospel of John. According to Armenian tradition, these heathens, who, through apostle Phillip’s mediation, wanted to meet Jesus, were Armenians (or, at the very least, a part of them were).
The legend of King Abgar is also connected to these passages from the gospel of John. And because the Abgars, kings of Osroene, were also considered kings of southern Armenia, it is therefore entirely possible that Armenians had met with Jesus Christ quite early on, even before the apostles’ dissemination.
Secondly, according to Tertullian of the Latin church, in “The Acts of the Apostles”, passages 2.8-11, “inhabitants of Judea” should instead be “Armenians”. And this becomes even more likely when we realize that Armenia, like all countries of the Middle East, contained Jewish communities, that with time, were assimilated into that of the inhabitants.
Within Armenian history, and according to Moses of Khoren, the Bagradit House’s jewish origins were already quite notable (the Bagradits ruled over Armenia from the end of the 9th century to the mid 11th century).
If Jewish pilgrims from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia came to Jerusalem for Passover, would it not be logical to assume that Jews from Armenia, or even some inquisitive Armenians, would also go to Jerusalem?
Thirdly, the churches established by the apostolic preaching of Christianity during the first century, as per their tradition, consider a certain apostle, or even a few apostles to be their founder(s).
Armenians consider the founders of their church to be Thaddeus and Bartholomew of Christ’s apostles, along with two others.
Apostle Thaddeus has been equated to Addai, one of the important figures from the story of Abgar. However, the most recent and rigorous criticisms find the king’s story to be historically inaccurate. Of course, this criticism of the story is within its rights because it refutes not the tradition, but rather the historical value of the story. Heinrich Gelzer, referring to the story, says: “It is undoubtable that within the Armenians, the story of apostle Thaddeus is older than this written tradition (the story of king Abgar)”.
According to Pawstos Buzand, who has written his history book in the 4th century in Greek, the coming of the apostle Thaddeus to Armenia is indeed historical.
The preaching of the apostle Bartholomew within Armenia is just as ancient and popular as the historical tradition of the apostle Thaddeus. According to tradition, the Artaz monastery is built upon the grave of the apostle Thaddeus and it is called “The Seat of Thaddeus”. In addition, the establishment of the Monastery of the Souls within the province of Andzev is connected to the tradition of the apostle Bartholomew.
We are refraining from speaking about further visitations of Armenia by other apostles. These visitations have been written about by Armenian authors during the Middle Ages.
The gospel of Christ has been preached within Armenia since the time of the apostles, when our Lord commanded: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” Matthew 28.19-20.