Draft:Arewordik

Arewordik (Armenian: Արևորդիկ, meaning "Children of the Sun") is a mysterious Armenian religious sect that emerged in ArmeniaIt first appeared in the eleventh half-century. There is disagreement about the classification of the sect, and it continued to exist until the 20th century.

Opinions regarding the affiliation of the movement

Historian Mikael Chamchyan considers Arevordi to be pagans who lived during the time of Gregory the Illuminator in certain border villages of Armenia, where a mixed population — Armenians and other peoples lived. The heretics, who, according to Movses Khorenatsi, were persecuted by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century, Chamchyan mistakes for Arevordi and considers them not Armenians, but immigrants from other peoples, who were joined by some of the Armenians.

Another historian B. Sargsyan believes that Arevordi are related by origin to the Manichaeans and were found in Armenia much earlier than the authors of the 11th and subsequent centuries mention them. The English Armenologist F. Conybeare shares the same opinionen).

Bishop Karapet Ter-Mkrtchyan writes that the Arevordi have nothing in common with the Paulicians and Tondrakites, but perhaps at times communicated with them and experienced their influence, but what exactly — is unknown. He considers Arevordi to be pagan Armenians who came under the influence of the Babylonian religion. Ter-Mkrtchyan approaches Thomas Metsopetsi’s message that Arevordi, after Tamerlane’s defeat by the machinations of Satan, multiplied again in Merdin and Amid, with doubt, suggesting that the named author under Arevordi could have meant not Arevordi Nerses the Blessed, but modern Yazidi Kurds.

Ghevond Alishan considers Arevordi to be sun worshipers of unknown origin who were influenced by Paulicians and Tondrakites and existed up to 19th century inclusive.

Finally, according to a major historian Magakia Ormanyan Arevordi, like the Tondrakites, are actually Armenian heretics, and worship to the sun, Satan and poplar brings them closer to modern Yazidi Kurds.

Study of movement

To this day, little data has survived about the Arevordi movement due to insufficient knowledge, as well as the fact that it did not take on the same scope and scale as, for example, the Paulician and Tondrakite movements, and did not result in an open class struggle against feudal exploiters.

In addition to individual mentions in textbooks and monographic studies on the history of the Armenian people, the Armenian church and Armenian religious movements, there is work Grigor Vantsyan, published in 1896. Most research regarding arevordi is initially biased^{[source 4594 days not specified]} due to the traditional sharply negative attitude Armenian Apostolic Church to any religious beliefs other than Armenian-Gregorianism that became widespread among Armenians.

History

Arevordi was first mentioned in the mid-11th century by the Armenian philosopher and military leader Gregory the Master. His extensive reply message to the Syriac Catholicos in the city of Amidu regarding the Paulicians and Tondrakites has the following entry:

Here are some other [heretics] infected by the magician Zradasht, [called] Persian magicians, and the current sun worshipers infected by them, who are called Arevordi. In that area there are many of them, and they openly call themselves Christians. But we know that you are knowledgeable about their lost and dissolute lifestyle.

Arevordi is subsequently mentioned by Catholicos of All Armenians Nerses Shnorali (1166—1173). The Armenian clergy and secular authorities of the city of Samosat sent a letter to the Catholicos, wanting to know the order by which they should accept heretics — «sons of the sun» into the fold of the church who want to renounce their heresy. In a response message the Catholicos gives them the necessary instructions and at the same time valuable information about the ideas and ideas «of the sons of the sun». From this message it is clear that the Arevordi movement was widespread except in the city area Amide, also in the city Samosata and some areas Grand Duchy of the Rubenids. Catholicos Nerses directly indicates that the Arevordi are of Armenian origin, which they revere sun«considering it »something else as well as poplar, considering that the tree of the cross of Christ is made of poplar.

In the message of Nerses the Blessed, it is important to indicate the depravity of the Armenian clergy, from whom the converts should not have taken an example. It is also important to mention the heavy burden «gifts» that believers had to bring to the church for performing the sacraments of baptism, confession, communion, burial, etc. Since these «gifts» could be an obstacle to the conversion of «the sons of the sun» to Christianity, Catholicos Nerses advises not to take them from converts forcibly, but to leave this issue to their discretion. This instruction indicates that the struggle against the celebration of church sacraments, witnessed in other religious movements of that time, in addition to ideological reasons, also had economic motives; it was associated with the desire of the masses to get rid of paying a certain duty

Arevordi are also mentioned by the 12th-century Armenian author, lawyer David Alavkavordi, who writes that «the Paulicians, or Messalians, —this is the Arevordi tribe», that is, by Arevordi means heretics.

Arevordi is also mentioned in the message to the Pope of the Armenian Catholicos Mkhitar I Grnertsi, who writes that then (that is, in the middle of the 14th century) c Manazkert arevordi were also.

Also in the 14th century, a number of information about Arevordi is reported by Mkhitar Aparantsi, who testifies:

There are also some Armenians who speak Armenian and worship the sun, and they are called Arevordi. They have neither writing nor writing, and fathers teach their children according to the traditions from which their ancestors learned from the magician Zradasht, the head of the temple. They worship the sun, turning their faces towards it, revere wood — poplar, and from flowers — lily, cotton and others, which are always facing the sun. They consider themselves similar to them [flowers] by faith and deeds sublime and fragrant, perform sacrifices [for the sake of saving the soul] of the dead and bring all [church] taxes to the Armenian priest. Their leader is called azarapet, and every year twice or more often everyone — men and women, sons and daughters — gather in a very dark place in one hidden place and expose themselves, and azarapet reads [the sermon] to them and rings

Arevordi are also mentioned in the fable of the prominent Armenian lawyer and writer Mkhitar Ghosh:

The reed flower and the like were accused of being sun worshipers.

And he, raising his hands to the sun, swore by the sun: «I am not a sun worshiper»

At the end of the 14th century, Armenian historian Thomas Metsopetsi, describing Tamerlane's 1395 invasion of Mesopotamia, also reports:

and he came to Merdin, destroyed the city... as well as four villages of idolaters Arevordi — Shol, Shymrakh, Safari and Marashi — to the ground. But then they multiplied again through the machinations of Satan in Merdin and Amid.

From the life of Putah of Amid, who was martyred in 1524, it becomes known that Putah himself was the son of a follower of the Arevordi movement, and his mother was from the city of Maraga. Putah's father and brother went to the church of the Jacobites, and Putah — to the church of the Armenians, although he did not know Armenian, but only Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

Based on this information, the following areas of spread of heresy «sons of the sun» can be determined: the cities of Manazkert, Amida and its region, Samosata, Merdin, and possibly Cilicia. Considering this area of movement, Bartikyan comes to the conclusion that it is possible

Based on evidence from written sources Rachya Bartikyan concludes that the Arevordi movement was widespread in the areas of the cities of Manazkert, Amid, Samosata, Merdin, as well as in Cilicia. Given this area of movement, Bartikyan comes to the conclusion that the spread of the Arevordi movement among Syrians cannot be ruled out.

In the book published in the second half of the 19th century «The Caucasus and the peoples inhabiting it», published as part of a multi-volume work «History of the war and Russian rule in the Caucasus», a Russian military historian Nikolay Dubrovin testifies that among many Armenians contemporary to him, «sun worship is still widespread, which in Armenian is expressed by the word arev. Be that as it may, there are still people who call themselves arevardi − sons of the sun. The dying person is always placed facing the east, and the same is done to the deceased when he is placed in the coffin. The burial itself is almost always performed before sunset».

See also

• List of Zoroastrianism sects

Category:Iranian religions Category:Zoroastrianism sects Category:Islam and religious syncretism