The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

A third source of conflict came from the very
existence of the kat 'olikoeate (or anti-kat Vllkosate)
of Ait'amar. The fcat'ollkoaate and its jurisdiction
were denounced and "nullified" by the kat 'olikosate
of Sis in the early 12th century, but this did not put
an end to Ait'amar18 independent development . Kat'olikos
Grigor Anawarzec'i (1293-1307) attempted, unsuccessfully,
to bring Ait'amar into allegiance with Sis and 2]Jmiacin.
In 1408/9 the noted cleric and scholar Grigor Tat'ewae'i
removed his diocese of K'ajberunik* from communion with
Ait'amar, but the general anathema imposed on the kat'olikoi
of Ait'amar remained in effect until 14413. The kat'olikoe-
ate of Ait'amar continued its existence until 1895 .
1 Akinean, "Ait'amar" , HA (1916) pp. 141-42, (1917/18) p. 34.
2 ibid. (1916) p. 142.
3 ibid, pp. 144-45,
4 ibid, p. 148. Yet another special "center" of the Church
was the district of Siwnik' in eastern Armenia, an area
traditionally known for its separatist tendencies. The
political independence of Siwnik' in this period was paralled
by jurisdictional independence in religious matters. Thus
the historian Step'annos Orbelean was ordained in Cilicia
in 1287/88, "metropolitan of the great see of Siwnik',
above all the other bishops here and there, some in Tayoc'
Jor and some in Tat'ew" (SO p. 174). To my knowledge,
Step'annos was the first cleric in Armenia to be styled
metropolitan, a new term perhaps to match Siwnik''s unique
positon (VT p. 137, also CIA v. II p. 78). In any case
the erudite Step'annos appears to have maintained good
relations with Sis and with the clerical nobility of Greater
Armenia. It is known, for example, that Step'annos was
a close friend of kat olikos Zak'aria I of Ait'amar (1296—
1336) and requested from him a copy of T'ovma Arcruni's
History of the Arorunid House (10th cent.)[TA p. 319]. For
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