Armenian Church in Soviet Armenia

This book presents the results of comprehensive study on the history of Soviet Armenia and the Armenian Church in the years 1920-32. Through documents uncovered in the Communist Party Archive in Yerevan and the Georgian Historical Archive, press antireligious propaganda, oral testimonies, and biographical interviews conducted by the author, The Armenian Church in Soviet Armenia expands the discussion on the history of the Armenian Church in the 20th century, especially regarding the relations between the spiritual leaders of the Armenian Church and the Bolsheviks. In accordance with stipulations laid out by the Central Committee in consultation with the GPU, Khoren Muradbekian was elected as the Catholicos of All Armenians. His election was the principal reason behind the schism inside the Church– which, especially in the Armenian diaspora, divided not only clergy, but laymen themselves. These divisions, even after hundred years, are still vivid in Armenian society.

Jakub Osiecki works at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and is a member of the Association Internationale des Etudes Arméniennes (AIEA) and the Society for Armenian Studies. He received an M.A. in Russian studies from Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 2008, and in January 2014 was awarded a Ph.D. in history with the thesis "The Armenian Apostolic Church in Soviet Armenia 1920–1932" (published in Polish in 2017). He is also co-author of a publication on the Catholics of the Armenian rite in Armenia and Georgia.