ASOF · Pontifical Gregorian University · Pontifical Oriental Institute

Armenian Christianity

Space, Memory, & Faith

An international conference on the Armenian Christian tradition, from Late Antiquity to the modern era, convened in Rome on 24–25 May 2027.

24 – 25 May 2027Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
When
24 – 25 May 2027
Two days · Rome local time (CEST)
Where
Pontifical Gregorian University
Piazza della Pilotta 4, Rome
Program
15 lectures · 14 moderated discussions
Two summary sessions close each day
Convened by
ASOF · P.U.G.
Armenian Society of Fellows with the Gregorian and the Oriental Institute
About the conference

Seventeen centuries of Armenian Christian thought

Armenian Christianity: Space, Memory, & Faith brings together historians, theologians, philologists, art historians and jurists to trace the Armenian Christian tradition across its full arc, from the earliest witnesses in late antique Roman Armenia to the Cilician kingdom, the Mekhitarist encounter with European humanism, and the legal and ecclesiastical institutions that carried the tradition into the modern era.

Themes
  • Christianity before and after the Illuminator
  • The Armenian Church, Byzantium and Chalcedon
  • Relations with the Churches of the Caucasus
  • Ethics, statehood and the Cilician world
  • Armenian Christian identity in the Islamic Near East
  • Mekhitarists and European humanism
  • Architecture, memory and the city of Ani
  • Ecclesiastical and civil legal traditions
Program

Two days in Rome

All times are Rome local time (CEST). Click a session for its abstract, and add any session or the full program to your calendar.

9:00
9:30
Organizational
1
May 24
2027

Opening Remarks

Speaker
The Rector of the P.U.G., the President of P.I.O., and Mary Papazian (ASOF Chair)
Moderator
9:30
10:00
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Armenian Christianity in late Antique Roman Armenia: Revisiting the Vg recension of Agathangelos

Speaker
Timothy Greenwood — Bishop Wardlaw Professor of History, University of St Andrews
Moderator
10:00
10:15
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Nazénie Garibian — Head of the Medieval Art Studies Department at the Matenadaran, Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) and at the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia
10:15
10:45
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Armenian Christianity before the Illuminator

Speaker
Abraham Terian — Professor Emeritus of Armenian Theology and Patristics, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary
Moderator
10:45
11:00
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Zakaria Baghumian — Director of the Preaching Center, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (Very Rev. Proto-Archimandrite)
11:00
11:30
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Ethics, Politics and Statehood in the Armenian Middle Ages: From David the Invincible to the Hethumid Court

Speaker
Benedetta Contin — Co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of Caucasia: Journal of Premodern History of the Caucasus; Institute for Medieval Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Moderator
11:30
11:45
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Armine Melkonyan — Senior Researcher, Matenadaran (Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts), Yerevan
11:45
13:00
Break
1
May 24
2027

Lunch break (on site, provided)

Speaker
Moderator
13:00
13:30
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

The Integration of Spirituality and Theology in the Armenian Tradition: The Core Paradigms

Speaker
Peter Cowe — Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Director of the Cener for World Languages, UCLA
Moderator
13:30
13:45
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Ruth Gornandt — Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford (formerly Marie Curie Fellow, Faculty of Theology and Religion)
13:45
14:15
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

The Armenian Church, Byzantium, and Chalcedon: Key Figures and Debates (6th–11th Centuries)

Speaker
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev — Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski; Research Associate, SOAS
Moderator
14:15
14:30
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Zohrab Gevorgyan — Institute of History of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia; American University of Armenia
14:30
15:00
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

The Armenian Church and the Other Churches of the Caucasus: Ecclesiastical Relations

Speaker
Marco Bais — Professor of Armenian Church History & Theology at Sapienza University of Rome and Pontifical Gregorian University
Moderator
15:00
15:15
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Federico Alpi — University of Florence; Institute for Byzantine Studies, LMU Munich (ERC NOMOS); formerly FSCIRE, Bologna
15:15
15:45
Break
1
May 24
2027

Afternoon break

Speaker
Moderator
15:45
16:15
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Seeding the Work before Us: The Ecumenical Vision of Nersēs Shnorhali and Nersēs Lambronatsi

Speaker
Roberta Ervine — Professor of Armenian Christian Studies, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary
Moderator
16:15
16:30
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Hyacinthe Destivelle — Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum
16:30
17:00
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Armenian Christian Identity and the Challenges of Political and Cultural Islam: Paradigms, Patterns and Problematics of Interaction as Themes for a Critical History of the Armenians in the Islamic Near East

Speaker
Seta Dadoyan — Professor of Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Art, American University of Beirut (1986–2005); independent scholar
Moderator
17:00
17:15
Q&A Break
1
May 24
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Barbara Roggema — Professoressa Associata, Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence), Lingue e civiltà dell'Asia e dell'Africa
17:15
17:45
Humanities
1
May 24
2027

Summary moderated session for day 1

Speaker
Moderator
Valentina Calzolari Bouvier — Chair of Armenian Studies, University of Geneva
9:30
10:00
Humanities
2
May 25
2027

Political Challenges and Connectivities of the Armenians between Europe and the Islamicate World during the Cilician Period

Speaker
Zaroui Pogossian — Associate Professor of Byzantine Civilization at the University of Florence
Moderator
10:00
10:15
Q&A Break
2
May 25
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Anna Sirinian — Associate Professor, Department of History and Cultures, Università di Bologna
10:15
10:45
Humanities
2
May 25
2027

Mkhitar of Sebaste vis-à-vis of Western Humanism and European Christianity

Speaker
Alberto Peratoner — Professor of Metaphysics and Philosophical Anthropology, Facoltà Teologica del Triveneto (Padua); Mekhitarist Congregation of Venice
Moderator
10:45
11:00
Q&A Break
2
May 25
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Vahan Ohanian — Director of the Archive and Library, Mekhitarist Congregation of San Lazzaro, Venice
11:00
11:30
Humanities
2
May 25
2027

Architecture and Intellectual Culture in Bagratid Ani

Speaker
Christina Maranci — Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Moderator
11:30
11:45
Q&A Break
2
May 25
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Patrick Donabedian — Researcher Emeritus in Art History and Armenian Studies, LA3M Medieval Archaeology Laboratory, Aix-Marseille University / CNRS, France
11:45
13:30
Break
2
May 25
2027

Lunch break (off site)

Speaker
Moderator
13:30
14:00
Humanities
2
May 25
2027

Armenians and Law: Ecclesiastical and Civil Legal Traditions in the Decisions of the Armenian National-Church Councils and in Medieval Armenian Legal Monuments

Speaker
Gagik Harutyunyan — Jurist; President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia (1996–2018)
Moderator
14:00
14:15
Q&A Break
2
May 25
2027

Discussion

Speaker
Moderator
Hayk Hovhannisyan — Managing Partner, Hovhannisyan & Partners (HAP LLC), Yerevan
14:15
14:45
Humanities
2
May 25
2027

Summary moderated session for day 2

Speaker
Moderator
Paul Boghossian — Julius Silver Professor of Philosophy, New York University, Dir. of the Inst. of Philosophy and GIAS
LectureModerated discussionOpening & summaryBreak
Presenters

Speakers and moderators

The scholars, clergy and jurists taking part in the conference, listed alphabetically. Select a name to open their profile.

Venue

Pontifical Gregorian University

Piazza della Pilotta 4, 00187 Rome, Italy

The Gregorian stands in the heart of Rome’s historic centre, a few minutes on foot from the Trevi Fountain and the Quirinal Hill. Sessions take place on site over both days; the lunch break on 25 May is off site.

Media

Photographs and recordings

Images added to the conference record appear below, and session recordings appear beside each session in the program as they are published.

Conference cover image
Photo album

Photographs from the conference will be collected here.

Open the photo album
Sponsors

The conference is made possible by the generous donations of the following individuals and foundations.

AREAL National Development Fund
Ara Nazarian