Vardapet

File:Crozier armenia.jpg

A vardapet's crozier with a double-headed serpent, first quarter of the 19th century

File:Կոմիտաս (Սողոմոն Գևորգի Սողոմոնյան) - Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonyan), 1909 (cropped).jpg

The composer Komitas, one of the most famous vardapets, in a (Armenian priest's cowl)

A vardapet (Template:Langx, Eastern Armenian: ; Western Armenian: vartabed, ) is a title given to highly educated hieromonks in the Armenian Apostolic Church.Template:Sfn It has been variously translated as 'doctor', 'doctor-monk', 'archimandrite', or 'doctor of theology'.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The term originated from vardbad, a Middle Persian term, while the Parthian variant, varžapet, is retained in Armenian for "teacher". James R. Russell said that the Middle Persian form indicates that the Christian Armenian title was adopted on the model of a Sasanian Zoroastrian office. The term vardapet, which in Classical Armenian had the primary meaning of 'teacher' or 'head teacher',Template:Sfn has been used in the Armenian Church from its earliest days.Template:Sfn Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet, is regarded as the first great vardapet.Template:Sfn A vardapet has the right to interpret scripture, preach and, especially, to teach.Template:Sfn A vardapet's staff () is a symbol of his office.Template:Sfn The title of vardapet requires special ordination and is not held by all high-ranking Armenian clergyman; there have been Armenian bishops and patriarchs who did not achieve the rank of vardapet.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Armenian Church has fourteen ranks of vardapet, which are granted to celibate priests who have completed special education and presented a thesis.Template:Sfn The first four ranks of vardapet are called or 'partial/minor vardapet-hood', while the remaining ten are called or 'supreme vardapet-hood'.Template:Sfn The ordination of new vardapets was formerly conducted by s, but it is now done solely by bishops.Template:Sfn The lower ranks of vardapet are equivalent to the degree of Master of Divinity, while the rank of is equivalent to the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The canons of the vardapet-hood were recorded by the medieval jurist and theologian Mkhitar Gosh, while Gregory of Tatev laid out the fourteen ranks of vardapet and the rules for their granting, which are used today by the Armenian Church.Template:Sfn Mkhitar Gosh writes that a cleric could only receive the title of vardapet after examination by a panel of two or three vardapets.Template:Sfn The orations presented by aspiring vardapets at the medieval University of Gladzor have been preserved in some Armenian manuscripts, which show that these orations dealt with particular philosophical and theological themes.Template:Sfn

The term 'twelve vardapets' refers to the twelve great early Christian church leaders venerated in the Armenian Church: Hierotheos the Thesmothete, Dionysius the Areopagite, Sylvester I, Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ephrem the Syrian, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, Epiphanius of Salamis, John Chrysostom, and Cyril of Alexandria.Template:Sfn A number of prominent Armenian Christian authors are grouped together under the name 'translator vardapets': Mesrop Mashtots, Elishe, Movses Khorenatsi, David the Invincible, Gregory of Narek, Nerses the Gracious, John of Odzun, John of Orotan, and Gregory of Tatev.Template:Sfn

See also

• Christian monasticism
• Gregory the Illuminator, Apostle of Armenia
• Komitas Vardapet
• Mesrop Mashtots
• Oriental Orthodoxy