Abstract

The article, written based on Armenian and foreign-language medieval sources, examines the Byzantine policy of the conquest of Armenia in the first third of the tenth century. Leader of the imperialized church Nicholas Mystikos sends letters to Armenian spiritual and political leaders. The purpose of his messages was to create an anti-Arab alliance of Caucasian peoples and support the empire’s conquests in the East. To get rid of the oppression of the Arab emirates, Armenians preferred to accept the patronage of Christian Byzantium. In the formation of the pan-Caucasian anti-Arab front, the Greek spiritual leader assigned the role of coordinator to the Armenian Catholicos, whom he considered the leader of the united flock of Armenians, Iberians, and Albanians. The Patriarch Nicholas promoted the idea of eliminating the religious differences between the Armenian and Greek churches, which would allow Byzantium to dominate Armenia easily. Armenian Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakertc’i and Vaspurakan King Gagik Artsruni, in their reply letters, stressing the idea of Christian solidarity, express readiness to accept the patronage of Byzantium and sign a political alliance. They even made suggestions regarding the rapprochement of the Armenian and Greek churches․ Thus, Armenian spiritual and secular figures tried to protect Armenia from Arab invasions and avoid the annexation of Byzantium.