The Armenians in the Era of the Crusades, 1050-1350
Argues that the defining issue for Christendom in this period was ecclesiology, and that for the Armenians it took the form of renewed debate with the other Christian traditions of Byzantium, western Europe and the Near East. Cowe traces the consolidation of the Armenian Church from the catholicate of Yovhan Odznetsi, whose synods reaffirmed one-nature Christology and linked it to the joint celebration of Nativity and Baptism on 6 January and the use of unleavened bread and unmixed wine. He describes the defence of church structures, sacraments and religious art against the Paulicians, the compilation of doctrine and canon law, and an expanded sanctorale centred on St Gregory the Illuminator, all set against the great population movements of the era.