Christianization Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Albania === {{Main|Church of Caucasian Albania}} [[File:Caucasian Albania in 5th and 6th centurires.svg|thumb|left|Caucasian Albania in 5th and 6th centurires|alt=map of Caucasian Albania in the fifth and sixth centuries]] Most scholars agree that Christianity was officially adopted in [[Caucasian Albania]] in AD 313 or AD 315 when [[Gregory the Illuminator]] baptized the Albanian king and ordained the first bishop Tovmas, the founder of the Albanian church. It is highly probable that Christianity covered the whole of antique Caucasian Albania by the late fourth century.{{sfn|Hakobyan|2021|pp=71-81}}{{sfn|Seibt|2002|p=abstract}} In his article ''"About the Dating of the Christianization of Caucasian Albania"'' historian of the Christian East, Aleksan H. Hakobyan, has written: <blockquote>The king of the country then was the founder of the [[Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania|Arsacid dynasty]] of Albania [[Vachagan I|Vachagan I the Brave]] (but not his grandson [[Urnayr]]), and the king of Armenia was [[Tiridates III of Armenia|Tiridat III the Great]], also Arsacid. As M. L. Chaumont established in 1969, the latter, with the help of Gregory the Illuminator, adopted the Christian faith at the state level in June 311, two months after the publication of the [[Edict of Serdica|Edict of Sardica]] "On Tolerance" by [[Galerius|Emperor Galerius]] (293β311). In 313, after the appearance of the [[Edict of Milan]], Tiridat attracted the younger allies of Armenia Iberia-Kartli, Albania-Aluank' and Lazika-Egerk' (Colchis) to the process of Christianization. In the first half of 315, Gregory the Illuminator baptized the Albanian king (who had arrived in Armenia) and ordained the first bishop Tovmas (the founder of the Albanian church, with the center in the capital Kapalak) for his country: he was from the city of [[Satala]] in Lesser Armenia. Probably, at the same stage, Christianization covered the whole of antique Albania, i.e. territory north of the [[Kura (river)|Kura River]], to the [[Caspian Sea]] and the [[Derbent|Derbend Pass]].{{sfn|Hakobyan|2021|p=71}}</blockquote> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page