“Eastern” Vardapets: Guardians of Armenian Identity in the High Middle Ages

The issue of unifying the Armenian Apostolic Church with the Byzantine Catholic Church was particularly acute in the region of Cilician Armenia. Nerses Shnorhali sent a letter to the Vardapets located in the territory of Armenia itself, because their opinion should be taken into account in making a decision. Nerses Shnorhali was in favor of dialogue between the two churches, but he was never in favor of the unification of the churches. Later, the Catholicos and the kings of Cilicia deliberately sent such letters to the Vardapets in order to show their justifications in the West as a reason for rejecting the unification of the churches.