The Armenian Church today is dispersed throughout every continent of the world. Scattered about from centuries of attempting to escape persecution and most recently the Genocide of 1915 - 1923, Armenians have established communities and built churches wherever their fate delivered them. As the balance of the Armenian population has shifted throughout time, the Church has strived to meet the needs of her people. She has a distinct hierarchy, which maintains a balance within the Church herself. The center of this balance has always been the Catholicosate of All Armenians, and the heart of the Church, where she receives her lifeblood, is the global headquarters of the Armenian Church, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The Armenian Church has changed and developed to meet the needs of the faithful over her 1700 year history. Administratively, great care has been taken to be inclusive of a wide cross-section of the faithful. Both clergy and lay are involved in today’s administrative structure of the Church. Regionally, each area of the world where the Armenian Church and faithful are located has Dioceses, which are led by a Primate from the Diocesan Headquarters. Each Diocese is made up of Parishes and communities.
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