The Byzantine Roots of the Armenian Coronation Rite

The Armenian Church’s ritual book known as the Mashtots—compiled by Catholicos Mashtots Yeghivardetsi (897–898)—preserves two distinct rites of royal anointing and coronation. These are transmitted in different versions and reflect the complex interplay between Armenian, Byzantine, and Western liturgical traditions. The first rite, used for the coronation of the kings of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, is titled The Order of the Blessing of the King According to the Great Church of Rome. This text is based on the coronation ritual of the Holy Roman Emperor (Mainzer Krönungsordo of the Ottonian period) and was translated from Latin into Armenian in 1190 by Nerses Lambronatsi, the distinguished Archbishop of Tarsus. The title itself acknowledges its Roman Catholic origin. The earliest known copy of this rite, dating from the early fourteenth century, was written in Sis, the capital of Cilician Armenia, and is now preserved in the manuscript collection of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia (Ms. 9). The second rite, examined in the present study, is titled The Order of the Ordination of the King. The earliest extant copy, dated 1294, is preserved in a Mashtots (Ms. 2673) held at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. This manuscript, written in the Monastery of Mlitch in the Diocese of Tarsus, also belongs to the Cilician context. Comparative analysis reveals that The Order of the Ordination of the King is modeled on the Byzantine imperial coronation rite preserved in the Euchologion (Oratio in imperatoris inauguration). The paper explores the origin of this Armenian adaptation, its relationship to the Byzantine ceremony, and the circumstances surrounding its translation and composition—demonstrating how the Armenian liturgical tradition synthesized elements of both Eastern and Western Christian imperial ideology.