aints Thaddeus and Bartholomew were among the 12 tireless apostles of Christ who, having come to Armenia, preached Christianity to the Armenian people, earning the title of “first enlighteners.” They were martyred in Armenia at the dawn of Christianity.
Thanks to the work of the apostles, in 301, the Armenian people became the first in the world to proclaim Christianity as the state religion. The role of these holy apostles is truly great in the life of the two-thousand-year-old Armenian Christian nation. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the feast of the holy apostles and our first enlighteners, Thaddeus and Bartholomew, on the Saturday preceding the second Sunday of Lent.