Archimandrite Theology

Master's programme

Entrance Exam Questionnaire

TOPIC 1. THEORY OF RELIGION

  1. “Theory and History of Religion,” its structure, principles, methods, and functions of studying religion
  2. Religion and faith, the structure and components of religion
  3. Social, epistemological, psychological prerequisites and essential characteristics of religion
  4. Definition of religion
  5. Social functions of religion

TOPIC 2. HISTORY OF RELIGIONS

  1. Historical forms of religion: early beliefs, national religions, world religions
  2. Mythology and religion
  3. Religion of ancient Mesopotamia (general characteristics)
  4. General characteristics of ancient Egyptian religion
  5. Successive layers of Greco-Roman mythology, qualitative indicators of transitions
  6. Armenian pagan religion
  7. National religions of India: Hinduism
  8. National religions of India: Jainism, Sikhism
  9. National religions of China: Confucianism
  10. National religions of China: Taoism
  11. Japanese national religion: Shinto
  12. The emergence and development of Buddhism
  13. The doctrine of Buddhism, main directions
  14. The origin and development of Islam, the life and activities of Muhammad
  15. Islamic theology and worship
  16. The main directions of Islam
  17. The emergence, development, doctrine, and festival system of Judaism
  18. The main directions of Judaism

TOPIC 3. THEOLOGY

  1. Theology: definition, development as a science, and subdivisions
  2. Exegesis: the Alexandrian and Antiochian exegetical schools
  3. The biblical canon: structure, canon, manuscripts, and translations
  4. The Armenian translation of the Bible, the Old and New Testament canons of the Armenian Church
  5. Armenian exegetical literature: Armenian Bible commentators
  6. The pre-Nicene Church; Apostolic Fathers
  7. Church apologetic and polemic literature
  8. The Cappadocian theological school and the doctrine of the Armenian Church
  9. Church liturgical books (Tshashots, Gandzanar, Zhamagir, Khorhrdatetr, Tonatsuyts, Sharaknots, Haysmavurq, Mashtots, etc.)
  10. Teachers and preachers of the Armenian Church
  11. Feasts of the Armenian Church
  12. Sacraments of the Armenian Church
  13. Holy Liturgy
  14. Armenian chronological systems: Great and Small Armenian Eras
  15. The new edition of the Armenian calendar: Hovhan Odznetsi
  16. Catholicos Sahak as the founder of Armenian Christian canon law: creation and editions of the "Book of Canon Law"
  17. Armenian canonical-legal monuments

TOPIC 4: HISTORY AND THEOLOGY OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH 

  1. The establishment of the first church community and the main trends of development: the 51st Apostolic meeting of Jerusalem

  2. Persecutions of Christianity in the 2nd–4th centuries: legal justifications and main stages. Persecutions in Hayq

  3. Christianity as a tolerated religion. The Edict of Milan

  4. The spread of Christianity in Armenia and the struggle of paganism against it

  5. Christianity becomes the state religion in Armenia. Organization of the Armenian Church as a unified structure. Gregory the Illuminator and King Trdat the Great

  6. Arius and Arianism. The anti-Arian struggle

  7. The First Ecumenical Council. The Creed, canonical decisions, and the Armenian Church’s attitude toward them

  8. The Second Ecumenical Council. The doctrine of the Trinity, the Creed, canonical decisions, and the doctrine of the "New Rome"

  9. Nationalization of the Armenian Church. Sahak Partev. Invention of the alphabet and the opening of national schools. Mesrop Mashtots and the Translation Movement

  10. The Third Ecumenical Council and its decisions. The conflict between Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius. The “Union” of Alexandria and Antioch (433 AD) and the Armenian Church

  11. Armenian Church in the second half of the 5th century. The Council of Shahapivan. Canonical decisions. Vardanants war, S. Vardananq and S. Ghevondyanq.

  12. The Fourth Council of Chalcedon and the new doctrinal formula. Canon 28 of Chalcedon

  13. The position of the Armenian Church regarding the Council of Chalcedon decisions. Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian churches. Julianist and Severan movements.

  14. The Armenian Church in the second half of the 5th century: Hovhan Mandakuni and Vahan Mamikonian

  15.  The Armenian Church in the 6th century: The First and Second Councils of Dvin. The anti-Nestorian movement

  16. Religious policy of Justinian the Great. The Edict "On the Three Points". The Council of Constantinople in 553

  17. The Armenian Church at the beginning of the 6th century: Armenian-Georgian ecclesiastical schism. Komitas Aghdtsetsi

  18.  New attempts at union between the Armenian and Byzantine churches. The Council of Karin in 632 and the doctrine of unity

  19. Armenian-Aghvank ecclesiastical relations. The Council of Partaw

  20. The Armenian Church’s anti-heretical struggle in the 5th-8th centuries

  21. The Armenian Church in the era of Hovhan Odznetsi

  22. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (a brief historical overview)

  23. The Armenian Church under Arab rule. Sahak G. Dzoraporetsi and Yeghia Artshishetsi

  24. Iconoclastic and iconophile movements of the 7th-8th centuries. The Council of Nicaea in 787 and the position of the Armenian Church

  25. The Armenian Church during the period of restoration of the Armenian independent statehood. Zakariah A. Dzaghetsi and Gevorg B. Garnetsi. Armenian-Byzantine ecclesiastical relations in the 9th-10th centuries. The Council of Shirakavan in 862

  26. The Armenian Church during the reign of the Bagratuni dynasty (9th-11th centuries)

  27. The status of the Papal Rome and the Patriarchate of Constantinople at the beginning of the 11th century. The Great Schism of 1054 and its canonical and doctrinal causes

  28. Canonical principles of the formation of the Orthodox churches. Independent (autocephalous) and autonomous Orthodox churches. Orthodox doctrine and worship

  29. The early period of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church: centralization and proclamation of independence of the Russian Orthodox Church

  30. The Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th-18th centuries; the Russian Orthodox Church in the 19th century

  31. Autocephalous Orthodox Churches: a brief overview (Cypriot Helladic, Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Polish, Czechoslovak, and American Orthodox Churches)

  32. The Catholic Church in the second half of the 11th century
    The Catholic Church and the Crusades
    The Catholic Church in the 12th century
  33. The internal life of Catholicism in the 13th-14th centuries
  34. The Great Schism of the Catholic Church: The Catholic Church and the Western Reformations of the 12th-15th centuries
  35. The Fourth Crusade and the creation of the Latin Empire and Patriarchate
    Unionist policy
  36. Unionist movements in Cilician Armenia: Nerses of Lambron

  37. The Armenian Church at the beginning of the 12th century and the anti-patriarchate movement of Aghtamar. The 1114 Council of the Red Monastery and the adoption of the new regulation for the election of the Catholicos.

  38. The Armenian Church and Monastic Institutions in the 10th–14th Centuries
  39. The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople (historical brief overview)
  40. The Decrees of the Council of Trent and the "Nicene Creed". Advocacy and polemical literature of the Armenian Church
  41. The Founding of the Mekhitarist Armenian Catholic Congregation and Its Scientific and Cultural Activities
  42. The Reformation Movement: Lutheran Reformation, Calvinist Reformation, and The Anglican Church

  43. Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation): The Catholic Church in the 18th century, The Catholic Church in the 19th century, The First Vatican Ecumenical Council

  44. The Armenian Church in the 1830s–1850s: Hovhannes Karbettsi, Polozhenie (1836), Nerses Ashtaraketsi
  45. Formation and activities of the Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical Churches
  46. Gevorg D. of Constantinople and the founding of the Gevorgyan Theological Seminary
  47. The national preservation activity of the Armenian Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Khrimian Hayrik
  48. Reformist initiatives in the Armenian Church in the late 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century: Maghakia Archbishop Ormanian
  49. The Armenian Church during the years of the Great Genocide
  50. The Armenian Church during the First Republic period: George E. Surenyants
  51. The Armenian Church in the first decades of Soviet rule: Khoren A. Muradbekyan
  52. The Armenian Church in the 1940s–1950s: The Great Repatriate: Gevorg Z. Chorekchyan and Garegin A. Hovsepyan
  53. The Armenian Church and the Armenian Diaspora: Vazgen A. Paljian
  54. The Armenian Church and Catholicos Garegin I: Relations of the Catholicos of All Armenians with the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia
  55. The historical fate of the Catholicosates of Aghtamar, Sis, and Gandzasar
  56. The contemporary Christian world and the ecumenical movement
  57. The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the Law of the Republic of Armenia on "Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations," and the Armenian Church
Address: Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, 0025, 1 Alex Manoogian (+37460) 710000 info@ysu.am