AJR68,1,52 Whereas, in the first century after the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour
3Jesus Christ, Armenia was evangelized through the missionary efforts of His
4Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, and the seeds of Christian faith were sown in
5the land; and

AJR68,1,86 Whereas, in the year 301 A.D., by the grace of God and through the efforts of
7St. Gregory the Illuminator and King Tiridates, Armenia became the first nation in
8human history to adopt Christianity as its state religion; and

AJR68,1,129 Whereas, the Armenian people cherish the memory of St. Gregory, a witness to
10the Christian faith who overcame persecution and torture at the hands of pagans,
11through whom the Eternal Truth of Christianity was revealed to King Tiridates and
12the Armenian royal family; and

AJR68,1,1513 Whereas, after his conversion and baptism, Tiridates and St. Gregory traveled
14throughout the country building churches and preaching the new faith to the people,
15as a result of which Christianity took firm root in Armenia; and

AJR68,2,5

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1Whereas, in the year 406, the monk St. Mesrob Mashdotz, with the support of
2Catholicos Sahag and King Vramshabuh, devised a unique phonetic alphabet for the
3Armenian language with which the Holy Bible and other religious texts were
4rendered into Armenian, so that the tenets of Christianity could be taught to the
5people; and

AJR68,2,86 Whereas, the 5th century Armenian translation of the Bible is so beautifully
7rendered and so faithful to the earliest exemplars that it has been termed the "Queen
8of Translations" by biblical scholars; and

AJR68,2,129 Whereas, in the year 451 A.D., an invasion from Persia which threatened to
10return Armenia to pagan worship was heroically resisted by St. Vartan Mamigonian
11who, with 1,036 comrades, was martyred for the sake of Christ on the field of
12Avarayr; and

AJR68,2,1613 Whereas, in 484 A.D., the Armenians finally achieved victory over the Persians
14in the first war fought in defense of Christianity, and signed the Treaty of Nvarsak
15which allowed them to worship freely according to the tenets of the Christian faith;
16and

AJR68,2,2017 Whereas, the exquisitely beautiful and divinely inspired artistic creations of
18the Armenian Church in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, liturgical
19music, and sacred literature comprise a permanent and noteworthy contribution of
20the Armenians to world culture; and

AJR68,2,2321 Whereas, the Armenian people have remained steadfast in their Christian
22faith throughout the past 1,700 years, despite martyrdom, persecution, massacres,
23and genocide in Turkey, and official atheism in the Soviet Union; and

AJR68,2,2524 Whereas, for the past 1,700 years, the Armenian Apostolic Church has been the
25unshakeable anchor of the Armenian people throughout the world; and

AJR68,3,4

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1Whereas, in the past half century the Armenian Apostolic Church, as an
2autocephalous branch of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, has played a leading role
3in international ecumenical dialogue that seeks to reconcile Christian
4denominations throughout the world; and

AJR68,3,85 Whereas, Armenians began arriving in America as early as 1619, bringing with
6them their faith and love of God, and, beginning in 1898, established numerous
7churches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, where they could worship freely
8according to their tradition; and

AJR68,3,129 Whereas, for over a century, Armenians fleeing religious and political
10persecution have sought refuge in Wisconsin, where they have lived in freedom,
11practiced their faith, and contributed to the progress of this state in every field of
12endeavor; and

AJR68,3,1413 Whereas, the year 2001 represents the 1,700th anniversary of the adoption of
14Christianity by the Armenian nation; and

AJR68,3,1915 Whereas, on October 13, 2001, the 4 parishes of the Armenian Apostolic Church
16in Wisconsin, Holy Resurrection of South Milwaukee, St. Mesrob of Racine, St.
17Hagop of Racine, and St. John the Baptist of Greenfield, will celebrate the Feast of
18the Holy Translators, through whose efforts the Armenian nation was evangelized;
19now, therefore, be it