Unitarian Brothers

UNITARIAN BROTHERS. - Armenian religious (Elbarg Miabanolq), founded in the first half of the fourteenth century by John of Qina, converted to the Catholic faith by the Dominican bishop Bartholomew of Bologna. The purpose of the Institute was the union of the Armenian Church with the Holy See of Rome. The F. U. followed the rule of St. Augustine and a large part of the constitutions of the Preachers. They dressed as Dominican tertiaries and in 1337 they also adopted the Dominican rite, while retaining Armenian as the liturgical language.

The beginnings of the Congregation and the pontifical approval go back to the year 1331, but the profession of its founders seems to have taken place only in 1344. In 1356 the F. U. were subjected to the jurisdiction of the master general of the Dominicans, and in 1583 their Congregation was transformed into an Armenian province of the Order of Preachers, which died out at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Institute of the F. U. spread mainly in eastern Armenia, Georgia, Persia and the Crimea. Many bishops, archbishops and martyrs came from it. In the literary field the F. U. distinguished themselves by their translations of Catholic theological works into Armenian.