Armenian Patriarchs
of the Great House of Cilicia

The Armenian Patriarchs of Cilicia began as the main line of Armenian Patriarchs who had fled the Seljuk Turks and relocated from the East to Roman Cilicia in 1062. When Roman power itself collapsed in Anatolia after 1071, the Patriarchate soon came under the protection of the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. After this Kingdom was conquered by the Mamlûks in 1375, conditions back in Armenia began to appear relatively preferable. The Patriarch Gregory IX (1439-1446) did not relocate, but a rival Patriarch was elected in Armenia in 1441. The Cilician line simply continued as before. In 1921, however, as Armenians were being killed in Turkey, Cilician Armenians and the Patriarch fled to French controlled Lebanon. The Patriarchate was established at Antelias in 1930. It has remained there since.

In 1737 there seems to have been a disputed election. As in the Church of the East, the loser organized his own Church (1740) and turned to Rome, who recognized him as a Catholic Patriarch (1742). Along with the Orthodox Armenians, the Catholic Patriarch moved to Lebanon and is now established in Beirut.