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The '''Church of Arran''' (Azeri. 'Land of Warriors', Ar/Ər - 'warrior/man', An - 'land') , also known as Church of Caucasian Albania, is one of the oldest churches in the world. It is an [[Autocephaly|Autocephalous Orthodox Church]] and was first established by the Holy [[Apostle Bartholomew]] in Baku, and then by St. [[Elisha of Arran|Elisha]] in the village of Kish, north of Azerbaijan. It was amalgamated with the [[Church of Armenia|Armenian Orthodox Church]] in 1836, when Tsar Nicolas I of Russia signed "The Decree on managing the affairs of the Armenian-Gregorian Church in Russia" ("Положение о управлении делами Армяно-Григорианской церкви в России"). The Church of Arran was re-established in Azerbaijan in 2003 as the Church of Caucasian Albania-Udi. In 2013 during 1700th anniversary of establishing Christianity in Azerbaijan, the grand opening of the Church of Arran took place in the village of Nij.

The original name of Azerbaijan (for both North and South) was Caspiane according to Strabo (book 11, chapter 2, section 15), which is also referred to Caspian Mountains (Caucasian Mountains) and Caspian Sea : "According to Eratosthenes, the Caucasus is called "Caspius" by the natives, the name being derived perhaps from the 'Caspii'". Subsequent invasions, split Caspiane into two distinctive entities Atropatene in south, and later Arran in north. Then Caspiane became a little province along the Caspian shores, which later was incorporated into Arran.The kingdom of Arran, better known in English as 'Caucasian Albania' (Latin - Albānia, Greek - Αλβανεια), is said to have been first evangelized by the Holy [[Apostle Bartholomew]] and a [[disciple]] of St. [[Apostle Jude|Thaddeus]], St. [[Elisha of Arran|Elisha]], who is called the 'Apostle of Arran.' The nation as a whole did not convert until shortly after the conversion of neighboring Armenia, with into Christianity when the Arsacid King [[Urnayr]] being of Arran was [[baptism|baptized]] by St. [[Gregory the Enlightener|Gregory the Illuminator]] in 313.

Arran suffered a similar fate to neighboring Armenia, rising with it against the Sassanian Empire in the 400s and being crushed by its shahs as a result. In the fifth century St. [[Mesrob Mashtots]] most likely systematised an already existing Arranian alphabet was systematised so that the [[Holy Scripture|Bible]], divine services, and writings of the Fathers could be translated. According to some legends St. [[Mesrob Mashtots]] invented the Arranian alphabet, however it is the historical fact that he did not know Arranian, so he could not have developed a new alphabet as it might have appeared in some Armenian sources. In 552 the seat of the Catholicoses of Arran was transferred to Barda, remaining there until the ninth century.

In the 1300s the Catholicate transferred its seat from the Amaras Monastery to the Gandzasar Monastery, becoming known thereafter as the Catholicate of Gandzasar. By this time the Catholicate only retained [[jurisdiction]] over the historic west Azerbaijan provinces of Utik, Arsak and Sunik Syunik as well as the small number of Orthodox living between these provinces and the Caspian Sea. When the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia fell to the Mamelukes there was thought of merging the Catholicate of All the Armenians, which had moved to Cilicia in the 900s, with the Catholicate of Gandzasar, but it was decided instead to return the Catholicate to its original seat in Echmiadzin.

The cross itself represents the Greek (sometimes Latin) cross with fleur-de-lis at its ends, which represents a fire or a flame - a common symbol in Azerbaijan and the present symbol of Baku. The Church of Arran also used as a church and altar ornament the eight-point star (as it is currently seen on the flag and coat of arms of Azerbaijan) to show the Arranian (Azerbaijani) identity, and as the Star of Sun (Fire) it is also represented the redemption or regeneration and baptism. The Cross of Arran can be seen in the Round Temple (Shaki), Kish, Nij and other places across Azerbaijan, Tatev Monastery in Syunik, Armenia. The Cross of Arran was adopted by the Order of Calatrava (a Spanish military order from Castile) in 1164, and Patek Philippe and Co. (Swiss luxury watch manufacturer) was using it as a company logo since 1851. The Cross of Arran can also be seen among the Coptic christians of Alexandria as an ornament.

The church has generally the altar apse height (place where people pray) of 30-40 cm. This kind of height in altar apse certainly shows that the Church of Arran belongs to Dyophysite. The stone carving techniques used in the construction of churches were developed in East part of Azerbaijan due to an abundance of construction materials such as grey sandstone, tuff etc. ==Alphabet== There were 26 ethnicities in Caucasian Albania according to Moses of Kalankatuyk. All of them could be separated into three major linguistic groups: Turkic, Caucasian, Iranian languages.  The Turukkaeans (Turuk/Turk according to the Assyrian sources), proto-Turkic aboriginal nation who inhabited Azerbaijan since XX BC, practiced Tengrism and mainly used the Turkic Runic script which dated back to the Cuneiform script of Sumeria. The Turkic runic alphabet has 29 letters. Those ones who adopted the Christianity used both the Runic and the Greek. Eventually due to an oppression from the Armenians, Arabs and Mongols, those Turkic speaking christians migrated to Cappadocia and formed the Karamanli Turkish community, the Karamanlides. The Greek alphabet for writing Turkic is called Karamanlidika (Καραμανλήδικα / Καραμανλήδεια γραφή). Example, Bardanes Tourkos (Βαρδάνης ὁ Τοῦρκος) was a Byzantine general of the Turkic origin who launched an unsuccessful rebellion against Emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811) in 803. His name shows that he was baptised in the Church of Arran, and of the Turkic origin. The ancient Tauri and Bulgars, Gagauzians and Urumians are also another example of the Orthodox Christians of the Turkic origin from the Black Sea basin who did employed the Greek alphabet. The Caucasian speaking lived mainly in the north part of the kingdom and used the alphabet which was based on Syriac and Aramaic. Eventually, it became the alphabet that is often referred as the Alphabet of Caucasian Albania or the Arranian alphabet. The script contains 54 characters. The Iranian speaking appeared in the Caspian-Black Sea basin around 7-6th century BC. They moved from north to south by partially displacing the local Turkic speaking population from Crimea, Anatolia and Caucasus further east into Central Asia. However, over the time they saturated with the local Turkic population. Within Kingdom of Arran they were distributed sporadically as the Parthian settlements. Majority of them practiced the Zoroastrianism and initially the Parthian (Pahlavi) script was issued. This script contains 19 characters. Then it was replaced by Avestan. The Avestan alphabet has 37 consonants and 16 vowels. Those script were also based on so called "Imperial Aramaic". All three languages were different so could not share one common alphabet. Therefore the each community held services on its own native language. ==Eparchies of Arran==1. Caspiana (North East, East, South-East, South, Center)*Chola*Lpiniya*Kabala*Ejeri2. Utik (North, North West)*Hereti*Kambisena*Gardman*Sakasena3. Arsak (South-West)*Sisakan4. Syunik (West)* Gohtan

*[httphttps://crossofarrancaspianrepublic.blogspot.co.uk/20132015/1205/ancient-caspian-cross-ofand-arrancaspians.html The Ancient Caspian Cross of Arran] History