Under the patronage of the Armenian Patriarchate, a secondary school was opened, headed by Krikor Peshtimaldjian (died 1837), one of the leading intellectuals of the time.
[citation needed] The principal aim of this school was to train qualified clergy for the Armenian Apostolic Church.
During these meetings and Bible studies, questions were raised regarding the practices and traditions of the church, which to them seemed to conflict with biblical truths.
Eventually, after Patriarch Matteos Chouhajian excommunicated the reformists, they were forced to organize themselves into a separate religious community, the Protestant Millet.
[1] Today, there are approximately 100 Armenian Evangelical churches in the following countries: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, England, France, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Uruguay, and the United States of America.