Armenians of Romania

The Gregorian Armenians were given the right to build a church around 1638 – it was rebuilt and expanded in 1685, but was damaged by the Russian attack during the 1768–1774 war with the Ottomans.

Citizenship was bestowed on the community only with the decision taken by the international protectorate over the two countries (instituted after the Crimean War and the ensuing 1856 Treaty of Paris) to extend civil rights to all religious minorities.

Armenians were present from early on in Transylvania, clearly attested in a document issued by Hungarian King Ladislaus IV the Cuman (late 13th century).

Despite their increasing autonomy, the townspeople's adherence to the Roman Catholic Church was nonetheless demanded (a conversion begun through the efforts of a Botoșani-born prelate, Oxendius Vărzărescu, 1655–1715), and further submitted to forced integration by the Habsburg monarchy since the 18th century.

The Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania is nowadays centered on Gherla, and is placed under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Roman-Catholic Church archbishops of Alba Iulia.