There is evidence of Jewish settlement in the Armenian Highlands dating as early 1st century BC.

There are historical records that attest to the presence of Jews in pagan Armenia, before the spread of Christianity in the region by St. Gregory the Illuminator in 301 AD.

[2] Like the rest of Armenia's population, they suffered the consequences of regional powers trying to divide and conquer the country.

In 1912 the archaeologist Nikolai Marr announced the discovery in 1910 of a tombstone in the village of Yeghegis that carried a Hebrew inscription.

"[6] A group of Armenian and Israeli archaeologists and historians excavated the site in 2001 and 2002 and found 64 more tombstones.

Polish and Iranian Jews began arriving, as well as Sabbatarians (Subbotniks, Russian peasants who were banished to the outskirts of Imperial Russia during the reign of Catherine II.

According to the 1897 Russian Empire Census, there were some 415 people in Alexandropol (Gyumri)[12] and 204 in Erivan (Yerevan)[13] whose native language was "Jewish" and significantly smaller numbers elsewhere 6 in Vagharshapat,[14] 15 in Novo-Bayazet.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered mass emigration from Russia caused by fear of mobilization and political repression.

Over 40,000 Russians moved to Armenia thanks to its geographic proximity, relatively low cost of living and lax immigration rules.

"[29] In 2005, Armen Avetisian, the openly anti-Semitic leader of the Armenian Aryan Union, a small ultranationalist party, alleged that there are as many as 50,000 "disguised" Jews in Armenia.

[30] There have been two recorded incidents, in 2007 and in 2010, of vandalism by unknown individuals on the Jewish side of the Joint Tragedies Memorial in Aragast Park, Yerevan that commemorates both the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust.