The Tondrakians (Old Armenian: թոնդրակեցիք, romanized: tʻondraketsʻikʻ)[a] were members of an anti-feudal Christian sect that flourished in medieval Armenia between the early 9th and the 11th century, centered on the district of Tondrak north of Lake Van.
[2] In the early 10th century, many regions of Armenia were undergoing peasant uprisings, which also began in the form of open social protests before eventually adopting religious aspects.
Contemporary historian and eyewitness Hovhanes Draskhanakertsi describes how the peasants of Ayrarat fought against their feudal lords and landowners: destroying their castles and property.
Flatly refusing to obey this edict, the peasants of Tsuraberd, Tamalek, Aveladasht, and other villages carried on a prolonged struggle against the churchgoers.
Armenian secular and spiritual feudal lords joined forces with neighbouring Muslim Arab emirs and Byzantines in the persecution of Tondrakians.
The movement quickly spread to Shirak, Turuberan, and the Armenian regions of Taron, Hark, and Mananali (subject to Byzantium).
The Tondrakian movement broke into three different directions during its last years, the most radical of which began advocating atheism as well as doubt in the afterlife and the immortality of the human soul.