The Encyclopedia of World Religions

32 S arhat

In time arhats became objects of popular WOR SHIP . In some Buddhist countries today influential monks are still said to be arhats.

lost, and performed funerals. They had relation ships with special animals, such as birds or fish, who helped them do these things. It is hard to know to what extent any of these practices continue today. Many seem to have dis appeared completely, but occasionally research ers find that some people continue a practice that was thought to have vanished. In the territories of the former Soviet Union, people preserved some traditional religious practices as a way to resist unwanted pressure from outsiders. Still, religious people in the Arctic today often have other con cerns besides preserving traditional religious practices. For example, many are working hard to combat various social ills found in the far north, such as alcoholism, sexual abuse, and suicide ( see SUICIDE AND RELIGION ). See also N ORDIC RELIGION . Further reading: Ronald Hutton, Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination (London: Hambledon and London, 2001); Juha Pentikäinen, Shamanism and Culture, 3rd ed. (Helsinki: Etnika, 1998); Harold Seidelman and James Turner, The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994). arhat A Sanskrit word meaning “worthy, vener able”; a person who has attained enlightenment by following the path of the B UDDHA . The arhat is an important figure in T HERAVADA B UDDHISM , the form of B UDDHISM found in southeast Asia. Theravada talks about four stages leading to enlightenment: the stage of the stream-winner (one who will attain enlightenment in a future life), the once-returner (one who will attain enlightenment in the next life), the nonreturner (one who will attain enlight enment in the present life), and the arhat. The first arhats were the five ascetics who heard the Buddha’s first sermon. (Ascetics are per sons who deprive themselves of luxuries and even of necessities for religious purposes.) Many others became arhats in the Buddha’s day. After the Bud dha died or, as Buddhists say, entered the ultimate NIRVANA , it became harder to become an arhat.

Armenian Church The distinctive Christian institution of Armenia. Armenia is a region in northeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran, and includes an independent commonwealth between the Black and the Caspian Seas. No one knows exactly when C HRISTIANITY first arrived there. In 314 C . E . Tiridates, the king of the country, converted to Christianity. Armenia then became the first nation in which Christianity was the established or offi cial religion. Armenian Christianity took distinc tive form in the fifth century. At that time the B IBLE and many church writings were translated into Armenian. The most distinctive feature of the Armenian Church is its view of J ESUS . In technical terms, the Armenian Church is “monophysite.” That is, it rejects the teaching of the Council of Chalce don (451) that Jesus had two natures, divine and human, united in one person. It teaches instead that the incarnate Word of G OD has only one nature. Armenian worship practices closely resem ble those of the Orthodox churches ( see E ASTERN O RTHODOX C HRISTIANITY ). So does the organization of the Armenian Church. The head of the Arme nian Church is known as the “catholikos.” He resides in Echmiadzin near Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. A smaller group of Armenians recognize as their head a patriarch who now resides in Bei rut, Lebanon. art, religious Painting, sculpture, architecture, music, dance, poetry, drama, and stories that are created for religious purposes. In its broad est sense, art refers to all that is made by human beings to convey beauty, pleasure, and meaning through its form, whether that be in matter, words, or sound. It even includes such “minor” arts as garden landscaping and jewelry making. All these arts have been given religious significance and