The catholicosate was established by Archbishop Davit , who was related to the Artsrunis , the ruling dynasty of the independent Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan . Davit reasoned Catholicos Grigor III Pahlavuni 's young age for the division . Archbishops related to the Artsruni family succeeded each other as Catholicos of Aghtamar until 1272 , when the Sefedinian family took it over until the 16th century . Subsequently , the Catholicosate came under direct jurisdiction of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin . By the late 19th century , the Catholicosate of Aghtamar ruled over the southern shores of Lake Van : Shatakh , Khizan , etc . The catholicosate was largely discredited and dissolved in 1895 , amid the Hamidian massacres due to disputes with Etchmiadzin and corruption . The two dioceses that formed the catholicosate were transformed to the jurisdiction of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople . The catholicoaste remained vacant until the Armenian Genocide and was formally abolished by the Turkish government in 1916
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Catholicosate of Aghtamar