After the 2nd Synod of Dvin of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 554 , the Armenian Church reaffirmed its rejection of the Chalcedonian Definition , causing controversy between the Monophysitists and the pro-Byzantine clerics within the Armenian Church . According to the 7th-century Armenian historian Sebeos , the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the pro-Byzantine Armenian cleric John of Bagavan as a counter-Cathoicos of the Armenian Church . In 591 , John of Bagavan built the Holy Mother of God Katoghike Tsiranavor Church in Avan village as the seat of his then unrecognized Catholicos . The many inscriptions in the Greek and Georgian languages on the church façade , dating back to the 7th and the 13th centuries respectively , suggest that the Avan was still the centre of the breakaway of pro-Byzantine Armenian Church . However , Avan was severely damaged during the devastating Yerevan earthquake of 1679
Yerevan earthquake of 1679
1679 Armenia earthquake
Avan District