Definition of "vardapet" in English

noun

1. (Christianity) A highly educated archimandrite in the Armenian Apostolic Church tradition who holds a Doctorate in Theology.

   • Something of the structure of the school of Glajor can be inferred from the hierarchy of terms used for teachers, though one must be careful not to try to translate these into ranks of modern university professors, as Xač‘eryan has done. Lowest in the hierarchy was the rabuni or "master," a term borrowed from the Hebrew; somehow more accomplished was the rabunapet or "headmaster"; and still more distinguished was the vardapet, literally "head teacher." […] It is clear that there was a certain formality involved in the training and promotion of a person to the rank of vardapet. Mxit‘ar Goš lays down in his Law Book that a cleric could be admitted to the rank of vardapet only after he had satisfied a panel of two or three vardapets about the level of his learning, though his training might have been under just a single vardapet. The vardapet was regarded as having a special authority to teach.