The Armenians are also numerous in northern Syria, especially in the region near their last Cilician kingdom. Adana, Tarsus, Marash, Aintab, Hadjin, Oorfa and many other cities in that region have a large Armenian population. Their language is Turanian, constructed upon the Greek model, and is especially rich in its power of expressing Christian truths and sentiments. The most of the Armenians speak this tongue, but some in the mountains of Koordistan speak only Koordish, while the Armenians in northern Syria use the Turkish language. Turkish is spoken by nearly all Armenians, as well as by all the races north of Syria. Religiously, the history of the Armenians is full of interest. Their histories claim that at the time of Christ their king Abgar, called by Tacitus the king of the Arabs, resided at Urfa in northern Mesopotamia. He is reported to have had some communication with Christ, who, at his death, through the apostle Thomas, sent Thaddeus to preach to the Armenians. The king and his court were baptized. His successor apostatized from the faith, and so Christianity was lost to the race until the fourth century. At the beginning of this century St. Gregory the Illuminator preached at the court of Armenia with such effect that from that period to this Christianity has been the national religion. The Church has held the race together. It is known as the Gregorian Church, after St. Gregory, while the people themselves always refer to their church as Loosavorchagan, derived from Loosavorich, meaning “The Illuminator.” As this is the national Church, all Armenian children are baptized in infancy and become members. [Illustration: AN ARMENIAN ECCLESIASTIC A KOORDISH CHIEF OF SOUTHERN KOORDISTAN] At first the Gregorian Church took part in the ecumenical conferences, but for some reason they had no representatives in the council which met at Chalcedon in 451 A. D. In a synod of Armenian bishops in 491 the decisions of the council of Chalcedon were rejected, and at a later synod they declared openly for the Monophysite doctrine. This led to their complete separation from the Greek Church.