In Armenia during the middle of the seventh century we find a group of Christians whose ancestry were the followers of Paul that had fled from the Mideast and Asia Minor to escape persecution centuries earlier. 

    Under the leadership of one Constantine of Mananali, these "Paulicians" (which in it's Armenian translation, derogatorily refers to this group as followers of "wretched little Paul"), preached God's word according to forgotten truths that Constantine had discovered from his own study of Biblical manuscripts he had obtained.  Though this zealous bunch undoubtedly did not possess a complete understanding of God's Word, they did approach their faith according to Biblical teaching. 

    By the middle of the ninth century, the commandment keeping remnant of the "True Church" found themselves sandwiched between the on going persecution of the Byzantine church in Asia Minor and the rise of Islam in the mideast. 

    It was time once again to flee - still further into the wilderness. 
  
    [Note: In the late eighteen hundreds, a British scholar, Fred C. Conybeare discovered "Paulician" manuscripts dating to the eighth century in an Armenian monastery.  Titled: "The Key Of Truth", it contains much about their customs and beliefs which corroborate the validity of their claim to close association with Apostolic teachings, especially Paul's.]