Christianity was officially recognized by the Armenian nation as a state religion in 301 AD. Thus, the Armenian Highlands and Armenia are often referred to as the Cradle of Christianity, as the Armenian nation burgeoned the rise of the Christian faith 
 
The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has historically been centered around the city of Sis in the region of Asia Minor known as Cilicia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide and precursor massacres of Armenians by the Turks, the monastery of St. Sophia of Sis was destroyed and the ancient seat of Armenian royalty was pillaged. 
 
Antelias, north of the modern city of Beirut, now houses the functional and spiritual center of the modern Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. The confiscation of the St. Sophia Monastery by the Turkish government poses a physical challenge to the continuation of the Armenian religious ethnos in Asia Minor, but the city of Sis (modern Turkish name Kozan) remains the spiritual and titular epicenter of the Great House of Cilicia. 
 
Efforts continue to repatriate the Armenian ethnos in the city of Sis (Kozan in Turkish), the proper spiritual capital of the Armenian church of the Eastern Mediterranean. 
 
Tourism in Kozan Turkey is centered around the hilltop home of the Armenian Catholicosate of Sis and Sis Castle (now renamed the Kozan Kalesi or Kozan Castle to repurpose the Armenian identity of the church and fortification).  Sis Castle is the lineal home of the Armenian kings but is poorly identified by the local government.