In the beginning of Christianity in Armenia
Ancient Vagharshapat
Mosaic icon of St. Gregory the Illuminator, 14th century (Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul)
Vagharshapat
Vagharshapat (Armenian: Վաղարշապատ), commonly known as Ejmiatsin or Echmiadzin (Armenian: Էջմիածին), is one of the historic capitals of Armenia and the spiritual center of the Armenians, as it is the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Historically, Vagharshapat, located to the east of Yerevan in the basin of Kasagh River, in the northeastern extremity of Ararat plain, is at the heart of the Armenian Highland, in Aragatsotn canton (Armenian: Արագածոտն գաւառ Aragatsotn gavar, not to be confused with the current Aragatsotn Province) of Ayrarat province, within Armenia Major.
Vagharshapat is the largest satellite-city of Yerevan and the 4th largest in Armenia by population. It is the most populous city in Armavir province, located about 18 km (11 mi) west of Yerevan, 25 km (16 mi) east of the regional center of Armavir, only 10 km (6 mi) north of the Armenian-Turkish border.
The official census in 1989, counted the population of Ejmiatsin as 61,000. However, the number has declined somewhat since, showing 58,388 in the 2001 census, and 57,300 in the 2009 official estimate.
The territory of ancient Vagharshapat was inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. Many sites, such as Metsamor, Shresh hill and Mokhrablur date to the neolithic period.
The first written records about Vagharshapat were found in the inscriptions left by the Araratian king Rusa II (685–645 BC), where it was mentioned as Kuarlini’ (Armenian: Կուարլինի). The inscription found in the archaeological site of ancient Vagharshapat cites to a water canal opened by king Rusa II, between Ildaruni river (Hrazdan River) and the valley of Kuarlini.
According to Moses of Chorene, the oldest name of Vagharshapat was probably Artimed (Armenian: Արտիմէդ), derived from the ancient Greek deity Artemis. It was renamed Avan Vardgesi (Armenian: Աւան Վարդգէսի) (Town of Vardges) or Vardgesavan (Armenian: Վարդգէսաւան) after being rebuilt near the shores of Kasagh River, by the efforts of prince Vardges Manouk, during the reign of king Orontes I Sakavakyats of Armenia (570–560 BC).
In the first half of the 1st century AD, under the reign of the Armenian Arsacid king Vagharsh I of Armenia (117–144), the old town of Vardgesavan was renovated and renamed Vagharshapat (Armenian: Վաղարշապատ).
In his first book Wars of Justinian, the Byzantine historian Procopius has cited to the city as Valashabad (Balashabad), named after king Valash (Balash) of Armenia. The name evolved into its later form by the shift in the medial L into a Gh, which is common in the Armenian language.
Moses of Chorene mentioned that the Town of Vardges was entirely rebuilt and fenced by king Vagharsh I to become known as Noarakaghak (Armenian: Նորաքաղաք) (meaning the New City) or Vagharshapat.
Vagharshapat has served as the capital of the Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia between 120 AD and 330 AD. After embracing Christianity as a state religion in Armenia in 301, Vagharshapat was gradually called Ejmiatsin (Armenian: Էջմիածին), after the name of the Mother Cathedral; the seat of the Armenian Catholicosate, which is considered as one of the oldest religious organizations in the world.
As a spiritual centre of the entire Armenian nation, Vagharshapat has grew up rapidly and developed as an important centre of education and culture. The city was home to one of the oldest educational institutions in Armenia founded by Mesrop Mashtots.
The political capital of the Armenian kingdom was transferred to the city of Dvin in 336. Vaghasrhapat maintained its status as the country’s most important city until the fall of the Arsacid Kingdom in 428. The city has gradually lost its importance under the Persian rule, specifically when the seat of the Catholicosate was transferred to Dvin in 452. However, the first manuscripts library in Armenia was founded in 480 in Vagharshapat.
In 491, Catholicos Babken I of Armena, along with the Albanian and Iberian bishops met in Vagharshapat and issued a condemnation of the Chalcedonian Definition.
In 658 AD, Vagharshapat, along with the rest of the Ancient Armenian Highland, was conquered by the Arabs.
The city was briefly revived between the 9th and 11th centuries under the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, before being overrun by the Byzantines in 1045 and later by the Seljuqs in 1064. In the middle of the 13th century, Vagharshapat became part of the Ilkhanate of the Mongol Empire.
After the invasion of Tamerlane in 1387, the city fell under the rule of the Timurid dynasty. In 1410, Armenia came under the rule of the Kara Koyunlu Turkomans until 1468 when the Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans ruled the Armenian territories until 1502. Under the Turkic-Mongol rule, the city was known to the Turks as Uchkilisa (Üçkilise, “three churches” in Turkic).
During the long period of the foreign rules started from 1045, Vagharshapat turned into an insignificant city until 1441, when the seat of the Armenian Catholicosate was transferred from the Cilician city of Sis back to Etchmiadzin.
Between 1502 and 1828, Armenia became part of the Persian state under the rule of Safaavid, Afsharid and Qajar dynasties, with short periods of Ottoman rule between 1578 and 1603 and later between 1722 and 1736.
In 1828, after the Russo-Persian War, Vaghasrhapat — as a part of the Erivan Khanate — was handed over to the Russian Empire as a result of the Treaty of Turkmenchay signed on 21 February 1828.
Armenia enjoyed a short period of independence between 1918 and 1920 before falling to the Bolshevik 11th Red Army and becoming part of the Soviet Union. In 1925, the new plan of rebuilding the modern town was introduced by architect Alexander Tamanian. It was finally completed between 1939 and 1943. In 1945, the town of Vagharshapat was officially renamed Etchmiadzin by the Soviet government.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the town has witnessed a massive wave of construction, including residential buildings and industrial plants. By the end of the 1960s, the historical monuments of the town; including the religious complex of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Saint Hripsime Church, Saint Gayane Church and the surrounding area of Zvartnots Cathedral, were entirely rehabilitated.
After the independence of Armenia, the town was officially renamed Vagharshapat in 1992. However, the town is still popularly known as Ejmiatsin.
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
The complex of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (Armenian: Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ Էջմիածին) at Etchmiadzin has been one of the most important locations in Armenia since its foundation, and the complex is called the “Armenian Vatican” for its significance.
It is the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Pontifical Residence of the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
Historically, the focal point of Vagharshapat is the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, (Armenian: Մայր Տաճար Սուրբ Էջմիածին Mayr Tachar Surb Ejmiatsin). The Etchmiadzin Cathedral[a] (Armenian: Էջմիածնի Մայր Տաճար) is the Mother Church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the oldest church built by a state in the world. It is the first church building in Armenia, and considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
Originally known as the Holy Mother of God Church (Armenian: Սուրբ Աստուածածին Եկեղեցի Surb Astvatsatsin Yekeghetsi) the Etchmiadzin Cathedral was built between 301 and 303 by Saint Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as a vaulted basilica in 301–303, following Armenia’s adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III (the first such in world history).
The newly built cathedral, the Mother Church in Echmiadzin became and remains the spiritual and cultural center of Armenian Christianity and center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Most Armenians were baptized in Aratsani (upper Euphrates) and Yeraskh (Arax) rivers.
Many of the pre-Christian (traditional Indo-European) festivals and celebrations such as Tyarndarach (Trndez, associated with fire worship) and Vartavar (Vadarvar, associated with water worship), that dated back thousands of years, were preserved and continued in the form of Christian celebrations and chants.
According to the 5th-century Armenian annals, Saint Gregory had a vision of Christ descending from heaven and striking the earth with a golden hammer to show where the cathedral should be built. Hence, the patriarch gave the church and the city the new name of Echmiadzin, which may be translated as “the place where the Only Begotten descended”.
It was later seriously damaged and almost completely rebuilt in its current form in 483 by Vahan Mamikonian, the Sassanian governor (marzban) of Armenia, who ordered the dilapidated basilica to be replaced with a new cruciform church. The church was enlarged in many occasions, notably in 480, 618 and 1658.
In 618, the wooden dome was replaced with a stone one, resting on four massive pillars linked to exterior walls by arcades. This was the church much as it is today. Murals in the interior and extravagant rotundas surmounting the apses appeared in the early 18th century. Between 1654 and 1658, the main three-tier belfry at the entrance of the cathedral was erected.
The modern additions of the church include the Open-Air Altar built in 2001 beside the Main Gate with a contemporary design and the Baptistery chapel named after Saints Vartan and Hovhannes consecrated on 26 September 2008.
Etchmiadzin was the seat of the Catholicos until 484. It was restored as catholicosate almost a millennium later in 1441 and remains as such to this day. It has been constantly renovated since the 17th century. Major additions were made by various catholicoi. Diminished during the early Soviet period (1920–30s), Etchmiadzin revived again under Vazgen I in the second half of the 20th century.
Apart from the Mother Cathedral, Vagharshapat is home to many other important Armenian churches and cathedrals built throughout the centuries. The complex includes the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the vestry, residences, museums, Gevorkian Theological Seminary, V. and T. Manoukyan Library and many other amenities.
Most buildings are of great architectural significance, such as the old and new Pontifical Residences, the Chancellery or the Divanatoon, the Gate of King Trdat, Alex and Marie Manoogian Treasury Museum (1982), Khrimian Museum, Yeremian Monastic cells, the old Seminary building, the Clock Tower, the Bookstore, etc.
Along with several important churches located nearby, the Etchmiadzin Cathedral was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, the Churches of Saint Hripsimé, Saint Gayane and Saint Shoghakat, and the archaeological site of Zvartnots are listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator
Saint Gregory the Illuminator or Saint Gregory the Enlightener was a religious leader who is credited with converting Armenia from paganism to Christianity in 301. Armenia thus became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion.
Gregory was the son of the Armenian Parthian nobles Anak the Parthian and Okohe. His father Anak, who was a Prince said to be related to the Arsacid Kings of Armenia or was from the house of Suren-Pahlaw, one of the seven branches of the ruling Arsacid dynasty of Bactria. Anak was charged with assassinating Khosrov II, one of the kings of the Arsacid dynasty and was put to death. Gregory narrowly escaped execution with the help of Sopia and Yevtagh, his caretakers. He was taken to Caesarea in Cappadocia where Sopia and Yevtagh hoped to raise him. Gregory was given to the Christian Holy Father Phirmilianos (Euthalius) to be educated and was brought up as a devout Christian.
On the coming of his age, Gregory married a woman called Miriam, a devout Christian who was the daughter of a Christian Armenian Prince in Cappadocia. From their union, Miriam bore Gregory two children, their sons Vrtanes and Aristaces. Through Vrtanes, Gregory and Miriam would have further descendants and when Gregory died, Aristaces succeeded him. At some point Miriam and Gregory separated in order that Gregory might take up a monastic life. Gregory left Cappadocia and went to Armenia in the hope of atoning for the crime by his father by evangelizing his homeland.
At that time Tiridates III the son of the late King Khosrov II, reigned. Influenced partly by the fact that Gregory was the son of his father’s enemy, he ordered Gregory imprisoned for twelve (some sources indicate fourteen) years in a pit on the Ararat Plain under the present day church of Khor Virap located near the historical city Artashat in Armenia.
Gregory was eventually called forth from his pit in c. 297 to restore to sanity Tiridates III, who had lost all reason after he was betrayed by Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian invaded and vast amounts of territory from western provinces of Greater Armenia became “protectorates” of Rome.
In 301 Gregory baptized Tiridates III along with members of the royal court and upper class as Christians. Tiridates III issued a decree by which he granted Gregory full rights to begin carrying out the conversion of the entire nation to the Christian faith. The same year Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion.
King Artashes I, founder of the Artashesid dynasty, established his Armenian capital at Artashat (also known as Artaxtisata) around 180 BC. It is believed that Hannibal, the Carthaginian General who was persecuted by Rome, was also instrumental in establishing Artashat. Artashat remained the capital of the dynasty till the reign of King Khosrov III (330–339) when it was moved to Dvin. Subsequently, Artashat was destroyed by the Persian King Shapur II. Artashat is close to the hillock of Khor Virap. Until its chapel was built, Khor Virap was used as royal prison.
When King Tiridates III ruled over Armenia, his assistant was the Christian Grigor (Gregory) Lusavorich who preached the Christian religion. However, Tiridates, a pagan was not pleased and he subjected Gregory to severe torture. When news reached the king that Gregory’s father Anak the Parthian was responsible for the murder of the king’s father, the king ordered that Gregory’s hand and legs be tied and that he be thrown into the Khor Virap to die in the dark dungeon located in Artashat.
In addition, Gregory’s refusal to offer sacrifice to the goddess Anahita provoked the king to torture him and condemn him to imprisonment in the Khor Virap. He was then forgotten and the King pursued his wars and persecution of Christians. However, Gregory did not die during his 13 years of imprisonment. His survival was attributed to a Christian widow from the local town who, under the influence of strange dream vision, regularly fed Gregory by dropping a loaf of freshly baked bread into the pit.
Another version attributed to Tiridates’s conversion to Christianity is that it was a strategic move to create national unity to checkmate the hegemony of Zoroastrian Persians and pagan Rome, and since then, the Christian Church has acted as a strong influence in Armenia.
The young and beautiful Rhipsime
The fifth century Armenian historian Agathangelos wrote that the young and beautiful Rhipsime, sometimes called Hripsime (Armenian: Հռիփսիմէ), Ripsime, Ripsima or Arsema (died c. 290), an Armenian virgin and martyr of Roman origin, who at the time was a Christian nun in Rome, was to be forcefully married to the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Rhipsime and the abbess Gayané among other nuns fled the tyrant emperor and left to Armenia. The pagan Armenian King Trdat received a letter from Diocletian in which he described her beauty. Trdat discovered where the nuns were hiding, and fell in love with Hripsimé and later Gayané.
After her refusal of his advances, Hripsimé was tortured and martyred at the location of this church, while Gayané was tortured and martyred at a separate location where the church in her name was later built in 630. The remaining group of thirty-eight unnamed nuns were martyred at the location of Shoghakat.
During the time that Hripsimé was being tortured, Gayané told her to “be of good cheer, and stand firm” in her faith. King Trdat was to be later converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of the kingdom, while Rhipsime and her companions in martyrdom are venerated as the first Christian martyrs of Armenia.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator
In 302, Gregory received consecration as Patriarch of Armenia from Leontius of Caesarea, his childhood friend. In 318, Gregory appointed his second son Aristaces as the next Catholicos in line of Armenia’s Holy Apostolic Church to stabilize and continue strengthening Christianity not only in Armenia, but also in the Caucasus and Anatolia.
Gregory also placed and instructed his grandson Gregory (one of the sons of Vrtanes) in charge of the holy missions to the peoples and tribes of all of the Caucasus and Caucasian Albania; the younger man was martyred by a fanatical mob while preaching in Albania.
In his later years, Gregory withdrew to a small sanctuary near Mount Sebuh (Mt. Sepuh) in the Daranali province (Manyats Ayr, Upper Armenia) with a small convent of monks, where he remained until his death.
After his death his corpse was removed to the village of Thodanum (T’ordan, modern Doğanköy, near Erzincan). His remains were scattered near and far in the reign of the Roman emperor Zeno. His head is believed to be now in Armenia, his left hand at Echmiadzin, and his right at the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon.
In the 8th century, the iconoclast decrees in Greece caused a number of religious orders to flee the Byzantine Empire and seek refuge elsewhere. San Gregorio Armeno in Naples was built in that century over the remains of a Roman temple dedicated to Ceres, by a group of nuns escaping from the Byzantine Empire with the relics of Gregory.
A number of prayers, and about thirty of the canonical hymns of the Armenian Church, are ascribed to Gregory the Illuminator. Homilies of his appeared for the first time in a work called Haschacnapadum at Constantinople in 1737; a century afterwards a Greek translation was published at Venice by the Mekhiterists; and they have since been edited in German by J M Schmid (Ratisbon, 1872). The original authorities for Gregory’s life are Agathangelos, whose History of Tiridates was published by the Mekhitarists in 1835; Moses of Chorene, Historiae Armenicae; and Symeon the Metaphrast.
A Life of Gregory by the Vartabed Matthew was published in the Armenian language at Venice in 1749 and was translated into English by the Rev. Father Malan (1868). Gregory is commemorated on September 30 by the Orthodox Church, which styles him “Holy Hieromartyr Gregory, Bishop of Greater Armenia, Equal of the Apostles and Enlightener of Armenia.” He is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on March 23.
Gregorids were an Armenian noble family descended from St. Gregory the Illuminator (c. 257-330), and thus of Arsacid stock, whose members served as patriarchs of Armenia from the early fourth century to the death of its last male member, St. Sahak I Souren Pahlav, in 437/439. Following Sahak’s death, his daughter, Sahakanoysh Souren Pahlav, princess of Armenia, carried the Gregorid domains in the western provinces of Greater Armenia into the family of her husband, Hamazasp I Mamikonian, and the patriarchate of Armenia ceased to be a hereditary office.
The Khor Virap
The Khor Virap (Armenian: Խոր Վիրապ, meaning deep pit or “deep well”) is an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery located in the Ararat valley in Armenia, near the border with Turkey, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Artashat, Ararat Province. The monastery was host to a theological seminary and was the residence of Armenian Catholicos.
Khor Virap’s notability as a monastery and pilgrimage site is attributed to the fact that Grigor Lusavorich, who later became Saint Gregory the Illuminator, was initially imprisoned here for 13 years by King Tiridates III of Armenia. Saint Gregory subsequently became the king’s religious mentor, and they led the proselytizing activity in the country. In the year 301, Armenia was the first country in the world to be declared a Christian nation.
A chapel was initially built in 642 AD at the site of Kirat Virap by Nerses III the Builder as a mark of veneration to Saint Gregory. Over the centuries, it was repeatedly rebuilt. In 1662, the larger chapel known as the “St. Astvatsatsin” (Holy Mother of God) was built around the ruins of the old chapel, the monastery, the refectory and the cells of the monks. Now, regular Church services are held in this church. It is probably the most visited pilgrimage site in Armenia.
Saint Hripsimé Church
Saint Hripsimé Church (Armenian: Սուրբ Հռիփսիմէի եկեղեցի) is one of the oldest surviving churches in Armenia. The church was erected by Catholicos Komitas atop the original mausoleum built by Catholicos Sahak the Great in 395 AD that contained the remains of the martyred Saint Hripsimé to whom the church was dedicated. The structure was completed in 618 AD.
Saint Hripsimé Church sits on the remains of a pagan structure and also the site where the aforementioned saint was martyred during the time of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in 301 AD.
In the early 4th century, Saint Gregory the Illuminator saw a vision in which Christ descended from the heavens, and struck the ground with a golden hammer to level it. In its place he saw the site where Hripsimé was martyred, with a red base symbolizing blood below “columns of clouds, capitals of fire, and on top, a cross of light.” In the vision, Christ tells him to erect a memorial to Hripsme in the given place. Saint Gregory was designated to set out the foundations at the location where Hripsimé had been martyred.
The church is known for its fine Armenian-style architecture of the classical period, which has influenced many other Armenian churches since. This church together with other nearby sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is located in the present day city of Vagharshapat, (Etchmiadzin), Armenia in the Armavir Province.
The Church of Saint Gayane
The Church of Saint Gayane (Armenian: Սուրբ Գայանէ եկեղեցի; pronounced Surb Gayane) is a 7th-century Armenian church in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), the religious center of Armenia. It is located within walking distance from the Etchmiadzin Cathedral of 301. St. Gayane was built by Catholicos Ezra I in the year 630. Its design has remained unchanged despite partial renovations of the dome and some ceilings in 1652.
Saint Gayane Church sits on the site where the aforementioned saint was martyred during the time of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in the year 301 AD.
Saint Gayane along with eminent churches such as Saint Hripsime, Cathedral of Zvartnots and the Mother Church of Holy Etchmiadzin would become the essence and the pillar of spiritual strength of Christian Armenia.
In 2000, Saint Gayane Church was listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with historical churches of Vagharshapat.
The Church of Shoghakat
The Church of Shoghakat (Armenian: Շողակաթ եկեղեցի; meaning “drop of light” because of the ray of light that came down from heaven upon Hripsimé’s martyrs) was erected in 1694 by Prince Aghamal Sorotetsi during the time of Catholicos Nahabed I in the present day city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), in the Armavir Province of Armenia. This church together with other nearby sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At the site of the present day church of Shoghakat, there stood an earlier church of the 6th or 7th century which unfortunately has not survived. It is believed that the structure standing at the site today possibly rests on the foundations of the earlier church (other sources say that Shoghakat may have been built upon the foundations of a 13th-century church).
At the southwest end of the building, excavations uncovered the remains of a single-chamber church constructed on a stepped platform, thought to have been a 4th-century memorial chapel. At the southern wall is a small semi-circular apse believed to have served as a southern portico. The bases of the wall piers have features that are characteristic to 4th- and 5th-century Armenian churches. Two portals that led into the chapel were located as well, one to the south and one to the west.
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