[7] Gulbenkian alone provided $400,000. Concurrently with the deportation of up to 350,000 Armenians into Persia by Shah Abbas I as part of the scorched earth policy during the war with the Ottoman Empire,[73][74] Etchmiadzin was plundered in 1604. The person in charge of this second construction was Vahan Mamikonian. According to tradition, Armenia was evangelized by Jesus’ disciples Bartholomew and Thaddeus. According to both historians and archaeologists, it … In June 1804, during the Russo-Persian War (1804–13), the Russian troops led by General Pavel Tsitsianov tried to take Etchmiadzin, but failed. Leaders of several countries, such as Russia (Vladimir Putin in 2005),[189] France (Jacques Chirac in 2006[190] and Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011),[191][192] Georgia (Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004,[193] Giorgi Margvelashvili in 2014),[194] Romania (Emil Constantinescu in 1998),[195] Lebanon (Michel Aoun, 2018),[196] Germany (Angela Merkel, 2018),[197][198] and royalty, such as Nicholas I of Russia (1837),[199] King Mahendra of Nepal (1958),[200] Prince Charles (2013)[201] have visited the cathedral as part of their state or private visits to Armenia. Their mission to the East resulted in conversions from 30 A.D. onward, but the Armenian Christians were persecuted by a succession of kings. It asserts apostolic foundation, and its historical roots must be traced to the early and late Christianization of Iberia and Colchis by Saint Andrew in the 1st century AD and by Saint Nino in the 4th century AD, respectively. The Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church; The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) founded in 1906 and the largest Armenian non-profit organization in the world, with educational, cultural and humanitarian projects on all continents; The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, founded in 1890. The latter type occurs also at Milan (San Satiro). According to tradition, Armenia was evangelized by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus. Other members of the prominent Hovnatanian family (Hakob, Harutyun and Hovnatan) created paintings throughout the 18th century. [127] These reliefs have been dated by various authors between the first and sixth centuries. Hence, the patriarch gave the church the name of Etchmiadzin (էջ ēĵ "descent" + մի mi "only" + -ա- -a- (linking element) + ծին tsin "begotten"),[48] which translates to "the Descent of the Only-Begotten [Son of God]. [86][87][88] According to Bontems-Lefort, the Russian behaviour at Etchmiadzin contrasted with that of the Persian king, who treated the local Christian population with respect. [151] Catholicos Vazgen I called Etchmiadzin "our Solomon's Temple. [116] According to Mack Chahin the cathedral's building is of "immense architectural interest, especially because of the many alterations and additions that have been made to it since its foundation. The city has been called Vagharshapat for the most part of its history. [206], In the 1991 film Mayrig, directed by French-Armenian director Henri Verneuil, actual footage of the cathedral is shown when Azad Zakarian, the main character and a son of Armenian Genocide survivors, is being questioned about his faith in a Catholic school. "[158] "Deprived of a political head and even a political capital the [Armenian] people have, for at least five hundred years, looked to Etchmiadzin as the home of their people, the centre to which they looked for guidance, unfailing sympathy, and practical aid," wrote Welsh journalist and politician W. Llewelyn Williams in his 1916 book about Armenia. Echmiadzin Monastery: Oldest church in the world? [33], In 387, Armenia was partitioned between the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire. Architecture researcher Vahagn Grigoryan. [105] In 1945 Catholicos Gevorg VI was elected after the seven-year vacancy of the position. [2] Today, it incorporates styles of different periods of Armenian architecture. Location: Vatican City. [38] In 1770, Simeon I established a publishing house near Etchmiadzin, the first in Armenia. [136][137], In the 19th century, during an architectural revival that looked back to Armenia's past, the plan of Etchmiadzin Cathedral began to be directly copied in new Armenian churches. It officially bore the name Etchmiadzin between 1945 and 1995. The idea for the location is said to have come to St. Gregory in a vision he had of … [K] The new church was very different from the original one and "consisted of quadric-apsidal hall built of dull, grey stone containing four free-standing cross-shaped pillars disdained to support a stone cupola." The Armenian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. Belfries were added in the latter half of the seventeenth century and in 1868 a sacristy was constructed at the cathedral's east end. [80], Since 1627, the cathedral underwent major renovation under Catholicos Movses (Moses), when the dome, ceiling, roof, foundations and paving were repaired. [2] Engraved on the exterior of the edifice are decorative geometric and floral patterns as well as blind arcades and medallions depicting saints. "[150] The locus of Etchmiadzin is considered "a sanctified soil" in a way similar to Temple Mount and the Golden Temple, for Jews and Sikhs, respectively. The following is a list of churches and cathedrals in the Armenian capital city of Yerevan along with their architectural styles. The Armenian Apostolic Church . "[83], The renovation works were interrupted by the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1635–36, during which the cathedral remained intact. A cross-stone, or khachkar, is built into a church wall in the Armenian village of Sotk. The Oldest National Church in the World Through centuries of warfare and persecution, Armenian Christians have clung to one thing. [128] Shahkhatunian[129] and Ghevont Alishan suggested that these reliefs were created before the invention of the Armenian alphabet in 405. In fact, it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Some day the Soviets will go, as all temporal governments do, but Etchmiadzin will stand. [2] The paintings were moved out of the cathedral by the order of Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian in 1891 and are now kept in various museums in Armenia, including the National Gallery of Armenia. From its foundation until the second half of the fifth century, Etchmiadzin was the seat of the Catholicos, the supreme head of the Armenian Church. [159], Mabel Evelyn Elliott, the Medical Director of Near East Relief, wrote about the cathedral's longevity in 1924:[160], Early European visitors to Etchmiadzin who gave descriptions of the cathedral included Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (before 1668),[161] Jean Chardin (1673),[162] Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (c. 1700),[163] James Morier (1810–16),[164] Robert Ker Porter (1817–20),[165] Friedrich Parrot (1829),[166] August von Haxthausen (1843),[167] Moritz Wagner (1843),[168] James Bryce (1876),[169] H. F. B. Lynch (1893).[170]. [38] During this century, belfries were added to many Armenian churches. [103] The dissident anti-Soviet Armenian diocese in the US wrote that "the great cathedral became a hollow monument. "[152] The cathedral complex has been called "Armenian Vatican" or "Armenian Mecca" as it is a major pilgrimage site for religious Armenians worldwide. [106] Nevertheless, the cathedral's role was downplayed by the Communist official circles. "For them the ecclesiastical Echmiadzin belongs irrevocably to the past, and even if the monastery and the cathedral are occasionally the scene of impressive ceremonies including the election of a new catholicos, this has little importance from the communist point of view," wrote Walter Kolarz in 1961. 640–661). Etchmiadzin Cathedral[C] (Armenian: Էջմիածնի մայր տաճար, Ēǰmiatsni mayr tačar) is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia. Sahinian added many other medieval churches in Europe, such as the Palatine Chapel of Aachen in Germany, to the list of churches to have been influenced by the cathedrals of Etchmiadzin and Bagaran and by Byzantine decorative arts. As the main shrine of Armenian Christians worldwide, Etchmiadzin has been an important location in Armenia not only religiously, but also politically and culturally. [62] According to Hewsen the bell is of Tibetian origin with a Buddhist inscription, "probably the long-forgotten gift of some Mongol or Ilkhanid khan. It only takes a minute. [86] Shortly after, the Russians were forced to withdraw from the area as a result of the successful Persian defense of Erivan. [7], During these centuries of neglect, the cathedral's "condition deteriorated so badly"[67] that it prompted the prominent archbishop Stepanos Orbelian to write one of his most notable poems, "Lament on Behalf of the Cathedral" ("Ողբ ի դիմաց Կաթողիկէին" Voğb i dimats Katoğikein) in 1300. The Soviets may endure for a few years or for a few centuries; it is all one to Etchmiadzin. "[100] The repressions climaxed in 1938 when Catholicos Khoren I was murdered in April by the NKVD. [98], In December 1923, the southern apse of the cathedral collapsed. [89], The cathedral prospered under Russian rule, despite the suspicions that the Imperial Russian government had about Etchmiadzin becoming a "possible center of the Armenian nationalist sentiment. The remains of the 4th century apse, the fire temple and other architectural details are now kept at a special structure built relatively recently under the east apse. We need you. [2], Although the seat of the Catholicos was transferred to Dvin sometime in the 460s–470s[63] or 484,[64][65] the cathedral never lost its significance and remained "one of the greatest shrines of the Armenian Church. Their work was continued by the succeeding generations of the same family (Mkrtum and Hakob) in the 19th century. The now-destroyed St. Theodore Church of Bagaran, dating from 624 to 631,[135] was the only known church with a significantly similar plan and structure from that period. "[155] American journalist and historian Francis Whiting Halsey described the cathedral as "the most treasured possession of the Armenian nation" and "the source of that strength which has held them together through centuries of persecution, warfare and massacre. The Holy See's official magazine resumed publication in 1944, while the seminary was reopened in September 1945. Armenia was the first country in the world to convert to Christianity and is the home of some of the oldest Christian sites and communities in the world. Changes in temporal affairs have beaten against the walls of Etchmiadzin for sixteen centuries like little waves against a granite cliff. This means Etchmiadzin shares a place of honor with the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the Rotonda of St. George in Thessaloniki, and the Church of Dura-Europos in Syria among the oldest churches in the whole world. [77] He wanted to destroy the cathedral and have its remains brought to Isfahan. 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