Get me to the Church
When Stephen Worthy married an Armenian girl, little did he realise he would gain access to some of the country’s oldest and most beautiful architecture
MY KNOWLEDGE OF ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS IS SKETCHY. That’s my excuse for standing next to the holiest man in the Armenian church while wearing designer sunglasses. I am with my wife and family in Etchmiadzin, the holiest site in Armenia, to explore its ancient cathedral and have an audience with the Catholicos, the spiritual head of the world’s 10-million-plus Armenians. We encounter Karekin II, the current Catholicos, well ahead of our more formal introduction, as he takes a stroll with two of his priests. But I haven’t recognised him. Luckily the Catholicos – a jovial, friendly man – seems unconcerned by my indiscretion. Unlike my wife, who digs me in the ribs, such is her horror at my rudeness.
Over 10 years ago, before I met my wife, I knew little of Armenia, except that it was in the South Caucasus. My wife’s parents are Cypriot-born Armenians. They are members of a diaspora of over 10 million – more than three times the number who live in the country itself – so joining them on a visit to Armenia was a poignant one. This was their first trip to their ‘homeland’ too.
Armenians are fiercely proud that in AD 301 they were the first nation to accept Christianity as their state religion. As a result, much of Armenia’s history is centred on its astonishing collection of churches and monasteries.
Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, is the favoured basecamp for visitors. Etchmiadzin, 20 kilometres west of Yerevan, is one of the country’s three Unesco World Heritage sites. At its heart is the cathedral, purported to be the world’s oldest existing church, as well as a network of seminaries, theological colleges and administrative buildings for the Armenian Apostolic Church, earning it the nickname of the ‘Armenian Vatican’.
It’s a warm autumn day when we visit Etchmiadzin, having been driven there in an angular, Soviet-built Volga taxi by a bearded man called Hayk. The pomegranate trees outside the complex’s museum sag with fruit, the waft of citrus from a lemon grove perfumes the air. It’s a peaceful scene. No wonder the Catholicos has taken time out for a walk.
Now that I’ve removed my sunglasses, he asks his two black-robed companions to show us the museum, with its Armenian artefacts. Later, they take us into the Catholicos’s quarters where the highlight is the stunningly detailed, illuminated gold Armenian alphabet, hidden behind reinforced doors.
Inside the cathedral, some people pray, others arch their neck towards to the painted, vaulted dome. Some light votive candles, dropping Armenian drams into a collection box before skewering the candle into sand. The stillness is broken by the clack-clack of an incense burner, billowing out clouds of pungent frankincense. Mass has begun. Unlike the western Christian tradition, there are no hymns in the Armenian Church. Instead, it is more of a series of interchanges between priest, deacons and choir. It creates a solemn, contemplative mood.
But most of Armenia’s churches are far more remote. The next day we travel to Lake Sevan, one of the world’s largest high-altitude lakes. It’s popular in the summer with city dwellers looking to escape the stifling heat 1,950 metres below, but in late September it’s an inhospitable place.
A bone-chilling wind whips across the lake.
I begin to imagine what it was like here for the monks of Sevanavank (‘Sevan church’) in the late ninth century, when this small two-church monastery was founded.
Built in the traditional Armenian style – taller than it is wide, with a conical dome – they sit on a promontory jutting out into the lake. Inside they are dark, cold and simple, but also atmospheric and beautiful. They are still working places of worship, although it’s difficult to imagine there’s much of a congregation outside of summertime.
After a lunch of trout and lavash bread, we head home via an encounter with a field of khachkars at Noraduz. These intricately carved stone steles, with their similarities to Celtic crosses, are found across Armenia, although Noraduz is the country’s largest collection. Some here are 1,000 years old.
Perhaps the most visually stunning of all of Armenia’s religious buildings is the 13th-century Geghard monastery, 40 kilometres south of Yerevan. Another Unesco site, it is carved into the hillside – indeed, one wall is the mountain itself. Inside its warren of rooms, lit by candles and natural light, are stylised reliefs of animals and plants, stalactite vaulting and simple altars.
It’s a short hop to Armenia’s sole remaining pre-Christian edifice at Garni. Overlooking a ravine, it’s a first-century Greco-Roman temple. It looks perfect in every way, except it was rebuilt in the early 1970s – from original masonry – after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1679. To the rear of the temple you’ll find a bathhouse with a remarkable mosaic floor, featuring Greek script and mythological figures.
On our last day, we make our way up to the monastery complex of Goshavank, north of Sevan. Once again we have commandeered Hayk’s Volga, who bemoans contemporary Armenia in favour of misty-eyed hankering after his nation’s Soviet days, which ended in 1991. We stay silent, aware that our visit back then would have been difficult.
Goshavank’s three churches, huddled at the bottom of an oak-wooded hillside, are no longer used for worship. It’s the smallest of the three, St Grigor Lusavorich, that holds the most interest, with its intricate geometrical patterns, floral designs and fluted columns. Outside is a breathtakingly detailed 720-year-old ‘lace’ khachkar. In a country which prides itself on its long connection to Christianity, there is no better place to appreciate the history and culture of this rugged land.
Armenia’s amazing churches
ETCHMIADZIN CATHEDRAL
Some 20 kilometres west of Yerevan lies the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church and home of its spiritual leader, the Catholicos Karekin II – he’s the Armenian equivalent of the Pope. Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Vagharshapat
SEVANAVANK MONASTERY
Two simple, starkly beautiful churches built on a peninsula in the large, picturesque, high-altitude Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan, near Sevan Town, Gegharkunik Marz
GEGHARD MONASTERY
With its remarkable rock-cut churches and tombs, this Unesco World Heritage site is a fantastic example of medieval Armenian monastic architecture and decorative art. Near Goght, Kotayk
GARNI TEMPLE
This Greco-Roman temple, with its imposing columns, is something of a mini Parthenon. Destroyed by an earthquake in the 17th century, it was rebuilt 40 years ago. Near Goght, Kotayk
GOSHAVANK MONASTERY
There are three churches that make up this 13th-century monastery complex, a few kilometres north of Lake Sevan, including the small church of St Grigor Lusavorich, with its intricately carved interior. Also home to some of Armenia’s best khachkars, or cross-stones. Gosh, Tavush Marz
