Armenia

The Cradle of the Official Christianity


At the foot of the great Aratat
The monastery of Khor Virap, erected on the spot where St. Gregory was imprisoned. The great Mount Ararat in the background.
promises and beliefs
Believers light candles at the entrance to Geghard monastery.
Armenian-style mass
A religious stands out from the faithful who participate in a mass in the cathedral of Echmiadzin.
Yerevan silhouettes
Passersby in front of the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator, one of the largest churches in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
more faith
Armenian believers pray during a mass held in Echmiadzin Cathedral.
A monastery carved out of the rock
The monastery of Geghard, erected at the foot of a hillside, where Judas Thaddeus is said to have brought the spear of the Centurion Longinus who wounded Christ during the crucifixion.
Divine blessing
Catholicos - leader of the Armenian church - blesses believers outside Echmiadzin Cathedral.
in a stone temple
A faithful walks through the carved rock chambers that make up much of Geghard's monastery.
pure faith
Faithful during a mass in the cathedral of Echmiadzin, one of the oldest in the world.
Just 268 years after Jesus' death, a nation will have become the first to accept the Christian faith by royal decree. This nation still preserves its own Apostolic Church and some of the oldest Christian temples in the world. Traveling through the Caucasus, we visit them in the footsteps of Gregory the Illuminator, the patriarch who inspires Armenia's spiritual life.

It's just dawn, the sky remains blue and the sun shines radiantly as it has every day since we crossed the border into southern Georgia, passing through eccentric and industrial city of Alaverdi.

A large icy puddle resists the entrance, in the shadow created by the mountain above. We crossed the arched portico and advanced through the stone atrium, suspicious of any betrayal of the old reddish floor.

Out of the shadows, we discover the magnificence and elegance of the monastery, carved into the yellowish slope by the already long Caucasus Autumn.

The gentle caresses of the great star and the immediate vision of several khachkars embedded in the rock, we are urged to remain outside and enjoy those incredible memorials, as characteristic of Armenia's Christian medieval art as are its abundant secular monasteries.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Geghard

The monastery of Geghard, erected at the foot of a hillside, where Judas Thaddeus is said to have brought the spear of the Centurion Longinus who wounded Christ during the crucifixion.

Geghard Monastery, a Dazzling Shrine of Armenian Christianity

Finally, we enter the Geghard, one of the most revered for its antiquity and historical significance.

Despite the near-dawn hour, when we pushed open the door, we shed light on the gloomy sacristy and noticed that some of the faithful were already lighting small candles among the family of columns and, with their faces flushed with the flames of promises, they whispered their prayers in intimate communion with themselves. and with DEUS.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Candles

Believers light candles at the entrance to Geghard monastery.

We proceed into the interior of Avazan, a chamber carved out of an ancient cave with a spring already used as a pagan place of worship before the spread of Christianity.

And we go up to Jhamatum, another upper section that contains the graves of ancient Armenian princes.

A hole in a nook allows us to peek at Avazan below. We discovered it and occupied it for some time, until we noticed that another visitor was stalking us from the entrance. We would have to cross with him again and find in him a surprising familiarity.

His name was Fernando, he was Portuguese and had been traveling around the world for a long time. We met him again on our return to Tbilisi.

We continued to explore Geghard, afterwards, the elevated chapel of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the founder of the monastery and main mentor of the early Christian faith of the Armenians. Geghard means spear.

The monastery received its name after the apostle Judas Thaddaeus allegedly brought to the place where it was erected, the spear with which the Roman centurion Longinus wounded Jesus during the crucifixion.

Illuminator Gregory, the Patron Saint of the Nation Who Brought Christianity to Armenia

Originally, it was founded on the site of a sacred fountain by St. Gregory the Illuminator, today the patron saint of Armenia and mentor of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Gregory (Gregor Lousavorich) was born in 257 CE, believed to be the son of Anak the Parthum, an Armenian prince who was sentenced to death for the murder of King Khosrov II. Gregory himself narrowly escaped execution thanks to the help of his tutors.

He was taken by them to Cappadocia (present-day heart of Turkey) so that he could be educated as a devout Christian, safe from persecutors. Gregory took the teachings seriously. He also married Miriam, a devout Christian and the daughter of a Christian Armenian prince of Cappadocia.

They had several children, but at a certain point Gregory chose to follow a monastic life. He returned to Armenia with the hope of redeeming his father's crime through the Christian evangelization of Armenia.

At that time, reigned Tiridates III (Trdat or Drtat in Armenian) the son of King Khosrov II. Afraid that Gregory was the son of his father's murderer, Tiridates III ordered his imprisonment for twelve years in a moat situated on a plain near the foot of Mount Ararat.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Geghard

A faithful walks through the carved rock chambers that make up much of Geghard's monastery.

After some time, Tiridates fell in love with Rhipsime, a Christian nun who had taken refuge from the persecution of Christians unleashed by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in Armenia. When Rhipsime refused, he executed her and all the other refugee women.

After this event – ​​and it is said that also due to the treachery of the Roman Emperor Diocletian who invaded part of the western provinces of Greater Armenia – he went mad and adapted the behavior of a wild boar. Tiridates' sister had a recurring view that only the prisoner Gregory could cure the king.

Almost dying, Gregory found himself rescued from the ditch, free and with the arduous mission of restoring the sanity of Tiridates. I would come to fulfill it. Tiridates soon regretted the atrocities he had committed. Both he and his court and army converted to Christianity.

Khor Virap, Another Inescapable Armenian Christian Monastery

The moat in which Gregory was imprisoned later welcomed the monastery of Khor Virap in his honor.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Cathedral St. Gregory Illuminator

Passersby in front of the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator, one of the largest churches in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Enthusiastic about continuing on the path of the Illuminator's life, we visited it one of the following days, with a new incursion from Yerevan.

We traveled south towards the river Arax which made the frigid atmosphere humid.

The Border with Hated Turkey and Mount Ararat which was once Armenian

Arax establishes the border with Turkey, full of barbed wire and mines and one of the most troubled on the face of the Earth due to the events of 1915-23 that the Armenians call Armenian genocide with about 1.5 million victims at the hands of the Ottomans , while the Turks argue that the number is much lower and was due to the mere hardships of the First World War and times that followed.

In the last kilometers of the route, we came closer to Mount Ararat before our eyes. At a certain point, the hill rises in the extension of vines parched by the cold.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Mount Aratat

The monastery of Khor Virap, erected on the spot where St. Gregory was imprisoned. The great Mount Ararat in the background.

Khor Virap, we find it on a rocky rise only in appearance, at the base of the great Ararat where, despite the controversy surrounding the matter, most Armenians believe that Noah's Ark was immobilized after the Flood and that it should do, even today, part of his nation's territory.

Cristina Kyureghian, the guide who accompanies us, also describes one of the curious diplomatic tantrums between Armenians and Turks: “they know that the Turks had the nerve to demand that we remove Mount Ararat from our flag. They say it doesn't belong to us.

Our representatives replied that, in that case, they should never have included the moon in theirs.”

Discovering Khor Virap in the Company of a Russian Entourage

We won the last ramp to the monastery. We ended up entering at the same time as an Armenian Orthodox priest received by the workers and other religious with due pomp.

A group of Russians and some other visitors from different places explore the interior of the complex.

It is with the Russians that we share the chapel at Gevorg, before descending into the bleak pit 6m deep and 4.4m in diameter where Gregory survived for thirteen years only because a merciful woman in that area threw him some food every day.

Returning to the surface, we survey the rest of the complex and climb a small rise near the monastery. From here, we admire Mount Ararat and the vast Orthodox cemetery that stretches down an opposite slope to the long straight road that leads to the monastery.

Tiridates III, the Monarch who Officialized State Christianity in Armenia

From time to time, we notice and follow with old eyes Ladas that travel slowly towards us. Before long, we take the same road and leave Khor Virap behind.

Tiridates III, this one, embarked on a path of faith with no return to Armenia. He accepted that Gregory would baptize him, the members of the court and many members of the upper class. Recognized, in 301 AD, the king also granted Gregory the right to convert all subjects.

At the same time, it has long been accepted by historians that it made Armenia the first nation to have Christianity as an official state religion.

Although this fact has been covered with controversy, namely due to the possibility that the monarch of the kingdom of Odessa did so in 218 AD

The Monumental Armenian Apostolic Ceremony in Echmiadzin Cathedral

It is already in Echmiadzin that we understand better the unquestionable respect that Armenians have for this decision of this former king and for the devotion of their long-standing patron saint, the first leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

It's Sunday. The day dawns once more radiantly. Yerevan is resting from his usual work turmoil. Thus, we traveled much faster than we expected to the great cathedral, in time for the mass that was about to take place.

More and more faithful flock to the cathedral's main door, erected by Gregory's order between 301 and 303 on the site of a pagan temple. Today, considered the oldest in the world.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Mass in the Armenian fashion

A religious stands out from the faithful who participate in a mass in the cathedral of Echmiadzin.

They are men and women of all ages and, ironic as it may seem, even teenage soldiers in the camouflage and war uniforms that, even in more recent times, Armenia has been forced to wear.

In the grand and oppressive interior of the sanctuary, they light red candles and give themselves to successive prayers.

The small flames of faith warm their faces and the diagonal streaks of light filtered through the stained glass windows at the top of the church. They add some mysticism to the already arcane atmosphere.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Prayers

Armenian believers pray during a mass held in Echmiadzin Cathedral.

Armenian Apostolic Mass has little to do with those we were used to.

It takes place in different sections of the cathedral.

The choir produces powerful melodies from a wing. The chief priests, clad in resplendent red or gold robes, vocalize or echo the mass with slow and repeated rites and rituals involving scepters, crucifixes, religious books, other sacred artifacts.

The expected bank sequences do not take place. Most believers stand and move from one side of the cruciform space to the other in a conviviality that proves as religious as it is social and informal.

This harmony is gently broken when the Catholicos The present day of Armenia is present in the cathedral in its usual black hooded costume covered with a purple robe and circulates among the believers who seek the blessing of its blessing.

Armenia Cradle Christianity, Catholicus Blessing

Catholicos – leader of the Armenian church – blesses believers outside Echmiadzin Cathedral.

We recognize his supreme office and focus our attention on him. We follow the commotion generated until the door of the cathedral where dozens of other faithful are already anxiously awaiting the leader of their church.

O Catholicos, salutes and blesses them. Without expecting it, that voluminous character with a rosy face and a very white beard finds the photographic apparatus that, instead of a simple crucifix, we have hung around our necks strange.

Even so, he ends up blessing us even before disappearing, at the head of a retinue of priests, in Echmiadzin's secluded rooms.

Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Guwahati, India

The City that Worships Kamakhya and the Fertility

Guwahati is the largest city in the state of Assam and in North East India. It is also one of the fastest growing in the world. For Hindus and devout believers in Tantra, it will be no coincidence that Kamakhya, the mother goddess of creation, is worshiped there.
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia still Perfumed by the Rose Revolution

In 2003, a popular political uprising made the sphere of power in Georgia tilt from East to West. Since then, the capital Tbilisi has not renounced its centuries of Soviet history, nor the revolutionary assumption of integrating into Europe. When we visit, we are dazzled by the fascinating mix of their past lives.
Alaverdi, Armenia

A Cable Car Called Ensejo

The top of the Debed River Gorge hides the Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat and terraced Soviet apartment blocks. Its bottom houses the copper mine and smelter that sustains the city. Connecting these two worlds is a providential suspended cabin in which the people of Alaverdi count on traveling in the company of God.
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Suzdal, Russia

Centuries of Devotion to a Devoted Monk

Euthymius was a fourteenth-century Russian ascetic who gave himself body and soul to God. His faith inspired Suzdal's religiosity. The city's believers worship him as the saint he has become.
Helsinki, Finland

A Frigid-Scholarly Via Crucis

When Holy Week arrives, Helsinki shows its belief. Despite the freezing cold, little dressed actors star in a sophisticated re-enactment of Via Crucis through streets full of spectators.
Jerusalem, Israel

Closer to God

Three thousand years of history as mystical as it is troubled come to life in Jerusalem. Worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, this city radiates controversy but attracts believers from all over the world.
Suzdal, Russia

Thousand Years of Old Fashioned Russia

It was a lavish capital when Moscow was just a rural hamlet. Along the way, it lost political relevance but accumulated the largest concentration of churches, monasteries and convents in the country of the tsars. Today, beneath its countless domes, Suzdal is as orthodox as it is monumental.
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Mount Sinai, Egypt

Strength in the Legs, Faith in God

Moses received the Ten Commandments on the summit of Mount Sinai and revealed them to the people of Israel. Today, hundreds of pilgrims climb, every night, the 4000 steps of that painful but mystical ascent.
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Safari
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Thorong Pedi to High Camp, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Lone Walker
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 12th - Thorong Phedi a High camp

The Prelude to the Supreme Crossing

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hacienda mucuyche, Yucatan, Mexico, canal
Architecture & Design
Yucatan, Mexico

Among Haciendas and Cenotes, through the History of Yucatan

Around the capital Merida, for every old hacienda henequenera there's at least one cenote. As happened with the semi-recovered Hacienda Mucuyché, together, they form some of the most sublime places in southeastern Mexico.

Adventure
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
drinks entre reis, cavalhadas de pirenopolis, crusades, brazil
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pirenópolis, Brazil

Brazilian Crusades

Christian armies expelled Muslim forces from the Iberian Peninsula in the XNUMXth century. XV but, in Pirenópolis, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, the South American subjects of Carlos Magno continue to triumph.
Vittoriosa, Birgu, Malta, Waterfront, Marina
Cities
Birgu, Malta

To the Conquest of the Victorious City

Vittoriosa is the oldest of the Three Cities of Malta, headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller and, from 1530 to 1571, its capital. The resistance he offered to the Ottomans in the Great Siege of Malta kept the island Christian. Even if, later, Valletta took over the administrative and political role, the old Birgu shines with historic glory.
Beverage Machines, Japan
Meal
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Saida Ksar Ouled Soltane, festival of the ksour, tataouine, tunisia
Culture
Tataouine, Tunisia

Festival of the Ksour: Sand Castles That Don't Collapse

The ksour were built as fortifications by the Berbers of North Africa. They resisted Arab invasions and centuries of erosion. Every year, the Festival of the Ksour pays them the due homage.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Fort São Filipe, Cidade Velha, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
Ethnic
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

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History
Saint-Pierre, Martinique

The City that Arose from the Ashes

In 1900, the economic capital of the Antilles was envied for its Parisian sophistication, until the Pelée volcano charred and buried it. More than a century later, Saint-Pierre is still regenerating.
Bonaire, island, Netherlands Antilles, ABC, Caribbean, Rincon
Islands
Rincon, Bonaire

The Pioneering Corner of the Netherlands Antilles

Shortly after Columbus' arrival in the Americas, the Castilians discovered a Caribbean island they called Brazil. Afraid of the pirate threat, they hid their first village in a valley. One century after, the Dutch took over this island and renamed it Bonaire. They didn't erase the unpretentious name of the trailblazer colony: Rincon.
Northern Lights, Laponia, Rovaniemi, Finland, Fire Fox
Winter White
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

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Lake Manyara, National Park, Ernest Hemingway, Giraffes
Literature
Lake Manyara NP, Tanzania

Hemingway's Favorite Africa

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Flock of flamingos, Laguna Oviedo, Dominican Republic
Nature
Oviedo Lagoon, Dominican Republic

The (very alive) Dominican Republic Dead Sea

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Ribeiro Frio, Madeira, Vereda dos Balcões,
Natural Parks
Ribeiro Frio Forest Park, Madeira

Ribeiro Frio Acima, on the Path of Balcões

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Conflicted Way
UNESCO World Heritage
Jerusalem, Israel

Through the Belicious Streets of Via Dolorosa

In Jerusalem, while traveling the Via Dolorosa, the most sensitive believers realize how difficult the peace of the Lord is to achieve in the most disputed streets on the face of the earth.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

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knights of the divine, faith in the divine holy spirit, Pirenopolis, Brazil
Religion
Pirenópolis, Brazil

A Ride of Faith

Introduced in 1819 by Portuguese priests, the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo de Pirenópolis it aggregates a complex web of religious and pagan celebrations. It lasts more than 20 days, spent mostly on the saddle.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Bright bus in Apia, Western Samoa
Society
Samoa  

In Search of the Lost Time

For 121 years, it was the last nation on Earth to change the day. But Samoa realized that his finances were behind him and, in late 2012, he decided to move back west on the LID - International Date Line.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, streymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Crocodiles, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild
Wildlife
Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Australia

Tropical Queensland: An Australia Too Wild

Cyclones and floods are just the meteorological expression of Queensland's tropical harshness. When it's not the weather, it's the deadly fauna of the region that keeps its inhabitants on their toes.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.