In the Simplicity and Pureness Lies the Greatness of Armenian Architecture.
Written by Gevork Nazaryan
he light of Christian faith and the establishment of the "House of God on Earth" has been in the heart of the Armenian nation since the earliest times of the spread of Gospel and the True Word of God by Christ's two, Holy Apostles, St. Bartholomew and St. Thaddeus. The Holy preachers began their Godly mission in the South-Eastern provinces of Siunik, Goghtan (Goltan) and Artaz of Greater Armenia. St. Thaddeus had brought with him to Armenia one of the most holiest relics in all of the Christendom. The sacred lance with which Christ was pierced on the Holy Cross by one of the Roman soldiers during the
Crucifix. The lance became the most treasured possession of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church and to this day it is still kept as the holiest of hollies in the treasure-house, wonder museum of
Holy Echmiadzin. St. Thaddeus, had quickly gathered a throng of supporters in the Eastern and South-Eastern provinces. In the year 66 A.D. St. Thaddeus, in the province of Artaz denounced and demolished a pagan temple and on the ruins established a sacred church, which became the first foundational church not only in Armenia, but throughout all of the Christian world. The Church became known as the Church of St. Thaddeus (Sourb Thadei) and ever since has become a sacred holy ground of
pilgrimage by the devout Armenians. Men, women, children, young and old, all embark on a
pilgrimage to the province of Artaz and pay homage to the holy site of the great enlightener St. Thaddeus. But the church did not take an all-national identity and initially the newly established church was persecuted in Armenia by the Armenian Arshakouni (Arsacid) kings and many of the Christians along with the Holy Apostles fell as true martyrs in the name of God and Christianity. The Christian faith was firmly established in early IV th Century A.D. when in 301 A.D. St. Gregory the Illuminator established the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church based on the tradition and the fundamental efforts of the two Holy Apostles. St. Gregory established a Catholicosal Seat in the newly built
Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, completed in 303 A.D.
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