The first country in the world in which Christianity was adopted at the state level is Armenia. Yerevan is the city in which the largest cathedral is built. This is a tribute to the memory of Gregory the Illuminator, who spread the Christian religion in the state.
Cathedral History
The construction of the temple complex was consecrated by the Catalikos of Armenia Garegin I in 1997. It ended in 2001 for the 1700th anniversary of the recognition of the Christian religion in the state. At the moment, the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator is one of the most significant buildings in the capital. It contains relics associated with his name and stored for five centuries in one of the monasteries of Naples. They were transferred to the cathedral after its consecration.
This event occurred in September 2001. The ceremony was conducted by
Patriarch Alexy II. It was attended by the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Katalikos Garegin II, representatives of various religious faiths, as well as the President of the Republic Robert Kocharyan. A week after the cathedral was consecrated, the Pope served there. More than 30 thousand people gathered to listen to him.
The life of the famous enlightener
Gregory was born in 252 in the family of a Parafian Anak. At the instigation of the Persian king, Anak killed Khosrov, the ruler of Armenia. For this act, he and his family members were executed. The nurse managed to hide her youngest son and take her to her homeland in Caesarea. When the boy grew up, he was christened, and he went to Rome to serve Tiridat the son of the ruler of Khosrov in order to atone for the crime of his father.
The homeland of Tiridat was Armenia. Yerevan became the city to which he returned in 287 with the aim of returning the throne of his father. After that, he imprisoned Gregory in a dungeon in which he stayed for almost 13 years. When he was released, he engaged in educational activities and cured Tiridate from a serious illness. In 301, the king was baptized and declared Christianity the state religion of Armenia.
In 302, the enlightener Gregory was ordained bishop. After that, he built the Etchmiadzin Temple in Vagharshapag in honor of Jesus Christ. For the rest of his life, he preached Christianity in Armenia and Georgia. In 325, he was invited to the First Ecumenical Council in Nick, but he sent his son to him. After his return, Gregory handed him the pulpit, and he lived in seclusion until his death.
Architectural solution
The Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator was erected according to the plan of the architect Stepan Kurkchyan. The construction was carried out at the expense of donations from respected families of Armenia. The temple was built in a strict ascetic style, characteristic of Armenian religious buildings. The building has angular shapes. Niches, triangular arches and elongated windows with stained glass windows adorn it.
The temple complex includes a cathedral, the church of St. Tiridat and the church of Queen Ashkhen. Each of them accommodates 150 people. Their name is not accidental. After Christianity became the official religion of Armenia, King Tiridat III, together with Queen Ashkhen, helped St. Gregory to spread faith in the territory of the state.
A plot of 3822 sq. M was allotted for the temple complex. meter. There are only three domes with strict crosses on the cathedral building. Near the cathedral are bell towers. The distance from the top of the highest cross to the earth is 54 meters. The cathedral is clearly visible from different parts of the city.
The interior of the cathedral
The interior of the temple corresponds to the style adopted in the church architecture of Armenia. The Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator seats 1700 people. The room is very spacious, there are benches for parishioners. The number of seats was chosen by chance, it is tied to the anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia.
There is a lot of light in the temple. The iconostasis of the cathedral looks very modest. It is decorated with a small number of icons depicting saints. On the walls of the building there is no art painting and murals. Despite this, the room looks magnificent. The dome of the cathedral is decorated with a large chandelier. The shrine of the Christian Armenian Church: particles of the relics of Gregory the Illuminator and some other relics associated with his name are stored indoors in a special cancer chamber.
The Return of the Holy Relics
When President Serzh Sargsyan paid a visit to Italy in April 2015, to the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator (Yerevan) The sacred rarities of the Armenian Church - the skull of Gregory in a golden case and the tibia - were handed over. For five centuries, relics were stored in the Armenian Church of Naples.
The history of the Armenian and Catholic churches is inextricably linked with the name of Gregory the Illuminator. After his death, he was buried in the same cave where he had lived for the last years, and later the ashes were transferred to his family estate. The tomb of the enlightener has been a place of worship for Armenians for over a thousand years. After many years, fragments of the relics of Gregory were transferred to Constantinople, and then exported by the Armenian diaspora to Naples and stored in a Basilian monastery.
In honor of the return of the shrines to the cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator, a mass was celebrated in the monastery of Naples, in which President Serzh Sargsyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to the Holy Person in the Vatican, the Archbishop of Naples and the mayor of the city, as well as other high-ranking representatives of Italy and Armenia, attended.