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Vagharshapat
Vagharshapat ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Armenia, 5th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is commonly known as Ejmiatsin (also spelled Echmiadzin or Etchmiadzin, , ), which was its official name between 1945 and 1995. It is still commonly used colloquially and in official bureaucracy, a case of dual naming. The city is best known as the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is thus unofficially known in Western sources as a "holy city" and in Armenia as the country's "spiritual capital". It was one of the major cities and a historic capitals of Armenia, capital of Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), the ancient Kingdom of Greater Armenia. Reduced to a small town by the early 20th century, it experienced large expansion during the Soviet period beco ...
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Armavir Province
Armavir (, ), is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz'') in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the town of Armavir, Armenia, Armavir while the largest city is Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin). The province shares a -long border with Turkey to the south and west. The province is home to the spiritual centre of the Armenian nation; the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is the seat of the Catholicos of Armenia, Catholicos of All Armenians. The province is named after the ancient city of Armavir (ancient city), Armavir founded in 331 BC. The province is also the site of the decisive Battle of Sardarabad in 1918 that resulted in the foundation of the First Republic of Armenia, Republic of Armenia. The battle is seen as a crucial historical event not only in stopping the Turkish advance into the rest of Armenia but a ...
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Saint Hripsime Church
Saint Hripsime Church is a seventh-century Armenian Apostolic church in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia. It was built in 618 by Catholicos Komitas over the tomb of Hripsime, a Roman virgin murdered by Tiridates III and a key figure in the Christianization of Armenia. Standing largely intact since its construction, the church has been widely admired for its architecture and proportions. Considered a masterpiece of classical Armenian architecture, it has influenced many other Armenian churches. It features innovations, namely trapezoidal niches and conical squinches, containing their first dated examples, and the only example in Armenia of turrets at the base of the drum serving as anchors and buttresses. The two inscriptions left by Komitas constitute the second-earliest extant Armenian-language inscriptions. The church was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with other nearby churches, including Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's mother church, in 200 ...
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Echmiadzin Cathedral
Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city dually known as Etchmiadzin (Ejmiatsin) and Vagharshapat, Armenia. It is usually considered the first cathedral built in ancient Armenia, and often regarded as the oldest cathedral in the world. The original church was built in the early fourth century—between 301 and 303 according to tradition—by Armenia's patron saint Gregory the Illuminator, following the adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III. It was built over a pagan temple, symbolizing the conversion from paganism to Christianity. The core of the current building was built in 483/4 by Vahan Mamikonian after the cathedral was severely damaged in a Persian invasion. 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. Although never losing its significance, the cathedral subsequently suffered centu ...
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Etchmiadzin Cathedral
Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the Mother church#Church as a building, mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city Dual naming, dually known as Etchmiadzin (Ejmiatsin) and Vagharshapat, Armenia. It is #Oldest cathedral, usually considered the first cathedral built in Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), ancient Armenia, and often regarded as the List of oldest church buildings, oldest cathedral in the world. The original church was built in the early fourth century—between 301 and 303 according to tradition—by Armenia's patron saint Gregory the Illuminator, following the adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III of Armenia, Tiridates III. It was built over a pagan temple, symbolizing the conversion from paganism to Christianity. The core of the current building was built in 483/4 by Vahan Mamikonian after the cathedral was severely damaged in a Persian invasion. From its foundation until the second half of the fifth century, Etchmiadzin ...
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Mother See Of Holy Etchmiadzin
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (), known in Armenian as simply the Mother See (Մայր Աթոռ, ''Mayr At’oř''), is the governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is headquartered around Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia and is the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the head of the church. Organizational structure The organizational structure of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is composed of spiritual and administrative bodies representing the authority of the Armenian Church, as follows: Supreme Spiritual Council The Supreme Spiritual Council ( ''Geraguyn Hokevor Khorhurt'') is headed by the Catholicos of All Armenians. It is the highest executive body of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Members of the Spiritual Council are either elected by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly or directly appointed by the Catholicos of All Armenians. The Supreme Spiritual Council was established on January 1, 1924, upon reforms initiated by Cat ...
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Saint Gayane Church
The Saint Gayane Church (; pronounced ''Surb Gayane yekeghetsi'') is a 7th-century Armenian church in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), the religious center of Armenia. It is located within walking distance from the Etchmiadzin Cathedral of 301. St. Gayane was built by Catholicos Ezra I in the year 630. Its design has remained unchanged despite partial renovations of the dome and some ceilings in 1652. Gayane was the name of an abbess who was martyred with other nuns by Tiridates III of Armenia in the year 301, and subsequently made a saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2000, Saint Gayane Church was listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with historical churches of Vagharshapat. History Saint Gayane Church sits on the site where the aforementioned saint was martyred during the time of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in the year 301 AD. The fifth century Armenian historian Agathangelos wrote that the young and beautiful Hripsime, who at the time was a Chri ...
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Zvartnots Cathedral
Zvartnots Cathedral ( (Classical Armenian orthography, classical); (Armenian orthography reform, reformed), sometimes rendered in scholarly works as Zuart'nots' or Zuart'noc' ; 'place of reserection/lifefulness/joyfulness') is a medieval Armenian architecture, Armenian cathedral near Vagharshapat, Vagharshapat (Ejmiatsin), Armenia. Built in the seventh century and now lying in ruins, Zvartnots was noted for its circular exterior structure, unique in medieval Armenian architecture, and a set of interior piers that upheld a multifloor structure crowned with a dome. History Zvartnots was built during the first Muslim Arab raids Arab conquest of Armenia, to capture and conquer the territories of Byzantine Empire, Byzantine and Sasanian Armenia. Construction of the cathedral began in 643, under the guidance of Catholicos of All Armenians, Catholicos Nerses the Builder, Nerses III the Builder (''Shinogh''). Dedicated to St. Gregory, the cathedral was built on a location where a ...
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Kingdom Of Armenia (antiquity)
The Kingdom of Greater Armenia or simply Greater Armenia or Armenia Major ( '; ), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire under Tigranes the Great, Tigranes II, was an Armenians, Armenian kingdom in the Ancient Near East which existed from 331 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into the successive reigns of three Royal family, royal dynasties: Orontid dynasty, Orontid (331–200 BC), Artaxiad dynasty, Artaxiad (189 BC12 AD), and Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, Arsacid (52–428). The root of the kingdom lies in the Satrapy of Armenia of the Achaemenid Empire of Iran, which was formed from the territory of Urartu (860–590 BC) after it was conquered by the Medes in 590 BC. The satrapy became a kingdom in 321 BC during the reign of the Orontid dynasty after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, which was then incorporated as one of the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic kingdoms of the Seleucid Empire. Under the Seleucid Empire ( ...
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Gevorgian Seminary
Gevorkian Theological Seminary ( ''Gevorkyan Hogevor Č̣emaran''), also known as Gevorkian Seminary ( ''Gevorkyan Č̣emaran'', ), is a theological university-institute of the Armenian Apostolic Church opened in 1874. It is located in the town of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin) within the complex of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Armenia. History Nineteenth century In May 1869 Catholicos Gevorg IV laid the cornerstone of the Gevorkian Seminary on the grounds of Etchmiadzin. The seminary was under construction from 1869–1874 while the Armenian Church negotiated its opening with the Tsarist government. On 28 September 1874 the seminary building's completion was celebrated. On 5 October 1874 the Caucasus Commission told the Armenian Church that the tsar had approved the seminary charter and it was allowed to open. The seminary had its first graduates during the 1885–86 academic year. Graduates of the seminary included Komitas, a pioneering ethnomusicologist and arranger of c ...
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Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country, as its primate city. It has been the Historical capitals of Armenia, capital since 1918, the Historical capitals of Armenia, fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world. The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni Fortress, Erebuni in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu, Argishti I of Urartu at the western extreme of the Ararat Plain. Erebuni was "designed as a great administrative and reli ...
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Movses Khorenatsi
Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''. Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at a universal history of Armenia and remains the only known general account of early Armenian history. It traces Armenian history from its origins to the fifth century, during which Movses claimed to have lived. His history had an enormous impact on Armenian historiography and was used and quoted extensively by later medieval Armenian authors. He is called the "father of Armenian history" () in Armenian, and is sometimes referred to as the "Armenian Herodotus". Movses's history is also valued for its unique material on the old oral traditions in Armenia before its conversion to Christianity. Approximately twenty manuscripts of Movses's history have reached us, the majority of which date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Movses i ...
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Shoghakat Church
The Church of Shoghakat (; meaning "drop of light" because of the ray of light that came down from heaven upon Hripsime's martyrs) was erected in 1694 by Prince Aghamal Sorotetsi during the reign of Catholicos Nahabed I in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), in Armenia's Armavir Province. History The church sits on the holy site where a group of unnamed nuns following Gayane and Hripsime were martyred during the time of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in the year 301 AD. The 5th-century Armenian historian Agathangelos wrote that the young and beautiful Hripsime who at the time was a Christian nun in Rome, was to be forcefully married to the Roman emperor Diocletian. She and the abbess Gayane among other nuns fled the tyrant emperor and left to Armenia. The pagan Armenian King Trdat received a letter from Diocletian in which he described her beauty. Trdat discovered where the nuns were hiding, and fell in love with Hripsime and later Gayane. After their refusa ...
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