German and Armenian researchers have discovered an ancient church in Armenia dating back to the fourth century, making it the oldest documented church in the country, which is considered to be the first Christian nation in the world. Source: CNA.
Co-directors of the project, Achim Lichtenberger and Torben Schreiber of the University of Münster and Hayk Gyulamiryan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences explained the significance of the discovery made by the team at the site of the ancient city of Artaxata.
“Being the first country which adopted Christianity at the state level, and where the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew preached Christianity in the early first century, this discovery is a very important fact for Armenians,” Mr Gyulamiryan said.
Mr Lichtenberger emphasised the site’s particular importance, as the church was discovered near the monastery of Khor Virap, where St Gregory the Illuminator had been kept in prison before he converted Armenian king Tiradates III to Christianity in the fourth century.
As Mr Gyulamiryan stated, although the roots of Christianity may be traced back to the time of the apostles in Armenia, it was not until 301 that Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of Armenia.
According to tradition, Armenia’s conversion is attributed to St Gregory the Illuminator, a Christian evangelist and convert from Zoroastrianism who miraculously cured the nation’s pagan king of a peculiar “illness” after no other pagan priest was able to do so.
St Gregory is revered both in the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church and in the Catholic Church traditions.
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Ancient ruins in Armenia might be oldest church in world’s first Christian nation (By Madalaine Elhabbal, CNA)
