AGENCY FOR CONSERVATION
OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MONUMENTS
CATHEDRAL OF ST. EJMIATSIN
(4TH 17TH CENTURIES)
". . . SUDDENLY THERE WAS A FEARFUL NOISE . . . AND THE VAULT OF THE FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN OPENED . . . AND THERE WAS AN AWESOME VISION OF A MAN (CHRIST) DESCENDING FROM ABOVE . . . AND IN HIS HAND WAS A GREAT HAMMER OF GOLD . . . AND HE STRUCK THE WIDE EXPANSE OF THE SOLID GROUND, AND GREAT AND IMMEASURABLE RUMBLINGS SOUNDED IN THE DEPTHS OF HELL . . . IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY, I SAW A BASE OF GOLD, AND ON IT AN EXCEEDINGLY TALL COLUMN OF FIRE AND ON TOP OF THAT A CAPITAL OF CLOUD AND ON TOP OF THAT AGAIN A CROSS OF LIGHT." SO SAID ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR IN THE EARLY FOURTH CENTURY, DESCRIBING HIS VISION TO KING TRDAT AND THE ROYAL COURT ACCORDING TO THE FIFTH–CENTURY ARMENIAN HISTORIAN, AGATHANGELOS, IN HIS "HISTORY OF THE ARMENIANS."
AT THIS SACRED SITE IN THE FOURTH-CENTURY WAS BUILT THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. EJMIATSIN, WHICH MEANS "THE DESCENT OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN," IN REFERENCE TO THAT VISION. FOR CENTURIES IT HAS BEEN, AND IT STILL IS, THE TRADITIONAL SEAT OF THE CATHOLICOS OR SUPREME PATRIARCH, OF ALL ARMENIANS. IT IS THE BEST KNOWN ARMENIAN CATHEDRAL AND ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE CENTERS OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH. THE CATHEDRAL'S EXPERTLY CUT VOLCANIC BLOCKS ARE THEMSELVES AN ELOQUENT RECORD OF THE COMMITMENT OF THE ARMENIANS TO THEIR FAITH AND IDENTITY, AS WAS THEIR PATTERN OF REBUILDING SACRED MONUMENTS AFTER SUCCESSIVE INVASIONS, CENTURY AFTER CENTURY. SOME PART OF THE PRESENTLY STANDING CATHEDRAL IS AS OLD AS THE FOURTH CENTURY OR EARLIER. (ARMENIA ADOPTED CHRISTIANITY AS ITS OFFICIAL RELIGION IN 301 A.D., THE FIRST NATION IN THE WORLD TO DO SO.) ONE EXTERIOR WALL IS A SURVIVOR FROM CATHOLICOS SAHAK'S FIFTH CENTURY RECONSTRUCTION. THE CATHEDRAL WAS REPAIRED IN THE SIXTH-CENTURY BY VAHAN MAMIKONIAN, AND IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY BY CATHOLICOS KOMITAS. MOST OF THE PRESENT CHURCH WAS BUILT IN THE SEVENTEENTH–CENTURY AND LATER. ANCIENT STRUCTURAL MEMBERS ARE STILL VISIBLE BELOW THE GROUND FLOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL.
THE PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL IS ECHOED IN SOME MEDIEVAL CHURCHES OF WESTERN EUROPE AND CITED BY SOME SCHOLARS AS EVIDENCE OF A LINK BETWEEN ARMENIAN AND WESTERN MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE.
(WITH THE COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE OF THE ARMENIAN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM OF AMERICA, IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.)
