Cathedral of St. Gregory the Enlightener in Yerevan

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.

History of the Cathedral

The construction of the temple complex was consecrated by Katalikos of Armenia Garegin I in 1997. It ended in 2001 to 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 five centuries in one of the monasteries of Naples. They were given to the cathedral after his consecration.

This event occurred in September 2001. The ceremony was held by Patriarch Alexy II. It was attended by the head of the Apostolic Armenian Church Katalikos Garegin II, representatives of various religious denominations, as well as the President of the Republic Robert Kocharian. A week after the cathedral was consecrated, the Pope held his service there. To listen to it was gathered more than 30 thousand people.

The life of the famous enlightener

Gregory was born in 252 in the family of the paraglider Anaka. At the instigation of the Persian king, Anak killed Khosrov, the ruler of Armenia. For this act, he and members of his family were executed. The nurse was able to hide her youngest son and take her to Caesarea. When the boy grew up, he was baptized, and he went to Rome to serve Tiridat as the son of the ruler of Khosrov, in order to atone for his father's crime.

Tiridat's homeland was Armenia. Yerevan became a city in which he returned in 287 with the goal of returning the throne of his father. After that, he imprisoned Gregory in the dungeon, in which he stayed almost 13 years. When he was released, he enlisted in enlightenment activities and cured Tiridath of a serious illness. In 301, the king christened and declared Christianity the state religion of Armenia.

In 302, the Enlightener Gregory was ordained bishop. After this, he built in Egmiatsin temple in Vagharshapag in honor of Jesus Christ. For the rest of his life he preached Christianity on the territory of 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 gave him the pulpit, and he lived in a hermitage until his death.

Architectural solution

The cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator was erected according to the plan of the architect Stepan Kyurkchyan. The construction was carried out at the expense of the donations of the respected families of Armenia. The temple was built in a strict ascetic style, characteristic of Armenian religious buildings. The building has angular shapes. It is decorated with niches, triangular arches and elongated windows with stained glass windows.

The church complex includes the cathedral, the church of St. Tiridates and the church of Queen Ashkhan. Each of them can accommodate 150 people. Their name is not accidental. After Christianity became the official religion of Armenia, King Tiridat III, together with Queen Ashhen, helped St. Gregory to spread faith in the territory of the state.

Under the temple complex plot of 3822 square. Meter. On the cathedral's building there are only three domes with strict crosses. Near the cathedral are the bell towers. The distance from the top of the highest cross to the earth is 54 meters. The cathedral is well seen from different parts of the city.

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 holds 1700 people. The room is very spacious, there are benches for parishioners. The number of seats was chosen not accidentally, it is tied to the anniversary of the establishment 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 the saints. On the walls of the building there is no art painting and murals. Despite this, the room looks majestic. The dome of the cathedral is decorated with a large chandelier. In the room in a special canon are kept the shrines of the Christian Armenian church: the relics of Gregory the Illuminator and some other relics associated with his name.

Return of the holy relics

When President Serzh Sargsyan visited Italy in April 2015, at 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 transferred. For five centuries, relics were kept 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 lived in recent years, and later ashes were moved to his ancestral estate. The grave of the Enlightener for more than a thousand years was a place of worship for the Armenians. After many years, fragments of Gregory's relics were transferred to Constantinople, and then taken out by the Armenian diaspora to Naples and kept in the Basilian monastery.

In honor of the return of sacred objects to the cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator in the monastery of Naples, Mass was held, attended by President Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian Ambassador 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.