The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken primarily by Armenians. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically being spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands, today, Armenian is widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian communities. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates in the early 4th century. The church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus in the 1st century, according to tradition.
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory.
The monastery was entirely rebuilt by lord Smbat of the House of Orbelian, a branch of the Liparitids who were expelled to Armenia in the late 12th century from Georgia. Liparitids were themselves a branch of the Mamikonians. Smbat was the ancestor of the Armenian princes of Syunik. A Georgian inscription around the drum attests his name.
The Orbelian lords of the province of Syunik were a noble family of Armenia, with a long history of political influence documented in inscriptions throughout the provinces of Vayots Dzor and Syunik, and recorded by the family historian Bishop Stepanos in his 1297 History of Syunik.
The Liparitids, also known as Baghuashi (ბაღჳაში), were a noble house (didebuli) in medieval Georgia, with notable members from the 9th to 12th centuries and famed for their powerful resistance to the consolidation of the Bagratid royal authority in the Kingdom of Georgia. A principal branch of the Liparitid house, known later under the name of Orbeli or Orbeliani, were expelled, in 1177 after a failed coup to Armenia where they came to be known as the Orbelian Dynasty, and controlled Syunik and Vayots Dzor until the Invasions of Tamerlane. That said: the family gave origin to several cadet branches which have survived in Georgia for several centuries.
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
The monastery has a gavit and various service buildings scattered around the site.
A gavit or zhamatun is often contiguous to the west of a church in a Medieval Armenian monastery. It served as narthex, mausoleum and assembly room.
The government of Armenia has recently begun renovating the monastery. The collapsed dome of the main church has been restored entirely.
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Lori, is a province (marz) of Armenia. It is located in the north of the country, bordering Georgia. Vanadzor is the capital and largest city of the province. Other important towns include Stepanavan, Alaverdi, and Spitak. It is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Haghpat and Sanahin monasteries and the well-preserved Akhtala monastery, where Armenians, Georgians, and Greeks make an annual pilgrimage on September 20–21.
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The Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia, was an independent state established by Ashot I Bagratuni in the early 880s following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule. With the two contemporary powers in the region, the Abbasids and Byzantines, too preoccupied to concentrate their forces in subjugating the people of the region and the dissipation of several of the Armenian nakharar noble families, Ashot was able to assert himself as the leading figure of a movement to dislodge the Arabs from Armenia.
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Yerazgavorsi Surb Amenaprkitchi Vank is Armenian monastery in the village of Çetindurak in the Kars Province of present-day Turkey. This corresponds to Shirakavan settlement of Historical Armenia, also known by its older name of Yerazgavors, developed into a small town in the mid-ninth century AD. It was located about 25 km Northeast of Ani, the capital of the medieval Bagratid (Bagratuni) Armenian Kingdom.
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The Katskhi Monastery of Nativity of the Savior , more commonly known as the Katskhi Monastery is a medieval monastery in Georgia, located in the village of Katskhi near the town of Chiatura. It was built at the behest of the Baguashi family in the period of 988–1014. The church building is noted for a hexagonal design and rich ornamentation. Closed down by the Soviet government in 1924, the monastery was revived in 1990 and is now operated by the Eparchy of Sachkhere and Chiatura of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Arakelots Monastery was an Armenian monastery in the historic province of Taron, 11 km south-east of Mush (Muş), in present-day eastern Turkey. According to tradition, Gregory the Illuminator founded the monastery to house relics of several apostles. The monastery was, however, most likely built in the 11th century. During the 12th-13th centuries it was a major center of learning. In the following centuries it was expanded, destroyed and renovated. It remained one of the prominent monasteries of Turkish (Western) Armenia until the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when it was attacked and subsequently abandoned. It remained standing until the 1960s when it was reportedly blown up. Today, ruins of the monastery are still visible.
Bagratuni family tree describes the heritage of the Bagratuni family in Armenia and Georgia.
