Before I continue, I want to leave a small tribute to the many innocent lives lost in the suicide bomb attacks on Easter Day in Sri Lanka. There is absolutely no reason for the mindless killing, and I don’t see what purpose they serve. Those suicide bombers, whoever they are, ARE GOING TO HELL, whatever they believe in, as I do not believe that there is any one religion who say that killing innocent men, women and children, would get them to heaven. If heaven is indeed filled with twisted souls like these, God help heaven.
God, bless those who have left us, they are with You now. Bless their loved ones, and make it easy for them to continue with hope and love, despite their loss. Lastly, bring some sanity back to the growing numbers of extremists and fanatics, who claim to represent You. Let them dissipate and disappear. Let them understand the message of peace and love that You have spread to humankind…
………
Now, back to the blog, might as well continue with Armenia. As mentioned in the post before, Armenia happens to be the first nation in history, to officially adopt Christianity as its official religion, in AD 301, well before the Romans did! (And …I actually found this out only when writing my last blog post, ahem. Wikipedia, man! …Was completely unaware of this when we visited Armenia last July!!!)
Anyway, to cut the story short, the king of Armenia at that time, Tiridates III, had one of his advisors, a devout Christian named Grigor, tortured and thrown into a deep narrow pit, 60m below the ground (200 feet!), for refusing to lay a wreath on the feet of a goddess statue. (Armenia at that time had pagan gods). But that, I suspect, might not be the main reason the king did that. Grigor so happened to also be the son of the man who killed Tiridates’s father! (Now, if I were him, I might’ve done the same thing, …or worse).
Well, Grigor managed to survive 13 friggin years in that cell at the bottom of the pit, which could be accessed only by a ladder through a narrow hole in the ground, meaning he would’ve most probably be in absolute darkness for 13 friggin years! And imagine the smell from all that poo and pee (you think they’d have toilets? And nope, I’m sure there wasn’t a ventilation fan, or a window. Come to think of it, he could’ve have died from the methane generated from his own poo itself!) Luckily for him, a widow from the nearby village, threw a loaf of bread, daily into the hole. (Don’t ask me where he managed to get water to drink!?!)
Meanwhile, up above ground, Tiridates III did as all medieval kings did, fought wars, forged ties, broke ties, fought wars, etc. Then came a group of virgin nuns who were on the run from Rome. They sought the protection of Tiridates. One of the nuns, Rhipsime, was renowned for her beauty. Again, like what medieval kings are known for, Tiridates demanded that Rhipsime marries him. When she refused, the whole group of nuns (except one) were tortured and killed. (Yeah, people then were as cruel as people now!) (The sole survivor, later went on to become the nun who brought Christianity to Georgia). Because of guilt for that ghastly act, or maybe because of the retribution of God, Tiridates became mad, and became like a wild boar. One day, Tiridates’ sister had a dream about Grigor curing Tiridates. She searched and voila! Grigor was still alive after all these years! Sure enough, he cured Tiridates of his insanity and in return the king converted to Christianity and so did his entire kingdom, being the first to do so. Grigor became the first head of the Armenian Church, and is now known as St Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of Armenia.
Now, here’re some pictures.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, the main church in Yerevan City, Armenia
Attending mass on a Sunday morning, in Yerevan!
Statue of a national hero outside the St Gregory Cathedral, Yerevan, Armenia
And this is Khor Virap, the site of the deep dungeon cell, where St Gregory was imprisoned for 13 years (or 14 as some accounts go) “…Whew, what a hot day, but luckily, there are those free-flowing drinking fountains around!” – Armenia
The main church in Khor Virap, the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church (the Holy Mother of God Church) …Yup, every other church seems to be named that
And this is the entrance to the dungeon cell of St Gregory. It’s just a small hole with a ladder at the bottom right hand corner of the photo, obstructed by all the people. It’s not in the main church but in a small building surrounding the main church. Nope, yours truly was forbidden to climb down …by the missus, coz little Jayden would wanna follow. We let Justin climb down though, and he was the only one from our group who saw the cell!
The courtyard in front of the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap. By the way, Khor Virap actually means ‘deep dungeon’ in Armenian
Hey, a marriage! …This was where Jayden met a ‘princess.’ Check out my old post
Marriage ceremony, Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap
View of the countryside, from Khor Virap. Can you see the outlines of two majestic mountains thru the hazy air? The bigger of them is Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia (although it actually lies across the border in Turkey now)
That’s Khor Virap, with Mount Ararat in the background, on the hazy day of our visit
And that’s Khor Virap on a clear day, with Mount Ararat in all its glory! Compliments of Wikipedia (photo taken by Diego Delso). Thanks mate for the beautiful photo!
God, bless those who have left us, they are with You now. Bless their loved ones, and make it easy for them to continue with hope and love, despite their loss. Lastly, bring some sanity back to the growing numbers of extremists and fanatics, who claim to represent You. Let them dissipate and disappear. Let them understand the message of peace and love that You have spread to humankind…
………
Now, back to the blog, might as well continue with Armenia. As mentioned in the post before, Armenia happens to be the first nation in history, to officially adopt Christianity as its official religion, in AD 301, well before the Romans did! (And …I actually found this out only when writing my last blog post, ahem. Wikipedia, man! …Was completely unaware of this when we visited Armenia last July!!!)
Anyway, to cut the story short, the king of Armenia at that time, Tiridates III, had one of his advisors, a devout Christian named Grigor, tortured and thrown into a deep narrow pit, 60m below the ground (200 feet!), for refusing to lay a wreath on the feet of a goddess statue. (Armenia at that time had pagan gods). But that, I suspect, might not be the main reason the king did that. Grigor so happened to also be the son of the man who killed Tiridates’s father! (Now, if I were him, I might’ve done the same thing, …or worse).
Well, Grigor managed to survive 13 friggin years in that cell at the bottom of the pit, which could be accessed only by a ladder through a narrow hole in the ground, meaning he would’ve most probably be in absolute darkness for 13 friggin years! And imagine the smell from all that poo and pee (you think they’d have toilets? And nope, I’m sure there wasn’t a ventilation fan, or a window. Come to think of it, he could’ve have died from the methane generated from his own poo itself!) Luckily for him, a widow from the nearby village, threw a loaf of bread, daily into the hole. (Don’t ask me where he managed to get water to drink!?!)
Meanwhile, up above ground, Tiridates III did as all medieval kings did, fought wars, forged ties, broke ties, fought wars, etc. Then came a group of virgin nuns who were on the run from Rome. They sought the protection of Tiridates. One of the nuns, Rhipsime, was renowned for her beauty. Again, like what medieval kings are known for, Tiridates demanded that Rhipsime marries him. When she refused, the whole group of nuns (except one) were tortured and killed. (Yeah, people then were as cruel as people now!) (The sole survivor, later went on to become the nun who brought Christianity to Georgia). Because of guilt for that ghastly act, or maybe because of the retribution of God, Tiridates became mad, and became like a wild boar. One day, Tiridates’ sister had a dream about Grigor curing Tiridates. She searched and voila! Grigor was still alive after all these years! Sure enough, he cured Tiridates of his insanity and in return the king converted to Christianity and so did his entire kingdom, being the first to do so. Grigor became the first head of the Armenian Church, and is now known as St Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of Armenia.
Now, here’re some pictures.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, the main church in Yerevan City, Armenia
Attending mass on a Sunday morning, in Yerevan!
Statue of a national hero outside the St Gregory Cathedral, Yerevan, Armenia
And this is Khor Virap, the site of the deep dungeon cell, where St Gregory was imprisoned for 13 years (or 14 as some accounts go) “…Whew, what a hot day, but luckily, there are those free-flowing drinking fountains around!” – Armenia
The main church in Khor Virap, the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church (the Holy Mother of God Church) …Yup, every other church seems to be named that
And this is the entrance to the dungeon cell of St Gregory. It’s just a small hole with a ladder at the bottom right hand corner of the photo, obstructed by all the people. It’s not in the main church but in a small building surrounding the main church. Nope, yours truly was forbidden to climb down …by the missus, coz little Jayden would wanna follow. We let Justin climb down though, and he was the only one from our group who saw the cell!
The courtyard in front of the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap. By the way, Khor Virap actually means ‘deep dungeon’ in Armenian
Hey, a marriage! …This was where Jayden met a ‘princess.’ Check out my old post
Marriage ceremony, Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap
View of the countryside, from Khor Virap. Can you see the outlines of two majestic mountains thru the hazy air? The bigger of them is Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia (although it actually lies across the border in Turkey now)
That’s Khor Virap, with Mount Ararat in the background, on the hazy day of our visit
And that’s Khor Virap on a clear day, with Mount Ararat in all its glory! Compliments of Wikipedia (photo taken by Diego Delso). Thanks mate for the beautiful photo!
