I returned from Armenia a few days ago. Part of the mission was a trip down south east, near Nagorno Karabah. On the way we stopped at two very special places: Khor Virap, an old fortified monastery where Saint Gregory is said to have been imprisoned for 13 years in a cave I saw. A sort of Oubliette in which you descended through a vertical pit. Stone walls blackened by candles and a cross.
The second was Noravank, another fortified monastery, in a wild gorge, and built on the site of a pre-Christian temple. The amazing thing about these places is that you could almost feel ‘the sacred’ the “holiness” of the place. And what is amazing is the sobriety of the churches. There are no decorations nearly. There are no icons, there is no gold and rich tapestries. There is only stone, some modest but moving carving in the limestone of the walls. A stone altar and a Cross. Candles and blackened walls. And the Holy Ghost which takes you by the hand. You feel humbled by the weight of the faith of all the people who have prayed there so intensely they left part of their faith embedded in those barren walls…
I attach a picture I took in the church of Noravank : candles…blackened walls, stone walls. But a picture cannot express the holiness , the sacred feeling of the place…you have to be there…
After I left Noravank, I was thinking about other Churches I know. Why do these Churches want to impress their congregations with the richness of their worldly assets? Large, rich buildings, sculptures, gold surrounding wonderfully painted icons…they pale when compared to the rich spirituality expressed by simplicity and soberness of the Armenian churches…
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