Culture

Armenia is the oldest Christian church

It is amazing … Armenia is the oldest Christian church in the world, and the ancient churches here feel like Christianity’s cradle.

Somehow visiting these early Armenian monasteries and churches one can almost feel those early Christian communities in the epistles of Paul (when he writes letters to the first struggling Christian communities with tips and wisdom about how to be the first Christians) …

Amazingly the last book of the bible before Revelations is the epistle of Jude who was a disciple and Jesus’s Brother (Roman Catholic point of view … there is debate about this). Jude and another disciple Bartholomew traveled to Armenia and bought Christianity to the country. Armenia ‘got’ their Christianity, firsthand from two of the disciples …

Both were martyred and buried in Armenia (… now modern-day Iran and Turkey). There is a feeling that Armenia is somehow a continuation of the bible, especially as the same person, Jude wrote the penultimate book and then came to Armenia in person. Something spiritual and profound about these buildings and places connects past and present.

Michael Gibson

Vigen Avetisyan

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