Holy Apostles Monastery

Holy Apostles Monastery Սուրբ Առաքելոց Վանք
Holy Apostles Monastery in the 1900s
Shown within Turkey
Basic information
Location	5 km SE of Muş
Geographic coordinates	38°41′45″N 41°31′10″E / 38.695786°N 41.519517°E / 38.695786; 41.519517Coordinates: 38°41′45″N 41°31′10″E / 38.695786°N 41.519517°E / 38.695786; 41.519517
Affiliation	Armenian Apostolic Church
Status	destroyed by the Turkish army in 1915
Architectural description
Architectural style	Armenian
Completed	6th - 10th century

The Holy Apostles Monastery (Armenian: Սուրբ Առաքելոց վանք, Surb Arakelots vank) was a 6th-10th century Armenian monastery in the Taron province of historic Armenia near the town of Mush (now in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey). The monastery was destroyed after the Armenian population of Mush was massacred during the Armenian Genocide.

History

Arak'elots monastery was founded in the 4th century by Saint Gregory the Illuminator (Armenian: Սուրբ Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ)to house various relics he received in Rome. Those relics (which included the left arms of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and right arm of the apostle Andrew) account for the monastery's name. However, it is likely that Arak'elots, as a monastery, was a mid-tenth century foundation: none of the surviving structures are older than that date. During the renewed rule of the Mamikoneans in the post-Byzantine period the monastery became a major cultural and religious centre of Taron.^[1] The history of the monastery after the end of Mamikonean rule is mostly one of Muslim raids, massacres, brief periods of abandonment followed by a re-establishment of the monastic community, and short-lived revivals. Under Ottoman rule some stability returned and the fortunes of the monastery rose, but then declined again during the Ottoman-Persian wars of the 17th century. In the 1660s an earthquake damaged most of the buildings. Massacres took place in the mid-1890s, after which the congregation was reduced to only a prior and two or three monks. However, the continued presence of the relics at the monastery ensured that it was an important place of pilgrimage until the First World War. In 1915 the monastery was attacked and looted and the last prior, Yovhannes Vardapet Muratian, was murdered.

Treasures

Many Armenian manuscripts, including Homiliarium (Ms. 7729, known as the Mush Homiliarium, the greatest manuscript in Matenadaran) historically belonged to the Arakelots monastery.^[2]

Gallery

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  Closeup of the monastery (from the 1900s)

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  Ruins of Arak'elots monastery in 2010

Burials

Historian Movses Khorenatsi and philosopher David Anhaght were buried near the monastery.^[3]

See also

• Saint Karapet Monastery, a 4th-century Armenian monastery also in the Taron province of historic Armenia

References

1. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian (dir.), Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, 2001 (ISBN 978-1568591360), p. 120
2. ↑ Armenian Miniatures, E. Korkhmazian, I. Drampian, Aurora, 1984, p. 44
3. ↑ Journal of Ancient History, Vol. 167-171, 1984, p. 194

External links

• Holy Apostles Monastery at VirtualAni.org

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