The University of Munster in Germany announced on Friday that a team of its archaeologists has uncovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world in the Ararat Plain of Armenia.
The church, which dates back to the 4th century, was discovered after six years of excavations at the Artaxata dig site. The structure is about a hundred feet in diameter, with a floor of mortar and terracotta tiles. The remains of wooden platforms at the site were carbon-dated to establish their age.
“The find consists of an octagonal building with cruciform extensions. The team excavated parts of the church and studied it using geophysical methods,” said the University of Munster.
Archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences in Armenia were also involved in the painstaking excavation. Dr. Mkritch H. Zardaryan of the Armenian academy said the octagonal shape of the church, a style favored in the Eastern Mediterranean, was previously “unknown” to Armenia. The terracotta floor also suggests a strong Mediterranean influence and may have been the work of artisans from Greece or Italy.
Armenia is considered the first Christian nation in the world, having declared Christianity its state religion in the year 301 A.D. Christian communities existed in Armenia since about 40 A.D. Most modern Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was founded on the 1st Century teachings of the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew.
Artaxata was once a massive city and the capital of ancient Armenia. It was founded around 176 B.C., on ground that was chosen by the legendary Carthaginian general Hannibal, according to local tradition. Armenia actually had two capitals before that, but Artaxata proved to be the most defensible of the nation’s ancient cities and occupied the best location for trade.
The Romans still managed to capture Artaxata in 58 A.D. and leveled the place, but the Emperor Nero ordered it rebuilt a decade later. The scrappy city was destroyed three more times, rising from the ashes on each occasion, until its final thrashing in 450 A.D. ended its run as the Armenian capital.
Some historians believe the nearby river Araxes changing course is what finished Artaxata off for good because its value as a trade hub was diminished. At the height of its importance, Artaxata was an impressive metropolis with sizable Greek, Jewish, and Syrian populations in addition to the Armenians.
Armenia’s nobility were largely pagans until St. Gregory the Illuminator came along in the early 3rd century and converted them to Christianity. This was no easy task, as Gregory’s stout faith and refusal to participate in pagan rituals got him tortured and thrown into a very deep hole full of dead bodies in Artaxata.
Legend has it that Gregory was imprisoned in the pit for 15 years, surviving on gifts of bread from a Christian widow who was guided to him in a vision. Upon emerging from the pit, Gregory demonstrated the patience for which saints are renowned by performing an exorcism on the mad king who had tortured him. The king was thereafter sane, or at least no longer crazy enough to throw people into pits full of corpses for 15 years, and his court embraced Gregory’s faith.
The importance of Artaxata to Armenia’s Christian history made the excavation of the church an exciting moment for archaeologists, historians, and churchgoers alike.
Archaeologists believe the Artaxata church was built around the same time as the famed Etchmiadzin Cathedral, headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located near the modern capital city of Yerevan. In fact, the Artaxata church might be a little older than the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which has been classified as the oldest church in Armenia until now and might be the oldest cathedral in the world.
“The building, which dates back to the 4th century, is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country – a sensational testimony to early Christianity in Armenia,” University of Munster Professor Achim Lichtenberger said of the new discovery.
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