{"id":258,"date":"2011-12-08T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T09:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/?p=258"},"modified":"2012-01-17T18:44:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-17T14:44:26","slug":"under-the-altar-of-the-holy-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/under-the-altar-of-the-holy-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"What is hidden under the Altar of Holly Temple?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Holy Echmiatsin is situated in the spiritual center of Armenia, in Echmiatsin. According to the legend, the place of the construction of the temple was shown to the first Armenian catholicos Grigor the Illuminator by Jesus Christ, the only begotten\u00a0son of God, who appeared in his dream and indicated the place with the hammer stroke. That\u2019s why the place is called \u201cThe table of descend,\u201d and the temple is called \u201cthe place where the only begotten descended,\u201d Echmiatsin. In 303, after adopting Christianity as a state religion, the king Trdat the Third built the temple.
\nBut before acquiring today\u2019s look, the temple has undergone a lot of changes. It is considered to have been built of wood and without a dome. 80 years later, the temple was damaged by the destructions of the Persian king Shapuh the Second, and the catholicoses Nerses the Great and Sahak Partev twice reconstructed it. At the end of the 5th century the temple was reconstructed once more by the Armenian general in chief Vahan Mamikonyan, and that was the look we have today.
\nBut what was at the place of the temple before? In 1950s, during the reconstructions to make the altar more stable, remains of a\u00a0very old building were found out, which the scientists dated back to the 4th century B.C. The remains are bases of stone walls\u00a0with one meter height and have square plan. For a long time it was considered to have been an atroushan (fire-temple)\u00a0built by Persians in the 4th century. Three pots full of ashes were found inside the walls, one of them in the centre,
\nthe other two under the walls, and this gave the scientists a ground to think that there had been a place for sacrifice,\u00a0and people made sacrifice keeping the left ashes in the pots. It is interesting that the temperature of this room is unalterable, 20-20\u02daC, during all the seasons. It is already 25 centuries that the High Altar has remains of pagan culture, and having been built on them the Holy Temple at the same time symbolizes the victory of Christianity over the paganism and the way of salvation of all Armenians.<\/p>\n

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