Archaeologists have discovered the oldest church in Armenia in the ancient city of Artaxata. The octagonal building with four extended bays forming a cross-shaped floorplan dating to the 4th century is the oldest archaeologically excavated and documented church in the country. It is also the only known octagonal church in Armenia, although the design is well-known in the eastern Mediterranean.
Typologically, the find corresponds to early Christian memorial buildings. In the cross-shaped extensions, the researchers discovered remains of wooden platforms that could be dated to the middle of the 4th century AD using radiocarbon dating. The building, whose octagon has a diameter of around 30 meters, was equipped with a simple mortar floor and terracotta slabs. Finds of marble indicate that it was lavishly decorated with this material imported from the Mediterranean.
The excavation has revealed massive support pillars of the octagonal structure as well as the wooden platforms in the bays. More of the remains have been discovered in a geophysical mapping survey of the site.
The city of Artaxata was built around 180 B.C. by King Artashes-Artaxias I as the new capital of the Kingdom of Armenia. Even as Armenia became a client state of the Roman Empire and then of Sasanian Persia, Artaxata remained the political and administrative center of the country until the 5th century A.D.
Artaxata plays an important role in the history of Christianity in Armenia as well. Gregory the Illuminator, venerated as a saint and the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was imprisoned by King Tiridates III in a deep pit in the monastery of Khor Virap at Artaxata. Gregory was in the service of the king, but had been raised as a Christian and when he refused to sacrifice to the fertility goddess Anahit, Tiridates had him arrested and tortured. Gregory languished in the pit for 13 or 15 years and was only freed after the king’s sister had a vision. Tiridates then converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of his kingdom in 301 A.D. Armenia thus became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion.
The newly-discovered church is just steps away from Khor Virap Monastery at the foot of Mount Ararat.
Armenians have a long and rich history in India. Archival accounts show Armenian merchant-cum-diplomat, named Thomas Cana, had reached the Malabar Coast of Kerala in 780 CE using the overland route.
Armenians worked as merchants, gunsmiths, gunners, priests and mercenaries in India. Much before the arrival of the Sultans, the Moghuls, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the English, and the Danes, the Armenians were very much at home thriving and crisscrossing the business-fertile Indian sub-continent.
In coastal India on the Arabian Seafront, the Armenians conducted their international business in jewelry, diamonds, precious stones, perfumes, silk and cotton textiles through the ports of Cambay, Diu, Daman, and Surat on the Gujarat coast, through Mumbai, Vengurla, Ela (Old Goa), and Bhatkal on the Konkan coast, and through the ports at Calicut, Mahé, Quilon, Ponnani, Cannanore, and Cochin on the Malabar coast.
Further East on the Coromandel Coast kissing the Bay of Bengal, Armenian merchants participated in the lucrative business in pearls, conch shells, diamonds, and textiles. Ports of Colachel, Chennai, Pondicherry, Aryan Kuppam, Korkai, Karaikal, Nagapattinam, Nagore, Kayal, Kayalpattinam, Punnakayal, Periathalai, Alanthalai, Killkarai, Vaipar, Vembar, Manappad, Uvari, Tuticorin, Trichendur, Rameshwaram, Tranquebar, Machilipatnam, Balasore, Hooghli, Chinsura, Chandernagore, Bandel, and Kolkata figure in historical documents as vibrant theatres of trading action and reaction among Indians, Arabs, Persians, Armenians, Portuguese, Dutch, French, English, Flemish, Dutch, Italians, Spaniards, and Scandinavians.
Several centuries of presence of Armenians resulted in the emergence of a number of large and small Armenian enclaves in Agra, Cawnpore, Gwalior, Lucknow, Surat, Mumbai, Chennai, Chinsura, Chandernagore, Calcutta, Saidabad in Murshidabad, and other locations in India.
For the spiritual wellbeing of the living and to celebrate the hallowed memory of their beloved ancestors, infrastructures in the form of Armenian churches and cemeteries are still to be found in several places across India depicting the material culture of the Armenian people.
The Indian city of Kolkata in West Bengal is home to several Armenian Churches such as the Armenian Church of Holy Nazareth, Armenian Church of Saint John the Baptist, Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, The Holy Trinity Chapel, and Saint Mary Armenian Church (Saidapet-Murshidabad). The Armenian College of Philanthropic Academy in Kolkata is yet another institution of significance.
The Armenian gravestones from the 16th and 17th centuries serve as a testament to the Armenian community’s presence in Surat. These monuments are an important part of the city’s history and provide insight into the lives of the Armenians who lived there. The gravestones are decorated with intricate designs and inscriptions. They offer a glimpse into the material culture of the Armenian people, and their significance in Surat’s rich inter-religious past.
The city of Mumbai in Maharashtra is home to the St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church. In the South Indian city of Chennai or Madras of old, there is the Armenian Church and an Armenian cemetery on the Armenian Street.