Sourb Amenaprkich Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Sourb Amenaprkich Church

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Getabek / Metz Gharamurat

Description
1890 y․

As a populous village, Metz Gharamurat had several churches which aroused admiration among visitors: “...I had already heard about the largeness and magnificence of Gharamurad’s church from the elderly people of Shulaver, but still, I could not hide my admiration when I saw it. It represented a splendid edifice whose construction had apparently cost quite large sums of money. Its interior was more impressive than the exterior: outwardly, it seemed a low building, for part of its finely-finished walls was buried under the soil. Its door, built in accordance with the cautionary measures that period of enemy invasions dictated, was comparatively smaller, but once you entered the huge church opened up before your eyes with 6 massive columns entirely decorated with finely-carved crosses. Those durable, solid pilasters had been supporting the high arches of the sanctuary for 3 to 4 sinister centuries.” Then the same traveller adds with bitter pain and sorrow, “From early spring till autumn, the present-day Ayrum inhabitants of Gharamurad drive their cattle into the church after dinner when it becomes especially hot. This is the reason why I found its interior filled with intolerable dirt and a sea of dung so that I could hardly reach the altar. The font was completely wet, and the lower parts of the inner walls were so damp that you could think you were in a bath-house, with water constantly dripping from them. The monument was totally stripped of all its interior decoration and only a long, hewn altar-stone could still be seen there, together with some finely-decorated khachkars in the left vestry, and some others, 3 arshins long, lying vertically, or horizontally in a wall inside the bema. Many of them were bare of any inscriptions... In the south, the church was adjoined by a smaller one having a font, an altar and a bema... The remnants of some walls indicated that these monuments used to be fortified by ramparts. The roof of the larger church was thoroughly preserved despite a thick layer of soil accumulated there: several stones had been displaced from the part covering the bema, as a result of which that section of the interior was exposed to rain.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 29; S. Kamalian writes the following regarding the fact that the church was reduced to a cattle house, “Several Ayrum inhabitants of the village were gathered there. When I started reproving them for having filled the church with dirt and dung, an elderly woman came forward and said the following, ‘Indeed, my agha, this is a house of God: it does not matter that it was built by the Armenians, does it? You know that poor, God-fearing people would never have the face to drive their cattle into the church. The first person to do so was the owner of this large house who possessed a great fortune and had many children. The word reached the police officer, who was an Armenian, and he came to see in what conditions the sanctuary was. Our people were convinced that he would give that wealthy man a good dressing down for the wrong he had committed, but he decided to consign him to the punishment of the church. In the course of years, all his family members were exterminated, while his property was left derelict after his death.’ “The old woman turned out to have told me the truth, for when I approached the vast hall of the house of the aforementioned rich Ayrum, I saw the once magnificent residence buried in animal droppings up to its highest corner. In fact, it was in a state even more deplorable than the interior of the church. The Ayrums present, however, did not want to admit that they had their own share of guilt in the defilement of the sanctuary. For several times they even attempted to interrupt the ingenuous woman to hinder her from praising the divine power of the Armenian church, but she did not pay any attention to them. Moreover, she strongly advised me to visit the fine monastery by all means...” (idem, pp. 30-31).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 259.

Architectural Description

Bishop Barkhutariants, another visitor who had the opportunity of admiring the architectural peculiarities of the church, describes it as an “...extremely spacious and splendid...” building “...resting upon six pillars and having an altar stone...”

Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, pp. 308-309.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Description
1634 y․

The manuscripts created in Metz Gharamurat attest that it had a church even before 1634; this gives us grounds to suppose that the aforementioned monument was built in the site of another, which might have been lying in ruins in 1634.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Scriptoria
1610 y․

Sourb Amenaprkich Church had a scriptorium-repository which retained both manuscripts copied on the spot and donated ones. In 1610 David Geghametsy and Priest Hovasap copied a manuscript there on a certain Aghabab’s order: “Written by worthless priest Hovasap and sinful, imprudent scribe David, who is allegedly a bishop, in Gharamurat Village of Zakam in the year 1610 of the Armenian era...” The manuscript also mentions Senior Priests Sargis and Stepanos: “May you pray for Priest Sargis, senior priest of Gharamurat Village who initiated the creation of this manuscript but later consigned his soul to God, the work being completed by his son, Senior Priest Stepanos, who served in this village. May you also pray for the other priests...”

Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts of the 17th century, vol. 1. Compiled by Hakobian, V., Hovhannissian, A. Yerevan, 1974, p. 363.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 261.

Village head Arustam and some local inhabitants ransomed a manuscript and donated it to the church: “We, hakhsakh of Zakam Alughuli, head of Metz Gharamurat Village Rustum as well as Vostan, Ghara Murat, Ghazar, Navasard, Amirpek and Aun’s son Amirpek went ..., saved it from the hands of the brutal enemy and brought it with us. We, the people of Gharamurat, raised 8 tumans and saved it, donating it to Sourb Amenaprkich.”

Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts of the 17th century, vol. 1. Compiled by Hakobian, V., Hovhannissian, A. Yerevan, 1974, p. 364.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 261.

1682 y․

In 1682 Priest Ghukas created another manuscript entitled Mashtots Dzerats.

A Catalogue of Armenian Manuscripts of the Matenadaran after Mashtots, vol. 2, Yerevan, 1970. p. 200, manuscript No. 5868.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 261.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Construction 1634 y․

Carved on the facade of the bema:
The holy church was built by Soghomon’s son Yetkar’s son Muses, a worthless usta from Jugha. On the order of Catholicos Pilippos, I came and built Gharamurad’s holy church in the year 1634 of the Armenian era. May those who read this pray for Mose’s soul and may God have mercy upon you. Amen.
Reference: Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 30. The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 309; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 326; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 273.
Note: According to Kamalian, “the inscription is adjoined by its cryptogram dating back to 1634 A.D.”

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1635 y․

Carved “on the facade of the left vestry” according to Barkhutariants, although Kamalian writes the following regarding it, “One of the walls of the bema was engraved with a long piece of writing whose upper lines were impossible to read due to the darkness and long distance separating us from it. What I did manage to discern is the following”:
In the year 1635... and a church Sarik, her father Velijan and his son Gharamurad, Ghukas, his daughter Gulaghe, Zakar’s father Velijan, his spouse Guldane, his son Ajam, Hakhnazar and Ovanes. May you pray for the repose of their souls.
Reference: Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 29. The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, 309; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 326; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 273.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1635 y․

Incised into the same wall, a little below the aforementioned one:
The holy altar stone lies in memory of Rstim, his mother Khatun as well as his brothers Evaz and Paron. 1635.
Reference: Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 29. The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 309; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 326; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 273.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Construction

Carved on the wall right of the altar:
The holy church was built in memory of Ghukas.
Reference: Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 29.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration

Engraved on a cross-stone outwardly set in the window of the southern wall:
May this Holy Cross protect Agha ... Hanes, Shahzad.
Reference: Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 30.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 260.

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Metz