Francis at the monastery of ‘Khor Virap’
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
ended his three day Apostolic journey to Armenia, his 14th abroad with a visit
to ‘Khor Virap’ monastery at the foot of Mount Ararat. A significant site
linked to the conversion of this nation to Christianity.
The red brick monastery of
Khor Virap at the foot of Mount Ararat where tradition holds that Noah’s ark came
to rest after the floods is one of Armenia’s most sacred sites. It’s here
that the most memorable image of Pope Francis’s visit to Armenia played out.
That of the Pope and the
Patriarch standing out against the skyline in unison in the shadow of the snow-capped
Mount, as together they release two white doves which flutter into the evening
light before soaring up high. A striking gesture which holds within it a symbol
of unity and peace.
By contrast the name of the
monastery provides a sinking feeling as it means 'deep dungeon'. And while dark
and musty dungeons really exist here, some sinking deep into the ground, over
six metres under one of the Chapels of the monastery complex, what really
matters is that it was in one of these dungeons, often referred to as a well,
that Saint Gregory the Illuminator, was held prisoner for thirteen lonng years
before bringing about the conversion of the King in 301, so at the beginning of
the fourth century. A conversion which led to Armenia becoming the first nation
ever to adopt Christianity as a State religion.
And a conversion which was no
doubt on the Pope’s mind as together with the Patriarch he made his way up two
narrow flights of stairs to the room known as the ‘Well of Saint Gregory’. They
were there to light a candle before making their way to the nearby Chapel
to pray: the Patriarch in Armenian and the Pope in Italian.
Before leaving this land
which Pope Francis has described as ‘beloved’ he expressed the idea that
it was a grace to find himself on these heights where, beneath the gaze of
Mount Ararat, the very silence seems to speak. And where the 'khatchkar'
– the stone crosses – recount a singular history bound up with rugged faith and
immense suffering. A history, he went on to say, replete with magnificent
testimonies to the Gospel, to which you the Armenian people are heirs.
Words pronounced a day
earlier when he had symbolically watered, once again together with the
Patriarch, the seedlings of a vine in a model of Noah’s Ark. New life that
grows out of memory.
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