The Monastery of Saint Hripsime

The church of St. Hripsime is located in the Marz (region) of Vagharshapat, 20 km to the north of the city of Yerevan. According to the legend the church was built in the place of martyr of St. Hripsime and her 32 friends, who were preaching Christianity in Armenia. According to "The History of Treatment of Armenians in the Christian faith" of Agathangelos, in 301 the Armenian king Tiridates III, his sister Khosrovdukht and the queen Ashkhen in memory of the martyred virgins built a testimony and a semi-subterranean tomb by the initiative of the first Armenian Catholicos (Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Gregorian Church) St. Gregory the Illuminator (Grigor Lusavorich). In 395 the Catholicos Sahak I Partev rebuilt the St. Hripsime testimony, which was destroyed by the Persian king Shapuh. In 618 the Catholicos Komitas I Aghtsetsi, who was also an architect, built the St. Hripsime church of the purely hewn tufa in the place of the testimony. The church is central-domed and has four altars. Under the main altar is located the vaulted tomb of St. Hripsime. The Church of St. Hripsime considered to be the first church with rectangular shape with a cruciform central dome of the Armenian architecture. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the legend, Hripsime being harassed by the Roman emperor Diocletian escaped with her friends and settled down in the outskirts of the Armenian capital Vagharshapat. The imperor asked the Armenian king Tiridates III to find and return them to Rome. But the king Tiridates III fell in love with the virgin Hripsime and wanted to make her his woman. But the virgin did not surrender and by the order of the king she was martyred with her friends after being beaten with stones in this place. Now in the mausoleum which is under the altar of the church are buried not only the remains of St. Hripsime, but also are exhibited the stone by which she was killed. In fact she was the first of the saints who fell with a martyr's death for the sake of Christianity, and her grave is the oldest of all saints' graves.