Khor Virap

One of the most significant shrines in Armenian Christendom, Khor Virap is watched over by biblical Mt. Ararat on the Araratian plain. Khor Virap is the ancient site of the capital city of Artashat. The “deep pit,” swarming with scorpions and snakes, was a dungeon for condemned criminals. According to the historian Agathangelos, the Armenian King Trdat III during his tyrannous persecution of Christians subjected St. Gregory to 12 horrible tortures and then threw him into this pit for nearly 14 years. St. Gregory miraculously survived this torment and was released from the pit at the urging of the king’s sister, Khosrvidukht, in order to cure the king who had been stricken with a horrible disease. After
being cured, the king converted to Christianity, named St. Gregory Catholicos and proclaimed Christianity the official religion of his realm. Thus, in 301 Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion.

Catholicos Nerses III Taiyetsi built a shrine above the pit in 642, which collapsed in the course of centuries. From the 13th century on, Khor Virap became a center of scholarship, thanks in large part to the scholar Vartan Areveltsi, attracting such outstanding figures as Yesayi Nshetsi (author of Historical Annals and the Interpretation of Daniel), Hovhannes Yerznkatsi, Gevorg Skevratsi, Mesrop Dpir, and Grigor Siunetsi. In 1662, the present-day St. Gregory church was built on this site. St. Astvatsatsin Church, built in the 17th century, also forms a part of the complex.

The original pit was twice as deep as it is today, the lower half having been filled in the beginning of the 19th century to facilitate pilgrims’ descent and ascent to the shrine. St. Gregory’s Captivity in the Pit is celebrated on 6th Saturday of Lent. His Deliverance from the Pit is celebrated on the second Saturday after Pentecost.