Visiting the world's greatest churches by Bill Cook

[Yervant1]

The Livingston County News, NY

Nov 11 2012

 

Visiting the world's greatest churches

 

November 11, 2012 by Bill Cook

 

 

Last week, I wrote about my recent adventures in Uzbekistan. Although

I am thinking some day of doing a lecture series called something like

`The Greatest Religious Buildings in the World' and might include some

things I photographed in Afghanistan, I was largely there simply for

the experience.

 

However for nine days after leaving Uzbekistan, I was hard at work

researching and photographing ancient Christian churches in the

nations of Armenia and Georgia, tucked into an area called the

Caucasus, roughly the area between the Black and Caspian Seas.

 

I have signed a contract to do a 24-lecture course for The Teaching

Company called something like `The World's Greatest Churches.' I want

to include buildings from all parts of the world and from early

Christian buildings to modern places of worship.

 

Armenia has a credible claim to be the first Christian nation since

Christianity was established there in 301, a few years before it was

accepted in the Roman Empire. Georgia too traces its Christianity back

to the fourth century.

 

I knew that there were many extraordinary and ancient churches in

these two nations, so I set off to examine and photograph the most

famous of them. These are primarily monastic churches, and monks like

to build their monasteries away from a busy world. I can testify that

in Armenia and Georgia, they outdid themselves.

 

Before I explain what it is like hunting down monasteries in the

Caucasus, let me point out that both Armenia and Georgia have one

important thing in common with Uzbekistan. All were parts of the

Soviet Union and have been independent countries for only about 20

years.

 

This means that the capitals of these three former Soviet republics

have similar wide boulevards and huge public buildings. They also have

ugly factories that pollute and apartment buildings that appear

literally to be falling to pieces.

 

I stayed in one in Georgia when there was no hotel. I will never

forget how jerry-rigged the bathroom was. It will forever be a

metaphor for how people made do during the Soviet era.

 

Back to hunting for monasteries in Armenia and Georgia. I rented

four-wheel drive vehicles in each country; otherwise most of the

ancient monasteries I sought out would have been inaccessible.

 

Roads are not good, and there are no bypasses around these nations'

capitals, Yerevan (Armenia) and Tbilish (Georgia). Let's just say I

had some urban nightmares and that I was pulled over by the police one

time in each capital. My pathetic confusion worked wonders in avoiding

penalties for my traffic misdeeds.

 

In both nations, the most spectacular aspect of their ancient churches

is their location. Most are at the edge of great cliffs or perched on

impossibly steep peaks. Others are nestled in remote and narrow

valleys.

 

When the Armenian and Georgian monks built monasteries to escape the

hubbub of the world, they knew what they were doing. Both

architectural traditions consist of small churches in terms of square

footage with high central domes that soar toward heaven.

 

Armenian churches have sparse decorations, primarily relief sculpture

on the exteriors of their churches. In addition to sculpture, many of

the Georgian churches are painted inside.

 

Of course the style is quite different from what we find in western

Europe; rather it is more akin to, though distinct from, the art that

we associate with the Orthodox traditions.

 

While it is relatively easy to recognize biblical stories, the saints

of Georgia were largely unknown to me. I got to know Saint David, a

martyr/king of Georgia and St Nino, a Christian slave woman who was

chiefly responsible for the conversion of Georgia 17 centuries ago.

 

In a remote Georgian monastery in a canyon, I met a 20-year-old monk

with a ponytail who to my surprise spoke English. After he described

quite beautifully the 12th-century decorations of his church, I asked

where he learned English.

 

`Oh,' he responded, `I studied for awhile at Baruch College in New

York and lived in Bensonhurst,' a part of Brooklyn. He was even

something of a New York Yankees fan, though neither of us knew at the

time that they had just been ignominiously swept by the Detroit

Tigers!

 

There were not many restaurants outside the cities, so I largely made

do with fruit and bread and some meat bought in what we would call mom

and pop grocery stores. I did a lot of acting out of what I wanted

because very few people spoke English.

 

For obvious reasons, Russian was the second language. And since the

Armenians and Georgians each have a distinctive alphabet, it was hard

to decode a single word of signs and labels.

 

The oddest sight I visited on the road was in Gori, Georgia, which

happens to be the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. The city is proud of

its most famous son, and his childhood home is now preserved in

something resembling a classical temple. Go figure.

 

Armenia and Georgia are lovely and beautiful countries with kind

people and spectacular scenery, even genuine cowboys in Armenia, and

monuments. Travel is not easy, but the rewards are great.

 

Churches in Armenia and Georgia will indeed be featured in my `The

World's Greatest Churches' lectures.

 

http://thelcn.com/2012/11/11/visiting-the-worlds-greatest-churches/

[Arpa]

Livingston

County News

Geneseo, NY

November 12, 2012

====

This eerie. I know exactly where Geneseo, a suburb of Rochester NY is. We became more aware of it when in 1991 we read the following in our local paper. Of course our detractors have had a hay day with the news and spread it all over the internet. Search and see.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vahakn_Dadrian

 

n 1970 - 1991 Dadrian was a professor of sociology at State University College at Geneseo.

In 1991, Dadrian was dismissed from State University College at Geneseo for sexual harassment after a female student had complained he had kissed her on the lips. In 1981, a college arbitrator had found him guilty of four charges of sexual harassment, but had allowed him to return to work because the arbitrator believed they were "singular events that would not happen again."[10]

Currently Dadrian is the director of Genocide Research at Zoryan Institute.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Arpa