Tag Archive for: Khatchkar

The Khatchkar Dialect of Varak

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Armodoxy for Today: The Khatchkar dialect of Varak

As Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first “Palm Sunday” the people went to the streets with joy, singing in loud voices, “Hosanna. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

In the Gospel of Luke (19) we read that the religious elite of the day called Jesus from the crowd and ordered him to rebuke the crowd, but Jesus answer, “I tell you that if these [people] should keep silent, the stones themselves would immediately cry out.”

There is a small little village just off the shore of Lake Van in Western Armenia called Varak. In the third century the nun Hripsime, escaping persecution for her Christian beliefs hid in the hills of Varak. In her possession was a piece of the Cross of Christ. She hid the fragment on the mountain where it lay for over three hundred years until a hermit named Totig found it in the seventh century. This Sunday marks the celebration of this event, the Cross of Varak.

I had a chance to visit Varak. Today the town as well as all of Western Armenia is occupied by Turkey. The once beautiful and spiritually active monastery of Varak is now in shambles. Among the ruins you can make out the markings of the interior of the church. Small niches where candles once lit the interior are now exposed to the elements with the roof and huge dome in piles of rubble.

Next to the foundation stones which act as a footprint of the Varak Monastery are houses of the villagers. Kids were playing on the unpaved streets and we struck up a conversation with some of the villagers. One of them invited us into their house. The walls were stones stuck together with a dry pack type of mortar. Stones of different colors and different shapes indicating a variety of sources and suggested they were gathered from different time periods. And… there were khatchkars – cross stones – taken from the monastery and stuck on the wall to protect the inhabitants of the house from outside weather conditions.

The destroyed monasteries and ruined churches, are part of a campaign to erase history and are the final act of destruction following Genocide. Michael Arlen, in his book Passage to Ararat, (1975) searches his roots in Armenia and in Western Armenia. Speaking to the erasure of history, Arlen writes, “What was it except hatred to say that a people did not exist?”

The khatchkar answers back. Khatchkars speak to us in a distinct language, or perhaps, it is a different dialect, because if you listen carefully, you can always understand the message. Khatchkars are the stones that counter the hatred by proclaiming peace of heaven on earth. Even in destructed form, in the ruins, the khatchkars are sharing the Divine message of hope and love as an antidote to the hate.

We pray this prayer for peace, Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, please grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Amen.

Khatchkar Messages of Christ

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Armodoxy for Today: Khatchkar messages of Christ

Khatchkars decorate Armenian Church, monasteries and the landscape of Armenia. They are tall. They are telling. Many of them can be read like a map pointing to the heavens and eternity.

A khatchkar, literally means “cross stone.” On a large stone, usually rectangular in shape, about six or seven feet tall and three feet wide, engravings reflecting the faith and determination of a person dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These stones have survived and have been sharing a message for hundreds and even a thousand years.

The central carving is of a cross, ornate with swirls and designs that depict different theological concepts or ecclesiastical symbols. One khatchkar which is found at the Monastery at Gōsh is especially telling. Gōsh was a seat of education in Armenia as such, the khatchkar there stands tall to tell a story of heaven-earth relations. It may not seem very unusual to see earth depicted as a large sphere in this carving, until you learn that this stone was carved in the 6th century, some 600 years before the Inquisition in Europe, Armenians had already understood the earth to be round and rejected the flat-earth concept.

The messages on the khatchkars are many and in different varieties. However, the greatest story that is often  forgotten is that the khatchkar depicts resurrection and victory. Every cross, without exception, and especially every khatchkar is the story of Jesus Christ. Without Christ, the khatchkar has no meaning, in fact, without Jesus Christ, a cross is merely two perpendicular lines.

We stand between two feasts of the Cross – the elevation and the Cross of Varak. The Cross is defined by Jesus Christ, as the instrument of torture, now turned into a symbol of victory.

Yes, the khatchkar decorates the Armenian landscape, and in that decorative form it has been a constant reminder to the people of the power of love over hate, and good over evil. The khatchkar stoically standing on the sidelines of history as the ever-present messenger of hope is a nonstop witness to the reality that has been central to the survival of a people.

Imagine that, a people who have turned around in their journey, and everywhere they have looked, they have been reminded of the hope in the eternal and aligned themselves with the Divine through Christ. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Tomorrow, we’ll look at one special khatchkar, decorating a village house, in Varak. Today we pray, from the 13th hour of St. Nersess Shnorhali’s “I Confess with Faith”: Heavenly King, grant me your kingdom, which you have promised to Your beloved; and strengthen my heart to hate sin, to love you alone, and to do Your will. Have mercy on all Your creatures and on me. Amen

Cover photo: Luna & Gregory Beylerian, 2023

How Stone Talks

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Armodoxy for Today: How Stone Talks

Messages come in different forms and in different formats. Text gets wrapped in SMS code, a letter in an envelope, lessons by books or lectures, and words from God are communicated by angels.

A quick scan of the Armenian landscape reveals messages in stone, known as khatchkar. The word literally means “cross-stone.” Some of these khatchkar-s represent the work of a lifetime. Monk of the past, would dedicate their life to carving, etching, preparing and presenting a khatchkar in intricate detail.  They are beautifully and delicately carved out of stone. The hard rock is unforgiving, leaving no room for mistake.

At the St. Leon Ghevondyants Armenian Cathedral in Burbank, khatchkar-s decorate the walkways and outer walls. I have watched the master carver work on these khatchkar-s and have wondered if they carve the image into the stone? Or is it possible that the stone already contains this spiritual gem inside, and the craft of the artist is to unveil it?

Khatchkar-s in Armenia are found surrounding monasteries and churches. Most are several hundred years old and some are from the early centuries of the Christian Church in Armenia. Most of the older ones tell a story and there is an art to reading the stones. From the top of the khatchkar we might see a glimpse of heaven in the decoration, followed by a large cross, connecting heaven to the images earth at the bottom of the stone. Hence, the stone reads as a message of human existence. The cross – the centerpiece of the khatchkar – is the bridge between heaven and earth.

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily.” – Luke 9:23

The cross is the bridge between heaven and earth. It is the symbol of suffering and ultimate love. The centerpiece of the khatchkar – the cross – is the eternal symbol of love and it unites heaven and earth.

The inanimate stone has spoken. To the early Christian community, these khatchkar-s were like books with encoded messages which were easily deciphered by the people. In as much as the khatchkar-s provided this means of message transfer, they are the stone angels of Armodoxy. Yes, stone talks and to continue, the next question is do and can stone fly? Angels are messengers. Angels have no physical form. They are spiritual beings, communicating love, hope and faith, from God to people. These stone-angels transmit the divine message to the world. And so, yes, these stone can and do fly!

Often, like the khatchkar, the messages are all around us, waiting to be discovered. Take time to listen, to read the writing, and see the glory of goodness that is communicating something very beautiful and unique to a hurting world. It is a call to sacrifice and to love.

From St. Nersess Shnorhali’s 14th hour we pray, Upholder of all creatures, protect by the sign of your cross, my soul and body, from the allure of sin, from the temptation of evil, from unjust people, and from all dangers physical and spiritual. Amen.

Cover: Luna & Gregory Beylerian, 2023

Stone Angels

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Roots of Armodoxy: Stone Angels

Messages come in different forms and in different formats. The text gets wrapped in SMS code, a letter in an envelope, lessons by books or lectures, and words from God are communicated by angels.

A quick scan of the Armenian landscape reveals messages in stone, known as khatchkars. The word literally means “cross-stones.” Some of these khatchkars represent the work of a lifetime. Monks of the past, would dedicate their life to preparing and presenting a khatchkar in intricate detail.  They are beautifully and delicately carved out of stone. The hard rock is unforgiving, leaving no room for mistake.

At the St. Leon Ghevondyants Armenian Cathedral in Burbank, khatchkars decorate the walkways and outer walls. I have watched the master carver work on these khatchkars and have wondered if they carve the image into the stone? Or is it possible that the stone already contains this spiritual gem inside, and the craft of the artist is to unveil it?

The khatchkars in Armenia are found surrounding monasteries and churches. Most are several hundred years old and some are from the early centuries of the Christian Church in Armenia. Most of the older ones tell a story and there is an art to reading the stones. From the top of the khatchkars we might see a glimpse of heaven in the decoration, followed by a large cross, connecting the bottom quarter of the stone with images earth. Hence, the stone reads as a message of human existence. The cross – the centerpiece of the khatchkar – is the bridge between heaven and earth.

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily.” – Luke 9:23

The cross is the bridge between heaven and earth. It is the symbol of suffering and ultimate love. The centerpiece of the khatchkar is the eternal symbol of love, the cross and it unites heaven and earth.

The inanimate stone has spoken. To the early Christian community, these khatchkars were like books with encoded messages which were easily deciphered by the people. In as much as the khatchkars provided this means of message transfer, they are the stone angels of Armodoxy. The question, then, is, do and can stone fly? Angels are messengers. Angels have no physical form. They are spiritual beings, communicating love, hope and faith, from God to people. These stone-angels transmit the divine message to the world. And so, yes, these stone can and do fly!

Often, like the khatchkar, the messages are all around us, waiting to be discovered. Take time to listen, to read the writing, and see the glory of goodness that is communicating something very beautiful and unique to a hurting world. It is a call to sacrifice and to love.

From St. Nersess Shnorhali’s 14th hour we pray, Upholder of all creatures, protect by the sign of your cross, my soul and body, from the allure of sin, from the temptation of evil, from unjust people, and from all dangers physical and spiritual. Amen.