 In
ancient times, the city of Artashat was flourishing and its jail was known
as Khor Virap. It was here, at the end of the 3rd century, that the pagan
Armenian King, Trdat III , imprisoned Gregory, the Illuminator, one of
the earliest saints of Armenia, for trying to spread Christianity in this
region.
Gregory
the Illuminator and Ripsimian Virgins started preaching and spreading the
religion all around the country. King Trdat imprisoned Gregory in
the dungeon of Khor Virap and ordered to murder the virgins.Gregory stayed
in the deep celf of 6 meters for 13 years. A Christian woman brought him
food and threw it through the hole for all those years. The prisoner survived.
One
day Trdat felt ill and no doctor could cure him.
Only
Gregory could do it after which Trdat became Christian. And so, in 301
AD Armenia became the first country in the world to abort Christianity
as state religion.
St.Gregory
was not only released from prison but also procliamed the first Patriarch
of armenia.
Khor Virap has therefore remained one of the most popular pilgrimage sites for all Armenians and you can still see the deep dark pit ( khor virap ) where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned. From
here you can see Mount Ararat a splendid testamend of Armenian history,
serene and majestic.
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