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301c. 301 · Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin)

Armenia adopts Christianity

Khor Virap monastery on its hill with the Ararat plain beyond
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

According to Armenian tradition, Gregory the Illuminator, after years held in a pit at Khor Virap, converted King Tiridates III, and Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion, around 301. The cathedral at Etchmiadzin, seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, stands where the first church was built.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Etchmiadzin CathedralThe mother cathedral of the Armenian Church and its treasury.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Khor Virap MonasteryThe underground pit where Gregory was held, below Mount Ararat.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Zvartnots Cathedral ruinsColumns and foundations of a round 7th-century cathedral.Map ↗

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