St. John Church :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. John Church 1905 y․

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Touz / Krzen

Historical Introduction

St. Hovhannes is mentioned as a parish church.

The name of the church has come down to us only thanks to M. Barkhutariants (see his work entitled Artsakh, p. 59). It is not mentioned in any other sources.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 537.

Although St. Hovhannes Church stood intact, it did not have its own parish priest so that divine service was usually held by some itinerant priests from different villages of Shamshadin District.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 537.

1905 y․

In November 1905, the sanctuary was totally annihilated: “The church was leveled with the ground on the initiative and under the guidance of a certain Turkish merchant named Hajji Amirkhan. That man, who was known as a serious and influential person, took possession of its property together with its books and bells.” The destruction of the monument is also certified by some archive documents.

“Mshak,” 1906, No. 65, p. 3.
National Archives of Armenia, fund 35, list 1, file 559, p. 61; fund 53, list 1, file 3874, pp. 129-130.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 536.