St. Minas Church :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. Minas Church 17 c․

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Khanlar / Ablah

Historical Introduction
17 c․

The church of St. Minas was erected in the site of an older, dilapidated one in the 17th century.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

Repairs
19 c․

In the late 19th century, the entrance of the church was repaired and a double-storey belfry was added to it.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

Architectural Description

It represents a tri-nave basilica (exterior dimensions:18.85 x 10.30 metres) built of hewn and finely-cut stone as well as mortar. Its vault, lying below a gable roof, is supported by semi-circular arches resting on three pairs of pillars. A sacristy of rectangular plan can be seen on both sides of the bema, and the font lies in its traditional place, namely in the northern wall. The building, which abuts on a slanting mountain slope with its western and northern facades, is illuminated through 5 windows opening from the eastern (3) and southern (2) facades. The entrance of the sanctuary opens from its southern facade.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

Historical Introduction
1987 y․

The tympanum of the older church, that had been displaced during the overhaul of the entrance of St. Minas in 1892, was still preserved in 1987: it was set in the stonework of the main wall adjoining the church entrance, at the western edge of the belfry.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

17 — 18 cc․

The walls of St. Minas Church are abundantly engraved with brief donation inscriptions dating back to the period between the 17th and 18th centuries.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 330.

1928 y․

St. Minas functioned until 1928, when it closed on a Government order.

National Archives of Armenia, fund 409, list 1, file 2658, p. 12.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 334.

Priests
1891 y․

As stated in a press publication of 1891, it was already 10 years since Ablah was left without a spiritual shepherd, evidently, due to parish priest Petros’ death in 1879. In 1987 we saw his inscribed tombstone lying below the outer southern wall of St. Minas Church. Father Petros Adibekiants (born in 1783), who was ordained in 1814, first served in Erkej (in present-day Shahumian District of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh) and then moved to Ablah. He also performed priestly duties for the parishes of the adjacent villages of Suluk and Hajishen.

“Nor-Dar,” 1891, No. 113, p. 2.
National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3833, pp. 124-125.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 334.

1897 — 1910 yy․

Nerses Ter-Baraghamiants, one of the pupils of Archimandrite Theodoros Shirakuny, studied in Khachakap’s Targmanchats Monastery from 1885 until 1888. He was ordained in Tpkhis in 1897 by Archbishop Gevorg Sureniants and served the community of Ablah between 1897 and 1910. Nerses Ter-Baraghamiants had 5 children: Sona, born in 1891; Mkrtich, born in 1894; Sargis, born in 1896; Karapet, born in 1898, and Shushanik, born in 1903.

National Archives of Armenia, fund 458, list 1, file 184, p. 7. Also see fund 53, list 1, file 817, p. 6.
National Archives of Armenia, fund 461, list 1, file 12, p. 56.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 334.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1732 y․

Between 8 and 9 lines in the Armenian original incised into the aforementioned tympanum:
In the year 1732, in memory of Petros, Hakob, Merza, worthless Father Poghos, who were the sons of Avetis from the Hasaniants’ family under Vali Ahmat who was called Tahmaz and who reigned in the land of the Persians, devastating a great many districts.
The Armenian original published in: “Ardzagank,” 1886, No. 20, p. 293; Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 267; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 317; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 232;
Note: The initial 2 to 3 lines, that were deliberately scraped away, have been restored in accordance with the previous decipherments.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, pp. 329-330.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1676 y․

5 lines in the Armenian original carved on the west-directed face of the finely-finished cornerstones lying in the north of the bema:
May this Holy Cross protect Father Ghazar’s soul, in the year 1676.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 330.

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Stone inscription preserved on the walls of St. Minas Church