Публикувано: 29.09.2019
Armenia, like Georgia, is full of churches and monasteries, but they are significantly different from each other. In Georgia, they are very similar to Russian Orthodox churches. Mostly painted from top to bottom with colorful frescoes, lots of gold and shine for the worship of God.
In Armenia, it's the opposite. Large and powerful, mostly quite dark and completely sober. Except for an image of the Virgin Mary and possibly one of a saint, there is nothing.
At first, I was quite affected by so much austerity. But a guide informed me that the churches were intentionally built in such a completely plain manner in early Christianity so that nothing would distract from the worship of God. The church was intended as the place where nothing else had a place except God Himself, and the space was created for the encounter between man and God. Alive, deep, and pure. Only God and man, nothing else.
Against this background, I saw the churches differently, and although I found this simplicity unusual, it was also very soothing. If you spend a longer time in such a space, you are quickly thrown back onto yourself, and existential questions arise automatically.