Akner Monastery

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Akner Monastery
Ակներ վանք
Construction year: 1203
Style elements : Armenian architecture
Location: 37 ° 22 '36.8 "  N , 35 ° 23' 43.8"  E Coordinates: 37 ° 22 '36.8 "  N , 35 ° 23' 43.8"  E
Location: Eğner
Adana , Turkey
Purpose: Armenian Apostolic Monastery

The Akner Monastery ( Armenian Ակներ վանք Akner vank ' ) is a now destroyed Armenian monastery near the village of Eğner near Aladağ in the Turkish province of Adana . It was built from 1198 and existed until the massacres of the Armenians in 1894–1896 , during which it was destroyed.

etymology

The monastery was known by different names:

  1. Akner (Ակներ) (or Aknaghbyur) means " brooks " in the ancient Armenian language . The monastery was built on a square with several streams near the village of Akner, today's village of Eğner .
  2. Akants Anapat (Ականց Անապատ) means the temple by the rivers in western Armenian .

Exterior view

The Akner Monastery was located near the small Armenian castle Bardzraberd on the border between the two districts of Tsakhut (Ցախուտ) and Bardzraberd (Բարձրաբերդ - higher fortress ) near the village of Akner (or Aknaghbyur) on the middle course of the Seyhan River (Սարան գետ - mountain river ) on a hilly place full of streams.
The Akner monastery consisted of three churches:

  1. St. Astvadzatzin (Սբ. Աստվածածին) - Holy Mother of God.
  2. St. Hakob (or St. Nschan) (Սբ. Հակոբ or Սբ. Նշան) - Holy Jacob (or Holy Sign).
  3. St. Arakelots (Սբ. Առաքելոց) - Holy Apostles.

history

Akner was one of the most important monasteries in the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. It was built by King Levon II between 1198 and 1203 and inaugurated by the Catholicos Grigor Apirat . Akner's founding fell during the Golden Age of Cilician Armenia, so it also served as a place of war council and church assembly . In addition to the monastic functions, it served as a

  1. Writing workshop for manuscripts and handwritten books.
  2. School and university.
  3. Matenadaran (warehouse of medieval Armenian books and manuscripts) and picture gallery.
  4. House of Armenian Church Music.

Akner had contacts with numerous other monasteries in medieval Armenia . Manuscripts of the monks Petros, David, Barsegh, Ghazar, Vardan, Nerses, Serovbe (son of Nerses) told of unsurpassed skills in handwritten and graphic works of the monastery. An Akner religious house existed in the monastery since the early 13th century . In 1273 Grigor Aknertsi became head of the Order of Akner. There he wrote the book "The History of the Nestorians" (Պատմութիւն վասն ազգին նետողաց).

In the 13th century, Akner's religious house, which worked with other abbeys in Lesser Armenia such as the Grner and Bardzraberd monasteries, founded a famous graphic school.

Many enlightened personalities such as the monks Poghos (Պողոս), Grigor (Գրիգոր), Karapet (Կարապետ), Hovhannes (Հովհաննես), Ruben (Ըռուբեն) and Barsegh (Բարսեղ) studied at the Akner Monastery. The Armenian Catholicos Grigor Anavarzatsi (Գրիգոր Է Անավարզեցի) wrote in a letter to King Levon II in 1306: "Akner's religious house consists of very decent, exemplary and clever people".

In 1307, at the large church assembly in the capital Sis , the Akners religious house, directed by Archimandrite Vardan and Abbot Sargis, also took part. After his resignation in 1270, King Hethum I withdrew to the Akner monastery. King Levon II, Paghtin Marajakht, numerous princes, abbots and monks were buried in Akner Monastery. In 1375 the monastery was damaged by the Mamelukes . Many years later the monastery was rebuilt in the 18th century. Akner served as an Armenian monastery in the Vilayet Adana of the Ottoman Empire . The monastery was finally destroyed in the massacre of the Armenians in 1894–1896.

Akner's manuscripts

The Matenadaran Institute contains numerous manuscripts and books written in Akner from the years 1215 to 1342. These include works such as chronicles, Bibles, reproductions of the works of Mesrop Maschtoz and Grigor Narekazi , Sharakane (collection of Armenian hymns) and Agathangelos ' "History of Armenia". The Akner painting school practiced a new technique of painting and iconography, which was characteristic of the evenness of the human body and realistic images. The best example of her style is "Queen Keran's Bible" (Կեռան թագուհու Ավետարանը), written in 1272 and dedicated to another famous book previously written in Akner: "The Monastery called Akner" (Ի վանս, որ կոչի Ակներ ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Ethnology" (volume 2) by M. Ormanyan, Cyprus 1914
  2. ↑ "Sisuan" of Ghevond Alishan, Venice 1885
  3. ↑ "Akants or Akner abbey" by N. Akinyan (in Armenian "Ականց կամ Ակների վանքը"), article 5 at "medeaval book's researches", Vienna 1953
  4. ^ "Cilicia's Monasteries" by H. Voskyan, Vienna 1957
  5. ^ "Christian Armenia" Encyclopaedia, Yerevan 2002, pp. 29-30.
  6. ↑ "Cilician miniature in XII – XIII cen." (Կիլիկյան մանրանկարչությունը XII – XIII դդ) by L. Azaryan, Jerusalem 1964, pp. 76-88.
  7. ^ "Christian Armenia" Encyclopaedia, Yerevan 2002, p. 30
  8. ↑ Step̓an Tigrani Melik-Bakhshyan: The writing school of Akner . Yerevan 1968, chapter 8.