St. Sarkis Cathedral (Damascus)
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Saint Sarkis Cathedral ( Armenian Սուրբ Սարգիս մայր եկեղեցի Surb Sarkis mair jekeghezi , Arabic كاتدرائية مار سركيس, DMG Kātidrāʾīyat Mār Sarkīs orكاتدرائية القديس سركيس, DMG Kātidrāʾīyat al-Qiddīs Sarkīs ) is the cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Syrian capital Damascus . It is located directly at the eastern city gate Bab Sharqi on the south side of Straight Street . During the civil war in Syria , it was able to continue operations in 2013 and 2014, despite damage and fatalities.
history
The Armenian community has been present in Damascus for a long time. Before the Arab-Islamic conquest of Damascus in 636, a Syrian-Orthodox monastery stood on the site of today's Armenian Apostolic Cathedral , the church of which was dedicated to the martyrs Sergios and Bakchos . Sarkis is the Armenian and Arabic name form of Sergios , but the martyr Sergius Stratelates , who is a different person, is particularly venerated in Armenia . Under the Mamluks , the Armenians and the Syrian Christians shared the monastery in the fifteenth century, which eventually passed into the hands of the Armenians. The church was restored several times in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1860 the church was sacked during the massacre in the Christian quarter of Damascus , but in 1866 it was rebuilt in its present form with the dome in the middle and the walls decorated with murals of Saints Sergios and Bakchos. The current residence of the bishop was converted from a medieval caravanserai .
On April 2, 2010, the President of the Republic of Armenia , Serzh Sargsyan , visited the Damascus Cathedral.
During the civil war in Syria , the cathedral came under repeated fire from Islamist rebels from 2013 and was damaged. On August 23, 2013, a man was killed in an attack on the Church. On November 20, 2013, a grenade exploded next to the church, injuring several children. In 2014, four children were killed in a rocket attack on the Armenian school in Damascus Cathedral. The front was only 500 meters from Bab Sharqi, but the rebels were thrown back during the year.
Despite the rebel attacks, the cathedral was able to continue its operations, and the services occasionally receive coverage in the Syrian media, such as the mass on Znund (Armenian Christmas ) on January 6, 2019 and 2020.
architecture
The Saint Sarkis Cathedral is part of a building complex that also includes the monastery, the school and the seat of the bishop. The church has a rectangular plan, with a dome in the center and a bell tower with a square cross-section at the northwest corner, both with a cross at the top. The facade of the church, built with light-colored stones, is light and smooth. Each of the four side walls has a gable, and the roof ridges form a cross. Daylight mainly penetrates through the windows of the tambour into the interior of the church, which otherwise has three small windows above the entrance portal. The latter is located on the west side of the east-facing church in the inner courtyard of the building complex. The courtyard of the building complex is accessed through a stone gate, on whose gable-like arch there is a cross and a semicircular, decorated plaque with the inscription in western Armenian "Surb Sargis - Monastery of the Armenians" (ՍՈՒՐԲ ՍԱՐԳԻՍ - ՎԱՆՔ ՀԱՅՈՑ, with lowercase letters Սուրբ Սարգիս - Վանք Հայոց).
Church facilities
An Armenian school is attached to the St. Sarkis Cathedral in Damascus.
Diocese and bishop
The diocese of Damascus with the Saint Sarkis Cathedral is subordinate to the Catholic of all Armenians of Echmiadzin . The primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Damascus is Bishop Armash Nalbandian, who was born in Aleppo in 1973 . He studied Protestant theology in Erlangen and Catholic theology in Tübingen and was initially an Armenian Apostolic Pastor for the Armenians in southern Germany before he returned to Syria in early 2004 and was elected Primate of Damascus at the end of the year. On January 15, 2006 he received in Echmiadzin of Karekin I episcopal ordination.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Sankt Sergius Church (Sarkis Cathedral) image index of art and architecture (Bildindex.de), image file no. fm1304218, Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ↑ a b متري هاجي اثناسيو ، قتيبة شهابي ، 2005 ، اديرة وكنائس دمشق وريفها: (بحث ميداني توثيقي تاريخي اثري)[ Mitri Haji Athanasio , Qutaiba Shihabi : Monasteries and churches in Damascus and their landscape (historical archaeological documentary research). Damascus 2005], 12.كاتدرائية القديس سركيس[ St. Sarkis Cathedral ].
- ↑ Дамаск. Сирия. Фотопутешествия. Старый город: улица Прямая, римская арка, собор Святой Девы Марии, Баб Шарки, часорки, часовня, часамая,. Biancoloto, 2008.
- ↑ Визит президента Армении Сержа Саргсяна в собор Святого Саркиса в Дамаске ( memento from January 10, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). UA report, April 2, 2010.
- ↑ a b В Дамаске в результате обстрела пострадала армянская церковь. Правмир, 27 августа, 2013 (August 27, 2013).
- ↑ Глава дамасской епархии ААЦ рассказал об атаке на детей-христиан. Православие, 20 ноября, 2013 (November 20, 2013).
- ↑ Christoph Meyer: "Islam is in a serious crisis." Interview with Bishop Armash Nalbandian. Stuttgarter Nachrichten , January 8, 2015.
- ↑ a b Christmas mass at Armenian Orthodox Church of St. Sarkis in Damascus. SANA, January 6, 2019.
- ^ Mass at St. Sarkis Church for the Armenian Orthodox in Damascus on the occasion of Christmas. SANA, January 6, 2020.
- ↑ Bishop Armash Nalbandian. Evangelisch.de , accessed on April 28, 2020.
- ↑ Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate of Damascus. FLY (Freedom Lovin Youth), Glendale 2019, accessed April 28, 2020.
Coordinates: 33 ° 30 ′ 32.9 ″ N , 36 ° 19 ′ 4.4 ″ E