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carried by the wind
nature sings a solemn song
mountains cut the sky
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa.
Still Here
by Langston Hughes
I been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,
Looks like between ’em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!
Armenia became the first Christian state in the year 301. It's hard to separate fact from fiction in early Christian writing, which aimed not to record history dispassionately but to promote conversion through the recounting of miracles. The traditional story begins with Gregory, a certain Parthian nobleman of a rebel family who converted to Christianity and came into the service of King Tiridates III. In due time Tiridates discovered both Gregory's Christianity and his lineage. It's not clear which was the more offensive, but the king had Gregory tortured and thrown into a pit to starve. A dozen or more years later--or so the story goes--the Christian God decided to punish Tiridates for his penchant for martyring guys and gals like Gregory by inflicting upon him a nasty illness. When the king's sister had a vision that only Gregory could provide the cure, she found him--somehow still living--and his prayers brought about the desired cure, which was quickly followed by the conversion of the king and the adoption of Christianity as the state religion.
As occurred elsewhere when Christianity became state doctrine, persecutions of pagans (and for that matter heretics, Christians whose theology differed from that endorsed by the state) soon followed. Pagan idols were smashed, literature destroyed, sacred places desecrated, architecture toppled, holy trees felled, and pagan priests harassed and sometimes killed. Gregory (now remembered as Saint Gregory the Illuminator) found himself reconciled with the king, on the other side of the law and at the front of the persecution. This was hardly unique. Despite all the legend to sort through in the hagiographies of Gregory and other saints, they generally agree that many of the most famous and admired saints of this era behaved quite violently towards the pagans. Most everywhere, before Christianity became state religion it grew slowly by example and moral suasion. After, it grew rapidly through force and coercion.
Above, the Upper Zhamatun of Geghardt Monastery, much of which (including the room seen in the photo) is carved from solid rock. Current structures date largely to the 13th century, but the monastery is said to have been founded in the fourth century by Gregory himself, and--as many early Christian churches were--on top of a pagan holy site. Geghard Monastery, Azat Valley, Armenia.