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1997

Route in China (ARMENIA )

Bec
2004-09-20 10:16:34

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flagged a bus back to Yerevan and had a restaurant dinner before saying good-bye...

Echmiadzin
The next day was Sunday, I went to visit the great Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin, a few kms out of town. Founded in the 4th century on the site of a fire-worshippers' temple, the Cathedral shows several different styles because it was modified, restored and added to many times until now. The west door and main entrance were added in 1658 and the sacristy in 1882.

The Armenian Christians agree with the Greek Christians to disagree with Roman Christians by denying the infallibility of the Pope and by holding that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father and not from both the Father and from the Son but they disagree with the Greek and with the Roman Christians by believing that there is only one nature in Christ and not two. The Armenians have maintained their beliefs through ten centuries of domination by Mazdaen Persians, Greek Christian Byzantium, Muslim Arabs from Baghdad and Muslim Ottoman Turks. Consequently their particular brand of religion has become the hallmark of their identity.

Yerevan
The above photos speak of the wonderful time I had in Armenia. I had the luck to meet warm friendly people, Yerevan is a clean city with a good museum, nice buildings and lovely parks and I had no problems with border guards, corrupt policemen or stubborn, unfeeling bureaucrats.

I must however admit that my photos do not fairly represent the extremely poor quality of life in post soviet Armenia. In 1995 GNP had fallen to only 30% of what it had been in 1990 and recovery has been slow in '96 and '97. There is no work and those who work are often not paid for months. Housing is run down like this typical soviet style apartment block and people have a hard time to make ends meet. There is also a nagging insecurity for the truce in the war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh could break down anytime.

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