Tigran Honents Explained
Tigran Honents was a rich Armenian trader of the early 13th century, during the Zakarid period. He is especially known for his dedication of the Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents in Ani, in Turkey's province of Kars next to the closed border with Armenia in 1215.[1] [2]
Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents
See main article: St Gregory of Tigran Honents. He made a dedicatory inscription in Armenian on the southern wall of the church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents.[3] [1] [2] The dedication by Tigran Honents shows that he was a Monophysite Christian, as it is made in the name of the "three holy councils and the nine choirs of angels":[4]
Tigran Honents is also known to have sponsored the renovation of a staircase in the Cathedral of Ani in 1213, and the building of the Monastery of the Virgins, also at Ani.[5] [6]
Tomb of Tigran Honents
Tigran Honents also had a decorated tomb in the vicinity of Ani (40.5078°N 43.5667°W). The tomb has numerous murals with inscriptions in Armenian.[7] [8]
Sources
Notes and References
- p.211: "The Church of St. Gregory of Tigran Honents, dated by an inscription in Armenian on the exterior of the church to 2015."
p.212: "The church dedicated to St. Gregory the llluminator, was founded by the wealthy merchant Tigran Honents in 1215, when the city was under the control of Zakarians."
- "The last scene, however, is devoted to St. Nino, the evangelist of Georgia, and depicts the miracle of the life-giving pillar, one of the key events in the establishment of Christianity in Georgia. Eastmond argues: "although the donor of the church (Tigran Honents) was Armenian, the church served a larger community at Ani composed of both Armenians and Georgians"."
- Book: Palakʻean . Grigoris . The Ruins of Ani: A Journey to Armenia's Medieval Capital and Its Legacy . 2019 . Rutgers University Press . 978-1-9788-0291-9 . 43-44 . en.
- Eastmond . Antony . "Local" Saints, Art, and Regional Identity in the Orthodox World after the Fourth Crusade . Speculum . 2003 . 78 . 3 . 735-736 . 0038-7134 . The mixed confessional identities of the population of Ani and its surrounding region led to rising tensions. There are numerous references to disputes arising between the two communities on matters including taxation and liturgical/worship practice. The division was matched by a split within the Zakarid family itself. Zakare and Ivane were brought up to adhere to Armenian, Monophysite Orthodoxy, but in the first years of the thirteenth century Ivane converted to Georgian, Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. According to the Georgian sources many Armenians joined him in converting. Ivane also forcibly converted some Armenian Monophysite churches to Chalcedonianism, notably the monastery of Akhtala, where he built his mausoleum church. Ivane's conversion is, unsurprisingly, cele brated in Georgian texts and condemned in Armenian chronicles, which ascribed it to political or religious causes (or to Ivane's infatuation with Queen Tamar)..
- Book: Palakʻean . Grigoris . The Ruins of Ani: A Journey to Armenia's Medieval Capital and Its Legacy . 2019 . Rutgers University Press . 978-1-9788-0291-9 . 39 . en.
- Eastmond . Antony . "Local" Saints, Art, and Regional Identity in the Orthodox World after the Fourth Crusade . Speculum . 2003 . 78 . 3 . 725 . 0038-7134.
- Eastmond . Antony . "Local" Saints, Art, and Regional Identity in the Orthodox World after the Fourth Crusade . Speculum . 2003 . 78 . 3 . 736 . 0038-7134 . Moreover, the wall paintings in the tomb of Tigran Honents on the outskirts of Ani employ Armenian inscriptions..
- Web site: Armenian Architecture - VirtualANI - The Caves of Ani: Ani's Underground Constructions . virtualani.org.
