Sometimes called the Holy Cross monastery (Surp Kachi Vank‘i), Khachvavank‘ is located to the north of Garin / Erzurum, at an altitude of 1850 m, not far from the village of Ergaynisd or Ergnisd [Yerlisu], near the Srdatzor [***] River, at 40° 03’ N and 41° 11’ E. The village that grew up around it borrowed its name: Khachgavank‘ [Aktoprak].
It is possible that a relic of the True Cross (“cross” = khach in Armenian), given by the emperor Heraclius, provided the monastery with its name, but it is more likely that Khachgavank‘ refers to a certain hermit, Khachig. Under Abbot Stephen (Sdepannos), the monastery was already known in 1183 as a scriptorium bearing this name. In the 12th and 13th centuries it was an active monastery: tall cross-stones could be seen in the cemetery outside the walls bearing the dates 1222/1232 and 1238; another stone was raised inside the walls in 1229 for the bishop, Theodore (T‘oros) of Terjan [Tercan]. The monastery is mentioned in written sources in 1487, 1488 and 1629. From an earlier reading of an inscription fragment exhumed in the course of work on the site, it seems the church was completed in 639. This ancient monument, dedicated to the Holy Resurrection (Surp Harut‘iun), which bore a Greek inscription on its façade that had become illegible, had received very little remodeling. After having fallen into decline sometime in the mid 17th century, the monastery was revived by its prior, Stephen (Sdepan) Kalaychian of Erzurum, who entirely restored the courtyard walls and the outbuildings in 1689. Renovation continued under the abbot, Mgrditch, who in 1761 built a chapel-narthex at the church entrance. At the same date, a tomb was erected against the south wall of the church for Mardiros of Andrianople, the nuncio of the patriarch of Jerusalem, who had died on the site. Other work was carried out in the next century, in particular restoration of the courtyard fountain, in 1843.
Khachgavank‘ monastery included:
• The church of the Holy Resurrection, a tall cross-in-square building of 8 × 5.3 meters with a drum and pyramid coif, built on a platform consolidated by a supporting wall, with chambers in the northwest and southwest corners, the north chamber forming an upper level on the north side, known as the “anchorite’s” chamber.
• Built against the west wall of the church, a chapel-narthex with beams and a terrace supported on four square posts, constructed in the 18th century, itself preceded by a dwelling.
• A courtyard wall, with, to the left of the gate in the east wall, twelve dwellings on two levels for the monks and pilgrims, and to the right, the bursar’s dwelling, the prelacy and the stables.
• A fountain in the courtyard.
• A cemetery outside the walls.
Numerous cross-stones or fragments of stones were included in the walls, especially in the narthex. One stone dated 1472 was conserved in the church near the altar; the church also had three paintings, one of which, a Baptism of Christ, bore a dedication from the 17th century.
Ransacked during the 1895 massacres and then confiscated after the Great War, Khachgavank‘ was reduced to rubble, in the midst of which houses have now been built.
Kossian, 1925- 1926, II, 40-56. Oskian, 1951, 117-123. Matévossian, 1988, 236-238. Thierry, 2005, 49.