Vantir or Saint Aghperig Monastery

In the northern part of the Sassun mountains and southeast of Moush [Muş], in the Armenian canton of Khuyt‘, stands the Vantir monastery, at an altitude of 1,950 m and at 38° 34' N and 41° 35' E. Backing on the Khacharadsh mountains, it is situated above the village of Gdzank‘ [Ikizler] in the high valley of the Khuyt‘ River [Huyut Dere], which forms the region of Prnashen, upstream from Bëlëkank [Blekan]. The monastery is more frequently called Saint Aghperig (Surp Aghperig, “The Holy Springs”) because of its healing fountain (aghpiur) and the numerous springs found in the vicinity, or, according to an ancient tradition, owing to the presence of a relic of the Cross that is supposed to have been blessed by James, brother (eghpayr) of Christ. The relic has come to be known as Kordzelharuyts Surp Nëchan “the Holy Sign of the Resurrection of the Charred [Child]” because, at the time of King Sempad I and queen Shahantukhd, it had restored to life a child that had fallen into an earth oven. Mentioned in the monastery’s charter, this sovereign and his wife reigned, in the second half of the 10^th century, over the eastern Armenian kingdom of Siunia. Although the monastery is mentioned by the 13^th-century historian and geographer Vartan, it is undoubtedly much older: an Urartian cross-stone found on the site, re-carved with the name of a Doctor Ignace (Iknadios), bears the date 903. The oldest and smallest of its two churches, that of Saint Thaddeus, is attributed to a certain Prince Prnig (< Prnavor), of whom nothing is known; the other, with a drum and dome, is attributed to Prince Viken Mamigonian († 1176), whose son Chordwanel was buried there in 1165, and probably himself as well, since at the time it was the burial place of Sassun’s Mamigonian dynasts.

History has relatively little to say about the monastery of Saint Aghperig, which does not seem to have had an important copying workshop. Nevertheless, the copyist Melk‘isset is known to have resided there in 1428, and a copyist Peter (Bedros) in 1653; under the abbotship of David (Tavit‘); a collection of hymns joined its library in 1636. A Bishop Gregory (Krioir) is mentioned as having been there in 1704, and the bishop and prior, Anthony (Andon), in 1794 and 1802. In 1741 the monastery was the object of strife between the Armenians of Sassun and Bey Alladdin. After having plundered its riches and burned the manuscripts, the Bey had threatened to have it demolished, but had renounced his intention after an agreement was reached. The monastery would be plundered again in 1877 and once more during the 1895 massacres, in which the prior, Ghazar, perished. In the second half of the 19^th century, a school was opened to take in orphans. The last superior of Saint Aghperig was Father Kachadur, martyred in 1915.

The Saint Aghperig monastery includes:

• (A) The church of Saint Thaddeus, a tri-apsidial single-vessel nave edifice measuring 11.7 × 8.9 m, probably built before the 10^th century but remodeled, with niches under arches, a pointed barrel vault with transverse arches, and absidioles surmounted by two side chambers. Under the north absidiole rises the healing spring whose waters were channeled and collected on the southeast in an outside pool. In the southeast corner of the nave is the tomb of the prior, Anthony.

• (B) Against the west wall of this church is the Saint Stephen narthex, a building some 15 × 12 m, built at an uncertain date and also remodeled, with a pointed barrel vault, niches under arches and transverse arches resting on imposts. It housed the tomb of Bishop Gregory († 1704).

• (C) North of the church of Saint Thaddeus and communicating with it through a covered passage with groin-vaults, is the church of the Holy Savior (Surp P‘rguich), also known as the Holy Precursor (Surp Garabed), because one of its altars is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built after the church of Saint Thaddeus, around the middle of the 10^th century, by Prince Viken Mamigonian. It is a cross-in-square measuring 14.1 × 10.6 m, with dihedral pillars, a dome on a polygonal drum surmounted by a pyramid, absidioles surmounted by side chambers and flanked on either side of the west arm by originally enclosed chambers. It is called Innkhoranian (“Of the Nine Altars”) in a colophon dated 1169. This rare ground plan is reminiscent of the church of the Holy Cross near Khizan, south of Lake Van (n° 25).

• (D) Extending directly westward from this second church, the narthex of the Illuminator, a building measuring 12.6 × 9.5 m, with four central columns and eight engaged pillars delimiting nine unequal compartments covered with calottes, probably dating from the 16^th or the 17^th century. The west wall is aligned with that of the Saint Stephen narthex, with which it communicates and overlaps.

• (E) A bell tower some 11.3 × 5.6 m at the base, built later in front of the narthex of the Illuminator.

• A thick courtyard wall, against which, to the south and southeast, were built pilgrims’ quarters, the bursar’s office, the prelacy and the school, and on the west side the monks’ cells and the stables. The stables did not open onto the monastery courtyard.

Taking in the totality of the canton of Khouyt‘, the jurisdiction of Saint Aghperig once extended southwest as far as Paghesh [Bitlis] and northeast to Manazguerd [Malazgirt], a city that was still under its jurisdiction at the start of the 19^th century. The monastery owned extensive grazing lands. For all the inhabitants of the region, including the Kurdish populations, it was a revered pilgrimage site.

Confiscated after the Great War, the Vantir or Saint Aghperig monastery was left empty, most often serving as a stable and sheepfold. Only a few traces remain of the courtyard wall and the outbuildings. The bloc of religious buildings, still in place, has seriously deteriorated. There as elsewhere, all the stones covering the brick superstructures as well as the framing stones have disappeared. The church of Saint Thaddeus and the narthex of the Illuminator have collapsed in several places. The church of the Holy Savior is missing a large part of the drum cap. All that can be seen of the bell tower is the gaping hole in the vault of the nave that used to support it.