This sanctuary, sometimes known as the monastery of the Holy Cross (Surp Khatchi Vank‘) stands at an altitude of 1600 m on the southern slopes of the west branch of the Sebouh mountain chain [Kara Dağ-Köhnem] at 39° 39’ N and 39°08’E, west of the once-flourishing town of Tvnig, or Tëvgner [Koruyolu], in the village of T‘ordan [Doğanköy]. Like the major monasteries on this mountain, its foundation is connected to the episodes in the life of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, to whom the former pagan sanctuary of T‘ortan had been attributed, and to the history of his relics.
Several traditions attest to a church having been built in T‘ortan as early as the 4th century, or again in the 7th century, after the translation of – perhaps only some – of the remains of Saint Gregory from the funeral martyrium of the Holy Illuminator (n° 45) to here. The T‘ortan sanctuary is the Illuminator’s second tomb, and it is hardly surprising that it attracted the relics of other members of his family – his successors at the head of the Church – or those directly associated with his preaching and the 4th-century conversion of the Kingdom of Armenia to Christianity. The saints entombed or whose reliquaries are found in the T‘ortan church are, in addition to Saint Gregory: on the one hand, his disciple, the chorbishop Daniel, his son Vrt‘anès, his grandson Houssig, Khat the bishop who worked closely with Nersès the Great, himself Houssig’s grandson; and on the other hand, King Tiridatès IV, his wife Queen Ashkhen, his sister Khosrovitoughd; and finally Karnig, the monk who invented the relics of the Illuminator on Mount Sebouh. Certain traditions add several others to the nine saints of T‘ortan.
Visited by Catholicos John V (Hovhannès, 899-931) during his retreat on Mount Sebouh (see n° 45), the sanctuary at T‘ortan was a monastery in the 15th century. At an unknown date, a church with three apses and a narthex, known as the “outer” church, was built in front of and on higher ground than the church containing the tombs, which became the “lower” church. Unlike the principal monasteries on Mount Sebouh, the Tomb of the Nine Saints was not a reputed scriptorium but a pilgrimage site. In the 19th and at the start of the 20th century, it was the final stop on the Erznga [Erzincan] pilgrimage to Mount Sebouh, the preceding stops being the monasteries of Gabos, the Holy Illuminator and Avak Vank‘ (nos 46, 45, 44). Like the latter, it was administered by the Prokhoroniants dynasty. The lower church was restored around 1885.
The Tomb of the Nine Saints of T‘ortan included: (A) the lower church, a tetraconch with lateral chambers, probably dating from the 7th-10th centuries, with an octagonal drum surmounted by a composite, slightly rounded pyramidal cone clad in stones maintained by iron clamps;(B) the “outer” church, an edifice with three apses and a pitched roof built to the west and higher as an extension of the first church and communicating with it by an open stairway under the choir; (C) a narthex built on the south side. The eight patriarchal (or assimilated) and royal tombs are all found in the lower church, while the tomb of the monk Karnig lies in the narthex.
General plan (after Thierry ; 2005, 124)
Confiscated after the Great War, the sanctuary of T‘ortan was destroyed in large part and has been over-run by dwellings. The outer church and its narthex have disappeared entirely. Only the lower church can still be seen, which is used for storage. All that remains of the tombs of the saints is the cenotaph of Gregory the Illuminator: it was smashed in 2012.
Surménian, 1947, 88-90. Oskian, 1951, 29-31. Thierry, 2005, 122-125.