Fr. Garabed Kochakian
Miracles have always been at the center of the Armenian Church’s life and, at times, attached to certain sacred objects known to be miraculous Icons that have been honored and venerated. They have enabled the viewer to draw closer to the realm of the Divine. Miracles are God’s extraordinary work occurring here on earth, especially when faith calls forth his Divine power to intervene through Holy objects and Icons.
Since the dawn of Christianity in Armenia, Icons depicting Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints have had a rich, enduring, and profound tradition and place in nurturing one’s faith in the Armenian Church. Many of them have wonderworking attributes that have been acknowledged and identified as miraculous, and some are still preserved to this day. Not only by the artistic and mystical beauty in the person or subject depicted do these Icons connect us to God, but also with an earnest appeal for intercessory prayers to God. Such appeal of prayer makes possible his Divine power to become visible, revealing his miraculous intervention and work (in Armenian Hrashakordz/ Հրաշագործ) of protection, healing, and cure in historical events of the Armenian people as well as in the personal experiences that have deepened one’s faith. The first such miraculous Icon is the face of Christ imprinted on a cloth (in Armenian Դաստառակ /Tasdarag), which dates from the first century and it is noted in the historical annals of the universal Church.
This Holy image is known as the Icon not made with human hands and was documented in the fourth century by Eusebius, vicariously known as the “father of Church history.” Later, it was acknowledged by Movses Khorenatzi, “father of Armenian Church history,” with a narrative about a miraculous Icon that brought a cure to King Abgar of Edessa. The received tradition of the Armenian Church tells of the Apostle of Christ, St. Thaddeus [Addai]--who preached in Armenia and who brought this Icon to King Abgar as an answer to his appeal to heal him from leprosy. Unable to visit him, Our Lord sent this image with his face imprinted on the cloth as His answer, and by its miraculous power of Christ, God healed him. This Holy image is acknowledged by all ancient Apostolic, Catholic, and Orthodox Churches, particularly in the Armenian Church.
Another miraculous Icon in Armenia worthy to mention is the one known as the Descent from the Cross and called the Savior of All ( Amenaprgich/Ամէնափրկիչ). It is a significant image in the historical presence of Sacred Images in the Armenian Church’s tradition. A two-dimensional relief carved on wood, this Icon has a most interesting story of a miracle that brought comfort to the grieving Mother of Christ at the time of His Crucifixion.
Depicting our Lord’s Descent from the Cross, its origin is ascribed to the Apostle of Christ, St. John. It is recorded in Armenian Church history that witnessing the grief of the Blessed Virgin, he took a fragment of Cypress wood from the actual Cross and prayed to Christ, asking Him to imprint His image upon it in order to comfort the grief and pain of His mother. This icon was later brought to Armenia and placed in a late 11th-century Monastery.
Historical information documents that, somehow, this Holy Icon was later passed to the Byzantine emperor Basil II (976-1025). Subsequently, it was given as a gift to the Armenian King Gagik I (989-1017) and then was passed on to Prince Gevorg, the owner of the fortress of Keghi (Gakavaberd), who is said to have donated it in 1013 A.D. to the Armenian Monastery of Havouts Tar.
Unlike the Icon not made with hands, lost to the ravages of history, this miraculous icon is presently preserved in the museum attached to the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. It is piously venerated with great honor and even displayed on the liturgical feasts of the Holy Cross. Currently, it is preserved in the museum attached to the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin and piously venerated with great honor when displayed on liturgical feasts of the Holy Cross. The supernatural phenomenon of God’s presence through Icons, whether carved or painted, has remained a spiritual source of abiding faith for believers in God’s presence and Divine providence in the Armenian Church.
In addition to the aforementioned Icons there have been others as well. One such is a painted Miraculous Icon named Charkhapan. His Beatitude Maghakia Ormanian Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople (1896–1908) mentions and identifies that it was kept in the famous Armenian Monastery of Armash and originally placed above the holy altar at this seventeenth-century historic Armenian Monastery located near the sea of Marmara north of Istanbul. It depicted the Mother of God with Christ child seated in her lap, with Him offering a blessing. He also writes that in this monastery, the sick were cured, and their spirits calmed. It was during the time of a Bishop named Bartholomew Gaboudigian (1786 ff.), who served as the abbot (in Armenian Vanahayr/ վանահայր) that many miracles occurred there from the prayers of intercession to the Holy Mother of God.
The Armenian faithful believed that Miraculous power came from it, which resulted in both physical and emotional healing of diseases in the human body and soul. Even Muslim pilgrims sought healing from evil’s maladies and disease as they, too, unceasingly prayed before the Charkhapan Icon. Until today, it remains an honored and venerated sign through which God’s healing power comes forth. Through the long story of Armash’s history until today, the tradition of pilgrimage of the faithful continues with visits to the Archangels Church in Istanbul as they offer their prayerful petitions to the Holy Mother’s icon, appealing to her for healing and miracles
Miracles can and still do occur in many ways, under many circumstances, and at all times when we call upon the power of the Holy Spirit of God to be present physically and spiritually to come into our lives and heal us from every infirmity.
As we contemplative and pray before Holy Icons, especially remembering these miraculous powers that can come through these vessels of Christian faith, we understand them to be as a seventh-century Armenian Church father, Vertanes K’ertogh, so eloquently described them. . ., seeing the invisible through what is visible, in order to be transported into the holy presence and mystical and heavenly realm of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ the Lord.
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