It may perhaps be found that this exterior discloses elements which, blended together, are of high importance to the study of art. The form of the church, the geometrical ornaments are Byzantine in character; on the other hand, of all the churches which we visited during our wanderings none other was decorated with bas-reliefs of human figures after the manner of this edifice. Such treatment would be repugnant to the chaster spirit of the architects of Ani, and may denote that the standard of culture in the southern principality was not so high as in Shirak. The friezes partake of the nature of those with which we are already familiar; but they are more daring and much more freely drawn. They may constitute an important link between the art of the ancient Assyrians and the art of the Arabs and the Byzantines. Layard, who visited Akhtamar, has most pertinently drawn our attention to the resemblance between the principal frieze and the embossed designs on some bronze dishes which were discovered at Nimrud (banks of the Tigris); but he has not noticed that the bulls’ heads which adorned the ends of the arms of the king’s throne at Nimrud are almost exactly reproduced in some of the stone ornaments which project from the face of this church.[11]
I have said that a narthex of later origin adjoins the building upon the west; it was from that side that we entered the interior. The façade of this narthex is as bald and plain as its inner walls and the rude flagstones of the floor. The ceiling is low; in the centre a shallow vaulting rests upon four arches and piers. It has a length of 32 feet 11 inches, and a breadth, from north to south, of 36 feet 5 inches. It does not contain an altar, and the only object which you remark within it is a large block of stone. Our companions informed me that it is placed over the grave of one Abdul Miseh, a king, as they supposed, of the Artsruni dynasty. If this block be the same as that upon which Layard saw some cuneiform characters, their Abdul Miseh may be a corruption of the name of the great king Menuas, revealed by the researches of Western scholars.[12]
Four steps lead up from the narthex to the little, undecorated doorway by which we entered the principal building. The interior may perhaps be described as consisting of four apses, the whole surmounted by the lofty dome. A feature are the deep recesses, narrow at the entrance, which are placed one on either side of each apse, and are seen from the outside between the arms of the cruciform figure. The apses on the west and east are deeper than those on the north and south; the most southerly contains a gallery of which the face is adorned with images, two heads of bulls and two of rams, the head of an elephant and of a tiger, carved in full relief out of the stone. In this gallery we were informed that King Gagik had been wont to pray. The walls had been adorned by rich frescos; but little of these remained. The apse on the north communicates with a vaulted chamber and a little chapel, where is preserved the holy oil.
A cemetery surrounds the church, from the south-east corner to the north side. Issuing by the portico on the south, we stopped to remark an ambitious tomb of which the stone was fresh from the chiseller’s tool. On the sides of the recumbent portion were represented the figures of apostles—a frieze which had probably been copied from some rude work of the Middle Ages, and which was coloured in gaudy reds and greens and blues. Upon the upper surface of the slab was engraved a long inscription, and beneath the inscription the grand emblem of the double-headed eagle, with cross and mitre, the eagle of Vaspurakan. The headstone was adorned with the portrait of a katholikos, wearing the cross of diamonds on his cowl. The features were those of our host; it was the tomb of Khachatur, into which he had told us that he was preparing to step. The legend set forth that the grave had been dedicated on September 12, 1893. Following this announcement, came a farewell message from His Holiness, conceived in the following terms:—
I approach thee, O fair grave, with a greeting; my secrets to tell I have no tongue, because they were lost before I came to speak with thee. The generations of my people I grieve to relinquish; I Khachatur, given to the Cross, will obey the Cross (es Khachatur i Khachis ku-pakchim). When I come to thee, all the manifold memories will have vanished. Whatever I may leave behind me—the holy oils, the library, the cowl, the stole, the staff—I leave them to serve as a memory of me for my successors. Lastly I approach my people and entreat them to be loyal to Sultan Hamid, the illustrious, because during my whole life I have found help from him and from his high officers. My soul will be protected by the weekly prayer of my pupils; pray for me weekly for a while and forget me not.
On the east of the building there is a little chapel, now in ruins. I was informed by the Katholikos that it is even older than the church. Returning to the monastic quarters, we asked to be shown the library, and were ushered into a small, whitewashed room. Five little shelves, occupying a single side of the apartment, hold all the manuscripts and books which the monks possess. Neither the vardapet nor the deacon was conversant with their contents; but the manuscripts, so far as we were able to examine them, were all concerned with Biblical subjects. Two stones, engraved with cuneiform inscriptions, are kept in this room.[13] The treasure was carried off by the Kurds years ago;[14] but our companions were able to produce several mitres and some rich embroideries, of which one piece, worked with the device of the double-headed eagle, appeared to be of considerable age.
After a last look at the remarkable church, with its many faces of fresh pink sandstone, mottled by the subtle reliefs with light and shade, our little party retraced its steps to the peaceful harbour, and embarked on the homeward voyage. The breeze had veered for our convenience to the opposite direction, and wafted us towards the mainland. We passed close to the bold crag, and to the tiny islet which, crowned by the remains of a fort and a diminutive chapel, juts out from the south-westerly extremity of the sea-girt cliffs. Before us lay the horn of the bay on the west of Akhavank, and in the foreground, a second islet, the rock of Arter, which, like its fellow, supports a little shrine. Sipan was seen in all his majesty, sweeping across the horizon, until the outline of the base was covered by the outline of the promontory. From that headland three little barks were stealing towards us, specks of white on the expanse of blue. In the south the snows of Ardos streamed with sunlight above horizontal layers of cloud. I could hear the heavy breathing of my fellow-passengers; the water eddied softly in our wake.
In the space of about an hour the plank was again lowered and the stern allowed to graze the sand. The Kaimakam and his retinue were assembled on the shore—the high officers mentioned in the message on the tomb. I received their greetings and good wishes, and, promising to rejoin them, passed with the dragoman to the apartment of the Katholikos. I found His Holiness seated on the same rug at the foot of the divan, in the same posture and attired in the same ceremonious dress as when he had received us the preceding day. The same cowl with the diamond cross enveloped the forehead, which, judging from the thick lips, flat nose and little eyes, was better hidden than revealed. He beckoned his people to withdraw; we were alone with the Patriarch; Turkish contempt still shrinks from converting the chamber of a Christian prelate into a permanent lodging for a Kaimakam. So our host was free to answer the questions which I addressed to him without fear of being reported by malevolent tongues. He informed me that his patriarchate was quite independent, both of Edgmiatsin and of Constantinople. But he was in the habit of consulting with the Patriarch of Constantinople in respect of such Church matters in which collaboration was mutually useful. Artemid is the easterly limit of his spiritual kingdom, and is included within its area. On the west it comprises a portion of Garchigan, but does not extend as far as Kindirantz. On the south, the cazas of Mukus and Shatakh are either its boundaries or contribute constituent districts.
The practice of their religion he assured me was quite free, emphatically he repeated, “quite free.” The political troubles which convulsed the country were caused by scamps (chapkiner) on the side of the Armenians, and by bad Kaimakams. I questioned him closely as to whether, when he was young, the Armenian population was not much more numerous along this shore. He answered that the country on the south was at that time inhabited by them in far greater numbers than now; but there was no perceptible difference along the coast. He admitted, however, that during his youth there were Armenians residing at Vostan.
At this point in the conversation my host pronounced the name of Zadò; and forthwith divine fragrance announced the presence of the major-domo, attentive to the faintest call. Obedient to his master’s behests, he proceeded to unlock a large wooden box, and to lay out upon the floor a number of tawdry State Orders and Firmans of investiture. Es Khachatur i Khachis ku-pakchim! Some of these objects the Katholikos regarded with especial reverence, devoutly pressing them to his lips. Religion has become a trade with such as this prelate, and they themselves hotel-keepers and show-mongers. Each pilgrim leaves the equivalent of double what he costs. Placing a suitable present in the hands of his Holiness, which he accepted after many protestations, I took leave of Khachatur for ever.