The Monastery of Surb Pandaleon (Parin Pizh)

The Monastery of Surb Pandaleon (Parin Pizh)

Location

The Surb Pandaleon, also known as the Parin Pizh Monastery, is located in the northeastern part of Mets Shen village in the Shushi region of the Republic of Artsakh.

Since 2023, the monastery has been occupied by Azerbaijan.

Historical overview

Pandaleon, also known as Pandelemion, was a physician residing in Nicomedia, a city in Asia Minor. Saint Pandaleon devoted his life to ministering to those in need-the suffering, the sick, and the poor. As a result of his selfless service, his reputation spread throughout the city. The populace, seeking remedies, turned exclusively to Pandaleon, abandoning other physicians. Motivated by envy, these physicians informed the emperor that Pandaleon provided medical care to Christian prisoners.

In the fourth century, Saint Pantaleon endured torture and was ultimately executed in Nicomedia by order of the pagan Emperor Maximian. Following his martyrdom, his followers disseminated his relics throughout the Christian world (Avagyan & Zakaryan, 2016).

By the fourth century, churches bearing his name were built in the Armenian cities of Sebastia and Constantinople. His relics were disseminated to numerous locations. According to Movses Kaghankatvatsi, the relics of the martyred Saint Pantaleon were brought from Nicomedia with the participation of the pious King Vachagan III of Aghvank (Kaghankatvatsi, 1983, 60).

According to legend, a relic of Saint Pantaleon was placed at the foundation of the Great Church, prompting pilgrims to visit the shrine to pray for the healing of the sick. Since the saint was believed to answer their prayers consistently, the church became known as Parin Pizh, which is likely a phonetic rendition of the expression "Kind Doctor" or "Mister Doctor" (Mkrtchyan, 1980, 164).

The monument researcher and historian Samvel Karapetyan has published a series of photographs of the Surb Pantaleon Church and the Hripsime Chapel, documenting their condition at different points in time: during the Soviet era in 1989, during the early stages of the Artsakh movement in 1992 and 1994, and following their reconstruction in 2009 (Karapetyan, 2017, 95-97).

Architectural-compositional examination

The monastery comprises the main church, a structure dating from 1658, and the Surb Hripsime Chapel from the 19th century.

The main church of Surb Pantaleon is a small, single-nave building with internal dimensions of 9.35 by 4.5 meters. It features a semicircular apse on the eastern side and lacks sacristies. The original church was constructed using roughly hewn stone and limestone (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 The main church of the Surb Pandaleon Monastery from the southwest, 1989, photo by S. Karapetyan.

Only the cornerstones of the entrance, windows, and wall pillars were polished (Figs. 2 and 3). The cylindrical vault rests directly upon the walls, while the dome section is connected to the piers by arches (Figs. 4 and 5). The church features a gabled roof. The baptismal font is situated in its traditional location on the northern wall. An old and rather large cemetery surrounds the church (Fig. 6).

Fig. 2 The entrance to the main church of the Surb Pandaleon Monastery, 1989, photo by S. Karapetyan.

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the main church and the Surb Hripsime Chapel were destroyed by Azerbaijani forces (Figs. 7 and 8). After the liberation of Berdadzor on May 17, 1992, it was discovered that during the Azerbaijanis' brief one-year occupation, sections adjacent to the corners and entrance of the structure had been dismantled (Figs. 9 and 10), along with the construction inscription (Karapetyan, 2017, 95).

Fig. 3 The construction inscription of the main church of the Surb Pandaleon Monastery, 1989, photo by S. Karapetyan.

Fig. 7 The chapel of Surb Hripsime in 1989, photo by S. Karapetyan.

The condition before, during, and after the war

In 2007, on the initiative and with the funding of brothers Yura, Zhora, and Sero Oganesyan-former residents of the village of Mets Shen, now residing in Moscow-the Church of Parin Pizh was restored. It was re-consecrated on August 20, 2009 (Figs. 11 and 12). The Chapel of Surb Hripsime was restored in 2016 (Aparaj, 2016). There is currently no information available about the present state of the monument.

Fig. 8 The chapel of Surb Hripsime in 1994, photo by S. Karapetyan.

Fig. 11 The Surb Pandaleon's Church after restoration, view from the north, photo by the Monumentwatch team.

Fig. 12 The Surb Pandaleon's Church after restoration, view from the west, photo by the Monumentwatch team.

Bibliography

  1. Kaghankatvatsi 1983 - Movses Kaghankatvatsi, The History of the Country of Albania , Yerevan.
  2. Mkrtchyan 1980 - Mkrtchyan Sh., Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan.
  3. Mkrtchyan 1989 - Mkrtchyan Sh., Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan.
  4. Karapetyan 2017 - Karapetyan S. Azerbaijan beyond civilization, Yerevan, Foundation for Research on Armenian Architecture.
  5. Avagyan, Zakaryan 2016 - Avagyan S., Zakaryan I., Kind doctor in Artsakh, “Aparazh”, 03.11.2016.
The Monastery of Surb Pandaleon (Parin Pizh)
The Monastery of Surb Pandaleon (Parin Pizh)
The Monastery of Surb Pandaleon (Parin Pizh)
Artsakh