THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH'S TRADITION OF SAINT ELISEUS, ONE OF THE SEVENTY-TWO DISCIPLES

Archdeacon Gevorg Guschyan, Lusine Sedrakovna Tumanyan

Armenian Apostolic Holy and Orthodox Church, Moscow, Russia / Matenadaran named after Mesrop Mashtots, YSU Faculty of Theology, Yerevan, Armenia

Email: gevorghrachik@gmail.com, tumanyan.lusi@gmail.com

Issue: № 4 (32), 2025

Pages: 93

Annotation

Our article is devoted to the preaching activities of Saint Yelisа on the basis of Armenian medieval literature. Armenian historians Movses Kagankatvatsi, Ukhtanes Bishop of Sevastia, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Archimandrites Mkhitar Gosh and Vanakan Vardapet wrote about Saint Yelisha in their books. Saint Yelisha was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ who came to Armenia with the Apostle Thaddeus, but returned to Jerusalem after the martyrdom of the Apostle. Ordained a bishop there, Yelisha again comes to the East. We have presented Elisha's preaching path: first, he reached Chor, which connects the North Caucasus with the South, Eastern Europe with Western Asia. From there Yeghisha came to the provinces of Artsakh (Nagorno-K arabakh) and Utik of Historical Armenia, being in the places of Sahar and Gis. He was martyred in Zerguni, a pagan sanctuary. His relics were buried in Khomenk, then transferred to Urecan, then to Jrvshtik, where a church named after him was built. In this article we tried to substantiate that Apostle Yelisha was a historical figure, and it was no coincidence that he began his preaching journey from Chor (Derbent).

Keywords

Chor, Derbent, Caspian Gates, Apostle Thaddeus, Apostle Yeghisha, Movses Kaghankatuatsi, Grigois Partev, Aluank, Artsakh, Utik

For citation

Gushchyan G., archdeacon, Tumanyan L. S. T he Armenian Apostolic Church's tradition of saint Eliseus, one of the seventy-two disciples // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2025. № 4. Р. 93–110 (In Russian). https:// doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2025–4–93–110