The Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents (), or Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator () is a medieval religious structure located in Ani, in Turkey's Kars province next to the closed border with Armenia. It was built by the Armenian Tigran Honents under the Zakarids in 1215, according to an inscription in Armenian on the exterior of the church. p.211: "The Church of St. Gregory of Tigran Honents, dated by an inscription in Armenian on the exterior of the church to 2015."p.212: "The church dedicated to St. Gregory the llluminator, was founded by the wealthy merchant Tigran Honents in 1215, when the city was under the control of Zakarians."
Context The building of the church came at a tumultuous period: in 1064 the city of Ani had been captured by the Seljuks from the Byzantines, who granted it to a Kurdish line of muslim emirs known as the Sheddadids. "In 1064 the Seljuk Turks captured the city, and granted it to a Kurdish line of muslim emirs known as the Sheddadids, who intermarried with the Bagratid family, and who were also vassals of the Seljuks. The Sheddadids ruled Ani for a hundred years, from about 1072 to 1199, during which time Georgian leaders attacked the city on several occasions. A Georgian alliance of princes known as the Zakarids (referred to as the Mqargrdzeli in Georgian sources), with a combined Georgian and Armenian army, eventually took Ani and ruled there from 1199 to 1237." Then in 1199, the Zakarids, vassals of the Kingdom of Georgia, captured Ani with a combined Georgian and Armenian army. Their reconquest of Ani and a large part of historical Armenia greatly revived the fortunes of the region, essentially thanks to increased trade. The actual extent of the Zakarians' vassalship towards the Georgian crown remains unknown, but it may have been purely nominal, especially since as they adopted "the trappings of both Christian and Muslim royal power", as shown in their adoption of the title "Shahanshah" (king of kings) for their names and titles. In the dedicatory inscription of Tigran Honents, the Zakarians are referred to as the only "overlords", and the "powerful masters of the universe".
After only a few decades of restored Armenian control, Ani was then captured and destroyed by the Mongols in 1239, during the disastrous campaign leading to the Georgian–Mongolian treaty of 1239.
Construction The Zakarids were active builders of religious monuments as shown by the church of Tigran Honents, or the Church of Kizkale, also in Ani.
Style The interior of the church is covered in frescoes, which all follow Byzantine styles and layout. "All of the images in the church and their placement are in keeping with Byzantinizing frescoes at this time, in both style and layout. The inscriptions identifying the various scenes and figures are painted in Greek and Georgian, with Armenian reserved for the exterior dedicatory inscription carved on the church walls." A large cycle (17 out of 18 scenes) is dedicated to Saint Gregory the llluminator, who was the evangelist of Armenia, but the murals also include one scene devoted to Saint Nino, the evangelist of Georgia. "The last scene, however, is devoted to St. Nino, the evangelist of Georgia, and depicts the miracle of the life-giving pillar, one of the key events in the establishment of Christianity in Georgia. Eastmond argues: "although the donor of the church (Tigran Honents) was Armenian, the church served a larger community at Ani composed of both Armenians and Georgians"." The various pictorial scenes are identified exclusively with painted labels in Greek and Georgian.
Inscriptions in Armenian are found engraved on the walls outside of the church, and are dedicatory in nature. Numerous sculptures, mainly representing animals and decorating walls and pillar capitals also have Armenian inscriptions: each carved stone in the church is engraved with a letter in the Armenian alphabet, probably used as mason's marks.
The church has a large quantity of murals, many of them depicting the events of the life of Tiridates III of Armenia ("Trdat"), the first Christian ruler of Armenia. The paintings are focused on the main feasts of the Chalcedonian Church. They may have been completed a few years after the construction of the church, but they are still the earliest known fresco program in Ani. The paintings, exclusively labelled in Georgian, may have belonged to a Georgian artistic tradition, as suggested by style, technique (intense blue backgrounds), and iconographical details. "Paintings were unusual in Armenian Ani (these are the earliest occurrence of wall paintings in the city) and those in the Church of Tigran Honents contain inscriptions exclusively in Greek and Georgian. Furthermore, style, technique (the intense bright blue of the background) and some iconographic details have directed art historians towards suggesting contemporary Georgian traditions as a source for these paintings."
Islamic features have also been identified in the muqarnas decorative elements of some of the capitals, and in the sculptures on the outside of the church, especially in the animal repertoire.
Attribution
Ani and its region had mixed confessional identities, with Armenians being mainly Monophysites, and Georgians and Greeks mainly Chalcedonian Christians, and relations were often conflictual. But the boundaries were moveable: Ivane I Zakarian had converted to Chalcedonism in the early 13th century, and a significant number of Armenians had followed him, voluntarily or not.
In St Gregory of Tigran Honents, the combination of scenes with the myths of the evangelists of Armenia and Georgia might suggest a conflation of Armenian Monophysite and Georgian Chalcedonian rites. Still, the dedication by Tigran Honents is Monophysite in nature as it is made in the name of the "three holy councils and the nine choirs of angels". The style and iconography of the paintings does borrow from Georgian art and uses inscriptions in Georgian only, but several characteristics are decidedly Armenian and relate to Monophysism. Armenia relatively lacked a tradition of monumental painting at the time, so there is a possibility that Georgian artists had to be hired in order to accomplish the pictorial program.
Since the donator was identified as Armenian Monophysite in his inscription, but on the other hand the artistic program rather reflected the Chalcedonian faith, the church may also have belonged to a Chalcedonian community of Armenians, who had chosen to adopt Georgian styles and practices. Preferring to only take into account the style of the murals, one author has simplistically presented the church as a "Georgian church". "In the secondary literature, the question of the religious identity of the Church of St Gregory the Illuminator of Ani emerges as being of primary importance. Its discussion is almost exclusively tied to the analysis of the paintings, to the extent that, according to one scholar, the interpretation of the paintings as Georgian (with regard to their style and some iconographical aspects) made the church sic et simpliciter a "Georgian" church."
Alternatively, although the donator of the church was Armenian, the church may have served a larger community of both Armenians and Georgians. The Zakarids may also have promoted a level of ambiguity between the two faiths, and voluntarily mixed elements from both, minimizing differences, possibly as a political expedient helping them better rule their realm. This may be seen in the light of their other known efforts at church councils to bring together the Monophysite and Chalcedonian faiths, especially at the level of their outward expression, such as procedures and visual elements.
Dedication The church was dedicated by the Armenian Tigran Honents (Dikran Honents), as declared in an inscription in Armenian on the southern wall of the church:
Tigran Honentsis also known to have sponsored the renovation of a staircase in the Cathedral of Ani in 1213, and the building of the Monastery of the Virgins, also at Ani.
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