ONE-CITY-PER-DAY CHALLENGE
Etchmiadzin, Armenia
Origins of the first Christian Country of the History
Reading a guidebook during the flight to Yerevan, I learned that Armenia was the first Christian Country.
I’ve been stunned by the story:
Gregory, raised as a Christian, enters the service of King Tiridates the Great, whose father has been killed by Anak, Gregory’s father.
When Tiridates discovers it, he throws him down a well for fourteen years. Tiridates’ sister, who has converted to Christianity, has a dream: an angel tells her that the king, suffering from lycanthropy, will be cured when Gregory is freed.
Once free, Gregory converted the King to Christianity and built a church in Etchmiadzin after seeing an apparition of Christ indicating the exact location of the future church.
Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD.
