Armenians make visit-pilgrimage to Magaravank monastery

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Office of the Representative of the Armenian Community of Cyprus, Vartkes Mahdessian, in co-operation with the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus have made their third visit-pilgrimage to the Sourp Magar Monastery (Magaravank), Famagusta Gazette reported.

The first visit came in 2007, when Armenian Cypriots made the journey to the occupied Armenian Monastery as a community after 33 years.

According to the Representative’s Office, around 200 Armenian Cypriots visited the monastery on Sunday, some of whom came especially from abroad.

The monastery was founded by Copts around the year 1000 AD and in 1425 it was inherited by the Armenians.

The Armenian Monastery had been for centuries a popular pilgrimage for Armenians and non-Armenians and a place of recuperation for Catholicoi (Patriarchs) and other clerics from Cilicia, Jerusalem and Armenia, as well as a popular centre for local and foreign travelers and for pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. Furthermore, the monastery was used as a summer resort, where Armenian scouts and students would camp, including students of the Melkonian Educational Institute, many of whom were orphans of the Armenian Genocide. A large number of exquisite and priceless manuscripts, dating back to 1202, as well as other valuable ecclesiastical relics were housed there. Fortunately, in 1947 some of them were saved when they were transferred to the Cilicia museum of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

The Magaravank is the only Armenian monastery in Cyprus and together with the church of the Virgin Mary in occupied Nicosia, it is the most important Armenian church monument on the island. It was occupied in 1974 during the Turkish invasion and ever since it remains at the mercy of nature, silent, ruined, desecrated and deserted, awaiting for its rightful owners to return.