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Tehran: Remains in Saint Stephanus Church may be bones of John theBa

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  • Tehran: Remains in Saint Stephanus Church may be bones of John theBa

    Remains in Saint Stephanus Church may be bones of John the Baptist: archbishop

    MehrNews.com, Iran
    Aug 5 2005

    TEHRAN, Aug. 5 (MNA) -- The Armenian Orthodox primate of the diocese
    of Tehran, Archbishop Sebuh Sarkisian, said on Thursday that some of
    the remains recently discovered in Iran's St. Stephanus Church may
    be the bones of John the Baptist.

    In late July, Shahriar Adl, the director of the team documenting three
    Iranian churches for registration on UNESCO's World Heritage List,
    said that they had discovered the bones of one of the successors of
    the Apostles of Jesus at the St. Stephanus Church, which is located
    near Marand in East Azarbaijan.

    "About the box, which contains the remains of the apostles' bodies
    and was found under the altar of the St. Stephanus Church, it is
    said that the box contains the body of John the Baptist. According
    to Armenian historian Arakel Davrizhetsi (17th century), the box,
    which was located under the main altar of the Church of the Holy
    Trinity in old Jolfa and contained the sacred remains and a scroll,
    was given to Shamun, the archbishop of St. Stephanus Church, after
    the Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed," Sarkisian explained.

    "The remains may very likely have historic value. According to the
    tradition of the church, we know that after St. Gregory the Illuminator
    was consecrated as archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, in a friendly
    gesture, he gave some remains of John the Baptist to Quintius, the
    archbishop of the region, during his return trip to Armenia. The
    remains were transferred to the John the Baptist Cathedral in the
    city of Mush in Armenia.

    "Now, the remains were somehow transferred to another place, as a
    consequence of the wars and chaotic conditions prevailing in the land
    over past centuries, in which believers and church fathers changed the
    location of the box in order to safeguard it. A French traveler (Jean
    Baptiste Tavernier, 1605-1689), who saw a box at the St. Stephanus
    Church when he visited the place in the 17th century, had said that
    the box contained the body of one of the Apostles," Sarkisian said.

    Some historical sources, such as some photos kept at Tehran's Golestan
    Palace, and the photos taken by Ali Khan Vali, the governor of northern
    Azarbaijan during the reign of the Qajar king Nasser ad-Din Shah and
    kept in the Adl family archives, indicate that the bones of Saint
    Stephanus (Saint Stephen), Saint Matthew, and the Prophet Daniel,
    are being kept in the St. Stephanus Church.

    The bones have been examined by a team of anthropologists of the
    Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO).

    Unfortunately, the bones have been damaged because of the bad
    condition of the place. Thus, the team could only determine that
    they are the bones of a single body but the individual bones can not
    be distinguished.

    The experts have said that the complete skeleton belongs to a man
    with a strong physique who was about 50 years old when he died.

    The bones have been transferred to the Prelacy of Azarbaijan in
    Tabriz because restoration work is currently underway in the church,
    but they will be returned after the renovation is complete.

    Hayk Ajimian, an Armenian scholar and historian, recorded that the
    church was originally built in the ninth century CE, but repeated
    earthquakes in Azarbaijan severely damaged the original structure.
    The church was renovated during the reign of the Safavid king Shah
    Abbas (1588-1629).

    The general structure of the St. Stephanus Church mostly resembles
    Armenian and Georgian architecture and the inside of the building is
    adorned with beautiful paintings by Honatanian, a renowned Armenian
    artist.

    The CHTO plans to submit an application to UNESCO to register the St.
    Stephanus Church as well as the St. Thaddeus and Zorzor churches in
    West Azarbajian on the World Heritage List.
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