The Light of the Gods
From the light alone you know you are in a holy place:
This is a place where you stand under heaven in the hall of the ancient God:
These floor stones, carved with names, cover the graves of saints:
Cold but illuminated. An inscription reminds us:
“You who enter through its door and prostrate yourself before the Cross, in your prayers remember us…who rest at the door …”
The Haghpat Monastery, built by the devout in 976, burnt by Mongols, burnt by Turks and burnt by Persians, seems to re-grow out of the ground. Beautiful even on a gray winter day:
Supposedly built by the estranged son of the master who built the almost equally beautiful Sanahin Monastery. When the father walks across the valley and finally comes to see it, he says to the son he now understands: the walls are solid, they will stand. From this comes the name “Haghpat”.
As I stood on the edge of the valley, preparing to walk across back to Sanahin, I felt the soft breath of the middle ages on my neck:
(events 3/Dec/2012)
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Alien Heartbeat 
29 Responses to “The Light of the Gods”
Michael, that’s authentically poetic……were it someone else, I’d venture that you were spiritually touched :).
Mike, I have to admit it was the place, which was genuinely beautiful, rather than any new inner light of my own.
I agree — you have a touch of the poet in you. This is the third out of four posts of yours that I’ve read where I noticed it. These lines are sheer poetry: “As I stood on the edge of the valley, preparing to walk across back to Sanahin, I felt the warm breath of the middle ages on my neck.”
Well, thanks. Marvellous what walking up mountains will do for you.
Dude! Where’d you go? I miss your posts, both your writing and photos. Have you stopped rambling and musing and so, retired Alien Heartbeat?
hi Kay.
I traveled for about 6 months after the last post
and in fact had prepared the photos for a few more posts on Laos.
But I had a backlog of stuff to deal with
and then it got harder to get back into posting
esp while trying to clean up many other projects.
Have now decided to stop traveling for awhile
and return to HK
to try to spend the next few years getting something less ephemeral done,
but not yet sure of the form.
Have really appreciated your comments
and they kept me motivated to keep posting for so long.
I look forward to seeing your non-ephemeral work. If you’re doing a book, you could definitely pull some of your works/words from your Alien Heartbeat site. P.S. I’m working on an artist’s book and I find that posting a musing or two each month keeps me working. Just a thought. And too, much of the material for the book comes from my blogs.
You have a way with words. Lovely stuff.
thanks Kay.
Awesome post. Truly.
Thanks. I had been so drawn to the place I hadn’t made any notes or tweets. So when it came to writing the post I started with a blank page. Both good and bad.
I’ve always found a blank canvas intimidating. Hard to improve…until the first defilement…then it’s a different animal altogether.
The quote is terrific, as is the floor of tombstones.
The full quote is:
“In the year 634/AD 1185, I Mariam, daughter of King Kyurike, built with great hope this house of prayer over our tombs — those of my paternal aunt Rousoudan, my mother Tamara, and myself, Mariam, under the superior Ter Barsegh, archbishop, who finished the construction. You who enter through its door and prostrate yourself before the cross, in your prayers remember us and our royal ancestors, who rest at the door of the holy cathedral, in Jesus Christ.”
On re-reading it, it is in some ways more beautiful than my excerpt. But I wanted to focus on the fact that under each of those stones was buried an Armenian saint, and that in walking there, we walk across them.
Reblogged this on Me, myself and life and commented:
Amazing country
Yes, though as you are Armenian, you could be a bit prejudiced 😉
But I am not Armenian and I agree.
And such an amazing and terrible history.
Thanks for the reblog.
Yes you’re right, and I know it’s far from perfect but it’s such a beautiful country i must visit! ‘
You’re welcome! 🙂
Michael: just came across this. Omedeto! As we say in nihongo. Beautiful serene appreciation of somewhere I had never heard of. Indebted to you for the education!
Robin
Great to hear from you Robin. Yes, somewhere I had never heard of either. It is often the case that some of our most worthwhile experiences are unexpected.
so beautiful
Truly beautiful, majestic photographs. Yes, the light does indeed suggest holiness.
Thanks very much.
Yes, even to those of us (such as myself) whose holiness is greatly in doubt 😉
I’m returning to view these gorgeous images. Glad I did.
thanks Elena. the reason i moved to this Portfolio theme is to avoid my favorite posts ending up in an “old posts” bin.
These are gorgeous! The place looks wildly beautiful.
absolutely it was. now if only I could have had you there taking the photos for me 😉
Eh I think you did great. Doubt I’ll ever drag 15 kilos of equipment around on such hikes. Maybe if there was an airlift or something.
I followed your advice and visited this post. Monolithic on the outside, the interior of the monastery is softened by the existing light. Good that those who burned the building didn’t destroy the graves.
thanks, it is one of my favourites. amazing that it survived so many burnings.
I stumbled upon your site under my gogole alert for Armenia. I have to say, you did a fantastic job on this photography. But you had beautiful scenery to work with.
yes, you are right. And not just the beautiful scenery to wrk with but also the long history.