Saint Hakob of Akori Monastery (; pronounced ''Akori Surb Hakob Vank''; also sometimes referred to as Saint James), was an Armenian monastery located in the southeastern part of the historic region of Surmali (today the

Iğdır Province Iğdır Province ( tr, Iğdır ili, ku, Parêzgeha Îdirê, , ) is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan (the area of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the nor ...

of modern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

). The monastery was located 4.7 kilometers southwest of Akori, a village at the northeastern slope of

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat or , ''Ararat''; or is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and th ...

. Destroyed by an earthquake and avalanche in 1840, Akori was later rebuilt. It is known today as Yenidoğan and remains a small

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

village. In 1829,

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

explorer

Friedrich Parrot Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot (14 October 1791) was a Baltic German naturalist, explorer, and mountaineer, who lived and worked in Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. A pio ...

, Armenian writer

Khachatur Abovian Khachatur Abovian ( hy, Խաչատուր Աբովյան, Khach’atur Abovyan; (disappeared)) was an Armenian writer and national public figure of the early 19th century who mysteriously vanished in 1848 and was eventually presumed dead. He was ...

, and four others reached the top of Mount Ararat in the first recorded ascent in history. They used St. Hakob as their base.

Architecture

The monastery of St. Hakob was a cruciform central-plan structure constructed of black stone with a central dome typical for Armenian churches of the time. The monastery had eucharistical inscriptions engraved upon the walls that dated from the 13th to 14th centuries.

History

The monastery was founded in 341 A.D. by

Jacob of Nisibis Saint Jacob of Nisibis ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܢܨܝܒܢܝܐ, '; Greek: Ἅγιος Ἰάκωβος Ἐπίσκοπος Μυγδονίας; Armenian: Յակոբ Մծբնայ, '), also known as Saint Jacob of Mygdonia, Saint Jacob the Great, and Saint J ...

, the second

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

who lived during the 3rd to 4th centuries A.D. It was built upon the northeastern slope of Mount Ararat (; the greater mountain is referred to as ''Masis'' in Armenian) in Masyatsotn canton of a larger province of

Ayrarat Ayrarat () was the central province of the kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), ancient kingdom Armenia, located in the plain of the upper Aras (river), Aras River. Most of the historical capitals of Armenia were located in this province, including Arm ...

Armenian kingdom The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia ( hy, Մեծ Հայք '; la, Armenia Maior), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire, was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 331 BC ...

. Some sources say that St. Hakob was the name of the monastery while there was a chapel of St. James nearby, while other sources refer to the two as the same site. The monastery is said to have contained relics of wood from the Biblical Ark of Noah. A strong earthquake occurred at Mount Ararat on July 2, 1840 causing an avalanche that destroyed the monastery of St. Hakob, Arakelots Vank in the neighboring village of Akori as well as the village itself.The "Christian Armenia" Encyclopaedia, Yerevan 2002, p. 31.

Folklore

According to legend, St. Jacob tried many times to climb Mount Ararat to find

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

which was buried under thick layers of ice at Parrot Glacier upon the top of the mountain. He would climb the mountain, fall asleep and wake up downhill from where he was. After repeated failed attempts, one day God said him in a dream "Do not try to find the Ark anymore. I will give you a piece of a wood of what the Ark was hewn". When he woke up, to his amazement he found the wood lying nearby. He decided to build the monastery at the location that he found the wood.

References

{{Armenian Churches 340s establishments Buildings and structures demolished in 1840 Christian monasteries established in the 4th century Christian monasteries disestablished in the 19th century Armenian Apostolic monasteries in Turkey Destroyed churches in Turkey Mount Ararat