The Zelenchuksky Churches or, Lower-Arkhyz Churches are located in an archaeological preserve extending for four kilometers around the ruins of Nizhnearkhyzskoe gorodishche near

Arkhyz Arkhyz (also Nizhny Arkhyz russian: Архыз; krc, Ырхыз, ''Irxız''; "mudflows") is a village in the valley of the Bolshoy Zelenchuk River, in the Republic of Karachay–Cherkessia, Greater Caucasus, Russia, about 70 km inland fro ...

Karachay–Cherkessia The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. The site is tentatively identified as the medieval capital of Alania, a Christian state destroyed by the hordes of

Möngke Khan Möngke ( mn, ' / Мөнх '; ; 11 January 1209 – 11 August 1259) was the fourth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, ruling from 1 July 1251, to 11 August 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reform ...

in the 13th century.

History

No Byzantine document mentions the name of this city, whereas

al-Mas'udi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...

refers to it as Ma'as, or

Maghas Maghas or Maas — more properly, Mags or Maks — was the capital city of Alania, a medieval kingdom in the Greater Caucasus. It is known from Islamic and Chinese sources, but its location is uncertain, with some authors favouring North Ossetia an ...

. The most remarkable feature of the site is a cluster of three early medieval churches, whose construction is associated with the missionary activities of Patriarch

Nicholas Mystikos Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus ( el, Νικόλαος Α΄ Μυστικός, ''Nikolaos I Mystikos''; 852 – 11 May 925) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 907 and from May 912 to his death ...

in the Northern Caucasus. These structures bear much resemblance to the

Shoana Church The Shoana church (russian: Шоанинский храм, os, Суаны Уастырджы) is a Christian church that belongs to the historical Alanian Diocese. The church was built at the end of the tenth century, and is located on the terri ...

and

Senty Church Senty Church (russian: Сентинский храм) is a Christian church built in 965 in the territory of modern Karachay-Cherkessia (Russian Federation). It is situated on the left bank of the Teberda River, near the village of Nizhnyaya Teb ...

, situated in the neighbouring valleys. In the 19th century the churches were affiliated with the monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky. A monastic community was revived there after the fall of the Soviet Union. The North Church is supposed to have been the cathedral of the diocese of Alania between the 10th and 13th centuries. The dome rises to a height of 21 meters; the western wall is twice as long. The

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

formerly contained a

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

. A 19th-century traveller described the faded Byzantine frescoes that were still visible on its walls. The Central Church appears to have been conceived somewhat earlier than the two others, in the form of a regular cross, but was extended to the west during or shortly following the construction. It is much larger than the South Church, which was built of coarse rubble masonry, extensively restored by the monks in 1899, fell into disuse during the Soviet years, and was reconsecrated to St. Elijah in 1991. The South Church bears the distinction of being the oldest functioning church in all of Russia.Information about the church
from the Arkhyz Observatory website. Within 30 km from Nizhny Arkhyz a short grave inscription was discovered in 1888. Although it is written in Greek characters, the inscription (alternatively dated to 941 or 963) was interpreted by

Vasily Abayev Vaso (Vasily) Ivanovich Abaev ( os, Абайты Иваны фырт Васо; russian: Василий Иванович Абаев, also transliterated as Abayev and Abayti; 15 December 1900 – 18 March 2001) was an ethnically Ossetian Soviet ...

as the earliest preserved text in the

Ossetic language Ossetian (, , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete (), is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Greater Caucasus. It is the native language of the Osseti ...

. Another tourist attraction in the valley is a

mandylion According to Christian tradition, the Image of Edessa was a holy relic consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus had been imprinted—the first icon ("image"). The image is also known as the M ...

-typ
rock painting of Christ
datable to the 10th century but discovered only recently.

Notes

References

* Kuznetsov V.A. ''V Verkhovyakh Bolshogo Zelenchuka''. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977.
Zelenchuk churches: History and Views
{{coord, display=title, 43, 33, 54, N, 41, 16, 44, E 10th-century churches in Russia Populated places established in 1923 History of Karachay-Cherkessia Churches in Karachay-Cherkessia Medieval Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Russia

History

See also

Notes

References