History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus

The aim of the article is to demonstrate how legends may exert influence upon the character of cult and how different may be the comprehension of a religious object by people-carriers of one or another tradition. The convent Jarah-hekim St. Mother of God serves as an illustration for the long lasting and and changing tradition affecting worship and folk representations and living even after the extinction of the material object (the church) around which that tradition has arisen. The research is accomplished with the use of diachronic analysis of the historical data and with content analysis and hermeneutic approach towards literаry sources.

Mythological canvas of stories about former pagan shrines and their Christianization relates to a standard form: brief description of pagan cults, visit of a saint, destruction of old sacral objects and founding of a Christian church. In the case of St. Tiramer of Timar not only names of pagan priests converted into Christianity are preserved but also the means practiced by St. Thaddeus to pertain the sacral place with its structure. For almost 2000 years St. Tiramer has remained object for cult and subject for mythology about Shirak, Zirak, and Mirak, founders of cities, villages, prominent families, churches and monasteries.

The considerable amount of folklore – legends, songs, proverbs, swear formulas etc. – around the mysterious monastery, the strange forms of worship and its veiled history make the St. Tiramer Monastery one of the most interesting historical shrines in the Western Armenia.