on the way to Karabagh: Monday, August 8

We visited several sites on the way to Karabagh.  The first was a monastery built on top of the pit where St. Gregory the Illuminator lived for 13 years.  For those of you unfamiliar with the story of St. Gregory, continue reading.  Those who are familiar, move on to the next paragraph.  <tangent>The year was 288 AD.  Most of the Armenians were pagan at the time, including the king Drtad.  One of his officials, Gregory, was a Christian.  One day, the king got angry at Gregory because Gregory refused to bow down to pagan idols.  So, Drtad put Gregory into this pit, intending that Gregory would starve to death and die in there.  Little did he know that the villagers were feeding Gregory and keeping him alive while he was in the hole.  It came to pass, about 13 years later, that Drtad was on the search for a wife.  He met this girl named Hripsime who, like Gregory, was a Christian.  Drtad, knowing that Christians absolutely refuse to worship the pagan deities and bow down to idols, decided to try to make a deal with Hripsime.  "You convert to paganism and abandon Christianity, and you can become my queen".  But Hripsime refused, and he had the guards kill her.  Then he went insane.  Trouble arose in Armenia, because it was run by an insane king.  The king's sister, who was a Christian, told the guards that the only person who  could restore the king is Gregory.  The guards were astonished at what she said, "surely he cannot be alive after 13 years!",  but they were wrong.  They lowered a rope into there, and pulled Gregory out of the pit.  And he healed the king, and the king chose not only to become a Christian himself, but also to endorse Christianity throughout his kingdom.  This is how the Armenian church was founded, in 301 AD, the first Christian nation. </tangent>

So anyways, here in the 21st century, I got to visit the inside of the pit.  A ladder leads down into there and there is an electric chandelier (which wasnt there in Gregory's time, when it would have been almost absolutely dark).  There was no toilet in there, so, I'm guessing that whomever fed him also carried out his waste products.  If it were me, I'd just jailbreak the man out instead.   <paradox>However if I had been there (by way of time travel), and I had jailbreaked him out, it would not have been miraculous, Drtad would not have believed, Armenia would still be pagan, Gregory would have been forgotten, and I would have had no reason to go back in time in the first place </paradox>  

Another site we found was a church with steep narrow stairways with no railing leading up to the sanctuary.  Another site was a village where people used to live in caves, and other LCO groups were doing some excavating.  

On another note: After having used a village squat-hole for excrementing solid waste 24 consecutive times over the past 3 weeks, it felt good to sit on a real toilet instead.  Yes, I did keep count.