ARTEFACT HUNTERS

In April when it becomes relatively warmer the friends Sabit Oguz and Elvin Mammadov begin their customary walks around the historical locations in Azerbaijan. They go round every nook and cranny in our country, crook in hand as they say, studying everything that comes their way, any little stone and artefact. It was no accident that they got the idea of "hiking around the country". The historical concept which has been formed in the science relating to Caucasian Albania is not to the liking of the friends. Sabit and Elvin are convinced that, since the main efforts of Azerbaijani historians and art critics have been directed into the study of Azerbaijan's Muslim culture, its Christian past has remained in the shadows.

Christianity in Azerbaijan

In actual fact, today scholars in Azerbaijan are being more careful and systematic in the way that they are reconstructing the history of our country's culture, as a consequence of which the need has arisen to turn to its sources, the study of Christian Caucasian Albania, which dates back to the early Middle Ages. This may be able to provide answers to many questions. Since it has turned out historically that it is precisely the Azerbaijani people who are one of the main inheritors of the historical and cultural heritage of Caucasian Albania, the territory of which practically coincides with the historical territories of Azerbaijan (today the Republic of Azerbaijan is located on part of the historical territory of Azerbaijan - author).

Caucasian Albania is known to have occupied a considerably larger territory compared with modern Azerbaijan, with centres at various times in Derbent, Qabala, Barda, Gandzasar (now the occupied [by Armenians] Kalbacar District) and in parallel in Amaras (now the occupied Xocavand District). Its towns, churches and necropolises are also located in Dagestan, Georgia and Armenia at the present time, and the stelae, gravestones and works of decorative art are embellishing the museums in Makhachkala, Tbilisi and Echmiadzin and so forth.

 "The Albanian church is known to be one of the most ancient churches, not only in the Caucasus, but also throughout the Christian world and is of apostolic origin, and the history of Christianity in Azerbaijan is linked with the coming into being of the Christian church on the territory of Caucasian Albania. According to the history of the church Apostle Bartholomew, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, arrived in Caucasian Albania, where he converted many pagans to Christianity with his teachings, for which he was executed by the pagan priests. According to the Albanian historian Moisey Kalankatuyskiy [also known as Musa Kalankatli], a pupil of the apostle Faddey - blessed as Elias by the first patriarch of Jerusalem, the holy apostle Jacob, arrived in Caucasian Albania and there, in a small town called Kis (Saki, Azerbaijan) he built the first church and held the first service. At the beginning of the 4th century the Albanian king Urnair adopted Christianity as a state religion," the research officer at the Human Rights Institute of the Azerbaijan's Academy of Sciences, director of the Centre of Caucasus History Centre, Rizvan Huseynov recounted.

He said that before the seizure of Caucasian Albania by the Arabs, the Albanian church had existed for many centuries as a local independent church with its own hierarchies, and this, in its turn, allowed it to choose its church head from a number of local clergy. But, after the Arab conquest, owing to its striving to unite with Byzantium and the Ecumenical Church of Rome, the Albanian Church was compelled to be subordinated to the jurisdiction of the Armenian Church which became the conductor of the interests of the caliphate in Asia Minor and the Caucasus.

However this did not influence the choice of the Albanian Church patriarchs by the Armenian Catholicos for long. In actual fact, the Albanian Church existed until the 19th century. After the territory of Azerbaijan became part of the Russian empire by decree of the tsar in 1836, the Albanian Catholicate was disbanded, and in 1909-1910, with the permission of the Russian Synod, the archives of the Albanian Church were destroyed in Echmiadzin. So, everything was lost that had been connected with Caucasian Albania, the historian noted.

All that time, the Armenians Armenianised the Albanian churches as much as they could, changing the Albanian inscriptions into Armenian ones. Today all the assertions of the Armenian "scholars" regarding the subordination of the Albanian Church to the Armenian Church and the Albanians' adoption of Christianity from the Armenians are no more than a propaganda trick. Thus, the Armenians want to substantiate their right to the territory, history, culture and monuments of Caucasian Albania, which essentially relate to Azerbaijan.

Therefore today it is more important than ever before to inform the world that that Albanian epoch is part of the history of Azerbaijan. Sabit and Elvin are prepared to make their voluntary contribution to the history of the study of Caucasian Albania on the territory of modern Azerbaijan.

The secrets of the Damcili cave

 "We started to go on our hikes around the historical places of Azerbaijan together in 2009. Our first targeted trip took place in Qazax, in the village of Das-Salahli, the holiday centre of Damcili near Avey-dag Mountain. There is an Albanian church there which, judging from some sources, dates back to the 5th to 6th centuries. It is marked on the maps as the Church of Surb Sarkis. But this is of course the Armenian version," Sabit and Elvin recount.

After that, the friends set off as soon as they obtained information that there were inscriptions on the wall of one of the caves not far from the church. "We wanted to make photographs ourselves, since our main aim was to discover the Albanian written language, as many versions relating to this exist, but the existence of it has still not been proven."

And in actual fact some historians and linguists believe that an Albanian written language never existed and that they used ancient Armenian letters. But there is evidence that the Albanian written language played a big part in spreading and asserting Christianity in the region. With its help, from the middle of the 4th century the Bible and other theological literature were translated from Syrian and Greek. The Albanian palimpsest, a manuscript on parchment, discovered by a corresponding member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, Zaza Aleksidze, is evidence of this. The manuscript on which the text had been washed away or scratched off was found in St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai.

Z. Aleksidze notes the discovery of the complete lectionary on Sinai with Albanian script in the Albanian language is direct evidence that there was a developed Christian written language in Albania. "The find on Sinai completely confirmed the information contained in the sources regarding translations into Albanian of the Books of the Prophets, the Gospels and the Books of the Apostles. Only a people who have a complete text of the Bible in their own language can have a lectionary," the scholar wrote.

Sabit and Elvin sought out the inscription in the cave and photographed it so that they could pass it on to the scholars.

A trip to Georgia

The friends discovered very many monuments of Caucasian Albania in Georgia in the town of Dmanisi in Kvemo Kartli (Borchali). And strange as that may seem, they are all located in places where ethnic Azerbaijanis live close by.

 "The study of the Albanian monuments of ancient times on the territory of another country is extremely difficult. The ethnic Muslim Azerbaijanis are not particularly interested in Christian artefacts either. But we found it very interesting that the local Muslim population conducts the rite of sacrifice among the ruins of the ancient churches, referring to them as "pir". Some churches have been restored by the Georgian authorities. There is a church which is situated on the highest mountain in the locality of "Shindi". It is regarded as a place of small pilgrimages," they say.

These amateur researchers say there are many places like that in Borchali. There is a church which owing to its six supporting pillars is called "altiayag".

We asked the local villagers about these churches, and they told us that those that the newer ones belonged to the Georgians. The others, of which only ruins remain, belong to the Azerbaijanis. There are Arabic inscriptions on some churches which point to the fact that these churches had always belonged to the local residents, but with the change of religion these shrines had changed their purpose. And now they function as Muslim "pir", they recount. 

Elvin and Sabit also discovered that all the churches were surrounded by gravestones. "When we asked about these gravestones and whom they belonged to the local residents said that these were Georgian graves. We started to take a close look at them. It is interesting that the social status of the person buried there could easily be spotted from the gravestones. On some a sword was depicted, on others a dagger and on others a tool. But when we saw the Azerbaijani folk-music instrument, the saz, on one of the gravestones, we were a little bit surprised. But at the same time, it left us with no doubt that the local Azerbaijani population were the original inhabitants here."

The amateur researchers showed their photographs of the gravestones with the saz to the historian and linguist Firuddin Caliloglu, and the scholar was quite surprised by that: "Firuddin Caliloglu even expressed the desire to visit these places in order to study them. But we think that it will be impossible to do this, since there is no chance of doing any serious research on the territory of Georgia unfortunately. 

A bit about Saki

Our amateur investigators often go to Saki since there are extensive opportunities there to study the monuments of mediaeval Caucasian Albania. Once very beautiful churches with unique architecture in the Saki villages of Bideiz, Bas Kungut are today in a lamentable state and in need of restoration. There are a lot of gravestones around the church in Bas Kungut too.

 "We visited the village of Dasbulag. In the 19th century Armenians lived there, from whom several cemeteries remain. The inscriptions on some stones are hardly visible and it is only with difficulty that you can determine whether they are Armenian or not, but some are quite clear and you can even read the date. An interesting fact is that on many of the stones attempts have been made to get rid of the figures, most probably to falsify the date. The falsifiers have tried to show that these gravestones date back to an earlier period, which may give the Armenians a reason for claiming that they are the indigenous inhabitants. But in the village of Dasbulag itself there is an ancient Albanian church which most likely functioned as an Armenian church in the 19th century. Restoration work was probably done in that period. Inscriptions in Armenian have been carved in the walls. It cannot be ruled out that these were made during the restoration work.

Thus, our "neighbours" have demonstrated yet again their essence as falsifiers. But it has to be admitted that many of our monuments of architecture are in need of restoration and a caring attitude today. With the right approach an open-air museum could be set up here and excursions for tourists arranged," our enthusiasts think.

The researchers believe that we should clarify that not everything Christian is Armenian, that the ancient and mediaeval Christianity of Albania, which remained within in the bounds of modern Azerbaijan was to be found on the territory of our country before the Armenians came and that the numerous monuments of architecture offer an extensive field for research. And now all these artefacts are in need of new designation and restoration. "Today these places should be open-air museums, with the relevant labels and signs," the friends assert.

Their next hike is to Qazax and then on to Qax where there are a large number of Albanian churches and other monuments of architecture.