23:52, 22 March 2021

Pilgrims visit Dadivank and Amaras monasteries with support of peacekeepers

Pilgrims, accompanied by peacekeepers, inside the monastery. Photo by the Russian Ministry of Defence http://mil.ru/russian_peacekeeping_forces/news/more.htm?id=12350121@egNews

Within two days, more than 100 pilgrims, accompanied by peacekeepers, visited the monasteries of Dadivank and Amaras located on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh that came under the control of Azerbaijan, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 9, soldiers from the peacekeeping contingent accompanied 20 pilgrims who visited the Amaras Christian monastery in the Martuni District and returned to Stepanakert. On March 16, the Russian soldiers also escorted pilgrims to the Dadivank monastery.

A group of pilgrims visited the Christian monasteries of Dadivank and Amaras, being accompanied by peacekeepers, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported. It should be noted that the Azerbaijani military personnel freely allow pilgrims, accompanied by the Russian peacekeepers, to the territory of Christian monasteries.

The Dadivank monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church ended up on the territory of Karabakh that came under the control of Azerbaijan. Believers expressed their fears that they would no longer be able to visit the monastery. Meanwhile, the abbot and the brethren decided not to leave the Dadivank monastery.

Amaras is an early medieval Armenian monastery founded in the 4th century.

On March 21, blogger David Simonyan wrote in his blog on the “Caucasian Knot” that refugees continued to arrive in Karabakh. According to the blogger, the residents who returned to the region receive assistance from the authorities, including beds, blankets, and clothes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 22, 2021 at 07:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.