Church of Surb Astvatsatsin (Big Salas)

According to the decree of Empress Catherine the Second of March 9, 1778, concerning the resettlement of Armenians to the Don, they were allowed to build churches and conduct ceremonies in them according to national laws and customs, subordinating only to the Etchmiadzin Catholicos - the Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians. Moving to new lands, the Armenians began to build churches.

In 1848, parishioners from the village of Bolshoi Sali decided to build a brick church. In 1860, its construction began. In 1867, the church was built. The design of the church in the Greater Salas was made by the Taganrog architect N. Muratov. The design of the church was approved by the Catholicos of All Armenians by Nerses V (1843-1857) in the mid-fifties of the nineteenth century. After his death, construction assistance was provided by Catholicos Matevos I (1858–1865). After the construction was completed in 1867, the Catholicos Gevorg IV (1866–1882) consecrated the church.

In 1938, the church was closed, part of its property was sold through a local store.

During the Great Patriotic War, the church was badly damaged, and its building was used by the collective farm as a granary.

By the end of the war in 1945, the church again became operational. In the village on May 3, 2001, a religious organization, the Church of Surb Astvatsatsin, was registered. In the same year, restoration of the church building began; by 2003, the dome and part of the church wall were restored. Parishioners found and returned to the church the partially lost after the war image of the Saints and some church utensils.

In 2008, Surb Astvatsatsin Church was completely restored. On September 7 of this year, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II consecrated the church.

At that time, Khachkar, brought from Armenia, was consecrated - a cross-stone, a symbol of Armenian spirituality and ties with the historical Homeland. The stone was installed near the temple in honor of Russian-Armenian friendship. The stone was donated by businessman Arthur Hanamirovich Karapetyan.

On September 26, 2011, the village commemorated the victims of the repressed clergy of the church and teachers of the parish school of the church of Surb Astvatsatsin. In the village he was erected a memorial monument - a cross.

On the last Sunday of August, on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the church of Surb Astvatsatsin celebrates the patronal feast.

A feature of the architecture of the church building is the absence of porticoes in front of the northern and southern facades, as well as the altar apse serving on the eastern facade. Instead, three exedros are arranged in the wall of this unit, the middle of which served as an altar. On the facade, this place is marked with built-in platbands: middle above the window opening, side - above the flat niches.

The temple exders are reminiscent of the eastern parts of the interiors of two-apse basilicas of the 12th-13th centuries in Armenia. There are no windows in the side exedra of the Astvatsatsin church, which implies not the liturgical, but the artistic function of these architectural elements.

The elongated western sleeve of the temple gives the building the shape of a Greek cross. On the western wall of the interior were not wide wooden choirs, which are absent today. The interior of the church at one time was painted with frescoes, which today are lost.

The bell tower with its size and height is subordinate to the volume of the church. This gives the dome of the temple the importance of the appearance of the structure. The faces of the drums of the domes, inside round, outwardly octagonal, end with lunettes that resemble kokoshniks on the facades of Russian churches. The trench platbands have gable cornices resting on columns, forming a forceps above a raised arched opening.

In 2004 he was ordained a priest and appointed rector of the church of Surb Astvatsatsin.

• Vartanyan V.G., Kazarov S.S. Armenian-Apostolic Church on the Don / Rostov n / D., 2001.
• Halpakhchyan O. X. Architecture of Nakhichevan-on-Don / Er., 1988.
• Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The historical path. M., 2013.

• Big Salas. Surb Astvatsatsin Church
• Surb Astvatsatsin Church (Bolshoi Sali, Rostov Region, Russia)
• Don churches