2025
2025
2025-11-10
The formerly Armenian-inhabited village of Varkhian is located in the present-day Zaqatala district, 19.7 km south of the district center.
Like the inhabitants of other Armenian villages in the region, the Armenians of Varkhian were also forced to convert to Islam in the mid-18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, when the area came under Russian control, the Armenians of Varkhian got the opportunity to return to the Christian faith. Martiros Ter-Danielyan Ter-Hovhannisyan, the senior priest of the St. John (Surb Hovhannes) church in Ganja, led significant efforts to restore Christianity in the village. Through his dedication, the Armenians of Varkhian returned to their Christian faith in the early 1850s.
He was honored with a special encyclical from Catholicos of All Armenians Nerses Ashtaraketsi: “...For his zeal in converting from Mohammedanism to the faith of the holy Armenian Church the formerly apostatized Armenian inhabitants of the village of Varkhian, numbering 60 persons, he received from His Holiness on October 23, 1855, No. 321. After baptizing the aforementioned residents, he was granted a decorated and sealed encyclical...”
On November 29, 1857, senior priest Martiros reported that the Armenians of Varkhian intended to build a church. However, this plan was never realized.
According to 1863 data, 51 Armenian residents lived in the village. After 1863, there are no sources mentioning the presence of Armenians in Varkhian. According to monument specialist Samvel Karapetyan, the Armenian population of the village, left without a priest, either again converted to Islam or left Varkhian to avoid the vengeance of the surrounding Muslim inhabitants.
According to available records, in 1876 Varkhian was inhabited by 1,780 Lezgins, and by 1914, by 2,102 Mughals (the latter were Turkic-speaking groups settled to the South Caucasus by the order of Shah Abbas I in the 17th century).
Bibliography
Karapetyan, S. Aghvank Proper. Research on Armenian Architecture, Part 1, Yerevan 2024, pp. 83-84.