Chapter 40

According to Hewsen the bell is of Tibetian origin with a Buddhist inscription, "probably the long-forgotten gift of some Mongol or Ilkhanid khan." The bell was removed in the late 1930s by the Soviets.[83] Decades later, in 1682, Catholicos Yeghiazar constructed smaller bell towers with red tufa turrets on the southern, eastern, and northern wings.
The renovations of Etchmiadzin continued during the 18th century. In 1720, Catholicos Astvatsatur and then, in 1777–83 Simeon I of Yerevan took actions in preserving the cathedral. In 1770, Simeon I established a publishing house near Etchmiadzin, the first in Armenia. During Simeon's reign, the monastery was completely walled and separated from the city of Vagharshapat. Catholicos Ghukas (Lucas) continued the renovations in 1784–86.
Etchmiadzin slowly recovered its religious importance during World War II. The Holy See's official magazine resumed publication in 1944, while the seminary was reopened in September 1945.[105] In 1945 Catholicos Gevorg VI was elected after the seven-year vacancy of the position. The number of baptisms conducted at Etchmiadzin rose greatly: from 200 in 1949 to around 1,700 in 1951. Nevertheless, the cathedral's role was downplayed by the Communist official circles. "For them the ecclesiastical Echmiadzin belongs irrevocably to the past, and even if the monastery and the cathedral are occasionally the scene of impressive ceremonies including the election of a new catholicos, this has little importance from the communist point of view," wrote Walter Kolarz in 1961.
Etchmiadzin revived under Catholicos Vazgen I since the Khrushchev Thaw in the mid-1950s, following Stalin's death. Archaeological excavations were held in 1955–56 and in 1959; the cathedral underwent a major renovation during this period. Wealthy diaspora benefactors, such as Calouste Gulbenkian and Alex Manoogian, financially assisted the renovation of the cathedral. Gulbenkian alone provided $400,000.
In 2000 Etchmiadzin underwent a renovation prior to the celebrations of the 1700th anniversary of the Christianization of Armenia in 2001. In 2003 the 1700th anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral was celebrated by the Armenian Church. Catholicos Karekin II declared 2003 the Year of Holy Etchmiadzin. In September of that year an academic conference on the cathedral was held at the Pontifical Residence.
The latest renovation of the cathedral began in 2012, with a focus on strengthening and restoring the dome and the roof.
the cathedral's building is of "immense architectural interest, especially because of the many alterations and additions that have been made to it since its foundation. Thus, at the present day, the cathedral building incorporates more than one styles of architecture." Despite the fact that the cathedral was renovated many times through the centuries and some alterations were made in the 17th and 19th centuries, it retains the form of the building constructed in 483/4. The fifth-century building is the core of the cathedral, while the stone cupola, turrets, belfry, and rear extension are all later additions. Engraved on the exterior of the edifice are decorative geometric and floral patterns as well as blind arcades and medallions depicting saints.Portions of the northern and eastern walls of the original building have survived.
The cathedral's external appearance has been described as ascetic, unostentatious, extremely austere and commanding, and as a "massive cube surmounted by a faceted cone on a simple cylinder."Robert H. Hewsen writes that it is "neither the largest nor the most beautiful of Armenian churches", nevertheless, "the overall impression presented by the ensemble is inspiring, and Armenians hold the building in great reverence."James Bryce wrote that the cathedral is "small, that is to say, compared with its fame or importance". Paul Bloomfield, writing for The Times, expressed a similar view: " cathedral, though diminutive by European standards, is immensely important." Herbert Lottman wrote in a 1976 New York Times article: "Like all ancient Armenian churches, the cathedral is characterized by a disarmingly naive, coneshaped steeple. With a minimum of ornament, the building is a solid stone construction, its arches sober romanesque curves.
Well the Lance was presented to the people, as was annually done, for reference.
Thousands stood before the Lance, which was placed on a podium where the High Priest and other Priests stood as the sang hymns and read the bible.
The read about the Crucifixion and death of Christ and the High Priest told the masses in admonishsion about how the role of Saint Longious turned a regular Lance into the Holy Spare of Destiny.
While he was talking the motion to steal the Lance was in other, and according to what Leviathan was saying it was going to be a solo mission, before we had the chance to object, a great turbulence enveloped the arena, as the unrest continued the Lance vanished and appeared in my hands and the same power as all the previous Lances was displayed, and almost immediately a Vortex opened and we were gone.
I oftened asked Asmodeus if the a sinner could get forgiven, why couldn't Demons too be forgiven.
He referred me to an article published by a human whom he had possessed to put the information out.
"It has to do with their spiritual nature. In our human nature, our intelligence and will (the spiritual powers of our soul) operate through the mediations of our senses and our emotions, of time and space, of the material universe. Those limitations create room, so to speak, for us to change our minds. We often make decisions without having full knowledge or awareness of all the factors involved, and without having full freedom from emotional biases. This is not the case with angels. They are pure spirits. They are not limited by time and space, by material mediations, as we are. And so, an angel’s rebellion against God is definitive, a clear and unequivocal rejection of God’s sovereignty and goodness. There is no going back from that decision, and they would never want to go back from it.
It’s hard to grasp this difference between us and the angels. Let’s pray for an increase of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of knowledge and understanding, so we can better perceive and appreciate these truths of our faith.
According to St. Thomas [Aquinas], this worm, which dieth not, is to be understood of remorse of conscience, which shall eternally torment the damned in hell. The remorses which shall gnaw the hearts of the reprobate shall be many; but the most excruciating shall be:
first, the thought of the trifles for which they are damned;
secondly, the thought of the little which they were required to do in order to save their souls; and
thirdly, the thought of the great good which they have lost.
After Esau had eaten the pottage of lentils for which he had sold his birthright, the Scripture says that, through sorrow and remorse for the loss, he “roared out with a great cry” (Genesis 27:34). O, how shall the damned howl and roar at the thought of having, for a few momentary, poisoned pleasures, lost an eternal kingdom of delights, and of having condemned themselves forever to a continual death! Hence they shall weep far more bitterly than Jonathan did when he saw himself condemned to death by his father for having eaten a little honey. “I did but taste a little honey, and, behold, I must die” (1 Samuel 14:43). O God! What torture shall each of the damned feel in thinking that he was the cause of his own damnation! At present, our past life appears to us but a dream, a moment. But what shall he who is in hell think of the fifty or sixty years which he spent on this earth, when he shall be in the abyss of eternity, and, after the lapse of a hundred and a thousand millions of years, shall see that his hell Eternal Clock only commences? But were these fifty or sixty years all years of pleasure? Perhaps a sinner living without God always feels happy in his sins. How long do the pleasures of sin last? Only for a few moments. All the remaining hours of the man who lives in enmity with God, are full of pains and bitterness. But what shall these moments of pleasure appear to the unhappy damned? How shall he view that last sin in particular, by which he brought himself to perdition? Then he shall say, “For a miserable, brutal pleasure, which lasted but a moment, and which was scarcely indulged when it vanished like air, I must burn in this fire, in despair and abandoned by all, as long as God shall be God– for all eternity.
And that was the reason he was in purgatory duties, I miss him, he would have loved the adventure we just embarked on, and i wondered how he was faring.

SONS OF HELL
Detail
Share
Font Size
40
Bgcolor