Makenyats Monastery
On the edge of Makenis village, the monastery preserves part of the history of learning around Lake Sevan. According to the medieval historian Stepanos Orbelian, its abbot Solomon compiled a calendar of church feasts and saints’ commemorations in 701. The school’s pupils included the scholar Stepanos of Syunik and Mashtots of Yeghivard, a future Catholicos, or head of the Armenian Church.
In the late ninth century Prince Grigor Supan sponsored the Church of the Mother of God beside an older single-nave church. Its finely dressed tuff walls trace a rectangle outside. Inside, three apses give shape to a cross beneath the central dome. The prince also enclosed the monastery with a high wall.
The influence of the community reached well beyond the lake. In 1170 Nerses Shnorhali obtained its monastic rule so that other Armenian monasteries could adopt it.
Two scholars named Solomon appear in the history of the school. Solomon of Makenis was known as the Father of Fathers. His Tonakan, a book of readings, arranged material about apostles, martyrs and church fathers according to their feasts. A reader could therefore find both the occasion celebrated that day and a text to read aloud.
In his historical geography Sisakan, Ghevond Alishan compared accounts of the book’s date. One chronicle places the work in the early eighth century, while its preface gives 747. Alishan suggested that the earlier date might mark the beginning of the undertaking. The other Solomon came from Garni. A pupil at Makenyats, he later became Catholicos and in 788 restored the school where he had studied.
The domed Church of the Mother of God stands northeast of the older single-nave basilica. Side chambers are built into the main church. In the southeastern part of the enclosure, two smaller vaulted churches dating to the tenth century stand side by side. Their position helps distinguish successive periods of building.
Prince Grigor Supan’s endowments show how the community supported itself. The historical accounts list orchards in Garni, Yerevan and Yeghegis, as well as shops in Ani. Part of its income thus came from towns far from the lake. In 1513 Makenyats acknowledged the authority of Tatev. Its later history includes renovations in 1666 under Khachatur of Julfa, then abbot of the monastery.