The Beginnings of Christian Architecture in the Caucasus: The First Church in the Territory of Azerbaijan

Abstract

Christianity penetrated the territory of Azerbaijan in the first centuries of the new era, during the time of the apostles of Jesus Christ, through Caucasian Albania. In 70 AD, the resettlement of Jews from Jerusalem to the Caucasus intensified. Those who arrived spoke of the miracles performed by Jesus, spreading the good news that Jesus was the Messiah. Under the influence of such preaching, the first Christian communities arose in the region. This period in the spread of Christianity in Albania is called the period of the apostles and is associated with the names of the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus. Elisey, one of the disciples of the apostle Thaddeus, arrived in the land of Agvan, preaching the new religion with the blessing of the first patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacob.