Etchmiadzin, Vagharshapat, Armavir Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2003

Joshua Kucera has posted another entry as he continues on his travels through most of the South Caucasus and Central Asia. This time, the EurasiaNet freelancer has some interesting observations on Christianity in Armenia and Georgia, especially as the latter seems to be more religious than here. This has certainly been my take on things when comparing the two countries and its churches, and Josh seems to have reached the same conclusion.

So, earlier I reported that Georgia is undergoing a big religious resurgence. I can report that the same is not happening in Armenia. One person here told me that “there is not a single practicing Christian in Armenia,” which is obviously an exaggeration, but it is striking how little religious activity there is. Armenians hate it when I compare them to Georgians (more on that later) but anyway, there are several analogues, especially when it comes to Christianity.

For one, Yerevan also has a huge new cathedral, like the Sameba church in Tbilisi. But unlike Sameba, which was packed with people kissing icons and so on, the cathedral here was only sparsely attended when I went one Saturday. Armenians believe that getting married in May is bad luck, so I have not seen any weddings, but even taking that into account, the church was pretty dead. It seemed to be mainly kids chatting quietly in the pews or texting on their cell phones.

In Georgia, however, it’s astounding to see how religious most Georgians can be. Well, maybe I’d consider it more akin to tradition, and possibly superstition, than anything religious or spiritual although some would argue that this the case for most secular countries, and especially Christian ones. On every visit to Georgia, whenever a Georgian I’ve been with goes past a church they cross themselves, for example.

For a while, I thought they might actually be doing this for show because a foreigner was with them, but on my recent trip to Kutaisi, I saw pedestrians doing this as the car I was in drove past. Those attending churches in Tbilisi also seem to be more in abundance than what I’ve seen in Yerevan as well. Churches, cathedrals and monasteries in Armenia seem to serve more of a tourist and historical role first, rather than anything remotely spiritual.

I went on a Sunday morning when a service was going on, and it seemed to be roughly equal parts worshippers, foreign tourists and Armenian tourists. So there were more people taking photos and shooting video than actually praying, which seemed incongruous for the place that was supposed to be the holiest place in Armenia. So it was very cool, with good music and cool outfits, but seemed more like paegentry than practice.

Still, I pretty much view churches in the U.K. in the same way, especially historic cathedrals in our cities. Not that I particularly care, however. I’m not religious and respect the right of everyone and anyone to practice whatever they want or not, as the case may be. However, it is an interesting observation on the two countries that were the first in the world to adopt Christianity as their official national religion.

The full post is here.