Albanian clergy returned to Khudaveng monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh

The priests of the Albano-Udi community held the first in many years a divine service in the church of the Khudaveng monastery on the territory of the Kelbajar region, returned to Azerbaijan following a trilateral ceasefire agreement signed on November 10 by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The service was also attended by priests of the Armenian Apostolic and Russian Orthodox Churches.

Faithful Caucasian Albanians gathered for common prayer at the service. The deputy chairman of the community, Rafik Dankari, became the preacher of the monastery. The chairman of the community Robert Mobili appealed to the Azerbaijani authorities with a request to resume the services in the monastery in the Albanian language. “Kelbajar is not just a place for us - there are many Albanian churches here. Today we are in the Khudaveng monastery as heirs of the Albanian church, we are performing divine services here, ”he said.
During the time when the Albanian Christians could not gather in Khudaweng for services in the temple, bells, old books, icons, stone crosses were taken out of the monastery, and the inscriptions in the Albanian language were smeared. Today, by the grace of the Lord God, spiritual life in the ancient the monastery is reborn.

As a reminder, back in the 1830s, Russian Emperor Nicholas I abolished the Albanian Church, after which its churches were transferred to the Armenian Gregorian Church. The Khudaveng monastery complex (translated from Albanian - 'Temple of God') was built in the 9th-13th centuries. It includes the Ancient Church, Arzu Khatun Temple, Hasan Jalal Temple, Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, two chapels and a bell tower. Currently, restoration work is underway on the territory of the monastery.