KHOR VIRAP — Khor Virap — a fortress in the Ararat Valley, near Armenia’s fifth historical capital, Artashat.
By order of King Tiridates, a man named Gregory, who was spreading Christianity in Armenia, was imprisoned and thrown into a deep pit within the fortress of Khor Virap. In that narrow, damp, and dark cell, he spent 14 years. His only contact with the outside world was a small opening through which bread and water were lowered to him. According to tradition, he survived by the grace of God.

Today, thousands of Christian pilgrims come to Armenia to see the very pit where Saint Gregory endured his captivity. They descend into the underground chamber to touch its walls, where — according to belief — the echoes of his prayers still linger. Visitors come to witness the place of miracle and hear the sacred story of how Gregory, once a prisoner, was later freed and became Saint Gregory the Illuminator — the man who brought Christianity to Armenia and became the first head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Mount Ararat is first mentioned in written sources in the 7th century BCE (Book of Genesis).
Over time, its name has been interpreted in many ways: Araya Mountain, Ararat of Ara, Urartu, Hara-Hara (“mountains of mountains”), Aria-Varda (“land of the Aryans”), and more. Ancient texts refer to it variously as the name of a kingdom, province, military unit, or mountain. Foreign writers have called it “the Ararat Mountains,” “the mountains of the Ararat world,” or simply “the Armenian mountains.”