Zoroastrianism Armenia

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fire -te m p le s .
There is a legend th a t St Gregory th e Illu m in a to r once
s le p t in a hole in th e tru n k o f a ju n ip e r, and i t was b e lie v e d th a t e a t­
in g i t s need les would re lie v e th o se cured o f demonic p o ssessio n o f th e
memory o f t h e i r o rd e a l.
Z o rs., according to A l-B iru n I, fum igated t h e i r
houses w ith ju n ip e r during F rav ard ig an , in o rd e r to p le a se th e s p i r i t s
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o f th e rig h te o u s d ep arted . C h rist is s a id to have b le s s e d th e ju n ip e r
and saw s-i w ith e te r n a l green (a p u zzlin g legend in th e case o f th e
plane t r e e , which i s deciduous) because th ey s h e lte re d him and h id him
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when th e Jews were p u rsu in g him. Not a l l Armenians regarded e v e r­
greens w ith such rev eren ce; in one m ediaeval MS. we a re bidden to reg ard
re fe re n c e s to them in S c rip tu re as m etaphors o f b a rre n n e ss, fo r they
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b e a r no f r u i t .
oak.
Another tr e e accorded g re a t reverence amongst th e Armenians was th e
■v^C _
There was a sa c re d grove o f th e se n e a r th e v illa g e o f Xac anes in
Vaspurakan b e fo re th e f i r s t World War. A person who l e f t some p o sse s­
sio n th e re was n o t allow ed to touch i t again fo r 2h h o u rs, and no o th e r
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person could ever touch i t . I t i s not ex p lain ed why t h i s p a r tic u la r
p ro h ib itio n was observed, but one r e c a lls th a t p erso n a l belongings are
l e f t in th e h a v g ir b efo re A scension Day and are e x tra c te d th e n ex t day—
o r l a t e r —so th a t a vicak may be re a d f o r each. The plane grove o f
Armawir was used a lso fo r m antic p u rp o ses, as we have seen ,
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so perhaps
p e rso n a l b elongings l e f t in th e sa c re d grove f o r a tim e were used l a t e r
f o r th e d iv in a tio n o f a p a r tic u la r p e rs o n 's f a te .
O ther sa c re d groves
(Arm. mayri 'g ro v e , f i r t r e e ', a n ta r 'f o r e s t ') e x is te d in a n c ie n t tim es.
A m ediaeval te x t r e f e r s to mairekan Aramazd 'Aramazd o f th e g r o v e ( s ) ', ^
in d ic a tin g th a t groves were sa c re d to him ( c f . th e oak o f Dodona in
G reece, which was sacre d to Zeus and was used f o r d iv in a tio n ).
A f o re s t
o f f i r s (Arm. m ayri) c a lle d CnndocC a n ta r ( l i t . 'f o r e s t o f g e n e ra tio n s ')
was p la n te d by th e O rontid king Eruand n e a r th e new ly-founded holy c ity
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o f Bagaran; f i r s a re e v erg reen s, and th e grove may th e re fo re have been
p la n te d in accord w ith th e Z o ro astrian custom d iscu ssed above.
The Armenian
A rsacid k in g Xosrov I I Kotak (A.D. 330-8) over fiv e c e n tu rie s
l a t e r p la n te d a grove o f oaks (Arm. kaiin_, к а З д і) c a lle d Tacar mayri
'P alace g ro v e' and an o th er o f f i r s c a lle d X osrovakert 'Made by X o sro v '.1'
Both kings used th e fo r e s ts th ey had p la n te d as game p reserv es f o r th e
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ro y a l hunt.