Katoghike Tsiranavor Church of Avan (Yerevan)

 church, ruins, archaeological site, orthodox christianity

Katoghike Tsiranavor Church of Avan (Armenian: Ավանի Կաթողիկե եկեղեցի; also Katoghike, later renamed Surb Hovhannes; locally known as Tsiranavor) is located in the town of Avan now absorbed by Yerevan's city limits, and is the city's oldest surviving church. It was built in the late 6th century between the years 591, 595-602 by the pro-Byzantine Catholicos Hovhannes Bagavanetsi to be his headquarters. He was installed as prelate of Byzantine Armenia by the Byzantine emperor Mauricius. His rival, the pro-Persian Catholicos' headquarters were located in the ancient city of Dvin. Located adjacent to the church on the north side are the foundations of the palatial residence of Catholicos Hovhannes thought to have been constructed before the church around the years 581-582. According to the Armenian historian Sebeos, both structures were built under the Catholicos' supervision. The church is believed to have been dedicated to the apostles. In the year 602 the Persian King Khosrov II seized Avan, and having eliminated the Avanian Catholicos, transformed it into a monastery.