The spiritual life of Odessa is quite diverse. In addition to the magnificent Orthodox churches, which the city is rich in, here you can see Catholic and Greek cathedrals, a synagogue, a center of Muslim culture and an Armenian church. The latter is rightly referred to the list of the most beautiful religious buildings in Odessa.
The history of St. Gregory the Illuminator temple of the Ukrainian Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Odessa, as well as the history of many other churches built before the Great Patriotic War, is tragic.
The first church of Gregory the Illuminator was erected in 1844 with funds raised by the Armenian society of Odessa and was located at 69 Ekaterininskaya Street. Today only a commemorative plaque made by E. Sahakyan and A. Hovakinyan testifies that there was a church on this place for a whole century. In 1944 the church was badly destroyed by an airplane bomb, and in 1951 it was demolished. Now on the place of the former landmark of Odessa, the spiritual home of Odessa Armenians stands an ordinary five-story house.
A new church in honor of Gregory the Illuminator, the man who brought Christianity to the Armenians and became the first head of the Armenian Christian Church, was erected in Odessa only in 1995 and in another place — on the seashore near Arcadia at the address Gagarin Plateau, 5.
The church was built in compliance with all the canons of traditional Armenian architecture: the building of rectangular shape made of red brick is crowned by two domes — the main dome and the bell tower, on the top of which crosses are installed. The main dome traditionally has the form of a drum going upwards, the architecture of the temple as a whole is characterized by severe simplicity, but harmoniously combined straight lines and angles, windows in the form of arches and round lucarnas in the upper part of the building — all this gives the temple a special romanticism, reminiscent of knights’ castles and at the same time of Russian tent architecture.
The temple of Gregory the Illuminator in Odessa seems to emanate warmth, and in the courtyard you can see huge stone steles made of tuff — khachkars. Khachkars are masterpieces of art imprinted in stone, they embody the spirit of the «stones of Armenia». The interior decoration of the church is as canonical, strict, but at the same time harmonious. The space under the high arched vault above the altar is decorated with a crystal chandelier with candle lamps suspended on a long cable-chain, the room is unusually bright and spacious.
The Church of Gregory the Illuminator was the first Armenian church erected in the former Soviet Union. In 2001, it was consecrated by Garegin the First, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
Having come on vacation in Odessa, you should definitely visit the Church of Gregory the Illuminator — the only one of its kind. This iconic landmark of Odessa is unique for the architecture of the city, being another of its advantages.