Armenia – the treasury at Echmiadsin

I headed to the Treasury to see some of the less palatable objects associated with religion, namely reliquaries containing the body parts of the apostles, Thaddeus, Peter, and Andrew. These parts are called relics and are venerated by people who visit Echmiadsin, but I have always found it hard to believe these relics can be ‘original’. As far as I am aware, St Peter never came near Armenia, as he was busy in Rome, so how did part of his arm make it here without the rest of him? St Andrew did visit Georgia on his apostolic quest to convert the peoples of Russia, but it’s hard to believe he left an important part of him behind for the Armenians to worship. However, after Andrew was crucified in Patras in Greece, there seems to have been quite a trade in his skeleton, so it’s possible a finger or toe made it to Echmiadzin.