MECMiddle East
Churches

Questions and answers

What is the oldest church in Iran?

The church most often named as the oldest in Iran is the Monastery of Saint Thaddeus, known locally as Qareh Kelisa, in the mountains of the north-west. Armenian tradition holds that the apostle Thaddeus was buried there and that the first church on the site was built in his memory, but the date of its foundation is not known. The oldest surviving parts, around the altar apse, date from the seventh century, and most of the present building from 1811. Saint Stepanos near Jolfa also has a first monastery dated to the seventh century. Both belong to a UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed in 2008.

The candidates, and what each date means

PlaceDateWhat the date refers toEvidence
Monastery of Saint Thaddeus (Qareh Kelisa)Oldest parts 7th century; most of the building 1811Monastery, pilgrimage site; founding date unknownArmenian tradition of the apostle’s burial; damaged in 1319; UNESCO 2008
Saint Stepanos Monastery, JolfaFirst monastery 7th century; rebuilt 1330Monastery; present church largely 14th century and laterTradition credits Bartholomew; expanded in the 10th century; UNESCO 2008
Saint Mary (Mart Maryam), UrmiaChurch of this name recorded in 1284Church in use; building not securely datedPatriarch Yahballaha III reportedly visited it in 1284
Chapel of DzordzorUsually 1315–1342Surviving chapel of a monastery, moved in 1987–88Some sources place it in the 9th or 10th century; UNESCO 2008
Saint George, Haftvan13th century; renovated 1652Village churchRepaired again after the 1930 Salmas earthquake
Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew, Tehran1768Oldest church in TehranBuilt by Armenians from New Julfa

The Armenian monasteries of the north-west

The oldest surviving church fabric in Iran is in its north-west, near the borders with Türkiye, Armenia and Nakhchivan. At Saint Thaddeus, about twenty kilometres from Chaldiran, Armenian tradition places the burial of the apostle Thaddeus, who is said to have preached in Armenia and Persia. The monastery was damaged in the Mongol invasions and by an earthquake in 1319, and little of the original building survives; the parts around the altar apse are from the seventh century. Most of the present church dates from 1811, when the Qajar crown prince Abbas Mirza supported its repair. A three-day pilgrimage each July still gathers Armenians there.

Saint Stepanos, in the Aras canyon near Jolfa, is credited by tradition to the apostle Bartholomew; its first monastery is dated to the seventh century, expanded in the tenth and rebuilt in 1330. The Chapel of Dzordzor, the last standing part of a monastery near Maku, is usually dated 1315–1342. UNESCO inscribed the three together in 2008 as the Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran.

Urmia, New Julfa and Tehran

Saint Mary’s in Urmia, the Church of Mart Maryam, is often described as one of the oldest churches in Iran, and some popular accounts go much further. The documentary evidence is thinner. Bishops of Azerbaijan are recorded in 486 and 605, and in 1284 the patriarch Yahballaha III reportedly visited the Church of Mart Maryam in Urmia. That visit shows a church of this name in the city; it does not date the surviving building, and no scholarly dating of the present fabric was found. Saint George at Haftvan, near Salmas, is a thirteenth-century Armenian church renovated in 1652.

Isfahan’s Armenian churches are later. Shah Abbas I moved Armenians to New Julfa in the early seventeenth century; the small Church of Saint James, parts of which date from 1606, is considered the oldest there, the Church of the Holy Mother of God was built in 1613, and the Vank Cathedral took its present form between 1655 and 1664. In Tehran, Armenians from New Julfa built the church of Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew in 1768; it is the oldest church in the city.

Limits of this answer

“Oldest” depends on what is counted. A tradition about an apostle, a church named in a text, the oldest surviving masonry and the present building are different things, and at Saint Thaddeus they span many centuries. Claims about Urmia’s Saint Mary that go back to the first centuries rest on tradition and popular accounts, not on a dated building. Saint James in New Julfa is described as the oldest church there, not in Iran. This guide documents 53 places in Iran; churches in Iran have been rebuilt many times after wars and earthquakes, and dates refer to what survives.

Places mentioned

Sources

Main book references

  • Heleen L. Murre-van den Berg. “Urmia”. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, ed. Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay; electronic edition. Gorgias Press (print, 2011); Beth Mardutho (electronic edition), 2011/2018. Entry “Urmia”.

Data and supplementary sources

Encyclopedia entries were read in full in their electronic editions; each is credited to its author. Page and column references appear only where the source prints them; the Gorgias dictionary is cited by entry title.