Tolerant and unique Baku: hundreds of worshippers commemorate the saint

Today, in the heart of Baku, at the foot of the Maiden Tower, numerous believers gathered. They came to pay their respects to the Apostle Bartholomew. At the place where the saint passed away in the Old City, a prayer service was performed with choral chanting to the saint, Azernews reports, citing local media outlets.

Baku demonstrated a high model of multiculturalism and religious tolerance.

Almost all religious confessions are represented in Azerbaijan.

Today one can hardly name any other city on earth where representatives of different religious communities live in peace and harmony and treat each other with the utmost respect.

Each Azerbaijani can be proud of this - there has never been a single conflict in the history of Azerbaijan that has arisen on religious grounds.

According to the Baku and Azerbaijan Diocese, after a two-year break due to quarantine restrictions, clergymen and laity of the Baku Diocese again had the opportunity to gather for collective prayers on the foundation of the chapel dedicated to the Apostle Bartholomew, erected in the 19th century and demolished in 1936.

Hundreds of Baku residents and residents of Sumgait came to Icherisheher in the early morning to pray to the saint and ask for his help.

The ruins of Bartholomew's Chapel in the Old City were discovered by Azerbaijani archaeologists during excavations in 1964 near the Maiden Tower, a symbol of Baku. The Apostle Bartholomew, who was martyred for his faith two thousand years ago on the site of the modern capital of Azerbaijan, is considered by local Orthodox Christians to be the patron of the city.

Apostle Bartholomew - one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ was crucified on this spot in 71 AD for spreading Christianity in the city of Baku.

Later, an Albanian temple was erected at the place of his crucifixion, and in 1892, Saint Bartholomew Chapel was erected on the site of the ancient temple. The Christian Church has consecrated St Bartholomew as a saint and every year the 24th of June is celebrated as St Bartholomew's Day.

Photo by Irada Asadova