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Hovsep Daghdigian
Joseph “Hovsep” Daghdigian is originally from Lowell, MA. His grandparents were from Kharpet in Western Armenia. He is active in the Merrimack Valley community and a former chairman of the AYF CE. Dagdigian is a retired electrical and software engineer with a MS in computer engineering. Dagdigian spends three to five months per year in Armenia and Artsakh exploring sites with his friend Vova Tshagharyan. His adventures are described in his “Unseen Armenia” series of articles. He, with Anahid Yeremian, co-founded the Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (SCACRD) in 2000 to support the scientists and students at the Cosmic Ray Division of the Yerevan Physics Institute (now the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory). He lives in Harvard, MA with his wife Lisa.
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Thanks for sharing this story. Never heard of Saint Pokas. Now I know.
“Somehow his relics ended up in Armenia.”
Sounds like a mystery worthy of investigation. Perhaps Pokas was born near Norovank or had relatives there.
Google maps shows the distance from Sinop to Norovank (Monastery) at 1337 km.
The chapel is not that unknown. It is described, with details on how to locate it, in the very useful “Rediscovering Armenia guide” by Brady Keisling and Raffi Kojian, 2nd edition, published in 2005. Its appearance is similar to that of a typical “Tukh Manuk” shrine, which are often located in pre-Christian sacred sites that have been later appropriated by Christianity. Probably the story of the relics creating the healing waters is such an appropriation.