Humble Churches

Keppen notes that the Greek churches he found in the mountains were modest in size: no more than 18 arshins (42 feet) long and 9 arshins (21 feet) wide. Some were truly diminuitive, with lengths of only 6 arshins (14 feet). He found them easy to distinguish from the surrounding landscape, despite their state of ruin, because of the distinctive semicircular altar arrayed to face the rising sun [page 15]. 

Keppen found only one two-story Greek church: that at Demirdhzi (pictured at left). His observations lead him to speculate that the Armenians were either more wealthy or more generous in the amount of resouces poured into church building. They used limestone, where the local Greeks used clay, and built structures of greater size and embellishment. The humble Greek structures, on the other hand, spoke of "fear and weakness" [page 17].