Today we caught a rickety old bus to the nearby town of Echmiadzin. The Armenian equivalent to the Vatican, this is the home of the Supreme Catholicos (leader) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The people of Armenia adopted Christianity in the early 4th Century; the story is really quite unusual... King Trdates III of Armenia wanted to marry Hripsime, a Christian woman, but she refused because he was was a pagan. So, in a fit of rage, he had her stoned to death. After this, he went mad, and the only person who could cure him was a Christian named Gregory who had been imprisoned in a well for 12 years for his faith. After recovering from his madness, Trdates converted to Christianity, and so did the rest of the country. The Armenian Apostolic Church belongs to the Eastern Oriental group of