BRIGHT CAPE: CHRISTIAN "MECCA"
Yes, the ancient mountains and blue waters hold many legends. But the people living on this truly holy land still remember the "messages" from the past.
According to theological tradition, the body of the holy apostle and evangelist Matthew found its posthumous resting place on Kyrgyz soil. He accepted a martyr's death for Christ in Syria. From there, the honorable relics of the apostle were taken to a land renowned for its broad tolerance of faiths. This holy relic was kept in a monastery located on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul - the entire Christian world knew of its whereabouts.
The Christian publication "The Life and Suffering of Saint Apostle and Evangelist Matthew" mentions that Apostle Matthew preached in many countries, such as Syria, Persia, and Parthia, including Central Asia, up to the Indian Ocean. It is said that an iron ark with the honorable relics was thrown into the sea. The Catalan map connects this last mention of Matthew with Issyk-Kul.
If this is true, then according to the legend, it was near the sunken sanctuary that the Russian Holy Trinity Men's Monastery was founded in 1882.
ISSYK-KUL MONASTERY AND THE RELICS OF SAINT MATTHEW
Let us turn to the beautiful book by Metropolitan Vladimir of Bishkek and Central Asia. He sincerely believes that the incorrupt body of the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew found its posthumous resting place on Kyrgyz soil. As is known, he accepted a martyr's death for Christ in Syria. From there, apparently in the 2nd or 3rd century, fleeing from ancient Roman persecution, Christians took the honorable relics of the Apostle to a land renowned for its broad tolerance of faiths. This holy relic was kept in a monastery located on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul; the entire Christian world knew of its whereabouts. On the Catalan world map, dated 1375, a building with a cross is depicted on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, with the inscription: "Place called Issyk-Kul. In this place is the monastery of Armenian brothers, where the body of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, resides."
Subsequently, the city where the ancient Armenian monastery was located was submerged by the waters of the lake. According to local legend, the flood was God's punishment for the townspeople's refusal of hospitality and for insulting a certain holy traveler. The geographer P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, who studied the Catalan map, believed that the Armenian monastery was located in the Kurmenty bay, between the villages of Bright Cape and Tyup. By God's will, it was near the sunken sanctuary that the Russian Holy Trinity Men's Monastery was founded in 1882. A Russian official, Baron A. Kaulbars, who visited these places in the late 19th century, wrote: "It is remarkable that near the Issyk-Kul Trinity Monastery, at the confluence of the rivers Tyup and Koy-Su, the ruins of an ancient city remain underwater." In this city, according to archaeologists, there existed that Armenian monastery where the relics of Evangelist Matthew were kept.
SACRED TRADITION ABOUT MATTHEW
Saint Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, son of Alphaeus, also known as Levi, lived in the Galilean city of Capernaum. He was a wealthy man and held the position of a tax collector. His fellow countrymen despised and shunned him, as they did all like him. But Matthew, although he was a sinner, was at the same time not only no worse but much better than those who prided themselves on their false outward righteousness, the Pharisees (zealous legalists). And so the Lord fixed His divine gaze upon this despised tax collector. One day, while He was in Capernaum, the Lord went out of the city and went to the sea, accompanied by the crowd. On the shore, He saw Matthew sitting. And He said to him:
— Follow me!
Hearing these words of the Lord not only with his bodily ears but also with the ears of his heart, the tax collector immediately got up from his place and, leaving everything, followed Christ. Matthew did not hesitate, nor was he astonished that the Great Teacher and Miracle Worker called him, the despised tax collector; he listened to His words with all his heart and unconditionally went after Christ...
From that moment on, Matthew, having left all his possessions, followed Christ and, as His faithful disciple, never separated from Him again. Soon he was honored to be numbered among the twelve chosen apostles. Together with the other disciples of the Lord, Matthew accompanied Him on His journeys through Galilee and Judea, listened to His divine teaching, witnessed countless miracles, preached to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, was a witness to the Savior's passion and redemptive death, and His glorious ascension into heaven.
After the Lord's Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Saint Matthew initially remained in Palestine, preaching the Gospel in Jerusalem and its surroundings along with the other apostles. But the time came for the apostles to disperse from Jerusalem to various nations to convert them to the Christian faith. Before the apostle departed from Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Christians of Jewish descent asked him to convey to them the written deeds and teachings of Jesus Christ. The other apostles who were in Jerusalem at that time expressed their agreement to fulfill this request. And Saint Matthew, fulfilling the common desire, wrote the Gospel, eight years after the Ascension of Christ (the Gospel was written by Apostle Matthew around 41 AD).
Having departed from Jerusalem, Saint Apostle Matthew preached the Gospel in many countries. Proclaiming Christ, he traveled through Macedonia, Syria, Persia, Parthia, and Media, and traversed all of Ethiopia, to which he was appointed by lot, enlightening it with the light of the Gospel...
Matthew, having received the staff from the Lord's hand, descended from the mountain and went to the city, fulfilling what was commanded of him. In that city, named Fulvian, the prince had a wife and son who were possessed by demons. Encountering the Apostle on the way, they cried out to him with wild, threatening voices:
— Who sent you here with this staff for our destruction?..
...Then the prince commanded his soldiers to seize Saint Matthew and stretch him on the ground face up, and to firmly nail his hands and feet. When this was done, the servants gathered, by the command of the torturer, a multitude of branches and brushwood, brought pitch and sulfur, and laid all this on Saint Matthew and set it on fire. But when the fire blazed up with great flames, and everyone thought that the Apostle of Christ had already burned, suddenly the fire cooled and the flames went out, and Saint Matthew was found alive, unharmed, and praising God...
...Fulvian wanted to honorably bring the saint out of the fire, but he [Matthew], having made a prayer, entrusted his holy soul into God's hands (the death of Saint Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, according to tradition, occurred around 60 AD). Then the prince ordered a golden bed to be brought and placed the honorable body of the apostle, unharmed by fire, on it, and, dressing it in precious garments, he lifted it up with his nobles and brought it into his palace. But he still did not have perfect faith and therefore commanded an iron ark to be made, tightly sealed with lead on all sides, and thrown into the sea, saying to his nobles:
— If He who preserved Matthew whole from the fire also preserves him from drowning in the water, then truly He is the One God, and to Him we will worship, leaving all our gods, who could not save themselves from destruction in the fire.
After this iron ark with the honorable relics was thrown into the sea, the Saint appeared at night to Bishop Platon, saying:
— Tomorrow go to the seashore east of the prince's palace and there take my relics, brought ashore.
In the morning, the bishop, accompanied by many believers, went to the indicated place and found the iron ark with the relics of Saint Apostle Matthew, as it had been revealed to him in the vision.
The Grave of Apostle Matthew at the Bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul