The Church of Kish (Azerbaijan: Kis kils?si), also known by various sources as the Church of St. Elise (Azerbaijan: Müq?dd?s Yelisey kils?si, Armenian: ?? ?? ????????? or Church of the Holy Mother of God (Armenian: ?????????? ??????) , is a Caucasian Albanian church inactive 12th or 13th century located in the village of Kis about 5 km north of Shaki, Azerbaijan. It functioned at various times as the Caucasian Albanian Apostolic Church, the Chalcedonian Church within the Georgian Orthodox Church, and later as the Armenian Apostolic Church. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to the 7th century Armenian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi, in the 1st century AD Saint Elisha, a disciple of Thaddaeus of Edessa, came to a place called Gis (???), where he built a church and recited a liturgy. The church became the "spiritual center and place of enlightenment of the peoples of the East." During the journey from Gis Saint Eliseo was killed by unknown persons near the pagan altar in the small valley of Zerguni. According to the Armenian architectural historian[13] Samvel Karapetian, the geographical position of Kish does not seem to correspond to that described by Kaghankatvatsi. Karapetian believes he has identified Gis with the village of Bomen/Bum 60 km south-east of Kish,[4] in the Gabala district. According to a Georgian historiographer, in the 10th century, the population of Kish converted to the Georgian (Chalcedonian) Orthodox Church. The church of Kish was transformed into the residence of a Georgian bishop, active until the 17th century. When Russia took possession of the region, the village of Kish had an Udi population. According to Robert H. Hewsen, the Udi language appears to have been prevalent north of the Kura River until the nineteenth century, and the Armenian population appears to have been of relatively recent arrival. While many Armenians undoubtedly settled there fleeing the Turco-Mongol invasions, many more entered the region with the arrival of the Russians in the early 19th century.[16] In 1836, the Albanian church, along with all churches active in this region that were not Georgian or Russian, was incorporated into the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Church of Kish was refounded in 1860 and became a place of pilgrimage due to the belief that was associated with Elishe (Yegishe). Objects found on the site of the church dating back to late 4000 BC and early 3000 BC In 2000-2003 the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a joint project between the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction and the Humanitarian Enterprise Norwegian for archaeological research and restoration of the church of Kish. Dr. Vilayat Karimov of the Baku Institute of Archeology and Ethnography served as director of the excavations, and the archaeological consultant for the project was J. Bjørnar Storfjell. Radiocarbon analysis of various objects found on the site showed that the place of worship found under the altar of the church dates back to around 3000 BC, while the construction of the existing ecclesiastical building dates back to around the 12th century (990-1160 AD) . The building cannot be dated to the time of Saint Eliseo, but archaeological evidence shows that the church is located on an ancient place of worship. It is very unlikely that Saint Elisha built a church in the modern sense of this word in Kish. Even if the person existed, it seems likely that he only built the altar or used an existing pagan cult structure.[18]Bjørnar Storfjell has stated that there is clear evidence that this church was built as a Diophysite church. Excavations revealed that the church represented two different periods of use, with two different corresponding floor levels. According to Storfjell, since the architecture of the apse of the original church in Kish