Church of Saint Elisæus (Nij)

Saint Elisæus Church (Azerbaijani: Müqəddəs Yelisey kilsəsi, Udi: Ĭvĕl Yeliseyi s'iyen C'otari Gergeś, Armenian: Սուրբ Եղիշե եկեղեցի) or Jotaari Church (Azerbaijani: Cotaari məbədi, after the quarter) is a former Armenian church, now used by Albanian-Udi religious community of Azerbaijan, located on the municipality of Nij in the Qabala region of Azerbaijan.

The church was built in 1823 by a local Udi priest Astvatzatur Jotaniants on the gravesite and chapel of Vlas the Martyr, a disciple of Saint Elysaeus.

The destruction during that renovation of Armenian inscriptions associated with the church prompted a protest by Norway's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Steinar Gil,[4] who refused to attend the reopening of the monument and compared the erasing to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan.

[5] The destruction of the inscriptions, together with Azerbaijan's labeling of the church as "Albanian" and its denial that the church had an Armenian identity, has been described as being part of a wider "cultural genocide against Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan".

[7] The National Archives of Armenia holds several documents pertaining to the priests who once served in church: Formerly a church consecrated according to the Armenian Apostolic rite, the building now serves as main spiritual and cultural center of Nij inhabitants.