Archive · 2025 · From the print edition of Saturday 19 July 2025, Vol. 33, No. 10,128
CourtsFinders, keepers, the archeparchy and the state
A herder found a 17th-century silver chalice below a ruined chapel near Tegirmen. The archeparchy and the Heritage Protection Service both say it is theirs. He says he should have kept quiet.
TALAS — In May a herder grazing sheep below a ruined chapel near Tegirmen, in the Talas valley, saw a glint in a gully washed out by the spring rain. What he dug out was a silver chalice and paten that specialists have since dated to the 17th century. The Talas District Court will decide who owns them.
The archeparchy says the chalice belongs to the parish whose chapel stood above the gully, and that it was buried, like much church plate, during the persecutions of the 1930s. The Heritage Protection Service says it is a monument of national importance and, under a 2010 amendment to the heritage ordinance, state property until it is claimed, since it is church property found from before 1992.
The same amendment requires the finder to declare a find within ten days, which the herder did, and gives him a quarter of its valuation. The valuation has not been made. "I did what the law says," he said. "Now I have two owners and no money. Next time I see something shine, I will keep walking."
The case comes as metal-detector hunters, whom the church calls grave-robbers, are working the sites of old chapels across the valley. A priest in Tegirmen said the chalice should go back to the altar. "It was hidden so that it could come back," he said. "Not so that it could go to court."