This church is named in honor of Saint Gayane, a nun and martyr who lived during the persecution of Christians by King Tiridates in the 300s AD. When Gayane learned that her companion, the young and beautiful Hripsime, was to be married against her will to the Roman Emperor Diocletian, she fled Rome to Armenia with other nuns.
The Roman Emperor wrote a letter to the pagan Armenian King Tiridates, describing Hripsime’s beauty and asking him to find her. Tiridates found the nuns and fell in love with Hripsime at first sight, but this did not stop him from later falling in love with Gayane as well. After both nuns rejected the king’s advances, they were tortured and killed.
The Church of Saint Gayane was built on the site of Gayane’s martyrdom in 630 AD. The place of Hripsime’s martyrdom is also commemorated by the Church of Saint Hripsime.