During these centuries of neglect, the cathedral's "condition deteriorated so badly" that it prompted the prominent archbishop Stepanos Orbelian to write one of his most notable poems, "Lament on Behalf of the Cathedral" ("Ողբ ի դիմաց Կաթողիկէին" "Voğb i dimats Katoğikein") in 1300. In the poem, which tells about the consequences of the Mongol and Mamluk invasions of Armenia and Cilicia, Orbelian portrays Etchmiadzin Cathedral "as a woman in mourning, contemplating her former splendor and exhorting her children to return to their homeland [...] and restore its glory."