Everything about St Gregory The Illuminator totally explained
Saint Gregory the Illuminator or
Saint Gregory the Enlightener (translit., or, or ), the founder and patron
saint of the
Armenian Apostolic Church (born c. 257 AD - died c. 331 AD) was a religious leader credited with forging the Christian identity of
Armenia via conversion. Armenia was the first country to establish itself as a Christian nation in the year
301 A.D.
Gregory's father Anak, a
Parthian, was charged with assassinating
Chosrov I, one of the kings of the Arshakouni line and was put to death. Gregory's mother was named Okohe. Gregory narrowly escaped execution with the help of Sopia and Yevtagh, his caretakers. Gregory was taken to
Caesarea in
Cappadocia where Sopia and Yevtagh hoped to raise him.
Gregory was given to the Christian Holy Father
Phirmilianos (Euthalius) to be educated and was brought up as a devout Christian.
He went on to marry Mariam, also a devout Christian; they'd two sons, the younger of whom,
Aristaces (Aristakes), succeeded his father.
At that time
Tiridates III (Trdat the Great), a son of King
Chosroes, reigned. Influenced partly by the fact that Gregory was the son of his father's enemy, he ordered Gregory imprisoned him for twelve (some sources indicate fourteen) years in a pit on the Ararat Plain under the present day church of
Khor Virap located near by historical city
Artashat in
Armenia. Gregory was eventually called forth from his pit in
297 to restore
Tiridates III (Trdat), who had lost all reason after he was betrayed by Diocletanius, to sanity. Diocletanius invaded with the assistance of Sassanid Persia and a vast amount of territory from Western provinces of Greater Armenia became "protectorates" of Rome.
In his late eighties Gregory withdrew to a small sanctuary near Mount Sebuh (Mt. Sepuh) in the
Daranalia province (Manyats Ayr, Upper Armenia) with a small convent of monks, where he remained until his death.
After his death his corpse was removed to the village of Thodanum (Tharotan). His remains were scattered far and near in the reign of
Zeno. His head is believed to be now in
Italy, his right hand at
Echmiadzin,
Armenia, and his left at
the Holy See of Cilicia in
Antelias,
Lebanon.
A number of prayers, and about thirty of the canons of the Armenian Church are ascribed to Gregory the Illuminator. The homilies appeared for the first time in a work called
Haschacnapadum at
Constantinople in
1737; a century afterwards a Greek translation was published at
Venice by the Mekhiterists; and they've since been edited in German by
J. M. Schmid (Ratisbon,
1872). The original authorities for Gregory's life are
Agathangelos, whose
History of Tiridates was published by the Mekhitarists in
1835;
Moses of Chorene,
Historiae Armenicae; and
Simeon Metaphrastes. A
Life of Gregory by the Vartabed Matthew was published in the Armenian language at Venice in
1749 and was translated into English by the
the Rev. Father Malan (1868).
The
Armenian Church became extremely rich, besides the old temples which the church had confiscated, was granted large tracts of land. The church became the owner of approximately 10,000 farms and the clergy exploited these exactly as did the other Armenian princes. During wartime the church was obliged to assist the king with soldiers as well as taxes. It is on record that the church, if necessary, was obliged to provide the king with 5,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry soldiers.
This article was taken from the 9th edition (
1880) of an unnamed encyclopedia, and has since been edited on Wikipedia.
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