SAINT GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR

Our father among the saints Gregory the Enlightener also Saint Gregory the Illuminator, "Equal of the Apostles and Enlightener of Armenia", was the religious leader credited with forging the Christian identity of Armenia through conversion from pagan beliefs. Armenia became the first country to establish itself as a Christian nation in the year AD 301.

Gregory was born about AD 257. His father Anak, a Parthian prince, was put to death for assassinating his kinsman King Khosrov while Gregory was still an infant. To escape execution, Saint Gregory was taken by his nurse to Caesarea in Cappadocia where he was raised as a Christian. He married and had two sons. One son, Orthanes, would later become a priest and the other, Aristaces became, first, an monk, then later the next Catholicos of Armenia who attended the First Council in Nicea. About AD 280, Saint Gregory returned to Armenia and entered the service of King Tiridates III, the son of the assassinated Khosrov. However, Tiridates was intolerant of Christianity and demanded that Saint Gregory renounce his Christian faith which he refused to do. Saint Gregory was imprisoned and subjected to many tortures during his imprisonment of some thirteen years including enduring imprisonment in a pit with venomous snakes. In the meanwhile Tiridates continued to pursue his anti-Christian campaign. He executed Saint Rhipsime, the abbess Gaiana, and 35 virgins of a monastery in Asia Minor. During these times, Tiridates developed a serious ailment and suffered disfiguration. However, his heart soften after he was cured through Gregory’s prayers.

In AD 297, Tiridates, in gratitude, released Saint Gregory from his tortures, who then began to preach to the people, urging them to reject the worship of idols and to follow Christ. Soon, Tiridates, repenting his crimes and, with most of the people of Armenia, answered Gregory’s call and became converts to Christianity. Tiridates was baptized by Saint Gregory in AD 301. In that year, Tiridates adopted Christianity as the religion of his country. With the conversion of Armenia, the temples to idols were destroyed and churches to God were built.

In AD 302, Saint Gregory was consecrated Catholicos of All  Armenia by Bishop Leontius of Caesarea. In AD 303, Saint Gregory built the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin near Mount Ararat which still is the seat of the Amenian Catholicos. In AD 325, Saint Gregory named his son, Aristaces, as his successor and charged his grandson, Grigoris, to spread the Gospel of Christ throughout the Caucasus and Anatolia. Saint Gregory then retired to a monastery near Mount Sebuh in the Daralia province of Upper Armenia where he reposed about ad 331.