ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR

            Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion. The conversion and baptism of King Trdat (Tiridates), the royal family, the satraps and the army, together with thousands of the people, took place in the year of 301. So the date of conversion of Armenia as a whole to Christianity is commonly ascribed to the year of 301. The author of this conversion was St. Grigor Partev (Gregory the Parthian), surnamed by the Armenians Lusavoritch, that is, The Illuminator, in that he enlightened the nation with the light of the gospel. The King Tiridates was joint apostle and illuminator with him.

            Gregory the Parthian was related to the Arshakouni kings of Armenia. His father, Prince Anak, assassinated Tiridates’ father, King Khosrov of Armenia. Anak was slain while trying to escape and Gregory as a child was carried to Roman territory for safety from reprisal. Tiridates, the legitimate heir, was also taken to Caesarea for similar reasons, and twenty-three years later, in 287 AD, recovered his father's throne. Gregory was brought up in the Christian faith and got his education in Caesarea. He, too, returned to Armenia after the reestablishment of the national kingdom. He became the king’s companion and worked as a scribe in the Royal Palace.

Coming back from the Roman Empire Tiridates offered sacrifices to the goddess Anahit. As a Christian, Gregory refused to follow the king. His defiance exasperated the king who had come to realize that Gregory was the son of the Prince Anak who had killed his father. Gregory was condemned and punished for his faith, and after excruciating tortures, was cast into the dungeon or the pit (Khor Virap) of the city of Artashat. The same year the King Tiridates brought in two verdicts ordering all Christians to be brought to the court, and second - to put to death those who would hide Christians. Evidently, Christianity was considered to be a great threat for both the state and the pagan world.

At this time a group of Christian virgins, under the guidance of the abbess, St. Gaiane, came to Vagharschapat, the capital of Armenia, in their flight from the persecutions which had been raging in the provinces of the Roman Empire. Here they faced difficulties, too. The exceptional beauty of one of these virgins, St. Hripsime, attracted the king, who desired to get possession of her. Her rebuff led to her and the other virgins’ martyrdom; they were martyred as confessors of the Christian faith. This was the year of 300 AD. The proclamation of Christianity as a state religion in Armenia is closely linked to the martyrdom of the thirty-seven virgins.

After the martyrdom of the virgins Tiridates became insane and no cure could heal him. According to tradition, he assumed the form of a boar. Tiridates’ sister, who secretly had become Christian by Gregory, had a dream that Gregory was still alive in the pit and could cure her brother. The pit, where Gregory remained incarcerated for about thirteen years, was opened, and Gregory was found alive. His food had been a piece of bread a pious woman had secretly been bringing every day.  Restored to liberty, Gregory healed the king and began to spread the light of Christianity.

The martyrdom of the virgins, the fit of demoniacal possession, to which the king was a prey, the futility of the remedies, the insistence of his sister beseeching him to implore the help of the God of Christians, his healing obtained through the prayers of Gregory, are the events which followed each other during the latter months of the year 300 and the early months of 301, and these led to the conversion of Tiridates and many others. Shortly after, the King Tiridates proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the State. This was followed by the destruction of the pagan pagodas, and the pagan feasts were transformed into Christian rites. By the order of the King Tiridates and Gregory the Illuminator, three churches were built on the same spots, where the virgins were martyred.

Gregory the Illuminator was duly chosen to be the head of the Armenian Church. Raised to the dignity by the will of the king and of the nation, in 302 he was sent to Caesarea in Cappadocia to receive episcopal consecration at the hands of the Archbishop Leontius. On his return to Armenia, he baptized the king, the courtiers, and many converts and set about establishing his Church. Over a period of time the Armenian Church formed her own hierarchy. Returning to Vagharshapat (present Etchmiadzin – “descent of the Only Begotten”), St. Gregory undertook the building of Armenia’s Mother Church, according to the vision, in which the Only Begotten of God descended on earth and struck with a golden hammer on the ground showing the spot where the Holy Altar of Descent was to be built.

Gregory the Illuminator organized and controlled the church for a quarter of a century. To him canons, homilies and liturgical services are ascribed. Twelve episcopal sees, with priests converted to Christianity, which played a great role in spreading Christianity throughout Armenia, and four hundred urban and rural dioceses were created by him. Gregory the Illuminator died in 327 AD.

By Hasmik Muradyan