Gregory the Illuminator

Gregory the Illuminator Gregory the Illuminator or, (Armenian Գրիգոր Լուսաւորիչ, translit Grigor Lusavorich, Greek Γρηγόριος Φωστήρ or Φωτιστής, Gregorios Phoster or Photistes, * probably around 240;. † about 332) is a saint ( feast September 30) and the apostles of Armenia. He made ​​Christianity the state religion of Armenia and was the first Catholicos, ie the first head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Origin

According to Armenian tradition, Saint Gregory the Illuminator was the son of Anak Parthian Suren - Pahlav. The house Suren - Pahlav was a distant collateral line of the royal house of the Arsacids, whose main line from 247 BC to 224 AD, ruled the Persian Empire as great kings and its by- line from 54 AD to 428 AD as kings Greater Armenia dominated. Anak is the tradition for - on behalf of his master, the Sassanid king Shapur I. of the Kings ( 240-270 / 72) of the Persian Empire - who wanted to expand his power to Armenia - his relatives, the King of Great Armenia, Chosroes II Medz ( Tiridates II ) have murdered the house of the Arsacids to 252.

As punishment, Anak and his family was wiped out, with only two of his sons, including Gregor could save.

Life

Gregor was brought by his educators to Caesarea in Cappadocia, now Kayseri in Turkey and there by a priest Phirmilianos ( Euthalius ) Christian upbringing.

The historian Agathangelos According to Armenian Gregor, after Trdat III. , The son of King Khosrau II AD 286 ( actually only 298 CE) had reconquered at the head of a Roman army his father's kingdom of Armenia, tormented by this and convicted because he refused to sacrifice the Zoroastrian goddess Anahita. He was then locked in Khor Virap monastery on Mount Ararat plane into a pit to await death. From this pit he was freed after 13 years. When King Trdat got sick, healed and he converted the king and his country, and abolished the local pagan cults. According to tradition, the Armenian Apostolic Church has been involved in this event, which is dated to the year 301, founded.

315 Gregory of Leontius of Caesarea was ordained a bishop and used by Petros of Sebaste. He baptized Trdat, whose family, the Armenian princes and the dependent kings of Georgia. Armenia was thus the first Christian state in the world.

After he had established Christianity in Armenia, Gregory withdrew into solitude, last (331 AD) in a cave at the foot of Mount Sebuh in Western Armenia (now Köhnem Dagi in Erzincan ), where he died after a few years. Later moved to the caves on a community of hermits. At the head of the Armenian Church joined the son of Gregory, the holy Aristakes, who was also involved in the Council of Nicaea. Up to Sahak († 439 AD), the Office of the Catholicos of Armenia in his family remained hereditary.

The Gregory the Illuminator ascribed to speak and to teach ( Yatschachapatum, translated by IM Schmid, Regensburg, 1872) are not authentic.

Marriage and children

Gregory married in his youth a devout Christian woman named Mariam, which deepened his Christian faith. Gregor and Mariam had at least two sons:

• St. Vartanes I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church ( 333-341 )
• St. Aristakes I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church ( 325-333 )