Saint Gregory the Illuminator

In the same city had taken refuge T iridates Tiridate King of Armenia, initially a persecutor then converted by Gregory. , son of Khosrov, king of Armenia (213-258), who was treacherously k illed Anach Father of Gregory and murderer of King Chouroes. by Anak, father of Gregory, at the instigation of the occupier Ardashir Sassanid, and stripped of his kingdom by the Persians. Knowing the crime committed by his father, Gregory gave himself as a slave to Tiridates, and later he returned with him to Armenia when the Romans had restored his throne.

Tiridates sought to force Gregory to honor the idols, and he employed every kind of torture against him. He had him thrown into a very narrow dungeon, placed a gag in his mouth, and suspended him with a rope that tightened firmly around his chest; the Martyr remained in this state for seven days.

He underwent a second suspension, tied by one foot, head downwards, breathing the foul odor of manure that had been brought expressly for this purpose, while he was struck with wet sticks. During this torture, Gregory prayed to God for the salvation of all peoples, and in particular for the salvation of the Armenians.

The king admired this courage and redoubled his cruelties. He had boards and knotted ropes brought, and the patient's feet compressed until blood gushed from the tips of his feet. Gregory also had his face bruised by numerous blows, his head tightened in a vice, and his nostrils filled with salt and vinegar; he endured all these torments and several others, and the king was greatly astonished that he had remained alive.

However, one of Tiridates' satraps informed him that this Gregory was the son of Anak, the murderer of Khosrov. This discovery brought Tiridates' fury to its peak; he had Gregory transported to Artaxata, a fortres Artaxat Fortified castle where Gregory was imprisoned in a pit. s in the province of Ararat, with irons on his hands and feet and a rope around his neck, and there, he had him thrown into a crevice in the rock, resolved to let him perish there.

However, God delivered him from this torment as from all the others, and in the end, Tiridates, vanquished, opened his eyes to the light of the faith and received Baptism from the hands of Gregory himself. The latter, finally having the faculty to preach the Gospel in Armenia, converted almost all of this people and founded a great number of churches there.

According to Eus ebius, Maxim Maximin Daza Caesar in the East, opponent of Christianity in Armenia. inus Daia, then Caesar in the East, who had sworn an irreconcilable hatred for Christianity, was very irritated to see it making such progress in Armenia; he came to attack this country, but he was repelled and forced to withdraw in confusion. This is the first war of religion mentioned in history.

Saint Gregory was consecrated bishop by Leontius of C Léonce de Césarée Bishop of Caesarea in the 4th century, participant in the Council of Nicaea and evangelist. aesarea. It was Tiridates himself who sent him to this prelate, so that he might receive the episcopal anointing from his hands. Upon returning to his homeland, he continued his apostolic labors with renewed zeal; he also carried the torch of the faith to several barbarian nations near the Caspian Sea, and penetrated as far as Mount Caucasus.

We learn from an Armenian historian (Moses of Chorene) that, having retired to a cell in Mania, which is in the province of Daranalia (Upper Armenia), he ended his days there around the time when Constantine the Great became master of the East (315-323). Christians, forced to flee from Armenia, brought his body to Italy; his head was deposited in Naples with the ch Naples Place of the saint's death. ains he had once worn, and one of his arms is found in the cathedral of Nardo (Terra d'Otranto).

Saint Gregory is represented: 1° having a vision dominated by the cross, which makes him understand that Armenia and the entire Roman world will find peace in the triumph of Christianity.

2° having at his side a boar or a crowned pig; a legend, reported by Metaphrastes, claims indeed that Tiridates, in punishment for his barbarity, was changed into a swine.

Proper of Rome, supplemented with Godessard, the Acta Sanctorum, Father Cahier, etc.