GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR, St. — Born symbolically around 250-52 into a noble Arsacid family, hence also named *Partheus* (Parthian).
His father Anak, one of the principal satraps, induced by the Sassanids of Persia (probably by the successor of Artasir, Shapur I [242-72/73]), killed Cosroe I, king of Armenia, the sole surviving Arsacid, and was in turn massacred along with his family by the loyalists of Cosroe I during their flight to Persia. Only one child, saved by his nurse and later baptized, was called G. As an adult, he found himself, following King Tiridate, before the shrine of the goddess Anahit. And because he refused to venerate the idol, he was subjected to manifold tortures; then, led toward the province of Ararat, he was thrown into a prison-pit called *Khorvirap*, near Artashat, to be food for vipers. An edict condemned all followers of Christianity (Agathangelos, XII, pp. 106 ff.).
Tiridate was later struck by a severe illness. His sister Khosrovidukht saw in a dream that only through the intervention of G., even after 15 years languishing in prison, would the king be healed. Released, G. healed both the body and soul of the monarch and converted his court. An edict proclaimed the faith of G. throughout Armenia (295-300: Sozomen, Hist. eccl., II, 8). Pressed by the urgings of the court and the people, G. was taken to Caesarea in Cappadocia with pomp and was ordained by the exarch Leonas, a bishop, and thus metropolitan of Armenia. This occurred in the summer of 302 or perhaps earlier, around 295 (cf. F. Tournebize, see bibliography).
On his return, accompanied by a retinue of clergy gathered from Sebaste and various cities of Lesser Armenia, G. entered the province of Taron and in the waters of the Euphrates baptized the king, the court, and many thousands of citizens. On the ruins of the pagan center of Aštišat, west of the present city of Muš, he built the first cathedral (Majr Jēkēlētai = “mother church”) of Armenia, which until the 5th century served as the seat of the katholikoi.
A five-year span of activity by St. G., precisely when the last persecution raged throughout the Roman Empire, culminated in the destruction of pagan temples and idols and the erection of churches, aided in this by the military strength of King Tiridate. G. organized the entire Armenian Church. The historian Agathangelos mentions the ordination of as many as 400 bishops (1), an exaggerated figure, since in later periods the known sees, even from national synods, do not exceed 30-40. All churches were endowed with ecclesiastical benefits, consisting of 4 fields for those in villages and 7 buildings for those in cities. The see of the katholikos had 15 rich cantons in various provinces of Armenia, of which Aštišat was the principal. Documents of later times speak of this endowment made by the king.
The date of St. G.’s death is unknown. He was still alive at the Council of Nicaea (325), but was represented at the synod by St. Aristakes, his son. The last years of G. were spent in solitude among the Sepuh mountains. His relics, jealously guarded, were later partially transferred to Constantinople. In Armenia, his right hand remained, which became a symbol of patriarchal jurisdiction. In Naples, in the church of S. Gregorio Armeno, the skull is preserved, much venerated by Armenians. Gregory XVI included the name of G. in the Roman Martyrology, fixing his feast on October 10, though it appears on September 30 in the Byzantine Synaxaria and Menologia.