GREGORY VIII, ANAWARZETZI (of ANARZABA). — Armenian Katholikos
(10. Vatican Library) from the Menologion of Basil II Vat. gr. 1613, f. 203.
(1294–1307), renowned for his learning, virtue, and attachment to the See of Rome, to the point of sacrificing, perhaps with some haste, the disciplinary peculiarities in favor of Catholic unity ideals. Proof of this are the Acts of the Armenian Council of Sis of 1307, which he convened but could not preside over due to his death; however, the synodals—25 bishops and 17 vartapets—inspired by his memorandum, adopted, in addition to the definitions of Chalcedon, the disciplinary reforms.
Although he had lifted the excommunication from the autocephalous see of Altamar, C. was opposed, on account of his overly innovative ideas, by the ultraconservative Eastern faction, headed by Archbishop Stephen Orbelean. Yet Gregory’s faith was approved by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298 and by Clement V in 1306; likewise, the Acts of the Council of Sis (1307) were approved by the Armenian Council of Adana in 1316.
G. was the first to transfer, in 1294, the residence of the Armenian patriarchate to Sis, the capital of Cilician Armenia.