NERSES II, ASTARAKETZI. - Armenian Katholikós from 548 to 557. He convened the well-known Council of Duino (554–55), intended to obtain a pact of dogmatic union against the sect of the Khoujik, introduced into Armenia by Persian merchants affected by Manichaeism and Nestorianism. Eighteen Armenian bishops and many princes took part. The Nestorians were expressly condemned there. There is nothing against the Council of Chalcedon.
Under the name of N. there exist 38 canons, of highly interesting content for Armenian dogma and ecclesiastical discipline: Baptism, Eucharist, rights of the clergy and monks, etc.
BIBL.: A. Ciamcian, Storia dell'Armenia (in armeno), I, Venezia 1781, p. 237 sg.; E. Ter Minassianz, Die armenische Kirche in ihren Beziehungen zu den syrischen Kirchen bis zum Ende des 13. Jahrhunderts, Lipsia 1893; V. Hatzouni, Questioni importanti della storia armena, Venezia 1927, pp. 369–78; id., Disciplina armena. Codificazione canonica orientale, Fonti, VII, Città del Vaticano 1932; VIII, ibid. 1932, p. 160 ff. Garabed Amaduni