Nerses Klajetzi, Saint

NERSES KLAJETZI, Saint. - Also called Snorhali, that is, Gracious, on account of the gentleness and evangelical charity he showed toward all: born in 1102 to Prince Apirat Pahlavouni, he was Armenian katholikos from 1166 until his death in 1173; he was included among the saints of the calendar of the Armenian Church.

He was a distinguished poet and sacred hymnographer. He also left valuable dogmatic writings and an interesting collection of letters, as well as the fine Encyclical Letter of canonical content.

He was an ardent promoter of the unity of the Church. His negotiations, opened thanks to the conciliatory policy of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, with the Greek philosopher and theologian Theorianos, in 1170 and 1172, and brought to a successful conclusion, remain memorable. N., after having convinced his interlocutors of the orthodoxy of the traditional Armenian formula, of one nature of the Only-begotten Incarnate Word, provided it be understood in the sense of St. Cyril of Alexandria, subscribed to the formula of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, acknowledging its precision. With his conciliatory spirit he overcame the narrowness of the Byzantines, especially of the patriarch Michael III Anchialos (1169-77), who pressed too hard on disciplinary divergences, admitting the mixing of the chalice and the unification of the calendar for the feasts of the Lord, that is, Christmas, the Annunciation, the Purification, St. John the Baptist and the Apostles. While he was about to convoke a national Armenian synod, in order to have his own episcopate, especially that of eastern Armenia, accept these reforms he had approved, N. died.

Garabed Amaduni