According to Agathangelus, Tiridates went to Rome with Gregory,
Aristaces, son of Gregory, and Albianos, head of the other priestly
family, to make a pact with Constantine, newly converted to the faith,
and receive a pallium from Silvester. The better sources make Sardica
the scene of meeting and name Eusebius (of Nicomedia) as the prelate who
attended Constantine. There is no reason to doubt that some such visit
was made about the year 315, when the death of Maximin Daza left
Constantine supreme. Eusebius testifies (_H.E._ ix. 8) that the
Armenians were ardent Christians, and ancient friends and allies of the
Roman empire when Maximin attacked them about the year 308. The
conversion of Tiridates was probably a matter of policy. His kingdom was
honeycombed with Christianity, and he wished to draw closer to the West,
where he foresaw the victory of the new faith, in order to fortify his
realm against the Sassanids of Persia. Following the same policy he sent
Aristaces in 325 to the council of Nice. Gregory is related to have
added a clause to the creed which Aristaces brought back; he became a
hermit on Mount Sebuh about the year 332, and died there.
Is the Ripsime episode mere legend? The story of the conversion of
Georgia by St Nino in the same age is so full of local colour, and
coheres so closely with the story of Ripsime and Gaiana, that it seems
over-sceptical to explain the latter away as a mere doublet of the
legend of Prisca and Valeria. The historians Faustus of Byzant and Lazar
of Pharp in the 5th century already attest the reverence with which
their memory was invested. We know from many sources the prominence
assigned to women prophets in the Phrygian church. Nino's story reads
like that of such a female missionary, and something similar must
underlie the story of her Armenian companions.
The history of Gregory by Agathangelus is a compilation of about 450,
which was rendered into Greek 550. Professor Marr has lately published
an Arabic text from a MS. in Sinai which seems to contain an older
tradition. A letter of Bishop George of Arabia to Jeshu, a priest of the
town Anab, dated 714 (edited by Dashian, Vienna, 1891), contains an
independent tradition of Gregory, and styles him a Roman by birth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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