Saint Gregory, known as “the Illuminator,” is the second apostle to establish the Christian faith in Armenia after the apostle Bartholomew. Saint Gregory was born in 240 AD to a Zoroastrian family. His parents died in revenge for his father’s murder of the king of Armenia, and he and his brother fled to Cappadocia when they were young. In Caesarea in Cappadocia, Saint Gregory learned the Christian faith, was baptized, and had two sons, both of whom he made servants of the church. He served Tiridates, the son of the king of Armenia, who was killed by Gregory’s father. The Persians expelled him from Armenia after occupying it. Days passed until Tiridates returned to Armenia after the Romans defeated the Persians, and Gregory also returned after the death of his wife, and entered the service of the king.
Gregory served Tiridates faithfully, so he loved him and brought him close. But his attitude towards him changed after he learned that he was a Christian, and learned that he was the son of his father's killer. The king tortured him in an elaborate manner. After that, he threw him into a deep pit full of snakes.
Gregory remained in the pit for fifteen years, during which everyone thought he was dead. But the Lord Jesus was preparing him for a great work. A woman brought him food.
The king continued to persecute Christians until he became mad and there was no cure for it. He remained like that until his sister was visited in a dream by a man who said that her brother would not be healed except by the prayer of Gregory who was lying in the den of snakes. When Gregory came out, he prayed for him and he was healed.
Then the king accepted baptism and allowed him to preach the Gospel and establish churches and monasteries. Then Leontius, Bishop of Caesarea, ordained Gregory as Bishop of Armenia, whom God honored by performing miracles. He built a large church in the name of the “Only Son,” or Echmiatzin, which later became the center of the Catholicosate of the entire Armenian Church.
He withdrew to the desert with his disciples until he fell asleep in the Lord in 335 AD. The Church commemorates him on September 30 of each year.
Troparia in the fourth tune
You became similar to the apostles in their conditions and a successor in their chairs, and you found by work the ascent to the theoria, O you who meditated on God. For this reason you followed the word of truth uprightly and struggled for the faith even to the point of blood, O martyr among the priests Gregory. So intercede with Christ God to save our souls.
Qandaq with the fourth tune
Come, all you faithful, let us today praise with hymns and divine songs the virtuous high priest, as he is a fighter for the truth, Gregory the watchful and teacher, the bright and shining star and fighter, for he intercedes with Christ for our salvation.
