IV.THE CONVERSION OF THE ARMENIANS

Hardly will it be necessary to turn the attention of the reader to the condition of the world, especially in western Asia, at the time of Christ’s Advent. Sabeism or Sabianism of Ancient Babylonia had not quite expired yet, though her votaries, in despair, were getting ready to give her a magnificent burial. In vain had the Assyrians tried to resuscitate her (fancying that the number of gods was not sufficient to keep Sabeism alive), by raising some imaginary powers into the dignity of deities. The Persians thought Zoroastrianism a plausible hypothesis to account for the constant conflict of the good and evil in the world by assuming Ormazd the supreme good god and Ahriman the evil being, but they were conscious of its insufficiency and following the example of the Assyrians and Babylonians, they adopted other gods and a goddess, too. Yet these additions, instead of improving the faith of Zoroaster corrupted it with the impurities of immorality. The Grecian invasion of western Asia was the means of introducing there a gross polytheism which increased the darkness of the moral and religious condition of the East. Thenoble religion of the patriarchs and the prophets had fallen into a ritualistic literalism in the hands of the Pharisees; and in the hand of skeptical Saducees it had become an object of incredulity. In one word, the world was lying in wickedness, enveloped in the darkest clouds of idolatry, superstitions and sin.

Then it was that the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings and chased away the darkness which had enveloped the whole world. Christ’s fame had already spread far and nigh and reached the ear of the Armenian Prince of Edessa, and it had revived in his heart hopes of recovery from an incurable disease. Therefore sent he for Christ, according to the tradition of the entire Christian Church. Soon after the ascension of Christ three of His apostles, Thaddeus, Bartholomew and Jude, successively and successfully preached the gospel in Armenia. Some even affirm that not only the seed of the gospel was planted there by these apostles, and they watered it by their blood—having suffered martyrdom there—but by the apostolic preaching of Gregory the Illuminator, the churches which they organized survived all manner of persecution till the final conquest of Christianity over Armenia.

The following is from the pen of H. B. Tristram, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S., canon of Durham, England, writing on the subject: “There were certain Greeks.”[38]“It is a very early tradition, and the pretended letter of Abgarus, and the reply of Jesus, are recorded by Eusebius, and were accepted in his time. He professesto have obtained them from the archives of Edessa. The Armenians identify the messengers with their nationality and claim that Abgarus was King of Armenia. But, though all historical critics agree in pronouncing the letters apocryphal, there is less reason for rejecting the tradition that Thaddæus, soon after the dispersion of the disciples from Jerusalem, carried the gospel into Armenia. We know that when Gregory the Illuminator, who was bornA.D.257, proclaimed the message throughout Armenia, he found Christians everywhere, and a church which though sorely persecuted and oppressed, had existed from apostolic times. He was, in fact, rather the restorer than the founder of the Armenian church, which became the Church of the whole nation half a century before the cross was emblazoned on the standard of Rome. The Armenians may justly claim to be the oldest Christian nation in the world.”

Though Christianity was first introduced into Armenia by the Apostles, who laid the foundation of the ennobling, regenerating, purifying religion of Christ so early as in the middle of the first century of the Christian era, yet the completion of that work and the demolition of heathenism were reserved forSt.Gregory.

Prince Anak, Gregory’s father, was of the royal family of Arsacidae of Parthia, whose reign was overthrown by Artaxerxes, the founder of the Sassanian dynasty of Persia. But the Armenian branch of Arsacidae was still in full vigor in the person of Chosroves I, the King of Armenia, who hadtried to restore the seized scepter of power to the deprived royal family of Parthia from the revolter, Artaxerxes, the Persian. The latter could not be secure on his throne, so long as Chosroves was the ruler of Armenia. So he attempted to reduce Armenia. But, failing to do this, by force of arms, he resorted to treachery. Anak, who was related to Chosroves, was induced by Artaxerxes, with promises of large reward, to play the part of an assassin. It was so arranged that Anak would be driven out of Persia as a person dangerous to the safety of the newly established sovereignty there because he was a member of the Arsacide dynasty. “Anak, with his wife, his children, his brother, and a train of attendants, pretended to take refuge in Armenia from the threatened vengeance of his sovereign, who caused his troops to pursue him, as a rebel and deserter, to the very borders of Armenia.”[39]Anak was received by Chosroves, who listened to his story with great credulity and sympathy. With the first opportunity, Anak committed the crime of assassination of the king, but the latter lived long enough to request the complete destruction of the assassin and his family. Anak had no time to effect his escape and being seized, he and his brother received the due punishment of their crime. His son, Gregory, however, who was only an infant, was saved by the faithfulness of his nurse, who took the child and escaped into the city of Cæsarea, Cappadocia, where he wasbrought up in a Christian family, with a thorough Christian education.

On the other hand, Artaxerxes attained his object without paying for it, and, hearing of the condition of affairs in Armenia, he immediately hastened thither with his army and took the people by surprise. He doomed the royal family of Arsacidae to death, so as not to leave any to rival him for the throne. However, Tiridates, the son of Chosroves, escaped into the Roman province of Armenia, and thence to Rome, where he received a military training. His sister was hid in the stronghold of Ani.

Tiridates found favor with the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who, with a great force, sent him to Armenia to retake his father’s throne from the Persians. He was welcomed by his people, who joined his army and drove out of the country their common enemy (A.D.286). It appears that Gregory had sought Tiridates and found him in Rome and entered his services, his sole “purpose being to win over to eternal life, through the gospel of Christ, the son of him who had been slain by his father, and thus to make amends for his father’s crime.” Though Gregory suffered many a torture and torment and a long period of imprisonment, yet this noble Christian hero and apostle was determined “to win (the king) over to eternal life, through the gospel of Christ.”

The king, finally, was converted and baptized bySt.Gregory. Tiridates himself became a worthy champion of the truth, and the first honored king who proclaimed throughout his dominions that henceforththe religion of Christ is the religion of Armenia. The Armenians were nationally converted to Christianity, from the king down to the servant; we must not forget, however, that there were some especially among the nobility, who with a heathenish tenacity held on to the Zoroastrian faith, but this was for mercenary purposes rather than a real appreciation of Zoroastrianism. For Christianity had made a great advance in the country. Moreover, the apostle of Armenia, by his evangelistic spirit and labors, had laid a firm foundation for the religion of Christ in the land of Ararat (A.D.289). He was, by the request of the king, sent to Cæsarea, Cappadocia, to be ordained bishop over Armenia (A.D.302).[40]

The temples of the idols in every important city and town were pulled down and Christian churches in their stead were built. The most splendid of all these churches was Etchmiadsin, “the descent of the only begotten,” which was afterwards clustered about with other buildings and became a monastery and to this day the seat ofSt.Gregory’s successors to his prelatic chair.

In those days, and during a century afterwards, Christian training was carried on by the catechisers, for very few had access to the Syriac or Greek literature, and the Armenian literature also was writtenin either of these characters; the characters of the Armenian alphabet were not yet wholly discovered or completed. So the reader will bear in mind that the advantages of imparting or disseminating a thorough Christian knowledge, if not lacking wholly, were very inadequate. After a long and useful lifeSt.Gregory entered into the joy of the Lord and Master (A.D.332).

Ten years after the death of this noble apostle of Armenia, the valiant defender of that divine faith also ended his useful career (342), after seeing the prosperous condition of the Church, which they loved and for which they toiled. Both were succeeded by their sons. The power of Armenia, however, was not equal to the conflicting forces on either side, though the descendants of Tiridates held the scepter of Armenia nearly a century longer, it was in a very enervated state. Nevertheless the Church of Christ made a decided advance within this period. The Armenian alphabetic characters[41]were recovered and completed by the distinguished scholar and prelate Mesrob, who, withSt.Isaac, the patriarch, or bishop, translated the Scriptures into the Armenian language, the Old Testament from the Septuagint version and the New Testament from the original Greek.[42]After the conversion of the Armenians to Christianity not a few of the youths ofArmenia flocked into the schools of Athens, Alexandria, and Constantinople, to sate their avidity for learning, who, afterwards, rendered great service to the nation, both by their writings, and many valuable translations from the Greek. Some of these originals have been lost and the world now has them in Armenian only.

The rise of the Sassanian dynasty in Persia was a source of more or less perpetual misery and bloodshed in Armenia. The Persians had two reasons for their cruel attitude toward Armenia. The first was the continued existence of the Arsacide reign in Armenia; the second was Armenia’s conversion to Christianity, while Zoroastrianism was revived in Persia by the Sassanian Kings. Christianity was the permanent occasion for which Armenia has suffered and is still suffering indescribable miseries and innumerable cruelties. The Persians imagined that as long as the Armenians were Christians they were in alliance with the Greeks, while in reality the Greeks were no more in sympathy with them than the Persians were.

Yasgerd II, the King of Persia (A.D.450), decreed thus: “All peoples and tongues throughout my dominions must abandon their heresies and worship the Sun, bring to him their offerings, and call him God; they shall feed the holy fire, and fulfill all the ordinances of Magi.” Accordingly, Mihrnerseh, the grand vizier of the Persian court, wrote a long letter to the Armenians, polemic in character, persuasive in style, and menacing in tone. The Synodof the Armenian bishops was convened at once and it was unanimously decided to defend their religion at any cost. The synod also agreed upon answering the letter of the grand vizier in which they both refuted the charges brought against Christianity, undauntedly defended their faith, showing the absurdity of Zoroastrianism, and concluded the epistle with these words: “From this belief no one can move us, neither angels nor men, neither fire nor sword, nor water, nor any other horrid torture, however they be called. All our goods and our possessions are before thee, dispose of them as thou wilt, and if thou only leave us to our belief, we will here below choose no other lord in Thy place, and in heaven have no other God but Jesus Christ, for there is no other God save only him. But shouldst Thou require something beyond this great testimony, behold our resolution; our bodies are in Thy hands—do with them according to Thy pleasure; tortures are thine, and patience ours; Thou hast the sword, we the neck; we are nothing better than our forefathers, who, for the sake of their faith, resigned their goods, possessions and life. Do Thou, therefore, inquire of us nothing further concerning these things, for our belief originates not with men, we are not taught like children, but we are indissolubly bound to God, from whom nothing can detach us, neither now, nor hereafter, nor for ever, and ever.”

As soon as this letter arrived at the royal court of Persia, King Yasgerd read it; he was enraged and summoned the Armenian princes immediately to repairto his majesty’s presence. There in the presence of the king they manifested a great resolution in their faith, for which they were ignominiously treated and confined in prison. Having been threatened while in their confinement they devised a scheme; they thought it is better to apparently comply with the demands of the king, but inwardly to remain true to their convictions. God, who is able to bring good out of evil, indeed did so in this case. When it was made known to the king that the Armenian princes were willing to accept his terms, at once they were liberated and returned with distinctions to their homes. And a large army with over seven hundred magi were exultantly marching on to Armenia to raze to the ground every Christian Church and school and disciple the people into the mysterious absurdities of Zoroastrianism.

No sooner had the news of the apostacy of the princes reached Armenia than the bishops, priests, and the laity condemned the weakness and the folly of the princes. When the princes returned to Armenia they found no one ready or willing to listen to any explanation, but everywhere and everybody was ready and willing to defend his religion at the cost of his life. A large multitude, made up of clergy and laity, among whom were many women, gathered for immediate action, for the enemy was marching on. Some of the princes could not endure the contempt of the people nor the unrelenting remorse of their consciences, so they were ready to expiate their folly at any cost.

Prince Vartan, the Mamigonian, was unanimously appointed the commander-in-chief of the Armenian forces, and the multitude—66,000 volunteers—was formed into three divisions and each division was entrusted to a prince, Vartan, Nershebuh and Vasag. All knew that the struggle and the strife was a desperate one. But brave Vartan and the rest were not dismayed, though they knew that they alone could not conquer the immense army of the enemy already in the country, with a small and inexperienced force of his own, yet there was no other choice; they were not fighting for victory, but for their convictions and for their chosen religion, the religion of Christ.

The address of Vartan, the commander-in-chief, is most beautiful and touching: “I have been,” said he, “in many battles, and you also with me; we have sometimes bravely vanquished the foe; sometimes they vanquished us, but on all these occasions we thought only of worldly distinction, and we fought merely at the command of a mortal king. Behold, we have all many wounds and scars upon our persons, and great must have been our bravery to have won these great marks of honor. But useless and empty I deem these exploits whereby we have received these honorable marks, for they pass away. If, however, you have done such valiant deeds in obedience to a mortal ruler, how much more will you do them for our immortal King, who is Lord of life and death, who judges every one according to his works.

“Now, therefore, I entreat you, my brave companions,and more so as you—albeit in bravery, worth, and inherited honors greater than I—have of your own free will and out of your love elected me your leader and chief; I entreat that my words may be favorably received by the high and the low. Fear not the numbers of the heathen; withdraw not necks from the terrific sword of a mortal man in order that the Lord may give the victory into our hands, that we may annihilate their power and lift on high the standard of truth.”

On the morning of the day (2d of June, 451, old style) of the battle the little army of the Holy League received the Eucharist (holy communion) and marched on with these words: “May our death be like to the death of the just, and may the shedding of our blood resemble the bloodshedding of the prophets! May God look in mercy on our voluntary self-offering, and may He not deliver the Church into the hands of the heathen!”

With amazing bravery and valor must they have fought. But alas; there was treachery and treason among the little army of the Holy League. Vasag, who was in command of the third division of the Armenian forces, deserted the holy cause with his force, and still worse, he sided with the enemy and decided the battle against the Armenians. The fall of the noble commander Vartan and some others also disheartened the rest. Had Vasag not acted the part of Judas, had he not betrayed his Master and Master’s cause the Armenians would have achieved a signal victory in the annals of Church history, andalso might have regained their political independence. The fall of the leaders left the people in confusion, the enemy then fell upon them, seized many and indiscriminately slaughtered them. Many of the bishops and priests were captured, some were martyred on the spot, others were carried to Persia and there executed. The patriarch Joseph, in whose character and life shine forth piety, courage, and devotion, was one of those carried to Persia.

This was one of the many contests which the Armenians had with the fire-worshiping Persian. The Armenians were defeated, the Persians had the battlefield, but the real victory, the moral and religious victory, was won by the Armenians.

Indeed did the sons and daughters of Armenia prefer a Christian’s grave to the heathen’s home.

“Her head was crowned with flowers,Her feet were bathed with spray,Hers were the land of Eden,The cradle of our race.“But then upon her borders,Shouted the Persian horde:‘Fall down and worship fire,Or perish by the sword.’“Then up sprang ArmeniaAnd raised her voice on high,And back to haughty PersiaRang loud the warlike cry:“‘I will not be a heathen,I will not be a slave,If I cannot have a Christian’s home,I’ll find a Christian’s grave.’”

From this time on the Armenians have never shrunk from defending their religion and rights against any odds. If they have no way to defend these rights as has been the case recently, they still would rather suffer torture and death than purchase life and freedom at the cost of principle and right.

The Persians, after their conquest of Armenia, destroyed many of the churches and schools, persecuted the Christians with indescribable tortures and cruelties, and forced them to become like themselves, fire-worshipers. The Armenians, in return, most cordially hated both the religion of Zoroaster and its defenders and teachers, and were anxious for an opportunity to drive out these usurpers and unwelcomed teachers of a philosophized religion, spun out of Zoroaster’s or somebody else’s imagination. Christianity and Zoroastrianism had many a battle in the land of Ararat, until the latter, in total despair, was willing to submit to the former, on some amicable terms to be suggested by a brave son of Armenia, a worthy member of the house of Mamigonians. This valiant champion of Christianity was Vahan Mamigonian, whose father and uncle, Prince Vartan, led the Holy League in battle and with the heroism and courage of the martyrs defended their rights and religion and had sealed their testimony to the truth of Christianity by their blood in that battle.

The long-looked for opportunity had come; the northern provinces rebelled against the Persians; the latter, therefore, attempted to subdue them. The Armenians availed themselves of this ample occasion,armed themselves, and urged Vahan to take the lead of the army to clear out the country of the troops of the enemy left there. The attempt was made. The Persian forces stubbornly resisted the Armenians, but several reverses had convinced them that further resistance was useless and when a new governor, Nikhor, was appointed by Balas, the King of Persia (A.D.485), he, instead of attacking Vahan, who held almost the entire country, wished to come to an arrangement agreeable to the Armenians. Prince Vahan, therefore, proposed the following terms:

“1. The existing fire-altars should be destroyed, and no others should be erected in Armenia.

“2. The Armenians should be allowed the free and full exercise of Christian religion, and no Armenian should be in future tempted or bribed to declare themselves disciples of Zoroaster.

“3. If converts were nevertheless made from Christianity to Zoroastrianism, places (of honor) should not be given to them.

“4. The Persian King should in person and not by deputy administer the affairs of Armenia.”[43]

These terms proposed by Prince Vahan were favorably received by Nikhor, and an edict of toleration was issued and proclaimed that every one be at liberty to adhere to his own religion, and that no one should be driven to apostatize. Afterwards Vahan himself was appointed by the king, governor of Armenia, and the church thus enjoyed a period of tranquillity from the persecutions.

FOOTNOTES:[38]John 12:20, 21.[39]Rawlinson, “The Seventh Oriental Monarchy,” p. 51.[40]“The Armenian King became a convert before their [emperor’s] revival (of persecution) under Diocletian (284-305A.D.); and Christianity was adopted as the religion of the State in Armenia some thirty years prior to its triumph in the West by the decisive action of the Melvian Bridge (312), and over 100 years before the edicts of Theodosius the First against the practice of paganism.” Lynch, “Armenia,” Vol. I, p. 293.[41]The translation of Scriptures was completedA.D.436. “A statement found in Philostratus (about 200A.D.) would point to the existence of an Armenian alphabet at the beginning of our era.” Appleton’s, “The Universal Cyclopedia,” Vol. I, p. 321.[42]The final translation and revision of the Scriptures was completed inA.D.436.[43]Rawlinson, “The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy,” pp. 334-4.

[38]John 12:20, 21.

[39]Rawlinson, “The Seventh Oriental Monarchy,” p. 51.

[40]“The Armenian King became a convert before their [emperor’s] revival (of persecution) under Diocletian (284-305A.D.); and Christianity was adopted as the religion of the State in Armenia some thirty years prior to its triumph in the West by the decisive action of the Melvian Bridge (312), and over 100 years before the edicts of Theodosius the First against the practice of paganism.” Lynch, “Armenia,” Vol. I, p. 293.

[41]The translation of Scriptures was completedA.D.436. “A statement found in Philostratus (about 200A.D.) would point to the existence of an Armenian alphabet at the beginning of our era.” Appleton’s, “The Universal Cyclopedia,” Vol. I, p. 321.

[42]The final translation and revision of the Scriptures was completed inA.D.436.

[43]Rawlinson, “The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy,” pp. 334-4.

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