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. The noble 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 professes to 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 born A.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 for St. 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 had tried 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 was brought 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 by St. Gregory. Tiridates
himself became a worthy champion of the truth, and the first honored
king who proclaimed throughout his dominions that henceforth the
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 of St.
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 written in
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 life St. 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, with St. 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 of Armenia 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 Synod of 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 repair to 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, and also 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 Armenia
And raised her voice on high,
And back to haughty Persia
Rang 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.