Shapuh enthrones Tiran; he is saved from the Northerners; he blinds Tiran; disturbance among the northerners; the death of Arshak and the enthronement of Pap; the fall of Mehruzhan and the wound that Ur'nayr received in that battle.

When Tiran became king of the Armenians, he made peace with the Persians, delivering Shapuh from the attacks of the northerners who were harassing Armenia after residing in Aghuania for four years. Tiran was blinded by Shapuh, [an act which] was consistent with [Shapuh's] wicked nature. [Tiran's] son Arshak took over the kingdom. During his reign there was agitation against Shapuh from the peoples of the North. [Shapuh] went to Bithynia and remained there for many months, unable to accomplish anything. He erected a column by the shore of the lake with [the figure of] a lion on the top with a book at its feet. This was symbolic of Persia, represented by the lion, and the Roman empire, by the book.

When Arshak died, Pap ruled as king. Then Mehruzhan Artsruni rebelled, ruining himself like Ahitophel. There was a great battle between Pap and Mehruzhan. At that time the valiant Shergir, king of the Ghekk', died at the hands of Spandarat [g117] Kamsarakan. Ur'nayr, the king of the Aghuans, was seriously wounded by Mushegh Mamikonean, Vasak's son. Meruzhan too, through the prayers of Saint Nerse's, perished at the hands of the sparapet Smbat Bagratuni, crowned on the head with red-hot iron.

A brief account of Saint Gregory, Illuminator of the Armenians, and about his venerable sons; the ordination of Saint Grigoris, son of Vrt'ane's, grandson of the great Saint Gregory, to the kat'oghikosate of the Aghuans and Iberians/Georgians; his coming to the land of the Aghuans for its illumination; his martyrdom and the bringing of his relics.

[12] As we mentioned earlier, one of the Lord's students, who was named Thaddeus, came to a portion of the land of Armenia. He illuminated some parts of the land of the East prior to the arrival of the renowned [spiritual] warrior and thrice-blessed Grigorios. [Gregory], upon the death of Xosrov, king of the Armenians, who was treacherously slain by Gregory's father, Anak [g118] the Parthian, who himself drowned in the Arax River as he fled. Gregory was spirited away by certain dayeaks [guardians/tutors] who took and saved the venerable Gregory, taking [him] to Byzantine territory. This came to pass through the providence of great God, and resembled [the fate of] the first prophet Moses who, in an ark of bullrushes floating in the water, was saved from the hands of the wicked Pharaoh, to save the people of God from Egyptian servitude and torments.

Thus was the most blessed Gregory saved from the sword of the naxarars of Armenia, kept for the salvation of the land of the Armenians and all the eastern areas. He resembled a choice arrow hidden in a quiver in the land of the Byzantines, with which the invisible enemy would be wounded and killed. Chosen from his mother's womb and [chosen] as a blessed martyr while in the womb, he was sent and given to the land of Togarmah and the children of Askanaz.

Now blessed Gregory, who had been raised and nourished in the power of the Christian faith, with Apostolic and intrepid boldness came before Trdat, king of the Armenians, and with sincerity and mildness entered his service [g119] believing in the words of Paul [which urge us] to "serve the Lord of Hosts and one's human masters with humble virtue not with ostentatious service and obedience" [see Colossians 3, 22]. He became the father of two sons, Aristake's and Vrt'anes. The king, having been led astray by various demons (dews) and by their loathesome cults, with the aid of the wicked dragon, undertook to make [Gregory] the mighty martyr of Christ worship the gods of filth in the pit of perdition. Although [Trdat] tormented the Saint with numerous and diverse tortures, he was unable to succeed in moving the blessed man from his unshakeable faith. Rather, day by day [Gregory] bravely competed to take the prize of victory over the invisible and visible enemy. Since they could find no method to accomplish [their aim] of turning the virtuous man from faith in Christ, the evil one inspired evil thoughts in the minds of his satellites and they took and threw the blessed Grigorios into an unbelievably deep pit in the city of Artashat. For thirteen years he remained in that snake-infested place, until certain venerable women, Hr'ip'sime' and Gayane' with thirty-five companions, were martyred by the same king of the Armenians. The bodies of these venerable [women] were then cast out.

[13] Then Almighty God paid a visit to the venerable [g120] Grigorios and the venerable martyrs, the blessed Hr'ip'simeans, and delivered a great punishment to the land of Armenia. It was not so much a punishment as a token of great mercy, as a beloved son is counseled and an estranged illegitimate one is ignored. By means of those same demons whom [the pagans] had exalted with gifts and sacrifices [God made the evil spirits] come upon them as though they were enemies, made them mad and made them eat their own flesh. [God] transformed their king into a hog which fled into the reeds. Then awe and great dread engulfed everyone such that they awaited the end of the world. While eveyone from the grandees to the lowly were filled with this awe and trepidation, an angel of God's mercy appeared in a night vision to a certain woman named Xosroviduxt, sister of Trdat, king of the Armenians, saying: "The only way you can escape this blow is by the hand of Saint Gregory. Go and remove him from the deep pit." She awoke and related her dream. But everyone chided the woman and said: "Have you, too, been afflicted by the demons? What chance would there be of finding even his bones [after so much time]?" Yet when the vision recurred a second and a third time, aroused by the severity of the disasters, the sceptics went to the mouth of the pit and haltingly [g121] voiced the words of God: "Come out, if you are still alive." And immediately [Gregory] informed them that he was alive.

With great rejoicing they brought him up and took him to Nor k'aghak' [New City, i.e. Vagharshapat] the royal seat of the Armenian king. Then they brought before the great Gregory unwillingly those folk whom the demons had made mad and who were eating their own flesh. Similarly they brought before the Saint from the rushes the demon-afflicted king. The great Saint Gregoy tearfully knelt and beseeched all-merciful God for the salvation of the wretched people. And immediately, through the pleas of the Saint, they received healing for their physical torments as well as enlightenment for their souls.

Now although no one had informed [Gregory] about the venerable women Hr'ip'sime' and her companions, who had been martyred, nonetheless in the deep pit he himself with a prophet's eye had witnessed the martyrdom of the witnesses of Christ. And he asked: "Where are the Saints' relics?" The astonished people inquired: "Which Saints is he talking about?" But when they heard the martyrs' names from him, they remembered and showed the venerable and most blessed remains. Gregory took them and wrapped them in their torn [g122] clothing and would not permit anyone to approach the bodies until they had been baptized. And he placed [the relics] in a repository in the place where the Saints had been martyred.

[14] Then Gregory taught and counselled the entire land of the Armenians, baptizing with the redeeming cross and illuminating by baptism in the font of salvation. He made them worthy of receiving the grace of the ineffable Spirit, and of eating the life-giving body and blood of the Lord. But he did not want to occupy the throne of the patriarchate. However, the Angel of God came to great Grigorios and told him: "In your humility do not resist and refuse this, but be brave and accept the twofold eternal honor, for God has bestowed this upon the patriarchate." Thus he accepted the dignity of the patriarchate and went to illuminate the remainder of the Aghuans and the Iberians/Georgians. Arriving in the district of Haband, he taught and counselled [the people] to hold the commandments of the Son of God. There he laid the foundation of a church in the town of Amaras and designated workers and supervisors to construct the church. Then he went to the land of the Armenians where he ordained as his replacement his own son Vrt'ane's, seating him on his patriarchal throne [g123]. [Vrt'ane's] was full of his father's grace and lived according to his teachings. He punished and counselled those he found in the sect of devil-worship, and he rebuked the king's wife for her perverse fornication. Now it happened that when he had entered a church in the district of Taro'n to celebrate the divine liturgy, an enormous multitude of devil-worshipping folk had assembled to kill the venerable Vrt'ane's. This was with the collusion of the king's wife. When [the mob] rushed onto the church porch, they were firmly bound and fettered by the demons at the command of benevolent God. And they all remained thus, stiff-necked and speechless until the venerable one had finished the divine liturgy. Then he came outside and was astonished. Asking what had caused it, [the plotters] confessed their wicked plan and the wishes of the king's wife. [Vrt'anes] prayed and cured all of them by laying on of hands, and advised them not to do evil deeds any longer, but rather to seek mercy in atonement.

[Vrt'ane's] had two sons. One, named Yusik, had a virtuous and saintly manner, and he was also crowned a martyr for his penitential conduct. For when he reached the throne of the patriarchate [g124], which had been his father's, he reproached the king for his sin-loving wickedness. At his order, [Vrt'ane's] was slain with a club, right there in the church. The other [son] was named Grigoris after his grandfather. He was like him in righteous conduct, not marrying after the ways of the world, but rather desiring his patrimonial spiritual inheritance. Already as a lad he schooled himself in Biblical writings and through fasting and prayer he restrained the desires of the flesh and illuminated his soul with loving belief. He quickly received the doublefold honor enjoyed by the celestial prominence of his grandfather, the great Gregory, namely the honor and throne of the patriarchate and the most sublime martyr's crown. The young Grigoris, at the age of fifteen, was ordained bishop of the Iberians/Georgians and the land of the Aghuans. He went and illuminated these two lands and established the Christian faith there. He also constructed churches according to the [clerical] ranks and the cities [? e"st kargats' and k'aghak'ats'] and ordained priests, urging everyone to pursue holiness and always commemorate the Saints. Inspired with the desire for Apostolic righteousness, he implemented the commands of the corporeal [g125] Son of God, and circulated among all the pagans, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He taught them to keep all the Lord's commandments and not to take with them [for converting the pagans] gold, silver, copper, not a knapsack nor even a staff.

[15] Warning against all these [material goods], the venerable [Grigoris] took along with him the marvellous and most revered stipend [of all], the honored blood of the great patriarch and martyr Zacharias, John's father, and the relics of Saint Pantaleon who confessed the true faith of Christ and was martyred in the city of Nicomedia.

[Grigoris] brought the most holy relics of the martyrs to the great city of Ts'ri in the principality of the Aghuans. He constructed a small church there and with great care he placed in it a portion of Zacharias' blood, and some of the remains of Saint Pantaleon. He left a priest named Daniel there as attendant and servant of Christ's martyrs, and then he took his goodly Christ-serving students, and half the relics of Saint Zacharias and of the venerable Pantaleon, and went to the land of the Mask'ut'k', into the presence of Sanesan, king of the Mask'ut'k', who was of the same clan as the Arsacids. [Grigoris] preached the one creative power of the ineffable Trinity, the incarnation of the Word, the many and diverse miracles [g126] [Jesus] performed on the earth, the crucifixion, death, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension of His body into heaven, the second coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the beginning [the Mask'ut'k'] joyfully accepted and believed the word of the gospel.

But the most wicked satan entered their hearts and inflamed them to do evil against the life-giving command of the words of the Lord. They began to make false accusations against the honest teachings of the venerable one. For [Grigoris] sermonized what was the will of benevolent God: not to loot, ravish, or steal, but to rejoice through the labor of one's own hands humanely and happily and to be respectworthy before God. [The Mask'ut'k'] said: "This is the deceit of the king of the Armenians, for he would block us from looting the land of Armenia. Then how would we survive if we do not loot and plunder?" They also shared their most wicked counsels with the king. Then they seized the lad Grigoris, tied him to the tail of a wild horse and released it in the Vatnean plain. Thus was the blessed one martyred. His students gathered up [his remains] and brought them to the village of Amaras, in the district of Haband. He was placed in a church there close to the altar on the north side. They placed the sacred blood of Zacharias in a glass bottle [g127] and the relics of the venerable Pantaleon in another bottle. Placing both bottles with the most holy remains of the Lord Grigoris, they themselves fled to Armenia. For Sanesan was invading Armenia with a countless force of Huns. Divine grace gave the Armenian lords the power to wreak vengeance for the blood of the young Saint Grigoris. The entire multitude of troops were put to the sword, one and all, and there did not remain even a messenger to take the bad tidings to the land of the Mask'ut'k'. Instead, all of them were slain by the swords of their own kinfolk.

[16] In that period the fortified city called Ts'ri rebelled from the king of the Aghuans and gave assistance to the Persian king, and the Argesats'ik' came and captured the city. There they discovered the priest Daniel, whom Saint Grigoris had designated to serve the [relics of the] Saints, and a lad of Chighb [nationality]. [The Chighb] had found the priest and had been baptized a Christian, learning about the faith in Christ and believing it and further studying with the priest. And he had wanted to follow the Christian way.

They put them both into chains and tortured them to make them worshippers of the filthy diabolical ashes [i. e. Zoroastrian] [g128]. When they could not forcibly convince them, they entreated the Chighb lad, saying: "You are a man of our land, do our will and we will exhalt you in our principality." But the venerable [youth] responded: "It is better that I die before the priest for the name of Christ, than dwell in the midst of sinners." They immediately beheaded them with a sword and thus did they receive the crown of holiness and the prize of victorious martyrdom as had their spiritual father, the young Grigoris. Some Syrian priests took them to a village called Haku, where they were put into a grave. They themselves constructed a monastery over the spot. And they say that the relics of these venerable ones remain there to the present.

This transpired during [the reign of] the valiant Vach'e', king of the Aghuans. The most blessed relics of these venerable ones remained hidden until the reign of the pious Vach'agan the Third, king of the Aghuans, son of Yazdgird, brother of the blessed king Vach'e'. For from the [time of] valiant Vach'agan until Vach'e', there were nine kings of the Aghuans, according to the list. The tenth was the pious, God-loving King Vach'agan, king of the Aghuans [g129].

List of the names of the succession of rulers who are known from [the time of] Japheth and Ar'an until Vach'agan III.

Japheth,
Gomer,
Tiras,
Togarmah (T'orgom),
Hayk,
Aramaneak,
Aramayis,
Amasia,
Gegham,
Harma,
Aram, who lived in the time of Abraham,
Ara the Handsome, who lived in the time of Isaac,
Anushawan,
Pare't,
Arbak,
Zawan,
P'ar'nak Sur, who lived in the time of Joshua,
Hawnak,
Vashtak,
Haykak,
Ambak,
Ar'nak,
Shavarsh,
Norayr,
Vstamkar,
Gor'ak,
Hrant,
E"ndzak,
Dghak,
Ho'roy,
Zarmayr,
Perch, who lived in the time of David,
Arbun,
Bazuk,
Hoy,
Yusak,
Kaypak,
Skayordi, he took the crown from the king of Babylon,
Paroyr,
Hrach'eay,
P'ar'nawaz,
Pachoych,
Kor'nak,
Pawos,
another Haykak,
Eruand Sakawakeats' [the Short-lived],
Tigran.

From this lineage Ar'an was designated as ruler of the Aghuans. But the number of names from Ar'an until the valiant Vach'agan, who was of the great Arsacid family, is not clear, nor can I say accurately from which clan(s) they derived. Those according to the list who were kings of the Aghuans are ten in number, namely:

Vach'agan the Brave,
Vach'e',
Ur'nayr,
Yawch'agan,
Merhawan,
Satoy,
Asay,
Esvaghe'n,
Vach'e' [g130],

[18] then the pious Vach'agan, king of the Aghuans, after which there were many God-loving and pious folk in their own time who lived and passed away. But about them we have no [information] such as we have about the pious Vach'agan, king of the Aghuans, who uncovered the blessed and divine hidden treasure [relics]. At the order of Peroz, king of the Persians, Vach'e' constructed the great city of Perozapat, which presently is called Partaw.

The institutions created by King Vach'agan for the Aghuans as well as his life and deeds and the discovery of the relics of the Saints.

For thirty years from Vach'e' until the pious Vach'agan, the land of the Aghuanians was kingless. This was because Peroz, the most wicked and impious king of the Persians, who had become furiously enraged like a mad dog, wanted to simultaneously eliminate all the kingdoms of the world, to destroy the churches and uproot the Christian clergy and establish in his realm [g131] Magian idolatry. A great deal of innocent blood of venerable and blessed martyrs of Christ watered the ground at his filthy hands. And an enormous number of innocent folk were killed by the sword of the wicked. Furthermore women and children, sobbing, were captured and taken to a foreign land in bitter slavery. Many lords of the Armenians, Georgians, and Aghuanians were lost to Magian idolatry, some forcibly, others through very grand gifts; and in many places fire-temples (atrushans) were established, thereby strengthening fire-worship of the foul gods. Diverse sects of the malicious Satan proliferated and made wretched the unfortunate people of the land of the Aghuanians who were accused of rebellion and punished with fetters and prison and unwillingly forced to submit to Magianism. Among them was Vach'agan who unwillingly accepted Magianism due to the [Iranian] king's violent and fierce wickedness. However [Vach'agan] constantly participated in secret prayers and fasts of the Christian faith, until All-Merciful God visited [humankind] because of the shedding of the blood of Christ's holy martyrs, the destruction of the blessed churches, the senseless killing of old and young, the enslavement [g132] of women and children and the destruction of the souls of the innocent, who were oppresed by Magianism.

[19] He sent the Hephthalite nation as a rod of wrath against the tyrannical and bloodthirsty king of Persia and they struck and killed this impious ruler together with a countless number of his assembled troops. When the blessed Isaiah prophesied in the vision he saw over Babylon, perhaps he referred to this, when he said: "Hark, the giants have come to satisfy my rage; they rejoice as they come and grow hostile. The Lord of hosts has commanded many nations to come from afar. The Lord has come with His armed men. Wail, you impure and wicked generations, for the day of the Lord is near; destruction from God will come upon you [g133]. Therefore all hands will be feeble, and trembling will come upon you like a woman in travail. Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to render you childless and remove you from the earth. Whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. Their homes will fill with lamenting and mourning. Wicked son, prepare your children to be punished for the sins of their father. He will fill the world with war, nor will they arise and rule the world again" [Isaiah 13].

Truly this prophecy was fulfilled again on the king of the Persians, the most evil Peroz. For it was at the command of God that the Hephthalites came like giants to satisfy the Lord's anger. First, in front of him, they killed his son, his wicked children [g134], with all the lords and governors of the land and the hosts of his innumerable forces. Then the king himself, that most evil Peroz, was put to the sword and was lost among the countless corpses, and buried in the grave of an ass. Then [the Hephthalites] looted and carried off the immense riches amassed by [the Persian lords] in their wickedness. They raped the women and did not spare the children, and did not pity the orphans. Truly they satiated the Lord's anger and avenged the evils which the wicked Peroz had visited on many peoples. And they did this seven times more upon him.

Then was the Church of God filled with joy, for the wicked offspring of Satan had been seized by their own enemies. They were not stoned to death but killed by the sword, and they died in agony. That same loathesome man and all his evil children were put to the sword and died a cruel and painful death. It was by the will and strength of the Most High that this evil was removed, and that [Peroz] was completely destroyed [g135].

The enthronement of Vagharshak, and how Vach'agan received his kingdom of Aghuania from him.

Every day [Vach'agan] participated in the divine services, and he tirelessly performed memorials for the Saints. He also commanded that the secure land of Artsakh, which was in service to him, should completely abandon [g137] the forms of devil-worship and the various forms of sacrifical offerings to the foul gods. He was a most benevolent man who brought prosperity, development, and decisive rule to all parts of his kingdom. As for those native princes whom the wicked Peroz had removed from his kingdom, he returned to each his own lordship.

[21] Then the Aghuan lords, each having recovered his own principality, convened and accepted Vach'agan from their own native royal family. He was the son of Yazdgird and brother of King Vach'e' of Aghuania. [Vach'agan] was brave, wise, and prudent, tall of stature and good looking. They took him and made him king at the hands of Vagharshak, king of Persia. When he returned to the land of the Aghuans, he sought for some means to forsake the godless faith of Magianism and to openly practise Christianity as the true confession. God providentially caused Vagharshak, king of the Persians, to issue an order saying that all should hold to their own faiths and that no one should be forced to convert to Magianism. When the good [g138] and pious King Vach'agan heard about this he was overjoyed. Then with many prayers and tears he turned to the Church of God and confessed the eternal and ineffable Holy Trinity. And he greatly entreated the bishops, priests, and cenobites of the Church to share his penitence and prayers to appease all-merciful God. [Vach'agan] himself engaged in fasts, prayers, providing charity to the poor, always considering the example of Peter. The latter, despite his apostasy, was able to become the head of the Apostles, the Keeper of the Gates, and a prince in the Kingdom of Heaven. [King Vach'agan] also recalled that one of the Lord's disciples who disbelieved later on, after confessing the Lord and God, became one of the Apostles. Furthermore, many, many sinners had reached the heights of virtue and became heirs of the beautiful and eternal Kingdom.

The pious king Vach'agan considered all of this and sanctified and cleansed himself in the virtue of true faith by converting to the true God. He also became the physician to many other lands by converting them to the God of all, Jesus Christ. [Vach'agan] freed them from the bitter service [g139] to Satan. For in truth, the wisest among doctors and the most skilled in medicine is the doctor who—when his own body is afflicted with terrible wounds—is able to restore his own health through medicinal herbs. Using the same drugs, he can also bring others who are suffering quickly back to health. It is the same for a sinner who sincerely turns to God and receives the drugs of repentence. The health of his soul may, with the same beneficial drugs of confession and repentance, become the healer and restorer of the souls of others and the one who makes their bodies immortal, by converting them completely to the holy and pure Christian religion.

[King Vach'agan] established punishments and fines to be levied on those who set up [pagan] altars, or made charms (diwt' hnarests'e'), or worshipped unclean gods, or not did not keep fully and firmly to the precepts of Christianity. He warned the witches, sorcerers, and pagan priests once and then again that if they should be discovered working such evil, they would be brought to court in painful fetters and with canings and be subjected to the most severe punishment. Some of this numerous group of witches, sorcerers, and pagan priests were strangled, banished, or [g140] enslaved. Many others, through counsel, accepted the Christian faith and began traversing the path of God. In many places [Vach'agan] established bishops, priests, and supervisors. He issued the same strict orders for Kambechan and Aghuania. He established bishops, priests, and deacons. Indeed, throughout the reign of the pious Vach'agan the entire community of the Church was exalted and honored.

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