2. Shortly after this, Babgen, the younger brother of Smbat the prince of Sisakan, confronted him. He entertained in his mind foolish dreams, thinking that he might be able, by making a covenant with death, to acquire his paternal inheritance, of which he considered himself deprived because it was ruled by his brother Sahak. 3. For the time being, Nasr cunningly opened the gate of pity before him, and laconically promised to grant him his inheritance. For he expected and waited also for his brother Sahak to come to him with the same purpose, so that he [Nasr] might rob both of them who had been deceived. Subsequently, Nasr also summoned Sahak, the lord of Siwnik' in a sympathetic spirit of friendship. 5. Responding as if to an invitation from the royal court, the latter immediately set out and came near Nasr with many gifts. Seemingly benumbed and in a certain state of lethargy, he made a treaty [221] with hell ignoring the wisdom in his heart, and not considering the matter completely, or even perceiving the outcome of the design. 6. But Nasr conceived a plot, and having allied himself with both of them by word and not by heart, asked them to come with him to the capital city of Dvin, so that every one respectively being assured of his safety in that place, could tend to the welfare of the others. 7. Thus, because of such insidious deceit they set out and marched forth. 8. When they were approaching the komopolis of K'arunj, Nasr was confronted by the foremost gaherec' princes and the glorious nahapets of the noble families of the city of Dvin. 9. But as he realized that ready-made success had come to him, he set aside the concealment of his wicked intention, and getting his hands on the latter, bound all of them with iron fetters, and confined them, over forty in number, in prison. 10. He remained that day at the place where he had spent the night.
11. And when daylight shed the darkness of night, he mounted the captives on camels and mules, and entered the city of Dvin. He took with him Sahak the lord of Siwnik' together with his brother Babgen. 12. As soon as he had entered the city, he put the heathen captives in prison. Then, he bound with ropes both Sahak and Babgen, who had been seized together, and putting them in iron fetters, confined them in prison. Thus, the deadly deception of the southerly gale condemned the brothers to incarceration, bonds and danger of death.
13. Having heard of the severity of the agonies which our faithful lords imbibed to the dregs along with the heathens at the hands of the wicked Hagarite's stormy tempests, I wept with bitter distress, as is characteristic of human nature. 14. Subsequently, certain faithful people warned me to make haste and escape the siege that threatened us. 15. The clergy who were with me, struck with fear, waited at the threshold of my house, and begged me to take leave and avoid the scourge. They reminded me of the command of the Lord: "You will be chased from city to city," and, "do not set yourselves against evil." 16. So I took flight not as much from my fear of temporary death, but because I considered the furious rage of the heathen aberration, and feared that the hidden snares of her satanic deception might entangle the clerics of the church, or bring upon us confusion along with the disreputable customs of the heathen, which would be detrimental to all healthy practices. 17. Thus, seemingly crazed and out of our wits, we sought the grace of God to show us [the proper course]. 18 And when the darkness of the night disappeared, and it was dawn, suddenly, at the twinkling of an eye, the darkness of night once again surrounded us. Absolutely amazed at this phenomenon, we noticed that the sun had been eclipsed at the morning hour. Subsequently, reflecting upon the rarity of the [222] phenomenon, [and realizing] that it was not the time for an eclipse of the sun, we acknowledged this as an authentic sign manifested to us by the Lord God. Thereafter, the confusion of the turmoil forced each one of the congregation to get away from the trial of those threats.
19. I was not at all idle in dismissing [from my mind] such doubts and did not follow them on the heels of their sins, but hastened with determination to take flight from there, before the advent of the danger. I took as my first examples the prophet Elijah and Peter, the head of the apostles. 20. Subsequently, leaving the Monastery of the Caves (Ayric' Vank'), which was the residence of the blessed Sahak, and is located in the ravines of Mount Gegh, in a small glen, we ascended directly to the Upper Monastery (Verin Vank'), where the quarters for the animals were to be found, and from there went to the hermitage of the celibate hermits on the island of Sewan. We were deprived of all of our human and animal possessions, and only thought of our salvation. Here, the brethren of the congregation joined us in raising our voices in blessing God. We remained in Sewan for a period of four days with firm hope. 21. Thereupon, all of our minds seemed to embark on boats, and setting sail to the thoughts in our hearts, we carried them out like hidden treasures from a depository, so that we could express in words the things that were stored within the depths [of our minds]. Our intention was as follows: to return once again to various sites near the holy patriarchal church; 22. as for the material possessions and the livestock which we had abandoned much against our will, to relinquish these willingly as gifts to the Hagarite Nasr, so that by the will of God his mind might be content, and Mother Sion might not be deprived of the children of her nuptial chamber, and we ourselves returning to our holy edifice might bless the name of our God.
23. And thus, those who became aware of this idea considered it to be the proper course. Once again we set out and arrived at the small fortress of Biwrakan, my own dzerakert which I had acquired through ganjagin. Here I had built a church constructed with solid polished stones, which was richly ornamented and adorned with paintings. I had founded this place as a monastery for celibate priests. 24. As soon as we had reached Biwrakan, I immediately sent a letter to Nasr, and reminded him of the horrible afflictions that he had inflicted on certain others, namely confinement in prison, fetters, severe and deadly torments. I stated that I had fled fearing such agonies, and that should he assure me with a solemn oath [of my safety], with my mind at ease I would remain at the threshold of the church of my house, where I would bless God in His sanctuary, and according to my means I would continue sending him gifts as a tribute [for my well-being]. 25. Upon reading my [223] letter, Nasr immediately sent a solemn oath in accordance with the precepts of their Koran and with whatever terms of their religion that could be trusted. Thus, he freed my mind from all fears, whether of external attacks or of internal turmoils, of physical threats or remote intimidations. 26. Thereupon, I was assured by that oath that I could turn myself to useful and pleasing things and by the will of God remain at the threshold of our sanctuary.
"Subsequently, you must hasten the very same numerous legions to go immediately in quest of the leader of the Christian aberration, and bring him in fetters before you and having ransacked all the possessions of the latter, let them bear those to you. Should the disordered mob show any opposition, they must inflict retribution on them, and re- lentlessly shed much blood."
5. Those that were of the same mind as the judge expressed the same view, and thus aroused him to bite like a wicked beast, and urged him to dishonor the heathen custom. Immediately Nasr sent numerous forces, armed cavalry and infantry, to the monastery of the celibate priests which is located in a cave to the northeast of the komopolis of Garni. 6. Upon their arrival, they unexpectedly entered the cave, and [224] having seized the monks that were there, subjected them to great beating and torments in demanding from them the possessions that they had hidden. They tortured them to such an extent, that due to their excessive agonies some of the victims yielded their souls to Christ, although not immediately, but sometime later, and reached the blissful goal of their expectations, which is reserved for all those who love God.
7. Subsequently, they ravaged the entire ornamentation of the Church of Christ, namely the evangelical, prophetic, and apostolic holy testaments, also all the possessions, the great quantities of fodder for the animals as well as the numerous swarms of bees, and having burnt the beautiful structures that were in that monastery, they departed. 8. And when they confronted Nasr, and told him what they had accomplished, the result was that the insanity of their dissolute conduct turned the latter's mind to bizarre thoughts. He immediately set as his goal the contest between life and death, and sent out a large number of forces to come upon the fortress of Biwrakan by stealth, take me and the other clerics with me captive, put to the sword or enslave the remaining inhabitants of the fortress and ransack the place. 9. However, as I had learned of their shadowy and dark plots sometime earlier, and had pondered on the matter as on the previous occasion, I fled the evil in order to fulfill the command of the Lord.
10. We escaped and went to the royal palace of Bagaran, near Ashot, who ruled as king, so that the children of Mother Sion might not be totally drowned under the flood of the southerly gales of heathen deception.
11. But Sahak, our blessed bishop-in-residence, together with two particular priests, deacons and celibate monks remained there, either because the physical feebleness of the bishop as well as that of some of the others, or the pressure of time did not permit them to follow us, or even that they assumed that the calling of dedication to God and His foreknowledge of that had brought them close to the victorious contest and the crown of martyrdom. I am of the latter opinion, which I shall clarify somewhat later.
12. But when the Ishmaelite forces realized the firing of their secret darts had not remained unknown to me, and their clandestine snares had been uncovered, and when they found out that I had escaped, they stopped to pitch a camp, and having gathered numerous forces, made preparations in order to be ready, and thus outraged pour the poison of their serpentine wickedness on the faithful of Christ. 13. But when the inhabitants of Biwrakan were made aware of the irremediable intent of the heathen, and the impetuosity of the vehement floods of the torrents which were about to come, and realized that there was no means of escape because of the great numbers of women, young children, as well as enfeebled old men, who could not and were not fit to take flight, with [225] no place to turn to, they took shelter in their cellars in accordance with what had been written, and shut their gates behind them. Avoiding the enemy and escaping from him, they hid themselves behind the shield of their bastions away from the impious tribulation, and put their hope in the succor of God Almighty.
14. Among those who had entered the fortress were certain soldiers who were in the service of the princes of this world. As soon as they had heard whispers concerning the wicked intentions of the Ishmaelites, they came to the fortress from various places in order to lend assistance to the faithful, to the very end of the deadly contest. 15. As a general rule, one soldier would address a comrade in the following manner: "Until now we tried to please our generals by devoting our lives to the welfare of the public, but now as good soldiers let us share the passion of Christ and His faithful." 16. Having thus defied death, they wished to complete the course of the righteous war.
17. Subsequently, like an impetuous tempest the Ishmaelite forces reached the gates of the fortress with an impious and terrible uproar and unrestrained heathen vehemence. Thereupon, shielding the legion of their infantrymen on all sides, and guarding their rear with the armed cavalry that had come to join them, they attacked like beasts. 18. When the people of the fortress saw them turn to such deathly acts, they were seized by insanity. One after the other they ascended and crammed the tops of the bastions. On that day the two sides had scarcely met one another, when the night set in and the day came to its end. 19. On the following morning, when it was still dark, all the people of the fortress approached the gates of the holy Church, and asked the blessed bishop to give them of the body and blood of the Lord that might atone for their sins. 20. At this the latter moved his angelic lips and with gentle words instructed them on matters beyond our teachings—subjects into the truth of which he had penetrated. He entreated the clerics together with the detachment of soldiers and multitudes of men to lift up their hearts in meditation without any grievances, and to beg for the confirmation of their faith in Christ, "lest your hearts be shaken from their devotion to Christ due to the war which is distressing us. Do not endeavor to implant your feet in this temporary life, as if it were eternal. Subsequently, the Lord himself will come to you in his flesh and blood, which you are about to receive, and condemn the sinful designs against His Body, His Church, which is you. 22. He will give you fortitude to vanquish the wicked darkness which encircles this world, and which has become thick around us.
Let them [the enemy] not befoul the robe of light with which you clad yourselves in Christ [covering yourselves] from the nudity of your forefather, and let them not snatch away from you the Christ-confirmed seal of the holy fount." 23. Thus he ignited their minds as if with fire, [226] and urged all of them to raise their voices in praise of the God of all, and exhorted them not to cease praying continuously. 24, Subsequently, having offered the awesome sacrifice to Christ, he apportioned the salutary mystery among both men and women, old and young, and all of all ages, in accordance with the sacramental tradition of the last rites. 25. But the shouts and battle cries of the Ishmaelite forces became more intense. The clamor, din and clash of their armor and shields resounded throughout the land like the artifice of the inhabitants of the district of Nakovos.
Thereat, the people of the fortress who had crowded on top of the bastions turned their eyes to God in the hope that he might come to their succor to ward off the afflictions of war for them, so that they might not be affected by the satanical aberration of the heathen. 27. From above they gave battle to the enemy below, and shed much blood by striking many headlong to the ground.
28. But the blessed bishop together with the rest of the clerics occupied himself with daily prayers and supplications, so that the bloody and wild beasts might not contaminate the integrity of the Lord's flock, which the Lord Himself chose as his own inheritance and people, and called it His Body and His Part. He also exhorted the people in every way, "Not to be bound with fetters of sin because of their physical needs, and not be moved by the fear of temporary death, but to cleanse their souls and consider the outcome of their lives; to suffer with Christ His passion and imitate His faith in God." 29. Also the deacon T'eodoros, the overseer of the edifice and instructor of men, offered them much advice in the following manner, "Although people stricken with a fatal ailment suffer until death, yet, they are relieved by the hope of recovery. 30. Now, do not let the peril of this ailment, which has afflicted us, hasten to inflict on you vain physical death, but let yourselves become stout in spirit and join the battle on behalf of the Christian faith, so that you may receive the laurel holding the hope of eternal life." 31. They resorted to such sound advice and no longer did they indulge in the physical comforts of life in any way whatsoever. On the contrary, armed with the mighty Spirit of their Lord, they fought with miraculous exertion and goodly war on behalf of their children and the flock of Christ.
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