Today, the Church remembers St. Gregory of Armenia, called the Illuminator for bringing the light of the Gospel of Jesus to a land mired in endless conflict over territory (mirrored still today) and laboring in the darkness of paganism.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator is the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was a religious leader who is credited with converting Armenia from paganism to Christianity.
His early life was dominated by his father’s complicity in the assassination of his cousin, the king of Armenia, which forced Gregory into exile as a child. He was fostered by Christian relatives in western Armenia (now part of modern Turkey) in the region of Cappadocia.
As an adult, he returned to atone for his father’s act of fratricide, but was imprisoned in a pit for nearly 14 years. He was released only after a new ruler was in power. The new king has become insane with grief after the Roman Emperor Diocletian (notorious for his deadly persecution and murder of many Christians) absorbed much of western Armenia into the Roman Empire. Armenia had already lost much of its eastern lands to India. Gregory was released out of prison because he was known to be a holy and gentle man, who had turned his imprisonment in a pit into a life monastic tranquility, prayer, fasting, and teaching his guards about the Christian Faith. By his prayers, the king was restored to sanity, and he asked Gregory to baptize him and his family, and gave Gregory permission to begin preaching, teaching, and baptizing all who would accept the Christian Faith.
After many years of his labor for the souls of his fellow Armenians, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion, and Gregory was name the first Catholicos (Patriarch) of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Weary with age and many years of serving as the spiritual leader of the nation, and after securing a successor, Gregory retired back to Cappadocia where here formed a small monastery, and there died in peace in A.d. 332.
The great cathedral of Etchmiadzin was built over the pit where Gregory suffered for so many years. Even the darkest of places can become holy and filled with the light of God.
Blessed Gregory, ora pro nobis.
Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints, and who raised up your servant Gregory the Illuminator to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia: Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
