been taken as an infant to Cæsarea in Cappadocia,[1] was there learning the faith and the customs of Greek-speaking Christians. He was born between 233 and 255,[2] and was baptized at Cæsarea as Gregory. When Trdat (Tiridates) had restored Armenian independence, Gregory came back to his own country and obtained a place at court. Full of zeal for Christianity, he began to preach it. Trdat was still a pagan; he persecuted Gregory, tortured him, and threw him into a well or deep pit, where, the Armenians say, he languished for fifteen years, fed by a pious widow named Anna. Meanwhile, the Christians, of whom there seem to be many,[3] are fiercely persecuted. We hear of virgins, St. Gaiane and St. Hripsime, who were martyred with thirty-five companions.[4] But the king is struck down by some terrible disease; he is said to have been possessed by a devil and changed into the likeness of a wild boar. A dream reveals that only Gregory can heal him. They send for Gregory, release him from his pit; he comes, heals and baptizes the king. Here occurs the legend of Etshmiadzin. At the old royal capital Valarshapat,[5] Gregory had a vision. He was meditating at night when he saw the heavens open, a blaze of glory cover the earth, and our Lord descend bearing a golden hammer, with which he struck the earth. Then a mighty golden column arose, surmounted by a cross. Around it arose three smaller red columns. Above these Gregory saw a great temple rise, with a throne of gold bearing a cross; from the temple flowed a stream which became a great lake. Vast numbers of black goats passed through the water and became white lambs. The smaller red columns mark the places of the martyrdom of St. Gaiane, St. Hripsime and their companions. The larger golden column means the Primacy of Armenia, to be fixed here;
5 The letter transcribed l in this word became a guttural in the later
language. So it is often spelt "Vagharshapat" (hence also Ghevont for
(
Greek characters), p. 388, etc.). The West Armenians make surds (k, t, p) of the letters
pronounced sonants (g, d, b) by East Armenians; hence variant trans-
literation of many words (vartapet, vardabed, etc.).
