Armenian Katholikos and a Latin Cardinal together (p. 389). From this time dates the considerable Latinization of the national Church. Even after the union was broken, many traces of Latin influence, notably in rites, remain in the Gregorian Church.[1] Meanwhile, among the Armenians of the old country, who were not subject to the kings of Cilician Armenia, there was still strong feeling against abandoning their traditional Monophysism. So some of them renew the old claim of Aghthamar and set up a rival Patriarch there. In 1439 Gregory IX was elected, apparently quite regularly, at Sis. But he was a Uniate; so again the schismatics of Old Armenia set up a rival, not this time at Aghthamar.
We have already mentioned Etshmiadzin (p. 398). Although the legend that St. Gregory the Illuminator lived there is not true, it is one of the oldest and most venerable Armenian sanctuaries. It is situated near Ani, where the Katholikos had once reigned, and near Mount Ararat where Armenian devotion sees the place of Noah's Ark and the second cradle of our race.[2] So here, at Etshmiadzin, the schismatical bishops elected and consecrated Kirakos (Kyriakos) I (of Virap, 1441-1443) as Katholikos-Patriarch. There were now three sees claiming the Patriarchate — Sis, Aghthamar, and Etshmiadzin. It seems clear that Sis had the legitimate succession. The old line, hitherto acknowledged by all, comes straight down to Gregory IX at Sis. Both the other claimants were schismatical pretenders. But Sis was Uniate. Had the union lasted, the line of Sis would apparently have maintained itself, and those of Aghthamar and Etshmiadzin would have come to the usual speedy end of Armenian schisms. The union did not last; the schismatics rallied round Etshmiadzin and eventually that line won. Now occurs a new factor. The Katholikos kept a real or supposed relic of the Illuminator, his right arm, called the holy Atsh.[3] This was and still is used at his ordination. It is laid on his head as a kind of supplementary imposition of hands. In the complicated rivalries
