 |
|||||
|
His Early Years
St. Gregory, whose birth name was Suren, was the son of Prince Anag, who was sent to Armenia by the Sasanian, King of Kings of Iran, to assassinate King Khosrov of Armenia and facilitate the Iranian occupation of that country. Our ancestors were convinced that St. Gregory had received the grace of the Apostle because he was conceived near the grave of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus, the first enlightener of Armenia.
Anag and his brother succeeded in murdering King Khosrov in the city of Vagharshabad in about A.D. 240. They fled in haste, but the Armenian contingents stopped them near the city of Ardashad and slew Anag's entire family. Only two infants, Gregory and his brother, were saved from the massacre. Their Christian nurse Sophia took the boys to Caesarea to Eski Shehir, southwest of modern Kayseri in Anatolian Turkey.
In Caesarea Gregory was christened and brought up as a Christian. It is believed that St. Firmilian, the learned bishop of Caesarea, paid special attention to his education. When Gregory was of age, he married a Christian girl named Mariam, daughter of David. Mariam's brother was St. Athenogenes, prelate of Bedochton, who was later martyred and is well known from the works of early Christian writers.
Gregory and Mariam had two sons, Vrtanes and Arisdages. Three years after Arisdages' birth, the couple willingly decided to part from each other. The elder child, Vrtanes, was placed in the care of his nurse and Mariam took the younger Arisdages with her as she withdrew to a convent. The custom of Christian couples dissolving their marriage ties to seek monastic life was common in the fourth century. Gregory himself headed for Armenia to serve as King Drtad's secretary. At the time of King Khosrov's assassination, Drtad, the king's son and heir to the throne, was still an infant. Drtad was saved and taken to Roman territory. Also saved was Drtad's sister Khosrovitukhd. Drtad was raised under Roman protection and later joined the Roman legions. He achieved fame as a valiant soldier and the Romans recognized Drtad as king of Armenia and helped him to reclaim his ancestral throne in 274. While eastern Armenia was still under Iranian sovereignty, Drtad ruled for two years before he was ousted from his kingdom.