[41] Then one could have seen a man,
thirsting for the blood of a comrade, drinking it, how [people]
competed to harm each other, possessing crooked behavior and stupid
minds. And, like [committing] adultery, during the night they
performed the worship of the deities of old [Ew zdic'n hnut'ean
pashtamuns i nmanut'iwn porhnkut'ean gorcoyn end xawar katarein].
And some even personally performed the lust of foul adultery [ew
omank' znoyn isk c'angut'iwn gijut'ean porhnkut'ean katarein yanjins
iwreanc']. They did not heed intelligent advice, nor did they
submit to commandnents of God preached by leaders; rather, because
of such reproachful words, [leaders] [g44] were hated, persecuted
and killed. Regarding them, it was as the prophetic expression
said, that: "They hate the reprimanders at the gates".
Thus did [the Armenians] scorn the blessed words. For the preaching
of the divine word did not give them knowledge of the true faith
as it did to other peoples, to the believers and wise men, who
thankfully accepted and enjoyed the grace of God's humanity. Rather,
like the Jews, with their blinded and benighted minds, they were
lame [in seeking] the truth. Perhaps the warning words of the
prophet applied to this people also, that: "The foolish,
stupid sons, show wisdom in working evil, but are completely incapable
of doing good". Or: "The harsh-faced, hard-hearted,
severe sons and their fathers have grieved me". Thus, they
too were abandoned since they did not [42] understand and they
did not believe in the invisibility of God as revealed through
visible words. They could not differentiate the Creator from the
created, the regulator, the protector. He increased His visible
miracles such that human nature was raised from the forms of animals,
and He became the cause of their salvation.
During the period of this despicable
and foolish reign, during the reign of king Tiran [? Arh ayn
t'agaworaw Tiranaw, end noyn isk end ays nayec'ealk'] acts
of wickedness committed surpassed those of all the ages. Most
of all was the fact that they beat to death the principal and
leader [Yusik], and then did as they pleased. Thereafter there
was no one from whose reproach they would draw back, who would
prevent them fron going on the road of impiety. Rather, their
Lord quit them, and they pursued their hearts' desires, for there
was neither leader nor head of the priesthood. However they were
indeed interested [in finding a new kat'oghikos] not for
the sake of Truth, a shepherd, leader, or head of the flock, but
they sought someone who would keep them company and conduct matters
in accordance with their wishes [ayl banic' enker iwreanc'
xndrein zayn ok' or est noc'a kamac'n varic'e]. [g45]
[43] In that period the king, the princes
and indeed the entire land consulted to see whom they could find
worthy of [the kat'oghikosate]; for the two remaining twin
sons [of Yusik], Pap and At'anagines were recognized as petulant
and undisciplined [stahakk' ew anxratk']. They lacked the
learning of divine Scripture, and had no training in virtue. They
did not resemble their fathers or their progenitor Yusik. They
did not seek to be virtuous like Gregory the great, nor did they
think about their spiritual honor, the honor of eternal life.
Rather, they resembled [the people] of their own age, and, boasting
of their earthly noble pedigree [panjac'ealk'...i marmnawor
tohmakanut'iwnn azgakanut'ean] they chose the military life.
As a result they were not chosen and were rejected because of
their arrogance, in accordance with the previous visinn of their
father, and they did not attach themselves to the yoke of piety.
However, there were no other offspring from the tun of
Gregory--these were the only ones, and because of their behavior,
they were unworthy of their fathers. There was no one to perform
[the role of] leadership of the chief-priest's superintendency,
or commander of the Church.
During this time a marvellous man, the
aged great suffragan bishop, blessed Daniel was still living.
He was a student of the great Gregory [and was] superintendent
and head of the churches of the state of Taron, holding the office
of great [g46] justiciary of Gregory's own principality [? Ashakert
egheal er sa mecin Grigori, varakac'u ew glxawor Ekegheac' nahangin
Taronoy, Grigori jerhakan ishxanut'eann koghman masin gorcakalut'eann
meci dataworut'eann, uner zishxanut'iwn zayn arhanjinn]. [He
was also] superintendent, commanding overseer and trustee of all
the churches of Greater Armenia everywhere [ayl verakac'u ew
hramanatar tesuch' ew hogabarju amenayn ekeghec'eac'n Hayoc' mecac'
end amenayn teghis]. In foreign places in the Iranian areas [Daniel] preached
and turned many [souls] from error.
By nationality, he was Syrian. He held
the principal [episcopal] throne in Taron [where] the first and
greatest, the mother of all churches of Armenia was located, namely,
[he held] the first and principal place of honor. For it was there
[in Taron] that the first blessed church was built and [the first]
altar in the name of the Lord was raised. [Also in Taron], to
the south of [the church] [ew i nerk'oy k'an zna] were
located the chapel of John [the Baptist] and near the church,
the Repository of the Apostles [margareanoc'n Yovhannu, noynpes
mot i tun tearhn Hangist arak'eloc'n]. [45] Because of the
primacy of these sites, by canon they were honored by the patriarchs
and kings, just as the church in T'ordan in the district of Daranaghik'
was revered for [containing] the tombs of the patriarch Gregory
and Aristakes. Similarly, reverence was paid to the memory of
king Trdat who, willingly or unwlllingly, became worthy of being
the first [Armenian king] acquainted with the faith in Christ
[naxacanot' i K'ristosn hawatoc']. Consequently, the land
wanted to revere the sites where the fathers and bishops of former
times were buried [edeal ein, "were placed"].
The land liked to revere their king Trdat, the first to accept
Christ as well as the first bishop and laborer Gregory, and in
the Ayraratean district, Christ's proto-martyrs Gayiane and Hrip'sime
and their colleagues. So too, even more so, the first church.
These places were entrusted to [Daniel]
together with the districts they were located in. He was loyal
to that principal altar, the authority of the patriarchal throne,
and the firm covenant of the cathedral church. [Daniel] had received
ordination from the hands of Gregory the great at the time when
he [g47] destroyed the idols of the temples of Heracles, that
is, Vahagn in the place called Ashtishat [zbagins mehenic'n
Herakleay, ays ink'n Vahagni, orum teghoy Ashtishatn kardac'eal],
where the foundations of the blessed [46] church were first laid.
He was a miraculous man who worked very
great miracles in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He could
walk on the water of a river wearing his shoes, without getting
them wet. During the winter when great dense masses of snow were
heaped upon the mountains, if he wanted to cross such mountains
to travel somewhere, suddenly the snow would disappear before
him. If he wanted to go some distance, like a flash of lightning
he was there in an instant, as if he had flown. He raised the
dead and healed the sick, and accomplished other very great miracles
which it is impossible to describe in writing. He dwelled in the
uninhabited mountains, but did not ignore the needs of people.
He wore a single garment of fur and a pair of sandals [Miahanderj
mashkanap'ortn sandaghawor]; he ate the roots of vegetables,
and did not even use a cane. His power with God was such that
whatever he requested, he received, and whatever he spoke of came
about. When he descended to the shens from the uninhabited
places, the areas of his direction became principal churches,
for the work of God. [He came] frequently to the source of the
fountain below the lofty site of the temple of Heracles, which
was opposite the great mountain called C'ul [orum C'uln anuaneal
kardan], a stone's throw below (? south of) where the idol
was, in the [47] small valley abounding in ash-trees, called Hac'eac'n
draxt. This was the stream in which in the past the great
Gregory had baptized a multitude of trooops. It was here that
the blessed Daniel had his cell, dug into the ground And it was
[g48] here that he held his supervisory visit(s) [ew yaynm
teghoj zditaworut'iwn ayc'elut'eann katarer].
Now the grandee naxarars assembled
in one place, held a meeting and took counsel [Ard miazhoghov
egheal mecameck' naxararac'n, ew i mi vayr ekealk' xorhurdk' xorhec'an].
They convinced the king to call the aged Daniel to their banak
so that they might make him their principal leader and seat him
on the patriarchal throne. They sent [the following individuals]
to him:
Omn, prince of the Saharunik' tohm
[zOmn ishxann, "a certain prince"],
Artawan, prince of Vanand,
Karen, prince of the Amatunik' tohm,
and Varaz, prince of the Dimak'sen tohm.
These naxarars came and found
[Daniel] in the district of Ekeleac', in the village of the church,
at T'il, for he was still doing service to God [zgorc mshakut'ean
Astuacoy gorcer]. They took and brought [Daniel] to king Tiran
[48] in Baraej awan, Aghjnik' district. As soon as the
great suffragan bishop Daniel came before king Tiran, he started
to upbraid and reproach him.
He came forward and started to speak,
saying: "Why have you forgotten your creator, God, and the
mercy, miracles, and counsel which he he showed your fathers and
you? You have returned to [the customs of] your ancestors: to
the error of idol-worship, hatred, greed, dispossession, despoiliation
of the poor, adultery, treachery, dispossessing and killing each
other [i molorut'iwn krhapashtut'ean naxneac'n jeroc', ew yatelut'iwns
ew yagahut'iwns ew i zrkut'iwns ew yaghk'atakerut'iwns, i porhnkut'iwns,
i nengut'iwns ew i mimeans zrkut'iwns ew i spanut'iwns]. Forsaken,
you have fallen and strayed from the path of righteousness; you
have abandoned your benefactor, God, Who raised you from nothing
and established you. In your error you have alienated Him. While
you carelessly gave yourselves over to ruination, He came to seek
you. Although He is the only-begotten Son of God, nonetheless
He came, He descended to acquaint His Father with His creations.
Although they did not listen to Him and tortured Him to death,
He endured it and never hid His [g49] power from anyone, so that
He might become the cause of life for everyone. Those whom He
found worthy, and ready for His resurrection, He chose, taught
and dispatched as preachers and summoners and inviters, to invite
you to the light of salvation.
[49] But in place of his kindness you
showed ingratitude. First you killed those preacher(s), Apostle(s)
and messenger(s) who came to you with the intention of inviting
you to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the grace of salvation.
You became communicants with the plot of the lord-slaying Jewish
people, in your stupidity. For they, in their opinion, killed
the Lord; while your fathers [killed] His Apostles and later they
tormented those resembling them, for the same thing. After this,
many of God's blessed witnesses came, the co-ascetics of those
same Apostles. They were subjected to the danger of torments,
but endured to death to show you the Truth, so that perhaps through
them you would become intelligent and recognize the Son of God.
But you worked your wicked will toward them also, and your customary
killing. Despite this [God] through their blood counseled you
with many miracles and in His great mercy did not subject you
to death. He made you His relatives [ew iwr merjawors arar
zjez] and communicants of His natural living doctrine, correct
laws, and the greatness of His beloved Son.
After this He forgave you all your transgressions
and made His dear ones your teachers. But you did not remember
one of them, [50] you did not remember or keep [them] in your
hearts. Rather, like the Jewish people you withdrew, and began
to work the same sorts of deeds as they. Although you should have
recalled the kindnesses of your Lord, Christ, Who forgot the sins
of your fathers and your impious acts, [you did not]. You should
have remembered the labor and effort of your blessed fathers,
your conselors and vardapets who taught you, constantly
working for [g50] the salvation of your souls. You should have
had love for those people who labored to teach you the word [of
God], and gave you rebirth and labored to return you from faithlessness.
To atone for the evils of their comrades, with their entreaties
again did they labor to impress Christ within you, to make you
deserving of entering the Kingdom. You should have cared for their
sons and students who, according to their spiritual words, were
their sons through divine birth, your leaners and overseers [in
leading you] to the Lord. [You should have cared for those] who
even were their physical sons and were in no way less in spiritual
work than their fathers.
"But you abandoned God and repeated
the evils of your fathers, surpassing the sins of your fathers.
Just as [your fathers] wickedly killed the blessed fathers, not
wanting to hear their beneficial advice, so did you kill their
sons and [51] heirs, their colleagues and those resembling them,
who did not agree to your sinful deeds, [such as you killed] the
blessed lad Yusik, your patriarch, holder of the throne and diocese
of the Apostle Thaddeus and Gregory, who resembled him. You followed
the example and conduct of the Jews with their killings and dispossessions.
Just as they, being unadvised, destroyed their apostles and prophets,
so did you [kill] yours.
"Now, as a result of so much of
your falseness and obscenities, the Lord will take your kingdom
and priesthood from you. You will be dispersed and divided. Like
Israel, your borders will be dissolved, and you will be lordless,
uncared for, and not one of you will be spared. You will become
sheep without a shepherd, and like a flock you will be betrayed
to the wild beasts. You will fall from ycur glory [ankjik'
i p'arhac' jeroc'], be betrayed to foreign enemies in slavery,
will fall under the yoke of servitude, and that yoke will not
be lifted from you. The yoke of wicked slavish servitude will
not be renoved from your necks. You will be worn out in your desires.
Just as Israel was torn and not repaired, so will you be dispersed
and destroyed. Others will enjoy your labors, and others will
consume your strength. None will be found to save you. The Lord
will not be satisfied with [52] you, will not look upon you, and
will save you no more.
"Why did you summon me to come
to you? Was it that you wanted to hear this from me? Even if I
did not relate all of this to you, nonetheless all of it will
happen to you because you killed that righteous lad, the great
Yusik, your virtuous leader who was of the tun of the son
of Gregory. Yes, all of this will be visited upon you, for the
Lord showed it to me thus. But you sent to me, summoning me to
come to be your head and leader. How could I be the leader of
people who do not follow the Lord; how could I be the head of
an azg which the Lord has abandoned? How could I raise
ny hands to God in prayer for people whose hands are stained with
the blood of the Lord's saints? How could I offer
entreating prayers for people who have turned their backs, not
their faces, to the Lord? How could I intercede for people who
have rebelled [? Ork' nuach'ec'inn]? How could I speak
of reconciliation for those who have fled and do not want to return,
for whom the Lord himself has prepared all of these evils because
you said that you do not see the Lord?" [not translating
the additional "ew or inch' nman e soc'in banic's"
which is roughly, "etc."]
The blessed aged suffragan bishop Daniel
said these things before king Tiran, the princes, pets,
and all the troops. While [53] he was speaking the king listened
in stupified amazement. When [g52] he had heard all of it, he
became inflamed with wrath, in the bitterness of his impious rage.
He ordered that [Daniel] be strangled then and there. The attendants
implemented this order as soon as they heard it. Although the
grandee naxarar nobility greatly exhorted the king not
to carry out the wickedness of his will, nonetheless [Tiran's]
soul was so bitter with rage, he was so furious, that he did not
heed them. Placing a rope around [Daniel's] throat, [the attendants]
strangled him. Thus was the blessed Daniel killed.
A multitude of people who recognized
and knew him took his body and wanted to exhalt him [placing him]
will the bones of the blessed witnesses of Christ. But [Daniel]
himself appeared to his blessed student named Epip'an [saying]
not to honor his bones with the others, but [that they should]
take [his body] to a place which he himself commanded and cover
it with soil [ew cackesc'en end hoghov]. [Daniel] himself
said: "If the Lord's body was kept in the tomb for two days
until on the third day [Christ] rose to His Father, how much more
necessary is it for us, earthlings, to be covered with the soil"?
[Daniel's] blessed body was taken by his dear students. Chief
among them was Shaghita, who had been designated [54] by [Daniel]
as vardapet of the land of Korduk'. The second [student
burying Daniel] was Epip'an who had been designated vardapet
of the district of Aghjnik' and Greater Cop'k'. With them went
clerics of the banak. They went and took the body to the
place [Daniel's] cell had been, in the Taron country (where the
mother church of Armenia was located), to the place called Hac'eac'
draxt near the fountain where Gregory had baptized the
ashxarhazor multitude. It was there that they committed
the body of the blessed Daniel to the ground, in accordance with
his command given in the vision. [g53]
They then decided to place the sons
of the blessed Yusik in the vardapetal priesthood of their
fathers. Against their will they forcibly seized them on the wishes
of the bishops. They were involuntarily obliged to accept ordination
as deacons, both Pap and At'anagines. They cast the spiritual
dignity to the ground, dressing in military style, and were destroyed.
They chose the life of this world, taking as wives the king's
sisters, and were rejected from the inheritance of God. The wife
of Pap was named Varazduxt. [This couple] died without bearing
sons. At'anagines' wife was named Bambish. [This couple] [55]
bore the marvellous and wonderful man Nerses, who subsequently
became the chief priest.
But in that period there [still] was
no one to direct the chief priesthood for them. So they took counsel[to
decide] who they could find to be their leader. They all resolved
that [such an individual] should be selected from the same tun
of the authority of Gregory, and that he should hold the throne
of [his] fathers. [g54]
At that time they considered worthy
[of the kat'oghikosate] a certain presbyter P'arhen from
the district of Taron, from the great chapel of John [the Baptist]
[i mece margareanoc'n Yovhannu], [a man] who had earlier
constructed the house of prayer and supplication as a repository
for the saints. They entrusted [the position] to him. They summoned
[P'arhen] to visit the king. The king selected [the following]
mighty princes: [chox ishxanok'n]
the great general of Armenia, named
Vasak from the Mamikonean tohm,
Mehendak Erheshtuni,
[56] Andovk Siwnik',
Arshawir Kamsarakan,
great and principal nahapets,
and ten other honorable men.
He sent them with gifts [pataragok']
and hrovartaks to fetch and accompany the blessed P'arhen
to the capital city of Cappadocia, Caesarea, where they ordained
him to the kat'oghikosate of Greater Armenia. And they
returned thence to their own land in peace.
P'arhen occupied the patriarchal throne
for a short while. Although he did not dare to advise or reprimand
anyone's error or impiety, he nonetheless kept his own person
holy. He was obliged to befriend the impious king, submitted to
him, and act according to his wishes. After this he was gathered
to his fathers. Clerics of the banak's church took his
body and committed his bones in an attractive tomb which they
constructed on the agarak of the great chapel of John [i
yagarakn meci margareanoc'in Yovhannu] in the district of
Taron, a place where P'arhen had lived during his lifetime. [g55]
Then at that time [the people] unitedly
held counsel in an ashxarhoren xorhurd [miaban xorhec'an
ashxarhoren xorhurd] to see whom they should give the kat'oghikosate
of the patriarchate to. But since there was no one worthy of it
from the tun of Gregory, they designated a certain Shahak
from the tohm of the son of bishop Aghbianos. They entrusted
him to the care of the prince of the mardpetut'iwn, who
was named Hayr. With him they mustered awags of the prince
of Gardmanac'jor, and [this party] took along ten other naxarars.
They accompanied [Shahak] with very grand honor [mecashut'
patuov] to the great city of Caesarea in the country of Cappadocia.
There they ordained Shahak as kat'oghikos of Greater Armenia,
and they returned to the king with honor.
Thus did Shahak succeed to the position
of the patriarchs. He resembled P'arhen in his behavior, and directed
the land after his example. However the people he shepherded--generally
the king, the naxarars and the princes--did not heed his
truthful advice, and, even though reprimanded, they openly and
boldly worked their sins, fearlessly accomplishing all sorts of
evils, forgetting the Lord and His commandments. Others were even
worse than they [58] from the lowly to the grandees [i p'ok'rkanc'
minch'ew c'mecamecs], impious toward others, and returned
to the old former deeds of their fathers. Because of all of this,
the Lord God grew angry at them and abandoned them and permitted
enemies to rise against and trample them. From the time of the
reign of Trdat, [that is] after [Armenia] recognized the Lord,
[God] granted them peace and quieted the enemies who surrounded
them; the Lord decreased battle in their boundaries, and until
that time there was no turbulence or agitation with anyone [ew
och' end umek' bank' goyin amboxi kam xrhovut'ean]. They had
dwelled in great peace. But [g56] in this time [the Lord] increased
aggrevation from their enemies on aIl sides of their borders.
And none of the kings of Armenia could find a friend among them,
only enemies [ew och' mi ok' i t'agaworac'n Hayoc' och' ok'
gtaner noc'a barekam, ayl amenek'ean t'shnamik'].
But during the foolish reign [of Tiran],
not only enemy against enemy, but friend against friend and comrade
against arousing comrade [were bent on] arousing treachery and
betrayl in the country of Armenia, and they worked a myriad of
diverse hostile deeds against each other. For the Lord visited
agitation upon them [59] the spirit of abomination and error.
Because of their impiety, first they destroyed and ruined each
other. There was one impious and diabolical man [aysamut]
who surpassed all the rest, and who aggrevated king Tiran against
the naxarar azgs. This was the eunuch Hayr, who
held the patiw of the great mardpetut'iwn, a wicked-hearted,
malicious malefactor [ch'arasirt ch'araxorhurd ch'aragorc].
Through slander he effected the destruction of many naxarars
who had worked no crime, and he disrupted the great lordship of
the kingdom. In particular through his slander he managed to have
two senior tohms-the Rheshtunik' tohm and the Arcrunik'
tohm--put to the sword and [almost] entirely wiped out
[ew anund arhnel miahaghoyn], without them committing any
crime or fault, and they even destroyed the women of [those] azgs.
Then two children, caught in the scandal, had found refuge by fleeing to dayeaks; one was Tachat,
the son of Mehendak Erheshtunik', the other, Shawasp, son of Vach'e
Arcrunik', both suckling children. They were brought before the
king. When [Tiran] saw them, he ordered that they be beheaded
[p'oghotel] for they were the only progeny of [g57] those
azgs [zi nok'a ewet' chetk' mnac'eal ein yazgac'n].
Now it happened that Artawazd and Vasak, men of the [60] Mamikonean
tohm, were present. They were generals of the entire Armenian
troops. They jumped up, seized the little boys, each one taking
one under his arm, and rushed out with their weapons aloft, ready
to fight and die for those children. Although [the Mamikoneans]
had been raising Arshak (the king's son), nonetheless, angered
at the deeds of that time, they left their charge Arshak and quit
the royal banak [t'oghin zsann iwreanc' zArshak, ew
gnac'in i bac' i banaken ark'uni]. They went to their land
to the strongholds of Tayk', remaining there many years with their
families, leaving their other home [ew t'oghin zayl ztun iwreanc'].
They raised those children, Shawasp and Tachat, married their
daughters to them, and regenerated those azg(s). And they
did not engage in Armenian councils for many years [ew och'
xarhnein nok'a i xorhurds Hayoc' minch'ew i bazum ams].
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