But they were unable to discover the church door, since the Lord hid it from them. They started to strike about with mallets, [15] but did not find the door. Then terrlfled by dews, they fled the place, for lt was night time. The bodies of the fallen saints remained unburied where they had fallen for 3 days, since everyone had fled. After 3 days the church attendants and abbot T'odik came and saw those who had died. They were overcome with grief and wept. Then they took the remains and buried them in the garden [i mej draxtin] on the south side by the graves of Anton and Kronides who had come from Caesarea, following St. Gregory. They then erected a cross over them, and many healings were associated with that spot.

Now some people had come from prince Mushegh in order to learn about the [Iranian] troops. When they saw the destruction which had been wrought, they were stunned and swiftly went and informed prince Mushegh. When he heard about it, he remained silent as a corpse for 3 days. The troops gave him a letter [containing] the Christian laws and consolation, and they said: "Oh blessed asparapet, righteous offspring of blessed hope, do not grieve for them. For their prayers will be a secure fortress for the land, intercessors and aide for us to God. You should thank God the more that in your lifetime those men achieved such virtue, and were peacefully translated to God with martyrs' deaths-from labor to tranquility, from a llfe of eating plants to the softness of Paradise. They shall always be intercessors [16] for us. But now be consoled and dispatch Mihran who has come against us". Then [Mushegh], resembllng someone awakening from sleep, ordered that they summon Vahan (whom he had made prince of Taron while he himself was the marzpan of Armenla). And [Mushegh] sald to him: My son, [g21] Vahan, you know that throughout the 120 years of my life I have been waglng war, wiping blood rather than sweat from my forehead with the blade, and [you know] that I personally have arranged and waged 83 battles. Now I am old and quavering. My helpers are God and you, and no one else. For my own son died at 12 years of age. Now, my son, remember this: lf you die for the sake of Christianity and for the Church you will be a martyr, and if you fall in battle over material things, do it bravely [isk et'e i veray marmnawor ench'ic' ijanes i mart, ew ayn k'ajut'eamb e]. For I have no other heir. My country belongs to you and to your descendants after you. Now go and hunt [Mihran] wisely and may St. Karapet be your aid and buttress and may the prayers of the holy clerics be on all sides of you .

Vahan accepted the assignment. He started to organize emissaries and to send them to [Mlhran] so that he be reconciled and depart. But [Mihran] replied: "No, I shall not leave until I capture prince Mushegh and take him to the king of Iran". Now Vahan sent to him saying: [17] "If you give me the lordship and authority of the country, I shall hand over to you prince Mushegh and I shall come to you, having rebelled [from Mushegh] striking fear [in him] at an opportune tlme" [? ew hatanem zerkiwgh i patehut'ean]. [Mihran] summoned [Vahan], for he was pleased with the proposal. Then he descended to Mush awan while Mushegh was in Oghkan stronghold.

Now the soldiers who had slain the clerics went against Astghon stronghold and remained there 2 days, but since they were unable to take it, they went to Mihran and revealed to him all the details regarding the lay of the stronghold. As soon as Vahan arrived, [g22] Mihran requested Astghon from him, but Vahan replied: "It should not be done that way, lord. Instead, give me 4,000 men so that I may go against the secure fortresses where [Mushegh's] close ones and treasures are kept. Perhaps if I am forceful, they will not surrender to me thinking me a rebel. Now let us first go to Oj city, then elsewhere". Mihrr. The secretary wrote as Vahan said. He stamped the letter with Mihran's seal-ring and called out 10 of Mihran's loyal servants, giving them the letter [g26] to take to Varshir who had 1,000 men with him, and was in Apahunik'. Taking the letter, [the messengers] departed. Now Vahan called [Mihran's] nuncio and told him: "Go summon such and such prince". And he did so. When the prince came and entered the darkened street, there were only 6 men about here and there. While he wished to enter Mihran's room, they quickly seized the trumpets so that no sound would be broadcast to the others [ew ibrew gayr isxann ew mtaner end p'oghoc'n xawarch'tin, miayn vec' ayr asti ew anti kayin: Ew minch' der kamer mtanel i seneakn, achapareal unein zp'oghic'n, zi mi jayn inch' barjc'e i mewsn.]. They stabbed a knife into his heart and threw the corpse into the other room where the nuncio and the secretary had been put in jail on pretexts.

[Vahan] himself began to summon the princes to council, and so took them by deceit. On that day he killed 86 princes. As soon as he had finished with the princes he went into the tachar where the [Iranian] troops were. He assembled these men inside, taking outside his own people and people from other districts. Then he started to expose them saying: "Was it proper for you to rob the pearl-adorned crown of the marzpan"? Then he ordered them all to strip to see [24] [whether they had stolen anything]. Removing all the clothes, he shut [the Iranians] up inside the tachar. In another [tachar he detained] 1,903 men. Shutting the doors of the tacars, he had the head of Mihran brought and hung in front of the open window. Showing it to them he said: "Here is the head which thought to demolish the blessed [church of] Karapet and to burn the clerics with fire". Then he ordered both tacars burned and said to [the Iranians]: "You bother me for forcing [me] to have the tacars burned. But if God and St. Karapet wish it, I shall leave this wood to atone [ew zays p'ayts yapashawel em t'ogheal.]. But I will behead you and your king. For I labor to build, and you are naked and chilled [zi ew ashxateal em i shineln, ew duk' merkk' ek ew c'rtac'ealk']. But burn for the remission of my [g27] sins and for those of my fathers, and be not ashamed; and let these houses be your tombs, thanks to the Iranian king".

The flame was whipped up with oil until the city was intoxicated with the smell of their burning flesh. Then [Vahan], gathering up [the Iranians'] loot and treasures had them taken to secure Oghkan. And he had prince Mushegh conducted to the city. [Vahan], taking along 3,000 men, went before Vashir. He went up on a mountain, laid traps in 3 dehs [end eris dehs daran gorceac'], and then sent to Vashir the secretary and the [25] nuncio. They went and called him, for he had encamped on the bank of Ciay Sea. However, the nuncio and the secretary did not know what had transpired since Vahan had not allowed them to approach the troops but they had come along afterwards, separately. When he burned the tacar(s), on a pretext he had sent them elsewhere so that they would not know what had happened. When [Vashir] saw the clothing worn by the princes, he thought that the troops were Mihraneank'. Now when [the emissaries] went and related Vahan's words as if from Mihran, Vashlr took along 1,100 soldiers and came onto the mountain. When they neared the spot, Vashir left 100 men in a remote place, should other enemies appear. He then came to Vahan and entered his tent, thinking he would see Mihran. As soon as Vahan saw him he said: "Vashir, whatever were you planning? You wanted to change the land of Armenia to the faith of the Iranians'' [i parsik hawat kameik' darjuc'anel zerkirs Hayoc']. And [Vahan] ordered the doorman to keep the troops detained far off, and he beat Vashir severely until he got from him the password for summoning the troops. [Vashir] compelled by his pains gave the password to the troop commander [i zorapetn] and the princes to come to where he was immediately. [Vahan] had the Iranian secretary write a letter and he bribed him to write it in such a way that the troops would come the next day. "For", [he claimed],"the Byzantines are coming against us". He also gave the seal-ring of Vashir and [sent] a letter to that detachment encamped [26] at a distance. He ordered the troops to return, had the princes [g28] summoned one at a time, and cut off their heads. And the other soldiers did not know what was happening until a certain prince fled and returned to his camp.

When Vahan learned that his activities had become known, he informed those men who were waiting in the ambuscade. They came up from the rear and made [the Iranians] flee to the fortress side of Kot' valley. Those at the back of the ambuscade did not even arise [ew or bun ,yetink'n ein, i darani and, ch'yarean isk]. Then the men of the fortress came out against [the enemy] with rocks and stones and mercilessly cut them down. One hundred men fled to Apahunik'. When the ambushers saw this, they fell on them and seized them. The next day, the other Iranian force started to arrive on the hill at the same place. Vahan went before them and had them encamp, saying: "Leave your horses to pasture until evening and in the evening we shall descend upon the Byzantine troops in the plain". [The Iranians] consented and did as he urged. Suddenly the ambushers came and cut loose the troops' horses. They made them flee across the Aracani and brought them out to K'ark'e. When the Iranian soldiers saw what had happened, they cried out in unison: "Vay, woe are we, we are lost". And the name of that place was called K'ori (Lost).

[27] Now Vahan took troops and sent them down into the valley itself [or: "made them encamp in the valley", ijuc'ane znosa i jorn bun]. The ambushers sprang out here and there, and trapping [the enemy] in their midst cut them down, not pitying anyone. And [Vahan] ordered that 40 men be spared to inform the Iranian king of what had happened. He had the head of Mihran taken to the Iranian king with this message: "As soon as this marzpan of Armenia came to our country and when, with the troops at odds, they sought to raise a brigade, they were unable to find it. Now since the Byzantines are our enemies, we did not dare to go to them and we scowled at you [yorzam ekn yerkirs mer, ew zors hakarhakeal end irears` gund xndrec'in, ew och' karac' in gtanel. ew Yovnk' mer [3 mss.: jer] t'shnamik' ein, i nosa och' ishxec ak gnal. ew jez end akamb eak , ew jer zorac'n gund och' kayr.], while there was no brigade of your soldiers. So [g29] we cut off that head and played with it. Now we have heard that you have come from Sahastan to Bostr city where the land is flat and like a meadow. I know that you play polo. Take then the head of your nephew (sister's son) and let it serve as a ball from generation to generation". When the 40 men took Mihran's head to king Xosrov, he became agitated and unsettled and blushed with eternal shame. Yet the next year, swaggering once again, [Xosrov] sent other troops.

That very year the [church of] St. Karapet which was located at Innaknean collapsed because there was a very severe earthquake causing the houses below/south of [the church] to crumble. Now the [28] church (since its foundation was on the [earthquake line]) moved and cracked. The prince of Taron, Mushegh, gave much treasure and ordered stone masons to [re]build. However, they were unable to build it in a fitting manner, since the Iranian troops were harassing them. That very year Mushegh [re]built St. Karapet and then died. He is buried by the Arcrunid prince on the eastern side.

After the passing of Mushegh, Vahan sat on the throne of his principality as prince of the Mamikonean tun. With many priests and 20 bishops they held a feast of rejoicing at the places which had been spared which were hallowed to the faith, at [the church of] St. Karapet and in the monastery of the bishop of Glak. [Vahan] liberated and gave to the Church 18 geghs, erasing their names from the royal diwan [jnjeac' zanuans noc'a yark'uni diwanen].

That same year the abbot of Glak monastery, the venerable T'odik died. He is buried in the same place, called Hayrblur, to the right of the church on the northeastern side. On the abbot's throne [as successor] sat the lad Step'annos, son of the Arcrunid prince, whose mother was struck down. [Step'annos'] parents are buried at the same monastery. [Step'annos effected many improvements in the district of Taron. [g30] For they held him superior to a bishop, since he was abbot of [29] a monastery and had under his control 398 clerics. He was so virtuous that everyone considered him to resemble Yovannes Karapet (John the Baptist).

[Step'annos] requested of St. Karapet that the mouths of beasts which were attacking the Church's luminaries be sealed. By his very modest conduct he reprimanded the prince of Hark' who had [for a wife] his brother's wife. [Step'annos] induced [the prince] to separate from the woman, to become a cleric, and to construct a church in T'il awan, Ekegheac' district.

3.



Once again king Xosrov (bearing in mind the death of his sister's son Mihran) held a muster of soldiers to go against the Byzantines a second time. He sent his father's brother Vaxtang with 30,000 select men and horse. Now when the latter arrived in Apahunik district, he sent tax-collectcrs to Hark', Hasteank' and Taron. The gawarhapets then wrote [to Vaxtang], saying: "If Vahan will pay [taxes], we shall, too. If not, you will leave here empty-handed". When Vaxtang heard this reply, he grew arrogant and insolent. He left a lieutenant [koghmnapet] in Apahunik', and all puffed up he came to the border of [30] Taron. He [re]built the great ruined city of Jiwnakert and changed the city's name to that of his wife (whom he brought with him) Porpes - that is, "savory'' [hamegh]. He planted vineyards and orchards and converted to an atrushan the cathedral [ew p'oxe zatrushann i durhnn Kat'ughikein] which was founded by St. Sahak. On the Tawros mountain he built a stronghold and named it Garhar, [g31] since some people had falled off the mountain there, on animals, thinking they were [pursuing] cavalry [k'anzi and omank gahavez eghen i veray anasnoc , karcelov t'e hecealk' en]. He changed the name of Gorhoz mountain [lerhnablur] to Grhgurh after his son Grhegurh, and passed the summer days on it. He sent many gifts to Vahan and a letter like this:



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