[151] However, a conflict arose since
some said that [Lewon] should be buried in the royal city of Sis,
while other said [the burial should be] at the monastery called
Akner, since the king greatly loved that monastery because of
the goodness of its discipline and its marvellous prayers. Now
some did not think that monastery a proper site for it was located
near the border and there were many enemies around it. "Perhaps,"
they said, "they will come, remove his body and burn it with
fire because of the many grudges they have against him."
Finally, they all united. They took [Lewon's] body and buried
it in the city of Sis, while his heart and intestines were taken
to the monastery called Akner.
Thus did the valiant, ever-triumphant
King Lewon repose in piety.
The kat'oghikos and the princes
brought the son of the lord of Antioch, named prince (brindz)
and gave him in marriage the daughter of King Lewon, thus making
him their king. The youth's name was Phillip and the queen's name
was Zabel. When [g188] [Phillip] had ruled the kingdom for four
years, his father deceived him and took from him the crown of
King Lewon and the [152] royal paghat (? tent) which they
erected on special occasions, and other treasures of gold and
silver. As soon as the princes saw that the man was not loyal
to the kingdom, they arrested and held him until he return the
crown and treasures. But his father gave neither the one nor the
other, and did not aid his son in any way. And they left him there
[in prison] until he died.
The great prince Kostandin convinced
the kat'oghikos and some of the other grandees to enthrone
his own son, Het'um, a physically robust and handsome lad. But
the queen did not consent to being the wife of a child. She defied
him and went to Seleucia, to the Franks there; for her mother
was of Frankish nationality, and from the island of Cyprus.
Kostandin took all the troops and besieged
the city until they unwillingly surrendered the queen. Kostandin
took her and married her to his son, to whom she bore children.
The woman was extremely pious and sensible--a lover of all God-fearing
and poor folk--who constantly fasted and prayed. [g189]
Once his son Het'um had taken the rule
of the kingdom, the great prince Kostandin himself assumed all
the concerns of the kingdom, arranging everything wisely. Some
he made obedient with affection, while the disobedient were eliminated,
making some into fugitives, killing others. He made friendship
[153] and union with the sultan of Rum, whose name was 'Ala al-Din
(Aladin), who had many lands under his control. Kostandin did
the same with all the neighboring peoples, and pacified the lands
everywhere.
He established his eldest son, Smbat, as general and made the other son prince of the kingdom. And all the monks in the country were unconcerned about their physical necessities, for he himself gave them everything they needed,
so that they might occupy themselves with prayers and worship.
The country became filled with skilled
and unskilled men who assembled from all sides fleeing the destruction
wrought by the T'at'ars who had come from the northeast and overthrown
the entire world.
After this, kat'oghikos Yovhannnes
also died, having occupied the throne for eighteen years. The
great prince with the king seated lord Kostandin on the throne
of Saint Gregory. He was a virtuous mild man of blessed behavior,
who conducted [g190] himself with goodness and regulated the order
of the Church with orthodoxy. Kostandin was revered by all peoples,
not only by Christians, but also by Tachiks.
[154] Once it happened that the three
sultans went to the borders of the city called Hrhomkla on the
Euphrates River where the throne of the kat'oghikosate
was located. The kat'oghikos went out to see them. As soon
as the sultans learned of his coming, they themselves hastened
before him and brought him to the army with great honor. They
erected a fine altar for him, in the midst of their altars. On
one side was the altar of Melik' K'eml who ruled Egypt, on another
side was the altar of Melik' Ashrap' who ruled most of Armenia
and Mesopotamia, as well as the altar of their brother's son who
ruled Damascus. Thus honoring him greatly for many days, they
released him with many presents [including] villages and dastakerts,
for God glorifies those who glorify Him, both in this world and
in the next.
Het'um's reign began in 673 A.E. [1224/25]. [g191]
10. A brief section on the history of Aghbania
is presented below.
At the beginning of the first [section
of this] history we placed [accounts of] the holy Illuminator
of the Armenians, the apostle, martyr, and coadjutor of the three
blessed [155] Apostles Thaddeus, Bartholemew, and James-Judas,
that is, blessed Gregory, and through his prayers we have reached this far. Now for the second section [we begin with] a chapter on the illuminators of the Aghbanian areas, since they are our relatives and coreligionists, and especially since many of their
leaders were Armenian-speaking, their kings obedient to the kings
of the Armenians and under their control, their bishops ordained
by Saint Gregory and his successors, and their people remained
with us in orthodoxy. For these reasons it is fitting to recall
the two peoples together. Therefore we will begin by concisely
describing their leaders up to the point where we left off.
They say that the initial cause of the
illumination of the eastern areas was the blessed Eghishe (pupil
of the great Thaddeus the Apostle) who, after the death of the
holy Apostle went to Jerusalem to James, the brother of the Lord,
received [g192] ordination as bishop from him, and then went to
the land of Iran eventually reaching the land of the Aghbanians.
He came to a place called Gis and built a church there, and he
himself was martyred there, though it is not known by whom. His body
was thrown into a well with other corpses and it remained
there until the time of pious King Vach'agan the last.
[156] Here are the kings of the Aghbanians
from the line of Hayk, descendants of Arhan whom the Parthian
Vagharshak set up as overseer and prince of those areas. First
Vach'agan, Vach'e, Urhnayr. The latter came to the great king
of the Armenians, Trdat, and to Saint Gregory and was baptized
by him; and Saint Gregory gave to King Urhnayr a man from among
his deacons who had come with him from Rome, and whom [Gregory]
had ordained as bishop. Vach'agan, Marhawan, Sato, Asa, Esvaghen.
In the days of the latter king, the venerable Mesrop made alphabets
for the Armenians, Georgians, and Aghbanians. [Then] Vach'e [ruled]. Yazdigert,
king of Iran, who destroyed the holy Vardaneans forcibly made
[Vach'e] a mage, but subsequently he left magianism and his kingdom
with it, became an ascetic adhering to a severe discipline, and
reconciled himself with God against Whom he had sinned. Then the
pious Vach'agan ruled, whom we recalled above. He heard that they
had thrown blessed Eghishe['s body] into a well and he ordered that all the
bones found [in the well] be removed. They removed them and piled
them into heaps. The pious king prayed to God that the bones of
Saint Eghishe be [g193] revealed. A fierce wind arose and scattered
across the face of the plain all the bones except for those
of Saint Eghishe. Thanking God, the king gathered
them up and distributed [the relics] throughout his realm.
[157] Then holy Shup'haghishoy became
bishop. However we are confused about his placement, for the man
who wrote the history of the Aghbanians [translator's note: See
the History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci,
C.J.F. Dowsett trans. (London 1961)] places his name in the time
of the pious Vach'agan, proof of which being the canons which
Vach'agan established with all the bishops of the Aghbanians,
writing: "I Vach'agan, king of the Aghbanians, and Shup'haghishoy, archbishop of Partaw." Elsewhere this name is not
found again among the ranks of the bishops. But as we have found
it, so we have written it.
Then lord Matt'e, lord Sahak five [years],
lord Movses six [years], lord Pant seven [years] lord Ghazar eight
[years]. Then the blessed youth Grigoris, son of great Vrt'anes
brother of Yusik, grandson of Saint Gregory whom the great king
of the Armenians Trdat sent and who was killed on the plain of
Vatean as a martyr of God, [was patriarch]. His body was brought
and buried at Amaras. Later, during the time of Vach'agan, relics were discovered among which were those of the blessed Zak'aria, father of John the Baptist and of Pantaleimon the great martyr for Christ who was slain in the city of Nicomidea in the time
of Maximianos [and whose relics] Saint Gregory had taken with
him.
[158] Then lord Zak'aria [ruled], ten
years, [followed by] lord Dawit' for eleven years, and lord Yovhannes
(who also was bishop of the Huns), twelve years, lord Eremia,
thirteen years. In Eremia's time the venerable Mesrop created
the Aghbanian alphabet with great effort. Lord Abas [ruled] for
fourteen years. The Council of Dwin wrote to Abas that he should
recite the formula "Holy God, immortal, Who Was crucified"
and "of one nature, divine and human." Lord Viroy for
thirty-three years. He was a prisoner for many years at the court
of Xosrov, the Iranian king, but after Xosrov's death he was freed
and came to his own country. He freed the Armenian, Georgian and
Aghbanian prisoners from the Xazar Shat' (son of Jebu Xak'an who
had enslaved the land). He built six cities named after Shat':
Shat'arh, Shamk'or, Shak'i, Shirvan, Shamaxi, and Shaporan. Lord
Zak'aria [who ruled for] fifteen years, saved the great city of
Partaw from slavery by his prayers. Lord Yovhan [ruled for] twenty-five
years. Lord Uxtanes, twelve years. [g195] [It was Uxtanes] who
cursed the Aghbanian naxarars for their foul mixed marriages,
and all of them died. Then lord Eghiazar [ruled for] six years.
Lord Nerses [ruled for] seventeen years. While [Nerses] was bishop
of Gardman, he convinced a certain woman named Spram, the wife
of an Aghbanian prince, that if she had him ordained kat'oghikos
of the Aghbanians, he would do whatever she wanted. The woman
was steeped in the Chalcedonian heresy. [159] She entreated the
bishops to ordain Nerses Bakur as kat'oghikos of the Aghbanians.
After some time had passed, the heresy
which she had conceived within her became apparent. As soon as
she was reprimanded by the bishops and priests, she began persecuting
many of them. The spiritual leaders of the Aghbanians assembled
and anathematized her and wrote to the kat'oghikos of the
Armenians, Eghia, to aid them.
Eghia wrote [a message] to the head
of the Tachiks, Abdlmelik', to the effect that "The [religious]
leader of the Aghbanians and a woman here want to place their
land in rebellion against you, for they are assisting the Greeks."
Abdlmelik' commanded Eghia to go to Aghbania and dethrone him
and to send him and the woman to court with their feet bound and thrown onto camels like freight, so that they would be the objects of derision for all the troops.
Eghia and the king's eunuch went to
the city of Partaw and executed the royal order. While they
mocked him thus with dishonor, Nerses died bitterly from exasperation,
eight days later. [g196] All the Aghbanians naxarars and
all the bishops gave [160] pledges before the eunuch with the
royal command and seal that they would not ordain an Aghbanian
kat'oghikos without the order of the Armenian kat'oghikos.
Then Eghia ordained for the Aghbanian
[patriarchal] throne lord Simeon, who removed the disturbance
caused by Nerses. [Simeon] reigned for one and a half years and
established canons with seven provisions.
Lord Mik'ayel [reigned for] thirty-five
years. He summoned the prior of Mak'enots'ats' [monastery], Soghomon,
and cursed those who had married their relatives in the third
degree. These were generally eliminated. They also anathematized
the Georgian [spiritual] leader T'alile, for he had authorized
the illegal marriages. Then lord Anania [ruled for] four years.
Lord Yovsep' [ruled for] seventeen years. In the fifth year of
his reign the two hundredth year of the Armenian Era was completed
[751/52]. Lord Dawit' [ruled for] four years. [Dawit'] freed
Church lands and ornaments. He died of poisioning. [Another] lord
Dawit' [then ruled for] nine years. He sold Dastakert and Sahmanaxach' to the infidels. Lord Matt'eos [ruled for] one and a half years; he too was given poison to drink and died from it. Lord Movses, one and a half years; lord [g197] Aharon two years; lord Soghomon,
half a year [Editor K. Melik'-Ohanjanyan has inserted this patriarch
from the list Kirakos was using, i.e., the list in Book III of
Movses Dasxurants'i's History of the Caucasian Aghbanians];
lord T'eodoros [161] four years; lord Soghomon, eleven years;
lord Yovhannes, twenty-five years. [Yovhannes] moved the kat'oghikosate
to Bardak which was their summer residence when it was removed
from Partaw. Lord Movses [ruled for] one half year; lord Dawit',
for twenty-eight years. It was [Dawit'] who blessed the impious
marrage of the lord of Shak'i. Now the prince's lay brother asked
[Dawit']: "Whence do you come, lord?" And [Dawit'] replied:
"From your brother's house." Then the prince said to
Dawit': "May your tongue, which blessed this not speak, and
may your eye dry up." And this very thing happened immediately,
nor was [Dawit'] cured until his death.
Then lord Yovsep' [ruled for] twenty-five
years. In his third year, the three hundredth year of the Armenian
Era was completed [851/52].
Lord Samuel [ruled for] seventeen years.
He assumed the dignity [of kat'oghikos] by himself, but
was later dethroned by Georg, kat'oghikos of the Armenians,
and forced to undergo a second ordination in Dwin.
Lord Yovhan [ruled for] eight and a
half years. He was court-bishop of the Armenians. While Georg
was in captivity, [162] Yovhan went to the land of the Aghbanians
and was ordained there without the permission of lord Georg. But
when the Aghbanian princes ransomed back lord Georg, he removed
Yovhan from the dignity [of the kat'oghikosate]. The Aghbanian
princes beseeched Georg as a favor to accept Yovnan, and so he
ordained him again.
Lord Simeon [ruled for] twenty-one years;
lord Dawit', five years; lord Sahak, eighteen years; lord Gagik,
fourteen years. In [Gagik's] fourth year, the four hundredth year
of the Armenian Era was completed [951/52]. [g198]
Lord Dawit' from the episcopate of Kapaghak
[ruled for] seven years [Translator's note: this sentence was
added from the list appearing at the end of Book III in Movses
Dasxurants'i's History of the Caucasian Aghbanians.].
Lord Dawit' [ruled for] six years. He
was ordained by the Armenian kat'oghikos Anania.
Lord Petros [ruled for] sixteen years.
Lord Movses (who had been director of Parhisos monastery) [ruled
for] six years. Then lord Markos, a man of God, [ruled, followed
by Yovsep', another Markos, followed by lord Step'annos. Then
lord [163] Yovhannes [ruled for] fifty years, followed by lord
Step'annos for one and a half years. He died in his youth. In
588 A.E.[1139] during the reign of lord Grigoris, the great kat'oghikos
of the Armenians, there had been no leader of the Aghbanian patriarchal
house for twenty-five years.
There remained one lad from the kat'oghikosal
line named Gagik (son of Georg, grandson of Karapet) whom they
nourished and educated. When he reached maturity, vardapet
Grigor T'ok'aker's son, Dawit' Alawka's son, and others from the
land of the Aghbanians wrote a letter of entreaty to Grigoris,
the great patriarch of the Armenians who at that time was in the
West. And they sent a man with the letter so that he be ordained
[g199] bishop and so that Grigoris send them one of his own bishops
and give the command to ordain the young Gagik for the patriarchal
throne of the Aghbanians, so that the leaderless country not be
lost.
The patriarch ordained the man sent
to him. He also ordered the bishop of Karin to go to the land
of the Aghbanians and to ordain the Aghbanian kat'oghikos.
The bishop of Karin, Sahak, and the
other bishop ordained an additional twelve bishops, according
to the dictates of [164] Scripture, and then they ordained Gagik
as kat'oghikos, naming him Grigores after the kat'oghikos
of the Armenians.
During those days, fog and locusts unexpectedly
filled all the mountains and plains, and a great earthquake occurred
which destroyed the capital city of Gandzak. By the grace of God,
the newly-elected kat'oghikos was saved, but the great
vardapet Grigor died along with a countless multitude of
men, women and children who were killed under the buildings which
collapsed on them.
Demetre, the king of Georgia, came and
took to his country everything he found [at Gandzak], as booty,
including the city gates.
Alharak Mountain also crumbled and the
small valley which ran along it was blocked so that a lake was
formed, which exists to this day. [g200]
After eight years, a luminous comet
appeared which was a symbol of the famine, destruction by the
sword and captivity which befell the country.
When kat'oghikos Gagik had attained
perfection in spiritual [165] knowledge, he passed from the world,
and once more darkness settled in those parts.
Then lord Bezhgen [ruled. It was he] who left his order and took a wife. He was followed by lord Step'annos, for twenty years; after him lord Yovhannes [ruled] for twenty years. He constructed a magnificent church in the Miap'or district at the monastery called Xamshi, and was alive in our own time. Then [the patriarchal throne was occupied by] lord Nerses, [Yovhannes'] brother, a man with a meek and good character who was ordained in 684 A.E. [1235].
11. Concerning the coming of the T'at'ar army and the putting to flight of the king of the Georgians.
In 669 A.E. [1220], while the Georgians
were feeling proud of their conquests--for they had triumphed
over the Tachiks and wrested from them many districts of Armenia--suddenly,
unexpectedly, many detachments of well organized soldiers burst
through the Darband Gate, came to the land of the Aghbanians,
and then passed to the lands of the Armenians and the Georgians.
Whatever they found on their way they put to the sword--man, [g201]
[166] beast, even down to the dogs. They were not at all concerned
with taking expensive clothing or anything else, except horses.
They quickly came to the city of Tiflis (Tp'xis), once more descended
into the land of the Aghbanians to the borders of the city of
Shamk'or. False information arrived concerning [the Mongols],
to the effect that they were mages and/or of the Christian faith.
wonder-workers, and that they had come to avenge the Christians
from the tyranny of the Tachiks. And it was said that they had
with them a portable tent-church, as well as a miracle-working
cross, and that they would bring an ephah of barley and put it
before this cross and all the troops would take from it and give
it to their horses, yet the supply would not be exhausted, for
when all of them had finished taking, the original amount remained.
The same was true for their own food. Such were the false rumors
that filled the land. Therefore the inhabitants of the land did
not fortify themselves in, to the point that one lay priest took
his people and even went before them with hooded crosses. The
enemy put them to the sword, one and all. Thus finding many people
unconcerned, [the Mongols] destroyed and ruined numerous places. Then
they secured their bags and baggage in the marshy, muddy place
which lies between the cities of Partaw and Belukan, a very safe
place which they call Beghamej; and they destroyed many districts
with brazen attacks. [g202]
[167] Then Lasha, king of the Georgians,
and the great hazarapet Iwane mustered troops to go
to war against [the Mongols]. They descended to the plain called
Xunan, for the enemy force was located there; and they fought
one another, the former putting the enemy to flight. However,
because the enemy had made an ambush, they fell upon the Georgian
troops from behind and began to destroy them. Those [Mongols]
who were fleeing likewise turned on them, and trapping them in
the middle, they dealt great blows to the Christian troops. The
king and all the princes fled. The enemy gathered booty from the
troops and took it to their camp.
Once again the king of the Georgians mustered his troops, this time more than before, and wanted to battle with the enemy. But [the Mongols] collected their wives, children, and all their bags and baggage, and wanted to pass through the Darband Gate to their own land. But the Tachik troops who were in Darband did not allow them to enter. So [the Mongols] crossed the Caucasus mountains (Kawkas) at an impassable spot, filling the abyss with wood, stones, their goods, horses, and military [g203] equipment, and thus crossed over and went to their own land.
The name of their leader was Sabada Bahatur. [168]
12. The defeat of the troops in the borders of Gandzak.
Subsequently, after some time had passed,
another force of Huns, called Qipchaqs (Xbch'ax) came through
the land of the Georgians to King Lasha and to the hazarapet
Iwane. [The Qipchaqs wanted Lasha and Iwane] to give them a place
to live and [in return] they would serve [the Georgians] loyally.
However, [the Georgians] did not agree to accept them.
So [the Qipchaqs] arose and went to
the residents of the city of Gandzak where they were received
joyfully, since the people there had been placed into great straits
by the Georgian army which ruined their lands and enslaved man
and beast. [The people of Gandzak] gave [the Qipchaqs] a place
to dwell within the confines of the city and aided them with food
and drink so that with their help they might resist the kingdom
of the Georgians. The Hun troops halted there and settled in.
Then Iwane mustered troops and arrogantly
went against them. He greatly boasted that he would exterminate
them and [g204] the city as well, placing his trust in the multitude
of his troops and not in God Who gives the victory to whomever
He pleases.
[169] When the two groups clashed, the
barbarians calmly emerged from their lairs and put to the sword
the wearied and [God-]forsaken Georgian army. They arrested many
and put the remainder to flight. There was a great destruction
of the Christian troops on that day. So many were abandoned by
the protection of God that one bad man [i.e., a poor fighter]
was able to capture many brave and experienced warriors like a
shepherd leading his flock before him. For God had removed His
aid from their swords and did not assist them in battle. [The
Qipchaqs] brought the honorable men [of the captives] and sold
them for some clothing or food. Iranians bought them and tormented
them with unbearable tortures, demanding such quantities of gold
and silver that it was impossible to pay. And many of them died
in prison.
[The Qipchaqs] seized, among others, Grigor (son
of Haghbak, brother of brave Vasak) and his brother's son Papak';
for Vasak had three sons: Papak', Mkdem, and Hasan (called Prhosh),
brave and distinguished men who had caused all the Tachik troops
to quake with fear. They killed Papak' in battle. As for Grigor,
they arrested him and tormented him with numerous tortures to
make him deny Christ, but he did not do so. On the contrary, he
insulted their deceiving law-giver Mahmet and their [170] loathsome
faith even more. [Grigor's captors] grew angry and dragged him
naked over the earth and lacerated his entire body with thorns
and so tortured him that he gave up the ghost because of the beatings,
receiving a martyr's crown from Christ. These men were from Xach'en
district of a prominent family, Christians, orthodox, and of Armenian
nationality.
The impious Iranians oppressed many
other captives with various tortures, keeping them hungry, thirsty,
and naked. Now the Christians in the city of Gandzak displayed
much benevolence toward the captives, buying back some and freeing
them, feeding and clothing some, burying the dead and performing similar
good deeds.
But after some days had passed, the great hazarapet Iwane once again mustered troops and went to wreak vengeance on those who had destroyed his troops. He attacked them at an unexpected moment and put the barbarians to the sword. He captured their booty and enslaved their children, taking both to his land.
13. Vardapet Mxit'ar, where he was from and what sort of man he was.
This renowned and very learned man was
from the city of [171] Gandzak, the son of Christian parents who
had given him an education in Scripture. When he reached puberty,
he was ordained a celibate priest. Having served many years as
a priest, he wished to become learned in the deeper meaning of
Scripture and the profound proverbs contained therein. Mxit'ar
met vardapet Yovhannes (called Tawushets'i) who at that
time was renowned for his learning. At first for a while he lived
a lay life, then, separating from his wife, he pursued a religious
calling, and being very knowledgeable in Scripture, he earned the
title of vardapet. Mxit'ar stayed [with Yovhannes] for
many years, studying. [g207]
Vardapet Yovhannes was peripatetic, travelling from place to place preaching the Word of God and exhorting good conduct for mankind. He regularized
many features in the ritual and religion of the Christians, for
even at that time in various places, people were breaking fast
on Saturdays and Sundays of the holy Forty Days of Lent. Yovhannes
ruled that the fast should be held as on the other days of the
week but that they celebrate on Saturday the martyrs of God and
on Sunday the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ and offer
mass. In this way every place established the fifty day fast,
whereas before some maintained it while others did not.
Mxit'ar, after remaining and studying
with this man and [172] others had earned the title of vardapet.
But still not satisfied, he went to a place in the West [in Cilicia] called
Seaw (Black) mountain to the vardapets who were teachers
there. He did not disclose to them that he too was a vardapet,
but instead profited a great deal from their knowledge. He then
went to the city of Karin. There he met the pious Christian prince
named K'urd, who was estranged from the king of the Georgians.
He became acquainted with him and loved by him like a father.
After this Mxit'ar returned to his own land. [g208]
The renown of his learning spread throughout
all the lands and many pupils studied doctrine with him. Harassed
by the Tachiks (at the instigation of Step'annos, kat'oghikos
of the the Aghbanians), Mxit'ar went to the land of Xach'en to
Vaxt'ank, the prince of Hat'erk' and his brothers who greatly
honored him. He stayed there a few years.
Then prince K'urd returned to his patrimony,
coming to the land of Kayean and Mahkanaberd. The queen of the
Georgians named T'amar gave him many honors, returning to him
his patrimonial holdings, and many others besides. [K'urd] was
the father of Sadun and Dawit', grandfather of Sherbarak', Sadun's
son.
[173] Now upon learning that the prince
had returned to his patrimony, Mxit'ar went to him on account
of the earlier unity and friendship they had toward one another.
And Mxit'ar dwelled in the monastery called Getik in the Kayean
district, situated on the right bank of the great river named
Aghstev.
The director of the monastery was a
vardapet named Sarkawag, his own pupil, who received [Mxit'ar]
with joy and attended him himself. [Mxit'ar] remained there a
long while. [g209]
Then a severe earthquake occurred which
ruined many places, overturning the tall structures. Among the casualties
was the church of Getik, which was so devastated that it was impossible
to restore it. The residents were in a quandry about what to do
and wanted to disperse, not only because of the collapse of the
church, but because they were being harassed by their neighbors.
For a certain prince named Sargis had transferred his village
from its [original] location and built another village near the
monastery. Thereafter there were numerous disagreements between
the two groups and constant accusations.
But the blessed vardapet prevented the group [members] from thinking about separating from each other. Instead he wanted the congregation to remain together, and to request a [174] new abode. So they went united to the great prince Iwane, brother of Zak'are, general of the Georgians, sons of the sister of pious prince K'urd, who at that time ruled the fortress of Kayean and the district. They acquainted him with their problem so that he give them a place where they could transfer their monastery. Iwane commanded them to see where a suitable site existed; and, travelling about, they found a charming spot, a hollow by the foot of two mountains which stands at its head. They named the place Tandzut valley. In this valley there [g210] was a village with a small brook crossing through it [a brook] which flowed more copiously on the right side in a wooded glen, with plenty of water. That decided that this spot was suitable.
Present at the consecration of the church
was the blessed [175] vardapet Xach'atur Taronats'i, director
of the holy congregation of Haghartsin, a holy, virtuous man renowned
for his learning, especially for his musical knowledge. He made
the holy congregation which he directed sparkle though prior to his
coming it was desolate and withered. The king of the Georgians,
Giorgi, T'amar's father, especially esteemed Xach'atur. And he gave to the church, under his own signature, two villages, Abasadzor and Tandzut, and a vineyard in Mijnashen. And by all the saints he [g211] placed a curse on anyone who dared to shear these properties
from the monastery. [Xach'atur] brought to the East the xaz
[musical notation system] which was not yet spread throughout
the lands, and he thereby gave form to the formless melodies,
making them rational. He came and wrote and instructed many, then
took rest from difficult labors. [Xach'atur] passed to Christ
and is buried on the western side of the church.
At Nor Getik, at the head of the monastery,
they also built a smaller church in the name of Saint John the
Baptist, the ordainer of Christ, the greatest fruit of womankind.
Then they began on the foundation of the glorious church built
with dressed stones and [crowned] with a heavenly dome, a marvel
to the beholder. [Construction] was begun in 640 A.E. [1191],
four years after Salahadin took Jerusalem, and it was completed
in five years, during the disturbance of Greek Easter.
[176] Now regarding Easter there was
much dispute and argument with the Armenians among all peoples,
especially the Georgians, for they brazenly said that the false
[date] was the correct one. The accursed Iron had corrupted [the
date] at the court of the impious Justinian because he was not
invited to the council held in Alexandria regarding the designation
of [the date of the celebration of] Easter and other feasts. Following
the completion of the two hundred year [calendar] of Andreas,
[the celebration of] all feasts was confused for a period of nine
years because they were [g212] unable to correctly maintain his
[calendrical] system. However a certain wise man named Eas protested
and called to himself learned men from all peoples: Phineas the
Jew, Gigan the Syrian, Adde the Cappadocian, Elogs the Greek,
and many others. They began counting the years from the bottom
up. Finding a stable system, they created a five hundred year
cycle which was perpetually accurate. They took this to emperor
Justinian who ordered Iron [to examine it]. Iron was jealous of
the skill of the talented people involved [in creating] the calendrical
system and because he was not invited, and so he wanted to spoil
things somehow. He changed April fifteenth to the sixteenth, and
the sixth to the fifth, deceitfully claiming that everything was
right except for that. The sixteenth was not incorrect, but as
for the fifth, for ninety-five [177] years continuously it caused
them to err, taking Easter along with the Jews earlier than was
correct, since for them [Easter] was the fifth [Sunday], while
for us it was the sixth, as happened [on this occasion].
Now because of this argument between
Armenians and Georgians, Queen T'amar and sparapet Zak'are
sent some one of the great Georgian princes and likewise one of
the Armenians to Jerusalem prior to Easter, to learn the truth.
The verdict was to be given by the radiant lamp on the Holy Sepulcher
of Christ which, they say, at the request of Gregory Illuminator
of the Armenians (with no assist from human hands or tangible
fire), is lit up by the command of God each Easter. It happens
to this day. [g213]
However, the overseers of the city,
who were Tachiks, asked the Christians: "When is your Easter?"
Those who were Greek and other denominations replied: "This
Sunday." But the Armenians said: "Not this Sunday, next
Sunday." Now the Tachik overseer was a wise man and so ordered
all the lights in that temple extinguished, the doors closed and
sealed with his ring, and he forbade anyone to enter, in order
to determine which group was right.
[178] Now when the day arrived and had passed
into evening, they awaited the illumination of the lamp. When
it did not light up, the prince ordered all except the Armenians
to be insultingly removed and severely beaten as ignorant and
false people. When a week passed and the next Sunday (which the
Armenians had said was Easter) arrived, while they were praying
at the tenth hour, [divine] inspiration came upon them and at
once the lamp lit up without human hands touching it. The Armenians
were jubilant. Once more the Tachiks beat the others, and everyone
praised the wisdom and faith of the Armenians while they derided
and jeered at the Greeks in all the cities under Tachik rule.
The men who had been sent by the Georgian monarch and by the general
observed this, [g214] returned and related what they had seen.
The great general Zak'are rejoiced as did all the Armenians in
the [Georgian] army. And the true faith of the Armenians was strengthened
further.
In this year the renowned and joyous
church of Getik was completed. It was built by vardapet
Mxit'ar with his religious community with the aid of Vaxt'ang
Xach'enats'i, lord of Hat'erk' and his brothers Grigor, Grigoris,
Xoydan, and Vasak and other pious princes, Dawit' and Sadun (the
sons of K'urd) as well as their sister named Arzu xat'un [179]
(Vaxt'ang Hat'erk'ets'i's wife).
This woman did much to help. She and
her daughters made a beautiful curtain of the softest goats' hair
as a covering for the holy altar, a marvel to behold. It
was dyed with variegated colors like a piece of carving with pictures
accurately drawn on it showing the Incarnation of the Savior and
other saints. It astonished those who saw it. Beholders would
bless God for giving women the knowledge of tapestry-making and
the genius of embroidery, as is said in Job, for it was no less
than the altar ornaments [g215] Beseliel and Eghiab fashioned
[Exodus 36.1]. Nor is it bold to make this statement, for the same spirit moved
them both. Not only did the woman make a curtain for this church
at Getik, but for other churches as well--Haghbat, Makaravank',
and Dadivank'; for she was a great lover of the Church, and very
pious.
The pre-consecration festival at Getik
was conducted with great throngs of people attending. Among those
present was Yovhannes, the bishop of Haghbat, a virtuous and blessed
man as well as a multitude of priests and servitors. And they
consecrated the church in the name of the blessed Mother of God.
[180] They also constructed a beautiful
parvis of dressed stones for the church. The great general Zak'are
and his brother Iwane provided much support, for they held the
princeship of the district and they so loved the holy vardapet
(for in confession, Zak'are was his spiritual son). They gave
the church [extensive] land bounded by streams [extending] from
mountain to mountain, as well as a mine in Abasadzor, and Zoradzor
in the district of Bjni, and Ashawan above the monastery.
They themselves also built a village
close to a small lake of immense depth, naming the village after
the lake Tzrkatsov (for in it swam many marsh-loving, mud-loving
reptiles), [g216] as well as another smaller village below the
monastery which they named Urhelanj. They also built many other
chapels in the name of blessed Apostles and the holy Hfip'sime.
Because Mxit'ar loved deserts and uninhabited
places, he made his home distant from the monastery. There he
built a small wooden church in the name of the Holy Spirit. In
his old age he built a church as a mausoleum for himself above
the monastery on the right. It was made with dressed stones and
lime and named for the Resurrection of Christ.
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