Listed 10 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for wider area of: "ARMENIA Country EAST EUROPE" .
ARMENIA (Ancient country) ARMENIA
Aerius (Aerios), Heretic, the intimate friend of Eustathius of Sebaste in Armenia, A. D. 360, was living when St. Epiphanius wrote his Book against Heresies, A. D. 374-6. After living together an ascetic life, Eustathius was raised to the episcopate, and by him Aerius was ordained priest and set over the Hospital (ptochotropheion) of Pontus. (St. Epiph. adv. Haer. 75.1) But nothing could allay the envy of Aerius at the elevation of his companion. Caresses and threats were in vain, and at last he left Eustathius, and publicly accused him of covetousness. He assembled a troop of men and women, who with him professed the renunciation of all worldly goods (apotaxia). Denied entrance into the towns, they roamed about the fields, and lodged in the open air or in caves, exposed to the inclemency of the seasons. Aerius superadded to the irreligion of Arius the following errors : 1. The denial of a difference of order between a bishop and a priest. 2. The rejection of prayer and alms for the dead. 3. The refusal to observe Easter and stated fasts, on the ground of such observances being Jewish. St. Epiphanius refutes these errors. There were remains of his followers in the time of St. Auguistine. (Adv. Haer.53, which was written A. D. 428)
ARMENIA (Country) EAST EUROPE
d. 333-373, feastday: November 19
Gregorius, of Armenia. The memory of Gregory of Armenia is held in great reverence in the Eastern (i. e. Greek, Coptic, Abyssinian, and Armenian) churches; and he is one of the saints of the Roman Calendar. His festival is 30th Sept.; and the Armenians commemorate him also on certain other days. There is every reason to believe that Gregory was the principal agent in the conversion of the Armenians to Christianity, though it is known that others had preached Christianity in the Greater Armenia before him, and had made converts; but until his labours the bulk of the nation continued to be heathens. We have, however, no authentic account of him. A prolix life, professing to be written by Agathangelus, a contemporary, but which internal evidence shows to be spurious, is given in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, Sept., vol. viii. An abridgment of this life, by a Latin writer of the middle ages, is given in the same collection. The work of Agathangelus was also abridged by Symeon Metaphrastes, a Latin version of whose account is given in the De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis of Surius. In these accounts Gregory, whose place of birth is not stated, is said to have been educated at Caesareia, in Cappadocia, where he was instructed in the Christian religion. Having entered into the service of the Armenian king, Teridates or Tiridates (apparently Tiridates III.), then an exile in the Roman empire, he was, on the restoration of that prince, subjected to severe persecution because he refused to join in the worship of idols. A calamity, which was regarded as a punishment for this persecution, induced Tiridates to place himself and his people under the instruction of Gregory. The result was the conversion of many people, and the erection of churches, and Gregory, after a journey to Caesareia to receive ordination, returned as metropolitan into Armenia, baptized Tiridates and his queen and many other persons, built new churches, and established schools. He afterwards quitted the court, and retired to solitude, frequently, however, visiting the Armenian churches. Some modern authorities style him martyr, but apparently without any foundation. The conversion of the Armenians took place about the beginning of the fourth century, and Gregory was still living at the time of the first Nicene council, A. D. 325, to which one of his sons was sent, apparently as representing the Armenian churches. Many discourses, professedly by Gregory, are given in the work of Agathangelus: they are for the most part omitted by Symeon Metaphrastes. A discourse, extant in the Armenian tongue, and entitled Encomium Sancli Gregcrii Armenorum Illuminatoris, is ascribed to Chrysostom; but is regarded as spurious by nearly all critics, and among them by Montfaucon, who has, however, given the Latin version of it in his edition of Chrysostom's works, vol. xii. In the Biographie Universelle, a pretty full account of Gregory is given, but the sources are not stated. It is there said that there are several homilies extant in the Armenian tongue, ascribed to Gregory, but in all probability spurious. (Agathangelus, Vita S. Gregorii, with the Prolegomena of Stillingus, in the Acta Sanctor. Sept. vol. viii. Comp. Sozom. II. E. ii. 8; Theophan. Chronog. vol. i.; Cedren. Compend. vol. i., ed. Bonn.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
d. 320, feastday: March 9
ARMENIA (Ancient country) ARMENIA
Isaacus of Armenia, catholicus or patriarch of Armenia Magna, lived in the middle of the twelfth century, and wrote Orationes Invectivae II. adversus Armenos, published in Greek and Latin, and with notes in Combefisius, Auctuar. Nov. Bibl. vol. ii. p. 317, &c., and by Galland. Bibl. Patr. vol. xiv. p. 411, &c. (Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 227 Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 123, &c.)
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