Death of St. Nerses Lambronatsi (July 14, 1198)

St. Nerses Lambronatsi is remembered as one of the most significant figures in Armenian ecclesiastical and literary history for his relatively short, but prolific life during the time of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

He was born in 1153 in the fortress of Lambron. His baptismal name was Smpad. He was son of Oshin II, the lord of Lambron, from the Hetumian family, and nephew of Catholicos Nerses IV Shnorhali (1166–1173). His mother Shahandukht, from the Pahlavuni family, was a descendant of St. Gregory the Illuminator. He received his early education at the monastery of Skevra, which was continued at the superior school of Hromkla, the seat of the Catholicosate of All Armenians, under the supervision of his uncle Nerses and his successor Grigor III Tgha (1173-1193). Ordained in 1169 at the age of 16 by his uncle, who gave him his own name, he was elevated to episcopacy and consecrated Archbishop of Tarsus in 1175, at the age of twenty-two.

Nerses Lambronatsi was well versed in sacred and profane sciences and had an excellent knowledge of Greek, Latin, Syriac, and probably Coptic. He preferred to lead a life of meditation and solitude, and since he did not feel ready to take upon his administrative duties, he visited the monasteries in the region of Antioch to get acquainted with monastic life among non-Armenians and to satisfy his scholarly appetite. During this period, he translated The Rule of St. Benedict, The Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great, and the Book of Revelation (1179).

Nerses contributed to the promotion of literacy, helped schools and libraries, monasteries and churches, and made a substantial donation towards the purchase and copy of manuscripts. He ordered or personally copied many ancient Armenian manuscripts, including the oldest and best extant copy of Gregory of Narek’s Book of Tragedy, which he ordered in 1173.

Returning to his pastoral duties, Nerses became a champion of the cause of Church unity. By unity he did not mean absorption of one Church by the other, and he remained a staunch defender of the Christological position of the Armenian Church. He has been regarded as a forerunner of the current ecumenical movement. In 1179 he attended the Council of Hromkla, where he may have delivered his address on unity, the Synodal Discourse, considered a masterpiece of eloquence and style. He was a first-rate orator, and his other speeches, homilies, panegyrics, and orations have literary merit. In 1195 he wrote Letter to King Levon, a spirited piece of polemical literature, where he rejected the accusations of having taken a pro-Byzantine position.

Nerses Lambronatsi is one of the most prolific writers in Armenian literature, and famous as a writer and translator. His Commentary on the Mystery of the Mass is still one of the best commentaries on the Eucharist in the Armenian Church. He also wrote other interpretive works, including commentaries on Cyril of Jerusalem’s various writings and others on the Psalms, the books of Solomon, the Book of Daniel, the Gospel of Matthew, et cetera, and a biography in verse of his uncle St. Nerses Shnorhali.

Lambronatsi was also interested in ecclesiastic and secular law. The lack of a written code of civil law led him to translate various legal works from Greek and Syriac that were used until the adoption of the Code of Law of Mekhitar Gosh. A multifaceted author, he also wrote the letter and music of twenty-three liturgical hymns ( sharagan ).

The union of the Armenian and Greek Churches was decided upon but never consummated due to the death of Emperor Manuel I Comnenus in 1180. Manuel's successors abandoned the negotiations and persecuted the Armenians. However, Levon II, Prince of Cilicia, made a last effort in 1197. He sent an embassy to Constantinople led by Nerses, which engaged in discussions on religious questions with Emperor Alexius III Angelus and Patriarch George II, without success.

Prince Levon wanted to secure the title of king for himself and sought the support of Pope Celestine III and of Emperor Henry VI of the Holy Roman Empire. The Pope sent Conrad, Archbishop of Mainz, to Tarsus, where Levon was crowned king on January 6, 1198.

Six months later, on July 14, 1198, Nerses Lambronatsi, who had spent his last years at the court as secretary, palace counsel, and translator, suddenly passed away in the monastery of Skevra while he was giving a sermon and was buried there. He was later canonized by the Armenian Church.

His students dedicated songs to him and wrote biographical sketches of his life. One of those students, Grigor Skevratsi, characterized his teacher in the following terms: “He emanated like a source, advanced like a river, and expanded like a sea.” 

Death of St. Nerses Shnorhali (August 13, 1173)

One of the saints of the Armenian and the universal Church, Nerses Shnorhali, is also one of the most revered names in the Armenian Christian tradition. He was known with the appellative of Shnorhali (“Graceful”) due to his multiple talents: he was theologian, poet, musicologist, composer, and historian, and excelled in all those endeavors.

Nerses Klayetsi was born in the castle of Tzovk, in the district of Tluk, in the Armenian Mesopotamia (the area around the city of Edesa or Urfa) in 1102. He belonged to the princely Pahlavuni family. His great-grandfather was Grigor Pahlavuni or Magistros (990-1058), a famous writer, scholar, and public official.

After the early death of his father, Prince Apirat Pahlavuni, Nerses and his older brother Grigor were placed under the guardianship of their maternal great uncle, Catholicos Grigor II Martyrophile (1066-1105), who placed them in the monastery at Fhoughri. Later, Grigor’s successor, Barsegh (1105-1113) sent them to the school of the monastery of Karmir Vank, headed by Bishop Stepanos Manouk, a highly regarded scholar and theologian.

Nerses’ brother Grigor became Catholicos at the age of 21, in 1113. Nerses was ordained a celibate priest in 1119 and consecrated a bishop at the age of 35, in 1137. He was one of the best educated men of his time.

He assisted Catholicos Grigor III in moving the Catholicosate to Dzovk, on the property of their father, in 1125. This move was brief, as in 1151 the Catholicosate moved its headquarters to the fortress of Hromkla, near the Euphrates River (Nerses’ surname “Klayetsi” was derived from the name of the fortress). In 1165 hostilities broke out between Toros II, Prince of Cilicia, and one of the strongest princes of the country, Oshin of Lambron. Grigor III sent his brother to mediate.

On his way to the mediation, Nerses met Byzantine governor Alexios and discussed the strained relations between the Armenian and Greek churches since the Greek Orthodox Church had declared that the Armenian Church and the Jacobite Church were heretics in 1140. This discussion impressed the Byzantine governor to the point that he urged the Armenian bishop to write an exposition of the Armenian faith. Nerses stressed in his letter that, as both the Armenian and Greek churches accepted the statements of the first Council of Ephesus (431), there was no clear reason for them not to be in agreement, and did not make any polemical statements about the later Council of Chalcedon and its Confession.

On Nerses’ return from his successful mediation effort and the death of his brother shortly thereafter, he was made Catholicos of the Armenian Church. He convened a council with emissaries selected by Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenos to discuss how they might be able to reunite the two churches (1171). The terms the emperor offered were, however, unacceptable to both Nerses and the Armenian Church, and the negotiations collapsed.

Nerses Shnorhali passed away on August 13, 1173 and was buried in the fortress of Hromkla. The Armenian Church celebrates him as a saint on October 13, during the feast of the Holy Translators, while the Catholic Church also celebrates him, but on August 13.

His prolific literary output included long poems like Lament of Edesa (1145-1146), Jesus the Son (1152), and others, such as the cosmological poem About the Sky and Its Ornaments. He refined and completed the Sharaknots (collection of liturgical hymns) and the Divine Liturgy, enriching it with his own songs, whose number amounts to more than a hundred. One of his best sharakans is the well-known Morning of Light (Առաւօտ լուսոյ, Aravod luso). He also composed some 300 riddles, extracted from Armenian folklore. His Universal Epistle, written in 1166 and addressed to the entire Armenian people, was particularly influential in Armenian medieval thought.

Birth of St. Nerses Shnorhali (June 4, 1102)

Every time we sing “Aravod Looso” (Morning of Light) during the morning service at church or “Norahrash bsagavor” (Newly and Marvelously Crowned) at the festivity of Vartanantz, we are singing two of the most inspired sharagans written and musicalized by Nerses Shnorhali. We are also repeating his words when we recite “Havadov Khosdovanim” (In Faith I Confess) during Lent. One of the most beloved saints of the Armenian Church, he was born on June 4, 1102 (some sources say 1098 or 1101). He was a member of the Pahlavuni princely family and the grandson of the noted writer, Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni. Shnorhali (literally “filled with grace”) had been the title of several known members of the Church, but it became synonymous with Nerses after his time.

The fall of the Armenian kingdom of the Bagratunis in 1045 and the destruction of the capital Ani by the Seljukid Turks in 1064 had forced the Holy See of the Armenian Church to move from the capital in 1081. After several changes of place, Grigor III had settled the see in the fortress of Hromkla (Hrom-kla, “Roman Fortress”), on the banks of the Euphrates River, very close to the border of the Armenian state of Cilicia, in 1149 (it remained there until 1292). His brother Nerses, whom he had ordained at the age of 18 and who was consecrated a bishop at the age of thirty, was also known as Nerses Klayetsi. He was the right hand of Grigor III during his long reign (1113-1166) and succeeded him as Catholicos Nerses IV until his death in 1173.
 
A prolific writer and theologian, some of Shnorhali’s best known works are his Tught Unthanragan (General Epistle), a message of guidance in the Christian faith for the Armenian people, and his poem Hisus Vorti (Jesus the Son). Both have been translated into English. Many of his songs and hymns were incorporated into the regular service of the Armenian Church. His pioneering spirit of ecumenism and his leadership have been historically recognized.