The Departure of St . Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians

This day marks the departure of St . Gregory, the Patriarchof the Armenians who was a martyr, without bloodshed(A Confessor) . This saint, as it was mentioned on the 19th day of the Coptic month of Tute, wastortured by Tiridates, the Armenian king, in the year 272 A .D . for disobeying the king andrefusing to worship the idols . The king cast the saint into an empty pit where he lived for 15years, during which God took care of him .Near the pit lived an old widow, who saw, in a vision, someone telling her to make breadregularly and cast it into this pit . She continued to do so for 15 years . Because of the length oftime, no one in his congregation knew if he was alive or dead .When the king killed Arbsima, the virgin, and all the virgins who were with her, he also orderedthat their bodies be cast away on the mountains . Later on he regretted what he did for he wantedto marry Arbsima .When the king's family and close advisers saw how he grieved for killing St . Arbsima, theyadvised him to go out for hunting to recreate himself . While he was riding his horse the Deviljumped on him and cast him on the ground . King Tiridates became possessed with an evil spiritand assumed the appearance and manners of a wild boar, to an extent that no one was able to gonear him safely . Many of the people of his kingdom had the same fate . Great fear and crying washeard all over the palace and the kingdom as a result of what had happened to the king and manyothers as a result of what the king did to the virgins .The king's sister saw a vision on three consecutive nights . A man was telling her that unless shebrought St . Gregory out of the pit, the King would not be saved nor would be cured . The peoplewere surprised, since they believed that he was dead . They went to the pit and dropped a rope andcalled his name . When the saint moved the rope, they knew that he was still alive, they asked himto tie the rope around him and they pulled him out .The people took the Saint with great honor to the palace . They asked him to heal the king of hissickness . The Saint asked him if he would go back to his evil deeds . When the king expressed nointention of going back to his evil works, the saint prayed for him, and the evil spirit departedfrom him . His personality and his mind were restored, but he was not completely cured . The nailsof his hands and feet remained like those of a boar as a punishment and as a reminder to him ofwhat he was and in order for him not to go back to his evil works .143The saint inquired about the whereabouts of the bodies of the virgins . He went and found themundecayed and he placed them in an honorable place .St . Gregory cured all who were sick and cast out many devils . The king and his people believed .He taught and baptized them . He built many churches, ordained bishops and priests for them andhe instituted laws for them to follow .When he completed his strife, he departed in peace .His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever . Amen