Grigoris
Udi · mortal · Udi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Grigoris is the boy-bishop and protomartyr of the Albanian church. A grandson of Gregory the Illuminator, he was ordained while still very young as chief bishop of the Albanians and Iberians and undertook to root out idolatry among the nomadic Mazkut (Massagetae) of the Caspian steppe. Provoking their hostility, he was seized on the plain of Vatnean, tied to the tail of a wild horse and dragged to his death. His remains were carried back and buried at the monastery of Amaras, which his grandfather had founded, where his tomb became one of the principal shrines of Caucasian Albania.
Domains
- episcopacy
- martyrdom
Powers
- governs the churches of Albania and Iberia
- endures martyrdom on the plain of Vatnean
Relations
- enemy: SanesanMartyred at the order of Sanesan, king of the Mazkut.Pʿawstos Buzand, The Epic Histories, Book III.6, trans. N. G. Garsoïan (Harvard University Press, 1989) (primary)
Sources
- Grigoris, grandson of Gregory the Illuminator, was consecrated in youth as catholicos of Albania and Iberia and was martyred by the Mazkut, his relics enshrined at Amaras.: Movses Dasxurantsi, The History of the Caucasian Albanians, Book I.14, trans. C.J.F. Dowsett (Oxford University Press, 1961) (primary); Pʿawstos Buzand, The Epic Histories, Book III.6, trans. N. G. Garsoïan (Harvard University Press, 1989) (primary)