Note 102 — Chapter XVI · EDGMIATSIN AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH

Note especially the election of Nerses I., a descendant of St. Gregory who was loth to accept the office. “The numerous troops of all Armenia demanded and proclaimed Nerses as katholikos ... the entire assembly commenced to cry with a loud voice, ‘It is Nerses who must be our pastor.’ Nerses refused to accept the mandate, of which he professed himself unworthy. Nevertheless the assembly persisted in their resolution and continued to cry before the king, ‘No one except Nerses shall be our pastor; nobody but he shall occupy the holy chair!’” The whole chapter (Faustus, iv. 3) is well worth reading, and contains some very vivid portraiture. Nerses was a layman and was raised to the pontificate in one day. He was then sent to Cæsarea to be formally consecrated. ↑