Note 89 — Chapter XVI · EDGMIATSIN AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH
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A bishop of Sivas with this name was martyred under Diocletian; but this saint will not suit our chronology. Certain features in connection with the cult of the saint—a hind is offered up to him on his name day—have suggested to Von Gutschmid (Kleine Schriften, iii. 414) that Athenogenes was a heathen god of the chase, converted in comparatively remote times into a Christian martyr. A local cult of this nature seems to have attached to Herakles in certain countries; therefore it might quite well have been natural for Gregory to supplant the worship of his Armenian counterpart, Vahagn, at Astishat with that of Athenogenes, the saint corresponding to the god of the chase. This is ingenious but not convincing. The hunting features in the cult of Athenogenes may surely have been derived from his worship at Astishat in place of Vahagn (Herakles). ↑