Encyclopedia >> Encyclopedia of Armenian Religion >> Right hand of the Illuminator

 THE RIGHT HAND OF THE ILLUMINATOR:  Relics of the right hand of Gregory I the Illuminator housed  in a silver case  (5th century) having a form of an arm and fingers (in the Right Hand). According to the traditional charter of the Armenian church the presence of the Right Hand of the Illuminator in the Catholicosate is compulsory, as a symbol of patriarchal rank.  It is used for benediction  and anointing.  The Right Hand of the Illuminator together with Christ's Crucifixion Holy Plank and Holy Spear of Geghard is the main sanctuary and is used for the benediction of the Holy Chrism. After the death of St. Gregory the I the Illuminator (325/326) his relics were spread all over Armenia. According to Ghazar Parpetsi during the time of Vardanians , when the nakharars (Armenian: նախարար. Title of the highest order in ancient and medieval Armenian nobility) were returning from Persia with fictitious apostasy in order to remind them that they were Christians the spiritual class welcomed them with ''the relics of St. Gregory who was a martyr for mission''. According to his next testimony , when Vardan Mamikonian returned from Persia ( there in 485 he was recognized as a sparapet) with ''the Armenian faithful nakharars'', Hovhannes Mandakuni  welcomed them ''with the holy relics of  hermit martyr Gregory and accompanied them all to the court''.

 Worship of relics has developed during the religious struggle after the Meeting of Chalcedon . Relics of Greory I the Illuminator were also mentioned in the works of bibliographers  Sebeos, Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th century), Hovhannes VI Draskhanakerttsi (9-10 centuries), Asoghik (10th century),  Vardan Areveltsi, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Mkhitar Ayrivanetsi (13th century), Arakel Dvridzetsi (17th century) etc. According to Movses Kaghankatvatsi  Nerses III Tayetsi has transferred most  of Gregory I the Illuminator's relics to Vagharshapat with the help of patrician Gregory Mamikonian. Connected with some ecclesiastical-political issues we have no information about the rest of the relics: the only remained relic is the Right Hand of the Illuminator. It was first mentioned in the '' Tught Yndhanrakan (“General Paper”) of Nerses Shnorhali as one of the main sanctuaries of the Catholicosate. Vardan Vardapet states that after being transferred from place to place so many times ( in the 5th century Byzantine Emperor Zenon  has taken them to Constantinopolis, then they were brought back and put in Zvartnots and in other places) the only relic that was preserved was ''The right hand – light absorptive and graceful''. Armenian Catholicoses blessed the people with The Right Hand of The Illuminator in exceptional cases.

Constantine II Katuketsi   refused to become catholicos (did not accept the Latin oriented policy of Hethum II), put on patriarchal clothing , raised the Right Hand of the Illuminator, blessed the Armenian Kingdom and the whole world and left the Catholicosate. After the fall of Hromkla  (1292) Egyptian sultan captured  Stephanos IV Hromklaetsi together with the sanctuaries of the Catholicosate and the Right Hand of the Illuminator. According to Arakel Davridzetsi  being captured to Egypt ''When the Right Hand of the Illuminator was brought to the palace it punished them by death like foreigners who were punished by reliquary. The number of the dead people was innumerous   when the Right Hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator was returned to Cilicia to the King Hethum  the Pious. Only after that the wrath was over'' (''History'', 1988, page 325). Such a comparison is made in the Old Testimony with the main sanctuary, Ark of the Covenant, considering  the Right Hand of the Illuminator Reliquary of the Armenian covenant. It is mentioned in the sources of that time about that the Right Hand of the Illuminator disappeared from the Catholicosate of Sis while being transferred to Etchmiadzin (1441) and approximately four years later it was found in Etchmiadzin.

 In other sources of the same period it is mentioned that the disappeared Right Hand of the Illuminator was found in Sis and the Ajapahians were to protect it. In 1461 with the help of the karakoyunli Jahanshah khan the Catholicos of Akhtamar, Zakaria III (1434-64) became Catholicos.  After a year he was forced to leave the Mother See and took the Right Hand of the Illuminator with him. The people of Vaspurakan welcomed it with jubilation which proved the universal love and worship towards it. Later with the efforts of Vrtanes bishop who was one of the members of brotherhood of  St. Astvatsatsin Monastery of  Otsop near Nakhijevan the Right Hand of the Illumianator was returned to Etchmiadzin in an adventure-like way . For the second time the Right Hand was removed from Etchmiadzin after the deportation made by shah Abbas I (1604) Together with other sanctuaries he took the Right Hand of the Illuminator to Spahan (see Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin). Pilipos I Aghbaketsi managed to return it to St. Echmiadzin in 1663. Another Right Hand is preserved in the St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of Julfa, which is supposed to have a relic in it. During the hard times of the history when catholicoses needed to leave the Mother See in order to stand for the political power, they took the Right Hand of the Illuminator with them in order to prove the verification of the patriarchal Holy See and its position. From  5-15 centuries, as a result of political circumstances, the Holy See together with Right Hand of the Illuminator was removed to Dvin (484-931), Akhtamar (931-944), Argina (922-992), Ani (922-1065), Tsamndav (1066-1105), Karmir Monastery of Shoughri on Black mount (1105-16), Tsovk (1116-1141) and again to Echmiadzin (from 1141 up to now).

 

Source: Encyclopedia ''Christian Armenia'', chief editor Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Yerevan, 2002.

 

 

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