Gregory of Narek

Who they were

Gregory was born between 945 and 951 in Vaspurakan, in historic Armenia, into a family of scholars. After his mother's early death his father, Khosrov, became archbishop of Andzevatsik and entrusted him to his uncle Anania, abbot of the monastery of Narek, a famous school of Scripture and the Fathers. There Gregory studied the Bible and the Greek poets and philosophers, became priest and abbot, and reformed the monastery.

He wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs, sermons and hymns for the people, and praises of the Virgin that anticipate the Immaculate Conception. At the end of his life he wrote the Book of Lamentations, so loved in Armenia that children read it once they had learned the alphabet. He died around 1010 at Narek, whose monastery and his tomb, a pilgrimage place for eight centuries, were destroyed during the genocide of 1915-1916.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Gregory has been honoured as a saint by the Armenian Church since the Middle Ages. Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Church in 2015.

Why that counted as sanctity

Gregory's prayer takes on itself the guilt of all humanity and asks mercy even for his enemies: 'Do not destroy those who bite me: transform them!' He is the voice of a whole persecuted people turned to God.