rules of the Catholic Church (more immediately to Byzantine rules), which reform was later carried out completely by Sahak I (p. 408). He held a great reforming synod at Ashtishat (in 365?).[1] The king, Arshak III (341-367?), murdered one of his wives, Olympia, and led a life of gross immorality. So Nerses reproached him and refused to attend his court.[2] Arshak then set up the first schismatical anti-Katholikos, a certain Tshunak.[3] But Arshak's defeat and death in the Persian war (367) soon made an end of this schism. Tshunak disappears with his master. Tiran's son Pap, who succeeded him, was a worse monster than his father. His whole life is a series of abominable crimes and unspeakable immorality. Faustus says he was possessed by Devs.[4] It was this atrocious person who made the Armenian Church independent. He soon fell foul of the holy Katholikos, Nerses, and poisoned him.[5] Then Pap began undoing Nerses' reform; and the dying embers of paganism revived. The king himself appointed a new Katholikos, Yusik II. Caring nothing for church law, he had him ordained at home without regard for the rights of Cæsarea. Yusik was of the rival house of Albianos. St. Basil († 379), then Metropolitan of Cæsarea, was exceedingly indignant at this act, held a synod which denounced it, and wrote to this effect to the Armenian Church and to Pap.[6] But the breach was never healed. From this time the Armenian Katholikos never again went to Cæsarea to be ordained. Pap tried to compromise with Cæsarea, and sent a certain Faustus[7] there to be ordained. But Basil, finding that this man held with Pap and the schismatical party,[8] would neither ordain him nor give him letters for any Cappadocian bishop. Faustus then went off to Anthimos of Tyana, Basil's personal enemy, and was ordained by him. Basil ex-
- ↑ Faustus, iv. 4 (ed. cit. i. 239).
- ↑ Faustus, iv. 15 (i. p. 252).
- ↑ No Armenian bishops would ordain the intruder. He was ordained by two fugitive bishops without dioceses (Gelzer: op. cit. 155). This is the first attempt to set up a Katholikos independently of Cæsarea.
- ↑ iv. 44 (i. p. 265).
- ↑ Faustus, v. 25 (i. 290-291).
- ↑ Ib. v. 29 (i. p. 293).
- ↑ Not to be confused with the historian Faustus Byzantinus.
- ↑ It appears that there was already a rightful bishop in the see to which the king wanted to intrude Faustus.
