Nerses

Nerses is the name of three great dignitaries who have become much distinguished in the history of the Armenian Church.

1. NERSES I, THE GREAT, was a great-grandson of Gregory Photistes, the apostle of the Armenians, and was born at Vagharchabad about 310. In the year 364 he was elected bishop, and in 366, at the Council off Walarsckapat, the clergy of the country appointed him as their catholicos, or patriarch. At that time it was also decided that in future the patriarchs of Armenia should no more be consecrated by the archbishop of Caesarea, but that their own bishops should appoint and consecrate them. In his position as patriarch Nerses exhibited his great talents, especially with regard to Church discipline, his care for the poor, and other matters pertaining to his office. Twice Nerses went to Constantinople in behalf of the Armenian king Arsaces, who had revolted against the emperors Valentinian and Valens. He succeeded in appeasing the former, while the latter banished him. Theodosius the Great, Valens's successor, recalled Nerses from his banishment, and retained him a short time at Constantinople, in order to be present at the second oecumenical council in the year 381. He then returned to Armenia, where he died in 384, being poisoned by the young king, Para. His son was Sahak the Great (q.v.). See Lequien, Oriens Christianus, 1:1375.

2. NERSES KLAJETST, i.e., Klajeman (called also Nerses IV, catholicos of Armenia, and Shnorhali, i.e., "the Pleasant," because of his oratorical talents), was born between 1098 and 1100. He was the son of an Armenian prince, who destined him for the clerical order. In connection with his brother Gregory he was at first educated by the catholicos Gregory Wkajaser, i.e.μαρτυροφίλος, and afterwards by Stephanus, the abbot of the "red monastery" (Karmir Wankh), who, when Nerses was ready to enter into holy orders, consecrated him as deacon, and shortly afterwards as priest. By the unanimous desire of the clergy, Nerses accepted in 1166 the high dignity of bishop, in which position he remained until his death in 1173. When, in 1165, he accidentally met with the son-in-law of the emperor Manuel Comnenus (q.v.), he took the opportunity to address a letter to the emperor, in which he showed that there was no real dogmatical difference between the Armenian and Greek churches, and that the Armenian Church, when speaking of one nature of Christ, takes the word in the sense of person; the same also can be said of the liturgical and ritual differences in both churches. This letter gave rise to a correspondence between the two churches, which aimed at the union of both. The emperor sent the philosopher Theorianus, who held a disputation with the Armenian abbot, John Uthman, the result of which was. a mutual acknowledgment of their agreement in dogmatical as well as liturgical and ritual points. This disputation was first published by John Leunclavius (Basle, 1578), in Greek and Latin, and republished more fully by Angelo May in his Scriptorum veterum nova collectio (Romae, 1822), volume 6. Nerses, however, died before he received the consent of all the Armenian bishops to those points which the emperor, in a letter dated December, 1172, had made the basis of the union, viz., 1, to excommunicate all those who accept one nature in Christ Eutyches, Dioscurus, Severus, Timothy the hunchbacked, and the like; 2, they should acknowledge two natures in Christ, as well as two wills and two energies (ἐνέργειαι), but one person; 3, they should omit the words qui crucificus es in the Tersanctus; 4, to celebrate the Greek festivals — the annunciation of Mary, March 25; the birth of Jesus, Dec. 25; his circumcision on the 1st and his baptism on the 6th of January; his presentation in the Temple, Feb. 2; and all the festivals of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin, of John the Baptist, the holy apostles, etc.; 5, the myron should be prepared with olive-oil; 6, to use at the communion leavened bread, and wine mixed with water; 7, to allow the laity as well as the clergy, with the exception of the penitents, during divine service and communion to remain in the church; 8, to acknowledge the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh oecumenical councils; and, 9, that the catholicos should only be appointed by the Greek emperor. Nerses was a fruitful writer and a learned theologian. Of great importance for the history of the Church and doctrines are his epistles, which he wrote as bishop and catholicos with reference to theological disputes and ecclesiastical questions, and which were published' at Constantinople (1825) and Venice (1858), where also (in 1833) a Latin translation by Capelletti was published. Nerses excelled, too, as a poet, and he is said to have introduced rhyme into Armenian poetry. The Armenians regard him as their Homer. His greatest poem is Jesus the Son, a poetical epitome of the Old and New Testaments in 3825 verses; and the Word of Faith, an epitome of the four Gospels in 1502 verses. His spiritual songs are found in the hymn-books of the Armenian Church. In 1824 an edition of his poems and works was published at Venice. See Monike, in Ilgen's Zeitschriftfur hist. Theologie, 1:87 sq.; Lequien, Oriens Christianus, 1:1399; Galanus, Conciliatio, volume 1, chapter 19.