Catholicos Gregory IX Mousabegian was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church at Cilicia between 1439 and 1446. [1]
In 1439, the national clergy summoned Gregory IX, newly elected, to appear at Echmiadzin (now called Vagharshapat); it suspected that because of his Uniate leanings and friendliness towards Rome that he preferred to stay in Sis and declined the invitation. [2] [3] He also gave permission for the clergy to elect another Catholicos. [2] The national synod of 700 bishops, clerics, and Armenian nobility met again in Echmiadzin in May of 1441 and elected Kyrakos of Virap as the new Catholics. [2] [4]
It is a riddle of history on what basis the election of a new Catholicos took place in Vagharshapat. It is unknown if Gregory was invited to return to Echmiadzin and refused or if he suggested that a new Catholicos be elected there. Some authorities in the 18th century suggested that this was the case and that the Catholicos said, "I will remain here and die and after my death the See of Sis will cease to exist of its own accord." Exact circumstances may never be known.
Some lists of the Armenian Catholicoi list him as only reigning for two years and consider him deposed after the 1441 election. [5]
Whatever the case, he continued to reign as Catholicos in Cilicia until his death in 1446 and was succeeded as Catholicos at Cilicia by Garabed II and there have been two Catholicoi of the Armenian Apostolic Church ever since.
Kozan, formerly Sis, is a municipality and district of Adana Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,903 km2, and its population is 132,703 (2022). It is 68 kilometres northeast of Adana, in the northern section of the Çukurova plain. The Kilgen River, a tributary of the Ceyhan, flows through Kozan and crosses the plain south into the Mediterranean. The Taurus Mountains rise up sharply behind the town.
The Catholicos of All Armenians is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Armenian diaspora. The Armenian Catholicos is also known as the Armenian Pontiff and by other titles. According to tradition, the apostles Saint Thaddeus and Saint Bartholomew brought Christianity to Armenia in the first century. Saint Gregory the Illuminator became the first Catholicos of All Armenians following the nation's adoption of Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD. The seat of the Catholicos, and the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Armenian Church, is the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, located in the city of Vagharshapat.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian institutions. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates III, of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus of Edessa in the 1st century. St. Gregory the Illuminator was the first official primate of the church. It is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Church or Armenian Gregorian Church.
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The Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church. Since 1930, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has been headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon. Aram I is the Catholicos of Cilicia since 1995.
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Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, known in Armenian as simply the Mother See, is the governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is headquartered around Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia and is the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the head of the church.
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Patriarch Gregory or Catholicos Gregory may refer to: