Tiridates the Great

Tiridates the Great (Tiridates IV) was king of Armenia of the Arsacid dynasty, from 298 to 330. He proclaimed Christianity the state religion of Armenia and is venerated as a saint by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

He was the son of Khosrov II. After his father was killed by a Persian named Anak, the children were taken to Roman territory, and Tiridates made a military career. Using the victories of the Roman armies, he entered eastern Armenia and raised the people. By the treaty of Nisibis between the emperor Galerius and the shah Narses of Persia, he was set on the throne of all Armenia with the consent of Rome.

Under Diocletian, Tiridates persecuted Christians. According to the tradition of the Armenian Church, the priest Gregory, a loyal servant of the king, refused to take part in the sacrifices to the goddess Anahit and bore "twelve tortures". Learning that Gregory was the son of Anak, the killer of his forebear, the king threw him into a pit in the capital reserved for those condemned to death. There he stayed thirteen years.

Also according to tradition, Tiridates had Hripsime put to death, a Roman virgin who had taken refuge in Armenia and refused his hand. Seized by remorse, he fell into a sickness in which he wandered the mountains and forests, followed by his maddened courtiers. His sister, who had become a Christian, said that an angel had announced that the king would be healed when Gregory was set free. The king consented, and Gregory healed him. Tiridates and his court went to Ashtishat, the centre of Armenian paganism, and destroyed the idols and temples, and an assembly of notables chose Gregory the Illuminator as head of the Church (catholicos). The bishop of Caesarea consecrated him primate of Armenia. In the year 301, or in 314, Tiridates was baptised with his people, at Gregory's urging. Armenia became the first officially Christian country.

Gregory built a metropolitan church at Vagharshapat, set in order and taught the Armenian clergy, and preached the Gospel in Iberia (Georgia). Tiridates died in the year 330, and after his death Armenia lived a century of wars and disorder. The source shows no canonization in the Orthodox Church.