1836.] Memoir of St. Nierses Clajensis. 133 



tecting the Church from the impending danger, and imposed upon 

 him the task of addressing a general letter to the Armenian inhabitants 

 of Mesopotamia, descriptive of the confession of the orthodox faith of the 

 Armenian Church, and contradictory of the heterodox opinions of the 

 Thondrakians. Nierses performed the injunctions of his brother in 

 such a successful manner, as to silence those who were inimically dis- 

 posed towards the Church, and to restore peace and unanimity amongst 

 the community of that place. 



In the year 1142, the Grecian emperor Johannes Porphtrigenitus 

 led a considerable army into the country of Cilicia, in order to put 

 down the power of the Scythians, which had already begun to assume a 

 formidable appearance in that quarter. During his short stay in the 

 city of Anarzaba, the emperor expressed a desire of having an interview 

 with the Armenian pontiff Gregory and his brother Nierses. On their 

 being presented to the emperor, they met with a kind reception, and 

 were seated next to his imperial majesty. A conversa ?^n then ensued 

 relative to the doctrines and ceremonies of the Armenian Church, and 

 the sound judgment with which they answered the interrogations of 

 the emperor, excited his regard and admiration. This afforded him a 

 favourable opportunity of acquiring a correct notion of the state of the 

 Armenian Church, and of removing from his mind that unjust prejudice 

 with which he was in the habit of viewing the Armenians. The exam- 

 ple of their monarch was soon followed by the majority of the people, 

 who began to relax in the persecution with which they afflicted a nation 

 whom by a common faith they ought to have protected from similar 

 cruelties, when inflicted by the unbelieving Musulmans. 



Apprehensive, through the perturbed state of the country, of an 

 attack upon his paternal castle of Zovs by foreign invaders, the pontiff 

 Gregory consulted his safety by quitting the place of his residence, and 

 fixing the seat of his pontificate in the fortress of Hiromcla. Built on 

 the confluence of the rivers Marzman and Euphrates, and strongly fortified 

 by nature, Hiromcla proved an insuperable bar against an invasion. 

 Formerly it was in the possession of the prince Basil the Sly, and 

 now it was under the control of the countess Joscelyn. The pontiff 

 Gregory and his brother Nierses met with a very hospitable reception 

 from this illustrious lady, who felt the greatest delight in rendering 

 their situation comfortable, and was exceedingly pleased with their 

 charming and edifying conversation. 



On the decease of her husband, who had been seized by Noured- 

 Din*, the chief of Aleppo, and who died in confinement, the dowager 

 countess Joscelyn thought it safe to quit Hiromcla for Europe. 

 * Mills's History of the Crusades, vol. i. p. 309. 



