136 Memoir of St. Nierses Clajensis. [March, 



minds such unwholesome principles, as are calculated to render human 

 nature waste and deformed. There are also extant several epistles 

 written by Nierses to different individuals, about matters temporal and 

 spiritual, amongst which his correspondence with the authorities of 

 Greece, relative to the contemplated union of the Greek and Armenian 

 Churches, claims pre-eminence. Of this I shall have occasion to give 

 a detailed account in the following pages : 



The attention of Nierses the Graceful was chiefly engrossed by a 

 fervent desire of introducing various useful plans of improvement into 

 the Church of Armenia. He succeeded in his endeavours of reforming 

 it from the remnants of those irregularities, which were some of the 

 baleful consequences of foreign invasions, and which were still predo- 

 minant in several parts of Armenia. He strove with great vigilance to 

 restore to the Church that splendour, which it enjoyed during the 

 glorious reign of the Christian kings of Armenia. He ordered old 

 copies of the Prayer Book of the Armenian Church to be brought to 

 him from various distinguished monasteries of Armenia major, and by 

 a careful comparison of their contents, he modelled the liturgy with 

 considerable improvements, which is to this day in general use amongst 

 all the Armenians. He made several additions to the Prayers that 

 were read on Good Friday and the Pentecost. According to the autho- 

 rity of Mukhithar, the pontiff, it appears that up to the time of Nierses 

 the Graceful, the Church of Armenia performed the ordination of priests 

 and bishops conformably to the custom and ceremonies of the Greek 

 Church ; but Nierses, on his elevation to the pontifical throne, adopt- 

 ed a new mode of ordination, not materially different from those of the 

 sister Churches. 



Prior to the beginning of the twelfth century, poetry was a perfect 

 blank in Armenian literature. Though metrical pieces and songs can 

 be traced in our history to have been repeated and sung by the Arme- 

 nians in different periods, yet no record is handed down to us as to the 

 existence of regular poetry in the Armenian language. According to 

 a faithful writer* of that time, great credit is due to Nierses the 



* Nierses Lambronensis, a contemporary and relation of Nierses the 

 Graceful,"pays a handsome and just tribute to his genius, learning, and virtues 

 in a poetical panegyric which he composed on him shortly after his death. In 

 alluding to the honor due to him for his being the first who introduced poetry 

 into the Armenian language, the panegyrist writes thus : 



±nJb pm^afu ,n,u, } [i 3 ^o,^ " Who first with grace Homeric numbers strung, 

 [ynuJhu.unp wmn-fo <j-«no (/ . And touchingly in fair Armenia sung, 

 '|, C, nct i_npuh £, V % ,nnL.o, u His verses soothe and elevate the soul, 

 f) r A{ t .ft»» ku.fizf Xfyv And bend our stubborn hearts to their control." 



