138 Memoir of St. Nierses Clajensis. [March, 



wrote several entertaining' fables and pleasing enigmas, with a view of 

 affording to his countrymen a source of innocent pleasure of the mind. 

 Besides those already enumerated, he produced several other little 

 works, which, like many valuable antiquities, have not escaped the de- 

 vouring jaws of time. 



The fame of the sanctity and wisdom of Nierses the Graceful hav- 

 ing spread through various countries of the globe, many distinguished 

 individuals addressed him letters comprising questions on the most dif- 

 ficult points of religion, which he answered Avith such skill as to carry 

 conviction to the mind of every reasonable being. At the special 

 desire of Vardan, one of the venerable monks of the convent of Hagh- 

 bat, he undertook writing a commentary of a sublime panegyric on the 

 Holy Cross, the production of David the philosopher, distinguished by 

 the cognomen of the Invincible. When the work was completed and 

 presented to Vardan, he highly admired the profound learning and the 

 inspired sentiments with which it abounded. There are also a few 

 philosophical treatises extant in our language, which some of our histo- 

 rians attribute to the pen of this bright luminary of the Armenian 

 Church. 



Great intimacy existed between Nierses and Georgius, primate of 

 the convent of Haghbat, who was eminently distinguished for his piety 

 and rectitude of conduct. The latter, who held a constant communica- 

 tion with the former, solicited him in a letter to use his endeavours to 

 procure a copy of the Memoirs of St. Sarkies the General. Nierses 

 succeeded in obtaining the work, which was written in the Syrian lan- 

 guage. He ordered it to be translated into Armenian by a Syrian 

 priest, named Michael, who was tolerably conversant with the Arme- 

 nian language. This translation was subsequently revised by Nierses 

 in the year 1156, while he was a bishop. A copy of this work, written 

 in Hiromcla, in the year 1198, about twenty-five years after the death 

 of Nierses, is preserved in the library of the Mukhitharian Society at 

 Venice. Annexed to this work, which appears to have been transcrib- 

 ed from the manuscript of Nierses himself, is a commentary of the 

 general Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, writ- 

 ten in a concise and comprehensive style, and compiled from the works 

 of Greek and Syriac theologists, whose names are specified. But who 

 was the compiler of this work is not known, as no mention is made of 

 him in the old records. In another copy of the same, which was writ- 

 ten in the year 1335 at the convent of St. Thaddeus, situated in the 

 province of Artaz, the compilation of the work is attributed by the 

 transcriber to Nierses. This is, however, a mere conjecture, for it 

 can be clearly perceived from the style that it is not the production of 



