1836.] Memoir of St. Nierses Clajensis. 139 



Nierses. Perhaps a transcript made by him from the original was 

 left in the pontifical house at Hiromcla. 



In the evening of his life, Nierses commenced writing a commen- 

 tary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. He had performed it as far as 

 " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am 

 not come to destroy, but to fulfil," when the termination of his earthly 

 career put a stop to its completion. After the lapse of a considerable 

 time, it was finished by Johannes Zorzerensis. There is another work 

 by the talented Nierses, which was intended as a guide for monastic 

 life, and which he wrote while he enjoyed the dignity of priesthood. 

 The profound learning which characterises his writings, the peculiarly 

 beautiful style in which they are composed, and the divine spirit of 

 benevolence which pervades every page of his compositions, are con- 

 vincing proofs that the author of them was endowed with a mind of 

 most extraordinary powers, and filled with divine inspiration. His 

 voluminous lucubrations, which have been handed down to us by the 

 unanimous applause of past generations, are highly creditable both to his 

 head and heart as a man, a patriot, a divine, and a philosopher. Few 

 can rise from the perusal of his works without being moved by feelings 

 of reverence and admiration for the greatness of the mind from which 

 they have emanated. Nierses Lambronensis, the grandson of Gene- 

 ral Shahan, the brother of Nierses the Graceful, who was one of his 

 distinguished contemporaries, and had many opportunities of personally 

 experiencing his mental and moral qualities, pays a just tribute to the 

 memory of this paragon of learning in a poetical panegyric which 

 minutely treats of the many amiable virtues with which he was adorned. 

 The panegyrist properly dwells on the meritorious exertions, which 

 Nierses the Graceful made to promote the public good, on his exem- 

 plary piety and devotion, his rigid and abstemious habits, his continual 

 studies and philosophical reflections, and the warm sympathies with 

 which his heart glowed in relieving the distress of the poor, the orphan, 

 the widow, the sick, the captive, and others who were doomed to suffer 

 miseries and calamities. 



During the pontificate of Nierses the Graceful, there still appeared 

 in some parts of Armenia remnants of a peculiar tribe of Armenians, 

 known under the appellation of li.fk "/"f-Ag Arevordies*, (the Sons of 



* This people had probably derived their mode of worship from the ancient 

 Persians, and perfectly agreed in the tenets of the Guebres of the present day. 

 They adhered to the doctrines of Zerdashtoi - Zoroaster, who considered the 

 sun as the grand receptacle of fire, and placed the existence of the Deity in the 

 fiery element spread over all the universe. 

 T 2 



