Gregory III

OF ARMENIA (named BAHLAVUNI, and surnamed the small Vgaiaser or Martyrophilus), was born in 1092. After the death of his uncle Basil, he was consecrated patriarch in 1113, in conformity with the dispositions which were made by Gregory II. But several bishops found fault with the new patriarch as too young, and refused to recognise him. One among them, David of Aghthamar, was consecrated patriarch at the Council of Droroi-Vankh. But this usurpation was condemned in a council convocated in 1114 by Gregory III, and composed of two thousand five hundred bishops and doctors, who established the principle that for the election of a patriarch in the future it should be necessary to have the unanimous consent of the four archbishops. Gregory lived in good understanding with the Romish Church, and died in 1166, having arranged that his brother, Nurses IV, should become his successor. He left hymns, which are very well written and which are still sung in the solemnities of the Armenian Church. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.