Gregory VII

OF ARMENIA (surnamed Anavarzetsi), was proposed as, successor to Jacob I in 1287, but his attachment to the doctrines of the Roman Church was so great that in his stead were elected Constantine II, and afterwards Stephen IV. On the death of the latter, who was a captive in Egypt, Gregory was appointed to fill his place in 1294. The residence of his predecessors at Hehomgla had been destroyed by the Mamelukes, and so Gregory VII selected his seat in Cilicia. His tendencies to substitute the Roman liturgy for the rites of the Armenian Church were regarded with disfavor by the monks of Great Armenia, who begged him to abstain from such unpopular innovations, Having taken the" part of the prince Sempad against king Thoros, Sempad's brother, he crowned him in 1297, and placed him in subjection to the pope. Towards the end of his life, Gregory occupied himself mostly with the reunion of the Armenian and Roman churches. He died in 1306. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.