Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/211

166 nes, after this, consecrated his eldest son Gregory an archbishop, and sent him amongst the Aluans, by whom he was shortly after martyred. It is supposed that from this must have originated the pontificate of the Aluans. In the meantime, notwithstanding the zealous labour of Saint Vertannes, many of the Armenian chiefs relaxed from the strict observance of christian piety, by taking concubines and committing other indecencies. When Tiridates, of blessed memory, beheld these actions of his principal subjects, he besought them to desist from their iniquity, and to lead a life consistent with the purity of the christian faith: on perceiving the inefficacy of his exhortations, and that the chiefs daily departed from the paths of virtue, he became disgusted with the aifairs of the world, and relinquishing his earthly crown, devoted himself to the attainment of an heavenly one. He retired from the government, and secluded himself in the same place, on Mount Sepuh, when St. Gregory died, where he lived a life of the greatest mortification and self-denial; wholly devoting himself to the worship of his Creator and the Blessed Saviour. The chiefs then assembled together, and after deliberating on the state of the kingdom, determined to endeavour to induce their old king to return, promising,