Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/396

 Armenia. Before his arrival at the seat of his administration, Comitas the pontiff died, after holding that oflSice eight years. Christopher Hkkin^ the third, of a noble family, from the province of *'*^^' the Apahunians, on the arrival of the prefect Varaztiroz, was elected pontiff by his order, and with the unanimous consent of the Arme- nian chiefs. He was a man of the most stern and unbending morality, equally impartial in his admonitions to the poor and rich. Having observed some irregularities in the conduct of the prefect and other nobles, he immediately proceeded to remark them with severity, on which account he became an object of dislike to them, and they sought to depose him from the pontificate. Christopher having observed this, and being quite regardless of worldly grandeur, resigned his office, having exercised it only for the short period of three years. He afterwards built a large convent at the foot of Mount Masis (Ararat,) near the village of Ulies, where, having collected a number of recluses, he lived in the practice of the most severe monastic discipline till the end of his life. His a. d. 628. successor in the pontificate was Ezr from the m;;? village of Pharajnakert, in the province of Nig. In the first year of his spiritual sway, the emperor Heraklius recaptured the holy cross, which his troops had lost in an engagement

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