The 19th Day of the Blessed Month of Tout
Commemoration of St.Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians
On this day we commemorate the martyrdom of St.Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians, who became a martyr without bloodshed. He made himself a slave of the country of the Armenia in the days of King Dertades about the year 270 A.D. This king was not Christian. When he came into the temple to offer up incense to the idols, he summoned the saint to offer up incense with him, but he would not do it. The king inflicted upon him severe tortures and finally cast him in an empty pit. The Saint lived there for fifteen years.
Near the pit lived an old widow, and she saw in a vision someone telling her to make bread regularly and cast it into this pit, and she continued to do this for fifteen years. It happened that the king ordered the killing of the virgins of Arbsima and Ghabata, and their friends. Because he wished to marry St.Arbsima, he became exceedingly sad at her killing, and he was attacked by a serious illness from which he did not recover until his sister saw in a dream someone telling her, "Unless you bring up Gregory out of the pit, your brother will not be cured." They brought the saint out of the pit, and he prayed over the king, and he was cured from his sickness.
May his prayers and blessings be with us all, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.