Saint Gregory of Narek

Saint Gregory of Narek was an Armenian monk and priest, a theologian, mystic, and poet whom the Church honors as a Doctor. He lived at the turn of the eleventh century in the monastery of Narek on Lake Van, in the lands of historic Armenia that today belong to Turkey. His liturgical memorial falls on February 27.

The exact dates of his life are not known. He was born about the year 950 in the region of Andzevatsik, into a family of men of letters. His father, Khosrov, was a writer and later became a bishop. His mother died early. Tradition has also preserved the names of Gregory’s two brothers, the elder John and the younger Sahak. The boy’s teacher was Ananias, a relative of his mother and abbot of the monastery of Narek, which had a respected school of Sacred Scripture and of the teaching of the Fathers of the Church.

Gregory entered this monastery in his youth and spent almost his whole life there. He was a priest, and the Church’s liturgical books also call him an abbot. He took part in the disputes about the faith, especially against the sect of the Tondrakians, which rejected the hierarchy, the sacraments, and the liturgy. He defended the efficacy of the sacraments and the mediation of the Church. He himself also met with false accusations of errors in doctrine. Even in his lifetime he was regarded as a holy man.

He did not write much. He left a commentary on the Song of Songs, panegyrics in honor of the Holy Cross, the Mother of God, and the apostles, and about twenty hymns and odes. The best known is the Book of Lamentations, a collection of ninety-five prayers written in 1003. Armenians simply call it the Narek and prize it most highly, right after the Gospel.

In this book Gregory joins poetry with prayer and speaks to God in the name of all people: “I have voluntarily taken upon myself all faults, from those of the first father down to the last of his descendants.” He called himself the least of poets and the last of teachers. Pope Francis pointed to him as an example of a monk who intercedes for the whole world by his prayer.

He died about the year 1005 and was buried in the monastery of Narek. The faithful began at once to visit his tomb, and the Armenian Church entered his name in its calendar early on. The monastery and the tomb were destroyed after the massacres of the Armenians in 1915 and 1916.

He has been venerated as a saint since the time of his death, and the Roman Martyrology also lists him with this title. John Paul II, in the encyclical Redemptoris Mater, called him one of the outstanding glories of Armenia. The Armenian Catholic patriarchs sought the title of Doctor for him. Pope Francis proclaimed him a Doctor of the Universal Church on April 12, 2015, in Saint Peter’s Basilica, on the centenary of the massacres of the Armenians, and in 2021 he inscribed his memorial in the General Roman Calendar.