Komitas Aghtsetsi

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Saint Hripsime Church

Komitas I Aghtsetsi (

Etchmiadzin; the construction of the Church of St. Hripsime, which stands to this day on the site of an earlier edifice; and the building of the Church of St. Gregory in Dvin
.

Komitas was also the editor of the collection of Armenian translations of patristic texts (including extracts from lost texts, e.g. Timothy Aelurus) known as the Seal of the Faith.

A devout Catholicos, he was never far away from disputes regarding the faith. He was a vociferous participant in doctrinal disputes. He sided with the orthodox school of thought of the Armenian Church during the Council of Ctesiphon (615–616). The Council concluded with the acceptance of Monophysitism; the Chalcedonian and Nestorian doctrines were rejected.[1]

A poet and musician, Komitas I contributed to the hymnography of the Armenian Church. His

Armenian Church hymn-book or Sharaknots.[2] This hymn, noted for its poetic and lyric beauty, was composed to commemorate the completion of the rebuilding of the Church of St Hripsime. It is claimed to be the first Armenian hymn in praise of a post-biblical saint, based on the account of St Hripsime and her companions related in the History of Armenia composed by the fifth-century father of Armenian historiography, Agathangelos.[1]

References

  • Catholicos Komitas, Կնիք հաւատոյ, Etchmiazin, 1914 (reprinted under the title Le sceau de la foi, Lisbon, 1974).
Preceded by
Catholicos of the Holy See of St. Echmiadzin and All Armenians

615–628
Succeeded by