Viro (Catholicos)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Viro
Caucasian Albanian Church
Installed596
Term ended630
PredecessorAbas
SuccessorZachary II
Personal details
Died630
DenominationChalcedonian Christianity or Monophysitism

Viro or Viroy (

Old Armenian: Վիրոյ, fl. 596 – c. 630) was the Catholicos and head of Caucasian Albanian Church
in the early 7th century. His full official title was Catholicos of Albania, Lupenia and Chola.

Life in Sassanid court

He succeeded

The History of the Country of Albania he fled to Sassanid court c. 603 after an ill-fated rebellion by Albanian nobles.[2] While Marie Brosset links this to Khosrow's attack on Byzantine Empire during Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628,[3] Dowsett finds this unconvincing.[4] He was described as a learned theologian and skillful diplomat, succeeding at learning Parsig and enjoying patronage of Queen Shirin.[4] His position as catholicos was kept secure by the guarantee of Khosrow himself.[2] He was released from the house arrest in Ctesiphon thanks to Kavad II
in 628.

Life after release

He arrived in Albania during height of

Partav. Viroy submitted and obtained peace, returning enslaved Albanians back.[4][6]

After Heraclius' entrance to Albania in 628, he baptized and then consecrated Varaz Grigor as king, serving alongside him as catholicos. He was characterised by Mkhitar Gosh as 'a holy man resplented with virtue'.[7] Viro witnessed Plague of Sheroe surging in Albania and wrote detailed account of it,[4] himself probably dying from the plague in 630.

Theological view

Viroy was described as

Stepanos Taronetsi regarded him as Chalcedonian as well.[12]

References

  1. OCLC 966822567.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  2. ^ a b Baca-Winters, Keenan (2015). From Rome to Iran: Identity and Xusro II (Thesis). UC Irvine.
  3. ^ Brosset, Marie-Félicité (1851). Additions et éclaircissements à l'Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'antiquité jusqu'en 1469 de J.-C (in French). l'Académie impériale des sciences. pp. 474–475.
  4. ^
    OCLC 445781
    .
  5. ISBN 9789004160422
    .
  6. S2CID 216601428
    .
  7. S2CID 178075464
    .
  8. OCLC 319126785.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  9. ^ Toumanoff, Cyrille (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press. p. 477.
  10. OCLC 600882151
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-86078-992-5
    .
  12. ISBN 978-3-11-079468-7
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viro_(Catholicos)&oldid=1174476467"