The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Nerses I the Great
d. AD 373 · Catholicos of Armenia · Reformer · Armenia
The Nicene Age
Who Nerses I the Great was
Descendant of the Illuminator and the reforming catholicos who, at the council of Ashtishat, gave Armenia its first hospices, leper-houses, and a monastic rule on the Cappadocian model he had learned at Caesarea. P'awstos Buzand, who tells his life, reports that King Pap poisoned him at a banquet for his outspokenness.
P'awstos Buzand alone within the horizon.
Common questions
When did Nerses I die?
Nerses I the Great is dated d. AD 373 in the archive, which places Nerses I in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).
Which early sources mention Nerses I?
Nerses I the Great is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from P'awstos Buzand. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Nerses I from?
The archive associates Nerses I the Great with Armenia.
Who were Nerses I’s contemporaries?
The archive links Nerses I the Great to 9 other figures, including Husik I of Armenia, Vrtanes I of Armenia, Pʼawstos Buzand and Sahak I the Great. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
P'awstos Buzand, History of the Armenians V.24 (c. AD 470; original Armenian, summarized)
c. AD 475[First attested ~100 years after his death. P'awstos relates that King Pap, chafing under the catholicos's rebukes, mixed death into the cup at a banquet at Khakh; the bishops carried Nerses out dying, and Armenia counted as martyr the reformer who had built her hospices and leper-houses after the council of Ashtishat.]P'awstos Buzand · source text
Connected in the archive
People
- Husik I of Armenia
- Vrtanes I of Armenia
- Pʼawstos Buzand
- Sahak I the Great
- Khad
- Pʼaren of Ashtishat
- Shahak I of Manazkert
- Epiphanius the Ascetic
- Gind
Named alongside Nerses I in the sources
These figures are placed with Nerses I by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Nerses I naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Nerses I.
- 1Armeniaprovince only