History of Vardan and the Armenian War

cause of all things regarding Vardan and the deeds that were performed in that time in the land of the Armenians," was an old man, "afflicted in body" (certainly by such an illness that makes life bitter), "and he had not found health through the efforts of physicians, and he was weary of his sickly life and yearned more for death than for life." These are the words of his treasurer, Ghevond, but they nevertheless show the condition of the temperament in which the holy Ghevond found himself, and which must also have affected his moral state. There is no doubt that even divine zeal can present different phenomena according to the nature and circumstances of the individual.

Ghevond appears to us for the first time in the third Yeghanak Season/Chapter. Hundreds of Mog Zoroastrian priests arrive with a multitude of troops in Bagrevand, in a large village-town called Anggh, and they want to break the door of the church and establish the worship of fire. Ghevond, who was there at that time, without taking the consent of the princes, without even asking for the advice of the bishops, or weighing the enemy and his own strength, immediately gathers the people, has the Mog’s wagons broken with staves, and terrifies and scatters the mob. That was the beginning of the rebellion.

We see Ghevond a second time in the fifth Yeghanak, when, going with Vardan’s army to the plain of Avarayr, he speaks to the troops on the night preceding the battle. The first half of this speech is perhaps the weakest part of Eghishe. But gradually, the thoughts intensify in accordance with the circumstances and the character of the speaker. The feelings explained in the latter half are kneaded with such intense bitterness, and human suffering—even the weaknesses of nature, such as hunger and thirst, or the change of seasons, which the all-wise Creator has joined with various appetites and pleasures to make life desirable for man—are described in such black colors that even the most soul-tormenting piety is not enough to explain it.

1. Parpetsi 1873, p. 304. Dze-n-tu-e says more regarding the ruin of the land of Armenia; he also says to Ghevond: "We have heard about you, that no one is as knowledgeable as you regarding the laws of the Christians. And in your own..." 2. Eghishe, 8. 68.