3rd–4th century
Saint Gregory the Illuminator
A hieromartyr who survived fifteen years in a pit of snakes and became the Illuminator who brought all of Armenia to Christianity.
Biography
Gregory was the son of Anak, who murdered King Khosrov of Greater Armenia in league with the Persians; when the Armenians took revenge by killing the murderer's whole family, only two children escaped, Gregory among them, and he grew up a Christian in Caesarea of Cappadocia.
There he met Tiridates, son of the murdered king, whom he chose to help rather than avoid. When Tiridates became king of Armenia and learned who Gregory was, he had him tortured and thrown into a pit of snakes, where he survived for fifteen years thanks to a widow who secretly brought him bread. When Tiridates later lost his sanity, he was healed through Gregory's prayers and baptised along with the whole nation, making Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.