Nerses III the Builder

::''There was also a Caucasian Albanian Catholicos Nerses III, who ruled in 1235–1262.'' Nerses III the Builder ( hy, Ներսես Գ Շինող ''Nerses 3 Shinogh'') was the

Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

of the

Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

between 641 and 661. He was originally from the village of Ishkhan in Tayk. He ruled at a troubled time during which Armenia had to choose between their neighbors Byzantines and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ns along with their new conquerors the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

. Catholicos Nerses III received the title of the Builder due to the grand construction works he undertook during his reign. The most important ones were the construction of a chapel over the pit of imprisonment of

St. Gregory the Illuminator Gregory the Illuminator ( Classical hy, Գրիգոր Լուսաւորիչ, reformed: Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ, ''Grigor Lusavorich'';, ''Gregorios Phoster'' or , ''Gregorios Photistes''; la, Gregorius Armeniae Illuminator, cu, Svyas ...

Khor Virap Khor Virap ( hy, Խոր Վիրապ, lit=deep dungeon) is an Armenian monastery located in the Ararat Plain in Armenia, near the border with Turkey, about south of Artashat, Ararat Province, within the territory of ancient Artaxata. The monaster ...

(which was replaced a thousand years later by the current church) and the magnificent cathedral of Zvartnots. One tradition says he might have been buried on the northern side of the church. Lesser works include the

Agarak monastery Destroyed Armenian monastic complex of a few churches in Iĝdir province of modern Turkey. Word formation Monastery of Agarak was named by its settlement's name. Name Agarak is a historical name of the Egrek settlement in Iĝdir province of m ...

. Catholicoi of Armenia

Nerses III the Builder ::''There was also a Caucasian Albanian Catholicos Nerses III, who ruled in 1235–1262.'' Nerses III the Builder ( hy, Ներսես Գ Շինող ''Nerses 3 Shinogh'') was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 641 and 661. He ...

Doctors of the Church Year of birth unknown 7th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops {{Armenia-reli-bio-stub 7th-century Armenian people