Agathangelos (in Armenian Ագաթանգեղոս, in Greek Ἀγαθάγγελος "bearer of good news"), appropriately so named, was a supposed secretary of Tiridates III, King of Armenia, under whose name there has come down a life of the first apostle of Armenia, Gregory the Illuminator, who died about 332. It purports to exhibit the deeds and discourses of Gregory, and has reached us in Armenian and in Greek. The text of this history has been considerably altered, but it has always been in high favor with the Armenians. The Greek text is now recognized as a translation, made probably in the latter half of the sixth century, while the Armenian is original and belongs to the latter half of the fifth century.[citation needed] Von Gutschmid maintains that the unknown author made use of a genuine life of St. Gregory, also of a history of his martyrdom and of that of St. Ripsime and her companions. Historical facts are intermingled in this life with legendary or uncertain additions, and the whole is woven into a certain unity by the narrator, who may have assumed his significant name from his quality of narrator of "the good news" of Armenia's conversion. It has been translated into several languages, and Greek and Latin translations are found in the Acta Sanctorum Bollandistarum, tome viii.
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