Zacharias III. from Aghtamar

Zacharias III. von Aghtamar (Zak'aria Ałt'amarc'i) († 1464 in Vałaršapat ) was a Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church .

Zacharias, who came from a noble family, appeared from 1419 as the coadjutor of his uncle, the Catholicos Dawit 'of Aghtamar (1393–1433), and was his successor at the beginning of 1434 as head of the special Catholicate of Aghtamar .

When the Catholicos seat was re-established in Etschmiadzin near Vałaršapat by the Eastern Armenian Synod of 1441 and after the rejection of the Catholicos Gregory IX. (1439–1446), moving from Sis in Cilician Lesser Armenia to Greater Armenia , Zacharias was one of the candidates for the renewed cathedra, but the Vardapet Kirakos Virapec'i (1441–1443; † 1448) was preferred to him. After his fall, Zacharias did not recognize the subsequent Catholicos Grigor Makvec'i (1443–1465) and after Kirakos' death claimed the dignity of a "Catholicos of All Armenians". With political support he was able to oust Grigor from Etchmiadzin in 1460 and take possession of his throne. Forced to retreat to Ałt'amar in 1461, he kidnapped the main relics of Etchmiadzin, including the hand of Gregory the Illuminator, which was important for the ordination of a Catholic . In the following years he was able to gain a foothold in Vałaršapat, but was poisoned there in 1464.

His wish to restore the lost Armenian kingdom in the east, Zacharias could not realize himself, but, for one and last time, his successor and cousin, Stephanos V of Aghtamar (1465-1487), the 1466 Smbat Sefedinean , a nephew Zacharias III, anointed king of Vaspurakan .

literature

• Edda Vardanyan: Un Maštoc 'd'ordination et de sacre royal du XVe siècle . In: Revue des Études Arméniennes 29 (2003/04) 167–233.