Basil of Ani

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Basil of Ani or Basil Pahlavuni (Armenian: Բարսեղ Փահլավունի; Barsegh Pahlavuni; died 1113) was Armenian Catholicoi of Cilicia from 1105 to 1113.

Basil was the nephew of Catholicos Gregory II the Martyrophile. He was the bishop of Seljuk-occupied Ani from 1081 to 1105. In 1090 he was appointed the bishop of Marash which enjoyed the support of Philaretos Brachamios. In 1103 he visited Edessa where he was received by Baldwin II magnificently. When Vahram (birthname of Catholicos Gregory II) died on the 5th December, 1105 in Karmir Vank (Red Monastery), in the principality of Kesun, he was in charge of the burial and was elected as the new Catholikos.

He moved his residence several times from Zamintia (Tzamandos) to the confines of Cilicia, then being filled with Armenian refugees, fleeing from Seljuk invasions. The monastery of Shugur on the Orontes River, in Sev Ler (Amanus, Black Mountains), became a favorite home for Basil. He died on 13 November, 1113 when a balcony accidentally collapsed. His 18-year-old nephew Gregory III Pahlavuni (1113-1166) became his successor.

[edit] References

• Charles A. Frazee: The Christian Church in Cilician Armenia. Its relations with Rome and Constantinople to 1198. In: Church History. Nr. 45/2, 1976, S. 166–184.