Catholicos Gregory IX Mousabegian 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 ...

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

between 1439 and 1446.

Biography

During his reign a movement began to return the Catholicate of All Armenians to historical Armenia. In 1441 at

Vagharshapat Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

(also known as Etchmiadzin), with the participation of more than 300 religious and lay delegates, an election of a new Catholicos look place while the Catholicos of All Armenians Gregory IX was living in Cilicia. It is a riddle of history on what basis the election of a new Catholicos took place in Vagharshapat. It is unknown if Gregory was invited to return to

Etchmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

and refused or if he suggested that a new Catholicos be elected there. Some authorities in the 18th century suggested that this was the case and that the Catholicos said, "I will remain here and die and after my death the See of Sis will cease to exist of its own accord." Exact circumstances may never be known. Some lists of the Armenian Catholicoi list him as only reigning for two years and consider him deposed after the 1441 election. Whatever the case, he continued to reign as Catholicos in Cilicia until his death in 1446 and was succeeded as Catholicos at Cilicia by Garabed II and there have been two Catholicoi of the

ever since. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory 09 Of Cilicia Catholicoi of Cilicia 1446 deaths Armenian Oriental Orthodox Christians Year of birth unknown 15th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops