Saint Nerses Shnorhali as a Unique Figure in Overall Christian Thought and Praxis: Shnorhali’s Pioneering Vision of Christian Unity

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the main reasons, why Saint Nerses Shnorhali is a unique figure in the overall Christian tradition. His extraordinary achievements in the most different fields of intellectual creativity and human behaviour as a monk and a Church leader, as a highly talented poet and musician, as an original, profound interpreter and commentator of the Holy Scriptures, a great promoter of reforms or, rather, innovations in the liturgical celebration; and a charismatic mentor capable of making high culture both in its religious and profane dimensions accessible to the simplest classes of population, are certainly serious arguments to rank Shnorhali as a first-class religious leader and an exceptional figure in the overall Christian tradition.