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Gregory IV Dgha ("the Child", or "the Young") was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1173 to 1193. Despite his nickname, he was around forty when he assumed the role of Catholicos.

When Nerses IV the Gracious died, he attempted to pass the diocese onto the younger of his two nephews, but the older - Gregory - enjoyed the support of Prince Mleh and was thus able to obtain the Catholicos' seat. He continued the policies of his uncles Nerses and Gregory in seeking accommodations with other Christian churches. This position was resisted by monastic communities in various Muslim-ruled parts of Armenia who were more strictly anti-Chalcedonian, and negotiations with the Byzantine Greeks mostly broke down after the death of Manuel I Komnenos. In the 1180s he turned to seeking conciliation with the Papacy, including sending an envoy to Pope Lucius III.

He died after a fall from his horse in 1193.

Notes

1. Frazee, The Christian Church in Cilician Armenia, 177.
2. Frazee, The Christian Church in Cilician Armenia, 179.
3. Frazee, The Christian Church in Cilician Armenia, 181.

References

• Frazee, Charles A. (1976), "The Christian Church in Cilician Armenia: Its Relations with Rome and Constantinople to 1198", Church History, 45 (2), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Catholicoi of Cilicia
• Armenian Apostolic Christians
• 1193 deaths
• 12th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops