GREGORY OF DATEV (1346–1410), or, in Armenian, Grigor Tatevatsi, was a Christian theologian, philosopher, and saint of the Armenian church. Gregory of Datev was born in Tʿmkaberd, a city in the province of Vayots Dsor, in northeastern Armenia. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Monastery of Aprakunikʿ to study under the famous philosopher and theologian Hovhannes of Orotʿn (1315–1388), with whom he remained for twenty-eight years. With his teacher, Gregory traveled in 1373 to Jerusalem, where he was ordained a celibate priest. He received the degree of doctor of the church in Erzinka (present-day Erzincan, eastern Turkey) and in 1387 was elevated to the rank of supreme doctor of the church at the Monastery of Aprakunikʿ. At the death of Hovhannes and upon his express wish, Gregory became the dean of the theological school, which in 1390 moved to the Monastery of Datev.

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