The arrival of the relics of Surb Karapet (The Holy Precursor, John the Baptist) in Armenia figures prominently in the conversion narrative of the Armenians. The History of Taron purports to be a fourth-century history of the Christianization of Armenia, narrated in two parts. The first deals with St. John’s relics and their disposition. The second is concerned with events in and around the Monastery of St. John the Karapet in Mush (now in Turkey) and the heroic battles fought against invading Persian troops in the region. The work was probably composed between the tenth and twelfth centuries to give both legitimacy and primacy to the monastery, which claimed to have significant portions of the relics of St. John the Baptist. In this first publication of the history, St. Gregory the Illuminator, the bishop credited with the conversion of Greater Armenia and the first Katholikos (head of the Armenian Church), is pictured across from the beginning of the text and alongside decorative devices taken from established manuscript tradition.