Aristakes I.

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St. Aristakes I. , also called “Aristarkes Parthev” (the Parthian), ( Armenian Սբ. Արիստակես Ա. Պարթև ) (* around 261; † 327/333) was his successor from 320/325 to 327/333 AD by Gregory the Illuminator the second Catholicos (Patriarch) of the Armenian Apostolic Church revered and of their trailers as a saint.

origin

Aristakes came from the Suren-Pahlav family, a branch of the Arsacids , who were great kings of Persia and kings of Armenia from 54 to 428 AD . He was the younger son of his father, St. Gregory the Illuminator . He was the first Catholicos (Patriarch) of the Armenian Apostolic Church , and with the help of the king he converted ( Tiridates III ) he succeeded in making Armenia the first Christian state, who is therefore venerated as an Apostle of Armenia. Of his mother, a Christian woman, only the first name, Mariam, is known, but not the origin.

Life

Aristakes grew up in Caesarea in Cappadocia (today Kayseri in Turkey), was educated there spiritually and ordained a priest. He was later ordained bishop there and initially worked as his father's coadjutor . Aristarkes was chosen by his father as his successor, whereby a system of inheritance of the highest spiritual function was established in that the office of Catholicos was exercised by members of the Gregoride family (descendants of St. George the Illuminator) until 439.

Aristakes succeeded - depending on the source - in 320 or 325 as the second Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church after his father had withdrawn from his offices to end his life in solitude - last (331 AD) in one Cave at the foot of the Sebuh Mountain in Upper Armenia - where he died after a few years (325?). As the head of the Armenian Church, Aristakes successfully endeavored to strengthen Christianity not only in Armenia, but also in the Caucasus and Anatolia .

From Tiridates III. , King of Armenia (285 - c. 330) called "the great" or "the saint" because he created the material basis of the Armenian Church, became Aristakes - the grandson of Anak Suren-Pahlav , who was his father, King Khosrow II. (Tiridates II.) Had murdered around 252 - 325 sent as a representative of Armenia to the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, the First Council of Nicea (May 20 - July 25, 325). There it was primarily about the settlement of the dispute that broke out in Alexandria with Arianism about the nature of Christ and the formulation of the Nicean creed . For King Tiridates it was probably also about strengthening relations with the Roman Empire and with Emperor Constantine I “the Great”, as he expected a consolidation of his rule by emphasizing the commonality of religion.

No concrete contribution is known from Aristakes to the deliberations of the council, but he is noted in the files of the council as Aristanes or Aristakios among the church representatives present.

Despite the efforts of the patriarch, Christianization was still a long way from overcoming the resistance of the masses of the rural population or that of the representatives of the feudal nobility, who relied on the old indigenous paganism to assert the power of the king and the influence of the Oppose church. This went so far that the head of the Armenian Church, the Catholicos St. Aristakes , was murdered around 333 by a nobleman in the district of Dzophq ( Sophanene ).

Marriage and children

Aristakes was married to a woman whose name and origin are unknown. With her he had at least two sons .:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Settipani; "Nos Ancetres de l´Antiquité" Editions Christian, Paris page 66
  2. ↑ Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), Histoire du peuple arménien , private, Toulouse, 2007, ISBN 978-2-7089-6874-5 , p. 166.
  3. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian (dir.), Op. Cit. , P. 88.
  4. ↑ According to Toumanoff: "Caucasia and Byzantium" p. 223, Aristakès would have been merely coadjutor of his father, but not Catholicos, since he died a year before his father. It should be noted, however, that his father had withdrawn from his offices a few years before his death, so that Aristakes was still able to work as a Catholicos for a few years.
  5. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian (dir.), Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times , vol. I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century , Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 1997 (Reprinted 2004), ISBN 978-1403964212 , page 85.
  6. ^ René Grousset: Histoire de l´Arménie p. 125
  7. ↑ René Grousset: "Histoire de l´Arménie des origines á 1071"; Payot, Paris 1973 p. 127
  8. ↑ René Grousset: "Histoire de l´Arménie des origines á 1071"; Payot, Paris 1973 p. 125
  9. ↑ René Grousset: "Histoire de l´Arménie des origines á 1071"; Payot, Paris 1973 p. 125
  10. ^ Moise de Khoren : Histoire d´Arménie , engl. Translation by R. Thomson, Havard 1978, Chapter II LXXXXIV, p. 130.
  11. ↑ Christian Settipani; "Nos Ancetres de l´Antiquité" Editions Christian, Paris, p. 66

literature

  • René Grousset: Histoire de l´Arménie - des origines á 1071 , Payot, Paris 1973
  • Cyril Toumanoff , Studies in Christian Caucasian History , Georgetown, 1963
  • Victor Langlois: Collection des historiens Anciens et Modernes de l´Armenie , Paris, 1869
  • Gabriele Winkler: Our Present Knowledge of the History of Agat'angelos and its Oriental Versions. In: Revue des études arméniennes 16 (1980), 125-141 ISSN  0080-2549

See also: List of Katholikoi of the Armenian Apostolic Church

predecessor Office successor
Gregory the Illuminator Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church
325–333 		Vartanes I.
personal data
SURNAME Aristakes I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aristakes Parthes; Սբ. Արիստակես Ա. Պարթև
BRIEF DESCRIPTION second Catholicos of Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH at 261
DATE OF DEATH between 327 and 333