Husik I.

Husik I. (i.e. Hesychius ), also St. Husik or Yusik I. Parthev (the Parthian), Armenian Հուսիկ Ա Պարթև (* around 302; † 348 in Thordan) was from 341/42 to 347 AD "Catholicos of Holy See of St. Echmiadzin and All Armenians ”, d. H. Catholicos ( Patriarch ) of the Armenian Apostolic Church . He is venerated by their followers as a martyr and saint .

origin

Husik came from the Gregorid family - the descendants of Gregory the Illuminator , the first Catholicos (Patriarch) of the Armenian Apostolic Church - who came from the Parthian house of the Suras-Pahlav, which in turn was a distant branch line of the Arsacids , who were the great kings of Persia and ruled as kings of Armenia from 54 to 428 AD . He was probably a son of Vartanes I , who was a Catholicos (Patriarch) of the Armenian Apostolic Church from around AD 333 to 341 and was married to a woman of unknown origin at a younger age. His grandfather was Gregory the Illuminator, the first Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (301 / (315) - 325).

biography

Catholicos (Patriarch)

Husik was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia (today Kayseri in Central Anatolia in Turkey ), grew up there, was educated for a spiritual career, ordained a priest and later also a bishop there. He initially served his father as coadjutor and followed his father's death in 341 or 342 as the 4th Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church .

This shows that the Armenian Church remained loyal to this house, which not only achieved the Christianization of the kingdom, but also proved itself in the difficult times of external and internal unrest. According to usual practice, Husik was also married at a young age and after the death of his father was requested by the clergy to give up family life in order to take over the leadership of the patriarchate.

He was the fourth Catholicos of the Gregorid family, which developed into a hereditary dynasty of patriarchs, which represented a parallel and at the same time a rivalry to the royal dynasty from the house of the Arsacids . In addition, there were family ties between the two dynasties, as not only Husik himself, but also his two sons were married to royal princesses of Armenia. This resulted during the reign of King Trdat III. (298-330) worked closely together in the interests of the state, but led to a dramatic confrontation under the rule of his successor.

After the death of Husik's father, the Catholicos Vartanes I , under whose influence a system of strict Christian austerity prevailed in Armenia , there was - probably as a reaction - after his death a loosening of customs, not least of which the young King Tigranes VII . (approx. 338-350) was significantly involved. Husik, who was a strong advocate of the teachings of the First Council of Nicaea , did not take this lightly, but saw it as an invitation to vice and a return to the pagan practices of the past.

martyr

In order to put an end to this decline in customs and the return to pagan customs, Husik wanted to turn things around through a direct confrontation with the king. On a holiday in 347 he was with the court in the king's castle in Bnabel in the great Dzophq in the historical province of Sophene . At the beginning of mass, Husik refused the king entry to the church. Instead of understanding this as an occasion to change his behavior, Tigranes saw this as an attack on his sovereignty, which he saw as impaired by the growing influence of the patriarch, who was also his brother-in-law, and which he now publicly questioned before his entire court has been. The king therefore decided to take drastic measures. He had the Catholicos grabbed and beaten by his men. Husik, who was then taken to Thordan in the historic Daranaliq district, died soon after of his injuries.

The fourth Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church ended up as a martyr and is therefore venerated as a saint by the Armenian Church. The old choir bishop Daniel, an old colleague of Gregory the Illuminator of Syrian origin, who was the head of the church in the province of Taron, wanted to admonish the king and therefore went to Baraedch in the district of Altznig, where the king was at that time. The audience was short-lived, however: no sooner had he finished his lecture than had Tigranes arrested and strangled in prison.

Succession

After the death of Patriarch Husik, there was an interruption in the line of succession to the function of Catholicos in the direct descendants of Gregory the Illuminator, as both Husik's sons were either unworthy of the office, as Moses von Choren thinks, or were not prepared to do so To take over the office of Catholicos. Successor to René Grousset was a relative, Pharen von Akhtichat (Ashishatt), who was Catholicos from 348 to 352 and careful enough not to criticize the king.

Marriage and children

Husik I. was at a young age after Faustus of Byzantium with a daughter of King Trdat III. called Tiridates the Great of Armenia (approx. 280-330), who together with Husik's grandfather, Gregory the Illuminator, had made the Kingdom of Armenia the first Christian state.

Children: After Christian Settipani

• Pap (* approx. 315, † 348/53), deacon, was murdered at a festive dinner ∞ Varazdukt Arshakuni (* approx. 310), daughter of King Khosrow III. of Armenia
• Atanakines (* 315, † 348/53), deacon, was murdered at a banquet ∞ Bambishen Arshakuni (* approx. 315), daughter of King Khosrow III. of Armenia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mourad Hasrat ?? 'yan, “Affinités architecturales arméno-byzantines au haut Moyen Âge: l'exemple des basiliques mononefs”, dans Nina Garsoïan (dir.), L'Arménie et Byzance: histoire et culture , actes du colloque organisé à Paris par le Center de recherches d'histoire et de civilization byzantines, Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1996, ISBN 9782859443009 , p. 116.
2. ^ René Grousset: Histoire de l´Arménie , Payot, Paris, 1973, p. 132
3. ↑ 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 , p. 86.
4. ↑ Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), Histoire du peuple arménien , private, Toulouse 2007, ISBN 978-2-7089-6874-5 , p. 166.
5. ^ René Grousset: Histoire de l´Arménie , Payot, Paris, 1973, p. 132
6. ↑ Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), Histoire du peuple arménien , private, Toulouse 2007, ISBN 978-2-7089-6874-5 , p. 173.
7. ↑ René Grouset: Histoire de l'Arménie , Payot, Paris, 1973, p 132
8. ↑ Hovannisian op. Cit. P. 86.
9. ↑ Dédéyan op. Cit. P. 173.
10. ↑ Moses von Choren: "The History of Armenia" 3rd Book, Chapter 16
11. ↑ René Grouset: Histoire de l'Arménie , Payot, Paris, 1973, p 132
12. ↑ According to the English version of this article, Husik was followed for a few months by Daniel I - the above-mentioned Syrian choir bishop - as a Catholicos. A related source is not given there.
13. ^ Fauste de Byzance: Histoire de l´Arménie , III. Book, chapter 5
14. ^ Cyril Toumanoff : “Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour le Caucase chrétien (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie)”, Rome, Édition Aquila, 1976, p. 73.
15. ↑ Christian Settipani; "Nos Ancetres de l´Antiquité" Editions Christian, Paris, 1991, ISBN 2-86496-050-6 , p. 55
16. ↑ Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), Op. Cit., P. 166
17. ↑ Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), Op. Cit., P. 166

literature

• Gérard Dédéyan (dir.), “Histoire du peuple arménien”, private, Toulouse, 2007 ( ISBN 978-2-7089-6874-5 ), p. 166.
• René Grousset: "Histoire de l´Arménie - des origines á 1071", Payot, Paris 1973
• Robert H. Hewsen: “The successors of Tiridat the Great. A contribution to the history of Armenia in the Fourth Century ", REArm., 13 (1978/79) pp. 99-126
• 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 (réimpr. 2004) ( ISBN 978-1403964212 )

• Christian Settipani: "Nos Ancetres de l´Antiquité" Editions Christian, Paris, 1991, ISBN 2-86496-050-6
• Cyril Toumanoff: "Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour le Caucase chrétien (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie)" Rome, Édition Aquila, 1976,
• Cyril Toumanoff, "Studies in Christian Caucasian History," Georgetown, 1963
• Victor Langlois: "Collection des Historiens Anciens et Modernes de l´Armenie", Paris, 1869

See also

• List of Katholikoi of the Armenian Apostolic Church
• List of rulers of Armenia

predecessor	Office	successor
Vartanes I.	Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church 341–347	Pharen I.