Shushanik

Saint Shushanik the Martyr was an Armenian noblewoman of the fifth century, the daughter of Vardan Mamikonian and wife of the Georgian ruler Varsken. She was tormented and imprisoned by her husband, who had renounced Christianity, and died after six years in prison, about 475. She is honoured as a martyr in the Church of Georgia and in the Armenian Church. The Church of Georgia commemorates her on 17 October.

Family and her husband's fall Shushanik was the daughter of Vardan Mamikonian, the sparapet (commander of the army) of Armenia, and the wife of Varsken, pitiakhsh of Southern Kartli, a vassal of King Vakhtang Gorgasali. Her life is known mainly from the Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik, written by her confessor Jacob of Tsurtavi, who witnessed the events. The work is regarded as the oldest surviving text of Georgian literature.

According to the Life, in 466 Varsken, who opposed the king's policy of unity, went to Persia to seek the support of Shah Peroz. For the alliance he married the shah's daughter, renounced Christianity, adopted Zoroastrianism and promised to bring his first wife and his children to the new faith.

Her steadfastness When he returned, Varsken found that Shushanik, informed by messengers, had not come out of her cell for three days and was praying without ceasing for the salvation of her children's souls. First with words, then by force, he tried to bring her to the palace. She came out of the cell, urged by relatives and wishing to avoid bloodshed. Two days later Varsken gave a feast and, with the help of relatives, tried to make her renounce her faith. Failing, he beat her cruelly, put her in chains and shut her in a room of the palace. Priests cared for her, secretly bringing her water and food.

During Great Lent, when Varsken went on a campaign against the Huns, Shushanik was taken out of prison and settled in a cell beside the church, in complete darkness. Returning from the war and learning that she had remained faithful, her husband dragged her from the church to the palace over thorns strewn for the purpose and tortured her cruelly. Failing even then to make her renounce, he ordered her shut up forever in a dungeon.

Prison and repose The six years in the dungeon, worn down by torments, chains, prostrations and standing, made her, in the words of the author of the Life, a spiritual flute. People came to her from all over Kartli and each received what they asked through her prayers. Jacob of Tsurtavi mentions many miracles worked by her even in her lifetime. In the seventh year of imprisonment she fell gravely ill and passed to the Lord on the day of the holy Cosmas and Damian, 17 October. Her relics were brought out of the fortress with great honour and buried beside a church. According to tradition, they rest in the Metekhi church in Tbilisi.

The year 475 is reconstructed from indirect evidence, and one Serbian source gives about 466 for her death. Jacob wrote the Life between 476 and 483, since it says nothing of the killing of Varsken by King Vakhtang, in 482 or 483.

Veneration The Church of Georgia commemorates her on 17 October, and the Armenian Church on the Tuesday between 20 and 26 September. Some sources call her Susanna of Georgia and give her commemoration on 10 September.