GEORGIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH MARKS DAY OF ST. SHUSHANIK TODAY.
Georgian Times
Sept 10 2009
Georgia
Solemn service will be delivered in Churches regarding this
day. Tbilisi Metekhi Church will especially celebrate, where
St. Queen’s tomb lays.
Saint Shushanik was a Christian woman who was murdered by her husband
Varsken in the town of Tsurtavi, Georgia. Since she died defending
her right to profess Christianity, he is regarded as martyr.
She was a daughter of the Armenian general Vartan Mamikonian
and married to the prominent Georgian feudal lord Versken, son of
Arshusha. Varsken was in opposition of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, King of
Kartli, and took a pro-Persian position, renouncing Christianity and
adopting Zoroastrianism. He killed his spouse after she refused to
submit to his order to abandon her Christian faith. Varsken himself
was put to death by King Vakhtang in 482.
Shushanik has been canonized by the Georgian and Armenian churches.
Her martyrdom is described in her confessor Jacob Khutsesi’s
hagiographic work: ‘Martyrdom of St. Shushanik’.