03 — The Apostasy and the Refusal

The rupture: Varsken’s journey to Ctesiphon and conversion to Zoroastrianism to win the favor of Peroz I — dated by the Martyrdom itself to “the eighth year” of the king (466/467), by Toumanoff to c. 470; his declared intent to convert his wife and children; and Shushanik’s answer — the mourning, the withdrawal from the palace, the banquet confrontation, and the first savage beating — reported throughout as the Martyrdom’s account, per §3.5.

Tradition: Georgian Orthodox (shared pre-division veneration with the Armenian Apostolic Church)

Contents

File Description
varskens-apostasy-at-ctesiphon.md The journey to the Persian court; the conversion and its rewards (Peroz’s favor, the Persian royal bride, authority toward Albania); the dating problem (466/467 vs c. 470); the undertaking to convert his household
the-refusal-and-the-first-violence.md The news reaches Tsurtavi; Shushanik’s mourning and withdrawal to a cell by the church; the banquet scene and the first beating; the chaining — the Martyrdom‘s dramatic detail reported as the source’s account

Summary

The Martyrdom opens with the apostasy: Varsken, going up to the court of King Peroz, “renounced the true God” and embraced the fire-religion, undertaking to convert his wife and children on his return (Jakob Tsurtaveli, Martyrdom of Shushanik, trans. Lang, 1976; Armenian version, trans. Maksoudian, 1997). The first file weighs the apostasy as fifth-century politics — its rewards are attested: the royal marriage, the enlarged authority (Toumanoff, Studies, 1963) — and sets out the disputed chronology. The second follows Jakob’s narrative of the refusal: the queen who tore off her ornaments and quit the palace before her husband reached home, and the violence with which he answered her at the banquet — the scenes that made the text the first monument of Georgian literature.

See Also