Page:Armenian Literature.djvu/3

 VARTAN'S DAUGHTER IN PRISON.

Photogravure from the original painting by G. Zasso.

For two centuries Armenia has been the battle-ground of warring faiths. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church, and there have been many martyrs in Armenia from the earliest years of Christianity down to the present day. In 451 A.D. the ebb and flow of battle with the Fire-worshippers had devastated the country, and had brought sorrow into countless homes. Perfidious Haskert II., king of Persia, strove to convert them by his magi, and harassed them with his troops. In command of one of the three grand divisions of the Armenian army was the noble Vartan, who, in life and death, was faithful to his God and his country. He won a temporary victory, advancing to the gates of Chora. But the Persians sent another army against them and the Christian hosts were vanquished, the glorious Vartan being killed. Prisoners were tortured and slain. The eldest daughter of Vartan had become the wife of Vazgen, governor of the Georgians, an apostate. In order to force her to abjure her faith he threw her into prison. Had she embraced the Persian religion her prison doors would have opened, and she might have returned to a life of luxury and power. But the spirit of martyrdom was in her, and she clung to the cross, and for Christianity gave up her life, perishing in prison, A.D. 458. She is known in the history of the Armenian people as Saint Susana.