Vartan Mamigonian is the most esteemed and beloved name in Armenian
history. Tiridates founded the Christian kingdom; but when the religion
was in danger of extermination throughout Persian Armenia at the hands
of the fire-worshipers, Vartan saved it, and died for it, a faithful
servant of God and his Saviour. It was said of him that he was an
honest, modest, wise, brave, true, pure, childlike, and Christ-like
Christian commander, a great soldier of the Cross. He was a lamb in
nature, but when he came to defend his religion he was a lion. As a
little boy he was so full of grace that the Pontiff Sahag adopted him
as his son; and through this companionship of the aged ecclesiastic
and the religious boy, the latter developed into a great spiritual
light. In 421 he went to Constantinople with St. Mesrob, and was much
loved and esteemed by the emperor (Theodosius II) and the court; then
to Persia, where the king honored him and gave him the title of prince.
In 439 Yazdegerd II of Persia succeeded his father, Bahram V, the
destroyer of the Arsacid dynasty, and began a furious persecution
of both Jews and Christians, which lasted a dozen years, and ended
in a complete victory for religious freedom. The king, like James I
of England, fancied himself a great theologian, and could always be
victorious in a debate by killing his opponent. One specimen will
suffice. He called a convocation of Armenian priests and noblemen,
and commanded them to embrace fire-worship on pain of death. "Your
Christ cannot save you," said he, "for He is crucified and dead." "Oh
my gracious king," replied a young nobleman, "why did you not read
further about Christ? He was indeed crucified, but rose again,
ascended to Heaven, and is living now and our Saviour." The king in
a rage had his head struck off.
Finally in 450 the people of Persian Armenia rose in revolt, and
determined to fight for their religion. Vartan took command of them,
and showed himself the ablest commander of his time. For a year he
held at bay the overwhelming forces of the Persian Empire, and was
victorious in every battle, even to the last,--a striking parallel
to Judas Maccabaeus in historical position, as well as military
ability. Finally the forces were arrayed for battle on the banks of
the Dughmood river, in the plains of Avarayr, near the present city of
Van. Vartan had 66,000 men, the Persians several times as many. Vartan
prayed to God for help, and to Christ for his own salvation; then he
made a speech to his soldiers, in substance as follows:--"Soldiers,
as Christians we are averse from fighting; but to defend the Christian
religion and our own freedom we have to fight. Surely our lives are
not as valuable as Christ's, and if he was willing to die on the
cross for us, we ought to be willing to die in battle for him." Then,
with his troops, he crossed the river, fell on the enemy's center,
and scattered the huge army in rout, killing 3,544 men besides nine
great princes, and losing 1,036 of his own; but alas! one of these
was himself, dying from a mortal wound not long after. Nevertheless,
he had won the victory he was striving for. Yazdegerd saw it was
impossible to conquer the Armenians in a war for religion, and granted
entire liberty to the Christians to believe and preach as they pleased.