Collectio textuum hagiographicorum, Vol. I

In the month of October, on the 17th day: the martyrdom of the holy Queen Shushanik. And now I shall tell you definitively the end of the holy and blessed Shushanik. 1. It was in the eighth year of the reign of the king of the Persians that Varsken Pitiaxshi, son of Arshusha, set out for the royal court. For he had formerly been a Christian, born of a Christian father and mother. And his wife was the daughter of Vardan, the sparapet of the Armenians, concerning whom I write to you. Her father's name was Vardan, and her name of endearment was Shushanik, a God-fearing woman, as we might say, from her very childhood. And because of the evil of her husband's disposition, she constantly grieved in her heart and besought everyone to pray for him, that God might change him from his foolish nature and that he might be brought to the reason of Christ. But as for this wretched and thrice-pitiable Varsken, how shall I tell of his utter ruin, how he cast away the blessed hope of Christ? Or who would not weep for him, who saw neither affliction, nor fear, nor sword, nor persecution for Christ's sake? For when he stood before the king of the Persians, it was not for the sake of rendering honor, but he offered himself as a gift to that king, by denying the true God and worshipping the fire.

, for he had completely abandoned his own self from Christ. But this wretched man sought a wife from the king of the Persians, so that he might please the king, and he spoke thus: "That which is my natural wife and children, I have turned them to your law just as I myself." He said this because he had no power over Shushanik. Then the king rejoiced and commanded that the king's daughter be given to him as a wife.