Saint Isaac of Armenia

Isaac or Sahak of Armenia (c. 350 – c. 438) was the catholicos (or patriarch) of the Armenian Church from c. 387 until c. 438. He is sometimes known as Isaac the Great or Sahak the Parthian (Armenian: Սահակ Պարթեւ; Sahak Part῾ew) in reference to his father's Parthian origin. He was the last Armenian patriarch who was directly descended from Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the Kingdom of Armenia to Christianity in the early fourth century and became the first head of the Armenian Church. He supported Mesrop Mashtots in the creation of the Armenian alphabet and personally participated in the translation of the Bible into Armenian. Isaac was born c. 350 to the future Catholicos Nerses I (r. c. 353 – c. 373). Through his father he was a descendant of Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the Kingdom of Armenia to Christianity in the early fourth century and became the first head of the Armenian Church. Since that time, the descendants of Gregory had held the office of catholicos of Armenia hereditarily, with some interruptions. According to the anonymous Vita of St. Nerses, Isaac's mother was a Mamikonian princess called Sandukht, whom Nerses married in Caesarea prior to his consecration as catholicos. The Vita claims that Sandukht died after giving birth to Isaac. Another source, the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ, neither names Nerses's wife nor mentions his time in Caesarea, while Movses Khorenatsi writes that Nerses married the daughter of "the great noble Aspion" (who is not known from other sources) in Constantinople. During his father's patriarchate, Isaac studied for many years in Caesarea, Alexandria, and Constantinople. He learned Greek, Syriac and Persian. The Armenian historian Ghazar Parpetsi writes of him that he studied "among many learned Byzantines" and was "fully versed in musical notation, exhortatory rhetoric, and especially philosophy. He was later consecrated as a bishop and preached with his sixty students at Etchmiadzin Cathedral.