THE BATTLE OF VARTANANTZ

The Context for the Battle

The Vartanantz' crisis occurred during the reign of King Yazdagird II of Persia, who ruled from A.D. 439 to 456. At the beginning of his reign, King Yazdagird II declared war on the Greeks, who, however being incapable of opposing him signed a peace treaty in 444, paying an annual tribute, and relinquishing to the tender mercy of the pagan Persians all of the former Christian subjects who had sought refuge with them [the Greeks]. The Armenians could not expect anything from Constantinople where an incompetent prince named Theodosius II bore the imperial crown, but the real power rested in the hands of a woman, Pulcheria (408-457), at a time when Attila's Huns were creating havoc in Europe and posing a threat to Constantinople.

The Sasanian Shahs occasionally took a lenient attitude toward Christianity and Judaism, but more frequently they maltreated and persecuted them in matters of religion and state. Christianity, especially the kind that was in communion with the Universal Church, was detestable to the Persians, since it constituted a bond between their Western subjects and the Greeks, and an obstacle to the integration of various elements in the state.

The two striking accomplishments during the reign of Yazdagird II were, first, the persecutions against the Christians and Jews, and second, the endless wars against the White Huns and Hephthalites who lived on the eastern borders of Persia. Yazdagird's efforts failed in both ventures, and we can perhaps state that at least on this occasion the barbaric Turks unintentionally assisted the Christians in making the implementation of Yazdagird's disastrous plan come to naught.

In order to understand the real meaning of the passionate, tearful and bloody disturbances during the Vartanantz war and its sequel in Armenia, it is necessary to keep in mind the well-known religio-political aims of the Sasanian government. The Magi exercised a domineering influence on the Sasanian court, which on many occasions expressed its authority to its subjects of other religious persuasions with fire and the sword.

This stubborn and opportunistic policy of propaganda forged in Ctesiphon (the capital of the Sasanian empire) represented a real trial for Vartan's and Vassak's character and course.

-- Vartanantz Baderazme (New York, 1918)