Mār Qardāgh ( syc, ܣܗܕܐ ܡܪܝ ܩܪܕܓ ܐܬ݂ܘܪܝܐ), was a legendary
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n prince who was
martyred
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
for converting to Christianity.
Life
Qardāgh was born to a noble family in the
Sassanid Empire during the 4th century and descended from the "great race and lineage of the kingdom of the Assyrians".
When Qardāgh was 25 years old,
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigne ...
visited his parents’ estate and was impressed with Qardāgh's handsome appearance and athleticism. Qardāgh was appointed as a governor for a large region in northern
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, there he met
Abdisho Abdisho, ʾAbdisho, Abdishu, ʿAbd Īshūʿ, or Odisho, ( syr, ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ, ar, عبد يشوع) meaning “servant of Christ” in Syriac, is a Syriac Christian name that may refer to:
* Odisho
* Abdisho (died 345) (298–345), deacon a ...
() and converted to Christianity.
[Mār Qardāgh]
, St. Peter The Apostle Catholic Diocese for Chaldeans.
Upon returning home Qardāgh was rejected by his family and under pressure from the religious elite, Shapur sentenced him to be
stoned. Qardāgh fled with a small army to the mountains where he was able to repel the Persians for months. One night
Saint Stephen
Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...
appeared to him and told him that it was better to give his life for his faith than to continue fighting. He surrendered to the king and it was his own father who threw the first stone.
[
He was buried in Arbil, ]Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, corresponding to the northwestern part of ancient Assyria. The size of the kingdom varied over time; initially encompassing an area between the Zab Rivers, it eventually gained control of N ...
where a church holding his relics was later constructed.[
]
See also
*Mar Behnam
Saints Behnam, Sarah, and the Forty Martyrs were 4th-century Christians who suffered martyrdom during the reign of Shapur II. They are venerated as saints in the Oriental Orthodox Church.
Biography
According to their hagiography, Behnam and Sara ...
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qardagh, Mar
4th-century Christian martyrs
Year of birth unknown
Christians in the Sasanian Empire
Assyrian Church of the East saints
Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism