1. The full title reads: "The Passion of Saint Shushanik who was martyred in Georgia by her husband Antipatros, the leader of the Georgians; she was the daughter of Saint Vardan, [and] the granddaughter of Sahakanush daughter of Saint Sahak the Parthian, patriarch of Armenia. On the seventeenth [day of the month] of Kaghots [December]."
The present text is a translation of the long version in Armenian published by P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), pp. 18-43.
2. The present interpretation of this passage replaces that of an earlier translator who understood it as follows: "a renowned Persian woman of the cast of the Magi." For a [84] discussion of this, see Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune, p. 96.
3. This is a translation of the short version in Armenian published by P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), pp. 117-120.
4. This section is taken from Movses Khorenatsi, The History of tfo Armenians, III, 51 and III, 49. The English translation is from The History of the Armenians by Moses Khorenatsi, edited and translated by Robert W. Thomson, copyright 1978 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press, pp. 315-316 and pp. 313-314. We are grateful to the Harvard University Press for granting us permission to reprint this passage.
5. A variant reading in one of the manuscripts of the longer version of the Passion refers to the margrave's "union with his daughter, whom he was going to marry in accord with the Persian religion . . ." See P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), p. 46, note 43.
[85]
6. This is a translation of the Armenian text edited by P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), pp. 131-139.
7. This entire section is taken from Movses Khorenatsi, The History of the Armenians, II, 86. The English translation is from The History of the Armenians by Moses Khorenatsi, edited and translated by Robert W. Thomson, copyright 1978 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press, pp. 238-239. We are grateful to the Harvard University Press for giving us permission to reprint this passage.
8. This version of the passion, presumably based on the eye-witness account of Andreas, is defective.
9. This is a translation of Bishop Ukhtanes' text as published by P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutyune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), pp. 157-161. For another rendition of these difficult passages see Bishop Ukhtanes of Sebastia, History of Armenia, Part II, translation, introduction and [86]commentary by Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian (Fort Lauderdale: 1985), pp. 62-63 and pp. 127-129.
10. This and the following two passages are translations of hagiographical excerpts republished by P. Muradyan, Surb Shushaniki vkayabanutiune [The Passion of Saint Shushanik] (Yerevan: 1996), pp. 166-169.