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.

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

Life

See also

References

Sources