Shimun XIX Benyamin
117th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East
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Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin (1887–18 March 1918) (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܒܢܝܡܝܢ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܥܣܪܝܢ ܘܩܕܡܝܐ) served as the Catholicos-Patriach of the Assyrian Church of the East from 1903 to 1918. He was consecrated a metropolitan on March 1, 1903, by his uncle, the Catholicos-Patriarch, and was eighteen years old when he succeeded him to the patriarchal see at Qudshanis for 15 years.
Benyamin XIX Shimun | |
|---|---|
| Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East | |
Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin on or before 1913 | |
| Church | Assyrian Church of the East |
| Diocese | Patriarchal Diocese of Qodshanis |
| See | Holy Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon |
| Installed | 30 March 1903 |
| Term ended | 18 March 1918 |
| Predecessor | Mar Shimun XVIII Rouel (1860/1861-1903) |
| Successor | Mar Shimun XX Paulos (1918–1920) |
| Orders | |
| Rank | Catholicos-Patriarch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1887 |
| Died | 3 March 1918 (aged 30) |
| Denomination | Christian, Assyrian Church of the East |
| Residence | Qodshanis, Hakkari, Turkey and later Urmia, Persia |
| Occupation | Cleric |
Life
He was an ethnic Assyrian, born in 1887 in the village of Qochanis in the Hakkari Province, Ottoman Empire (modern-day southeastern Turkey). His paternal uncle and immediate predecessor was Mar Shimun XVIII Rubil, patriarch from 1860 to 1903. His father was Eshai, a brother of Shimun XVIII Rubil, and his mother was Asyat, daughter of Kambar from Iyl. He had six siblings: Isaiah, Zaya, Paulos (who succeeded him as Patriarch), David, Hormizd, Surma.[1] His brother Hormizd was later killed while studying in Istanbul during the deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915.[2]
Death
On 18 March 1918, Mar Benyamin, along with many of his 150 bodyguards, was assassinated by Simko Shikak (Ismail Agha Shikak), a Kurdish agha, in the town of Kuhnashahir in Salmas (Persia) under a truce flag, an act which was a part of the Assyrian genocide committed against Assyrian civilians by Turkish and Kurdish Ottoman troops and which led to the defeat of Simko's forces by the Assyrian commander Malik Khoshaba.[3][4]
Quotes
- "It is impossible for me and my people to surrender after seeing the atrocities done to my Assyrian people by your government; therefore my brother is one, my people are many, I would rather lose my brother but not my nation."[5]