Vardan Arewelts'i's

Compilation of History


97.

At the beginning of the year 714 A.E. [1265] the Greatest Summons reached the great [Hulegu], and the powerful wand [of death] struck that brave and triumphant man, and the fate of the First Father came to him. For he, too, was a son of Adam and thus a partaker of his portion, [death], of which all have partaken and all will partake. Though it was bitter to him, he drank the bile of death—not, however, with joy like the Lord and those believing in Him. For astrologers and priests of some idols called Shakyamuni (Shakmonia) deceived him. They describe Shakyamuni as god [who reigns] for 3040 years and [continues to reign] an additional [period of] 35 tumans—a tuman being 10,000, after which, they say, another [entity] named Matreya (Mondri) will replace him. Those priests are called doyink'. [The Mongols] believe them and, at their command, either go to battle or refrain from it. They say that you remain a long time in your body and when very old you receive a new body. They got [Hulegu] to build a temple to those idols, and he went there to pray, and they enchanted him however they wanted.

While we awaited another occasion and a second interview to get better acquainted to say something worthwhile to him, to speak with confidence, we remained in benevolent conduct and the loving of Christ to show to him some sign favorable to the Christians. For he was accustomed to their [astrologers' or Buddhists'] words and [g159] grew sick. They caused felt images and horses to speak and there were many among them skilled in their craft of deception and sorcery. They were abstemious in food, dress, chastity and moderate in marriage and copulation. They say that they marry at age 20 and until age 30 they approach their wife three times a week; until age 40, three times a month; until 50, three times a year; and after [age 50] they never approach, whence especially they can be tricked. And death caught up with [Hulegu] and death trampeled down that lofty hill with its wide base. He was levelled to his forebears, for Scripture says that the mountain which is to fall will fall. The words of the prophet thus are true: "the entire glory of man is like a flower in the grasses." But the Lord is just and will repay him a share of the goodness which by the laws of nature he had received. He kept his patrimonial laws. The yasax is what they themselves call the prohibitions set by Chingiz-Khan: not to lie, not to steal, not to commit adultery with another's wife, to love one's own like oneself, never to use or know abusive words, to let live the land and city willing to surrender to them, to free from taxation and to honor the so-designated houses of God and those called His servants of whatever persuasion they be. Hulegu also ordered this kept, and it was kept. We recall that he said: "We command you to pray for us not to escape from death, we do not know that, but to beseech God that we do not die in the hands of our enemies." But whether that [wish] was fulfilled only God knows, for at first it was noised about that he was killed by drugs and through schemes, but later the story was covered up. However [Hulegu's Christian wife], the great queen Doquz khatun prior to announcing Hulegu's death, secretly sent to me saying: "God loved the Il-Khan and took him away. Whatever he loved here and gave to this world will be given [g160] to him in the next. Should there be a mass or not?" We responded that it was not necessary to have mass said, but rather to be merciful and lighten the taxes. For the Syrians had said that it was proper [to hold mass]. She also inquired regarding Abaqa, Hulegu's senior son. whether it was proper to enthrone him for [Hulegu] had willed this. We commanded that it is according to Scripture to appoint the senior son and that the will was in fact binding. This is precisely what happened. For their relation, Teguder, also called Il-Khan, seated Abaqa on the throne of his father and the entire army agreed with this and obeyed. But since our sins are limitless, he did not reign for a proper period. During the same year, only three months later, the Christ-loving queen Doquz khatun passed to Christ, and the discouraged, broken-hearted Christian people took to repeated mourning and sadness. For [Doquz] through her efforts had quickly started to heal the wounds caused by the Il-Khan, hoping to further glorify Christianity. Whatever the case, we believe she effected this. But since God is the cause of all goodness, it is not right for us to lose hope, for He set up in her stead another of her believing relatives, a pious woman called T'uxt'ani. Furthermore to Abaqa was brought a wife from the Byzantines, named Despina, daughter of the king called Vatatzes. She stipulated that Abaqa should be baptized, and he was. Then word spread about concerning his baptism and marriage, to the glory of Christ.

In these days, because of my sins, my writings fell into the hands of brigands along with our servants, but by the mercy of Jesus, the lads were spared. After one and a half years my book was brought to Tiflis for sale and was purchased by one of our brothers named Meler. For which the mercy of the Lord, glory to all the saints and created beings, and to the purchaser, the kindness of Christ [g161].


98.

Now at the beginning of the year 715 A.E. [1266], the governor of the North who was named Berke (Bark'a) who held the position of Batu and Sartakh and was a Muslim, heard about the death of great Hulegu. And he came with a multitude [of troops] to the Kura River to display his forces to the troops on this side of the river, that is, to the troops of Abaqa and his brother Ismudin, to show that he was alive after the death of their father [Hulegu]. He came and trampled them with little difficulty as far as He'chn. All the Muslims there prayed joyously. Those on this side [of the river] were terrified by this [defeat] and walled off the length of the river called Shibar and kept in all readiness throughout the winter. But then Berke lost hope and returned to his place. And in the summertime he died. They say that in behavior he was not an agitator and that he loathed bloodshed.


99.

In the same year [1266] close to autumn, a bowl of bitter vinegar and the dregs of God's anger was extended to us, the descendants of Hayk. For the sultan of Egypt named Baibars (P'ntxtar) demanded those fortresses which the king of [Cilician] Armenia, Het'um, had taken with the T'at'ars' support. Because [Het'um] did not give them up—more out of dread of the T'at'ars' [reaction]—[Baibars] flew into a rage, assembled many soldiers, and sent them to the land of Cilicia under a commander named Sim al-Mawd (Amlmot'). They entered the country unexpectedly and took the capital city of Sis, residence of the king, and burned it together with the churches in it. And they discovered the location of the underground treasury and took a great deal. For they say that in one container, there were 600,000 red [ducats]. [Baibars] continued destroying as far as Adana until [g162] he heard news of danger and thus turned back with booty and 40,000 captives, not to mention [the destruction he caused by] slaughter. Chief among [those slain], and the wound which will not heal, was the king's son, T'oros, a beautiful flower of tender age, close to sprouting a beard, acclaimed by all, faultless, completely good, preserved by chastity in the protection of the grace of God. Furthermore he appealed for the crown of blood voluntarily, for when they asked who he was, he did not give his father's name, so that by being taken alive he would not prove more of a burden to his father and to the land. The chief of our men taken captive was the first-born brother, Lewon, crowned and invited to the throne of the kingdom during his father's lifetime. [His capture] was the pitiable fire in our melancholy and heart-broken land and people, [a deed] which suffocated us and made us tremble. The hand of Him above, which had reached and struck with rage also healed them and us too with mercy, covering the gaping wound, restoring the captive [Lewon] who had been taken with others. [The Mamlukes] stayed in the country for fifteen days, filling it with disasters and leaving [the Cilicians] that destruction and leaving us with the bitter news.


100.

At the beginning of the year 716 A.E. [1267] at the end of Lent at the completion of the sixth week, on the day of the resurrection of Lazarus, on the 26th of the month of Sahmi, Lord Kostandin, patriarch of the Armenians, passed from this physical world to the spiritual one. Physically he was aged and full of years, while spiritually he was chosen from the womb by the will of God and successfully passed through all the degrees [in the clergy], liked by all and attested by all peoples and tongues. Chastely he remained uncorrupted, a rational and alert man in feelings and senses, and in all the limbs of his body. He was the sharer of grief and the fellow-mourner to many in our sinful and anger-filled age. In this time of pain and sobbing he bore it all himself and made [things] more mild as he was able, generously and unsparingly giving encouragement, advice, and treasure [g163]. Therefore he could fittingly say to his Lord: "We have crossed through the fire and water of various trials, of the burning and suffocating snares." [Kostandin] tasted the thick and bitter last dregs close to the end of his life, like the Lord; the shaking of our kingdom, the sword and captivity of his own land, where he was born and nurtured; the entry into the trials of a furnace with a fiery blaze of gehenna; and the destruction of the king's sons, whom he had nurtured. These [events] certainly brought closer his death and made his breathing more fraught, inciting a desire for dismissal from this much-afflicted existence. When Jesus and God saw this, with Lazarus they took him out of so much wretched suffering, to the unutterable [paradise] [g164].


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