The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Sahak I the Great
catholicos AD 387 – 428; d. 439 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) · Catholicos of Armenia · Translator · Ashtishat → Vagharshapat, Armenia
The Nicene Age
Who Sahak I the Great was
Son of Nerses the Great and the last catholicos of the Gregorid line, who held the see for forty years across the partition of Armenia between Rome and Persia. With Mesrop Mashtots he sponsored the invention of the alphabet and the translation of the Bible into Armenian. He must be kept distinct from Shahak I of Manazkert, catholicos 373–377 — an earlier man of the same name from the rival Albianosid house, and a collision the standard lists themselves blur. Faustus and Movses Khorenatsi give conflicting genealogies for the Gregorid succession, and the archive records the conflict rather than resolving it.
Common questions
When did Sahak I live?
Sahak I the Great is dated catholicos AD 387 – 428; d. 439 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) in the archive, which places Sahak I in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).
Which early sources mention Sahak I?
Sahak I the Great is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Koriwn and Pʼawstos Buzand. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Sahak I from?
The archive associates Sahak I the Great with Ashtishat, Vagharshapat, Armenia. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Sahak I’s contemporaries?
The archive links Sahak I the Great to 5 other figures, including Mesrop Mashtots, Koriwn, Nerses I the Great and Shahak I of Manazkert. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The Life of Mashtots (Sahak’s part in the alphabet and the translation)
c. AD 443[Koriwn names the catholicos Sahak as Mashtots’ partner in the work of translation.]Koriwn · Life of Mashtots
Koriwn’s Life of Mashtots, written c. AD 443–51 by a pupil of the inventor of the Armenian alphabet — the earliest original work of Armenian literature. English translation by Bedros Norehad, Koriun: The Life of Mashtots (New York, 1964).
Buzandaran Patmutʼiwnkʼ (The Epic Histories) passim — anonymous Armenian composition of the 470s
c. AD 475[The Epic Histories carry the Gregorid succession, in which Sahak son of Nerses is the last of the line.]Pʼawstos Buzand · Epic Histories passim · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Sahak I in the sources
These figures are placed with Sahak I by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Sahak I naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Sahak I, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.
- 1Ashtishat
- 2Vagharshapat
- 3Armeniaprovince only