St. Husik I

Husik I or Yusik (Armenian: Հուսիկ (reformed); Յուսիկ (classical)) was the fourth Catholicos of the Armenian Church of the Gregorid line. He was the son of Vrtanes I, his predecessor as Catholicos, and the grandson of Gregory the Illuminator, the founder of the Armenian Church.[1]

Husik was the son of Vrtanes I[2] by an unnamed mother and had a brother called Grigoris who was martyred in Caucasian Albania (died c. 330–340).

Although Husik was born, educated and ordained in Caesarea in Cappadocia, he also spent part of his life in the court of the Arsacid king of Armenia Tiran.[1] At some point, Husik married an Arsacid princess, who was an unnamed daughter of Tiridates III of Armenia and Ashkhen. With his wife, Husik had two sons:

• Pap, who renounced his position as Catholicos in 348. He married Varazdoukht, an Arsacid princess who was one of the sisters of Tiran.
• At’anaganes, who married Bambish, an Arsacid princess, a sister of Varazdoukht and Tiran.[3] Through his second son, Husik was the grandfather of the Catholicos Nerses I.[4]

He became the new Catholicos after his father and reigned from 341 until 347. According to the Armenian history attributed to Faustus of Byzantium, Husik denounced the evils of King Tiran and his courtiers. At one point, Husik tried to ban Tiran and his associates from entering the church at the time of a festival. Tiran had Husik clubbed to death for this.