Sahak I the, Primate of Armenia Great 
Sahak I the, Primate of Armenia's father was Narcses I the, Primate of Armenia Great and his mother was Samdukht Mamikonian. His paternal grandparents were UNKNOWN Athenagenes and UNKNOWN Bambishu; his maternal grandfather was Vardan I, Prince of the Mamikonids Mamikonian. He had a half-brother named ISAAC I "The Great" KING. He died in Ashtishat, Armenia.1 General Notes
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Isaac THE GREAT, SAINT, Armenian SAHAK (b. c. 345--d. probably Sept. 7,
439, Ashtishat, Armenia; feast days two weeks before Lent and early in
July), celebrated catholicos, or spiritual head, of the Armenian
Apostolic (Orthodox) Church, principal advocate of Armenian cultural and
ecclesiastical independence and collaborator in the first translation of
the Bible and varied Christian literature into Armenian.
Descended from a family of Armenian patriarchs, Isaac was educated in the
Hellenistic culture of Asia Minor and at Constantinople. After the death
of his wife, he became a monk and c. 388, with royal support, was named
catholicos of Armenia. He furthered Armenian monasticism and converted
his residence into a monastery, integrating his patriarchal
administration with the ascetical life of the monks. A reformer, Isaac
tightened clerical discipline and enforced celibacy on Armenian bishops.
He also established schools and churches and gained Constantinople's
recognition of Armenian patriarchal rights, thus creating a distinctive
and autonomous Armenian form of Christianity free from direct Greek
Orthodox control. With the help of his auxiliary bishop, the monk Mesrob
(Mashtots), later a saint, Isaac began c. 391 the development of a
Greek-inspired Armenian alphabet and literature. The two then directed a
group of scholars in translating the Greek and Syriac versions of the
Bible into Armenian, completing it c. 435. This linguistic achievement
and the formation of an Armenian liturgy and ritual preserved Armenian
unity during its partition under Greek and Persian rule.
Although he won toleration for the Armenian Church by the Persian
overlords, Isaac was forced to resign his office c. 428 because of
intrigues among the Armenian princes. He resumed the church leadership in
432 in response to popular clamour. A semi-legendary 8th-century history
of Armenia Major credits Isaac with writing liturgical texts and music,
biblical commentaries on the Old Testament, and a series of letters to
the Byzantine emperor, to Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople, and to
other Eastern prelates on the Christological controversy. At the national
Armenian synod of Ashtishat (435), Isaac promoted the Orthodox doctrine
of Christ's personal divinity and denounced the emphasis on his humanity
as expressed by Theodore of Mopsuestia.
He had a biological daughter named Heiress of Georgia.
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