Shushanik
v. 440-475 5th century Feast day: October 17
A quiet refusal when yielding would be comfortable; the fidelity of a woman standing alone against her own household.
Who was Shushanik?
An Armenian princess married to the governor of southern Georgia, she learned one day that her husband, back from the Persian court, had changed religion to keep his rank and meant to force her and their children to do the same. She left the palace for a cell beside the church, refused to return, and spent six years in chains in a fortress, where she nursed the other prisoners and received the women of the country. The account of her death, written by her priest who watched her die, is the oldest surviving text in Georgian literature.
In their own words
These trials are mine alone.
And you, Jojik, are no longer my brother-in-law, nor am I your brother's wife, nor is your wife my sister: you are on his side, you share in what he does.
Do not weep for me: this night has become for me the beginning of joy.