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Mar
Shimun XXI Benyamin (1887– 3 March 1918) (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܒܢܝܡܝܢ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܥܣܪܝܢ ܘܩܕܡܝܐ) was a Catholicos Patriarch of the
Assyrian Church of the East.
He
was born in 1887 in the village of Qochanis in the Hakkari Province, Ottoman
Empire (modern-day southeastern Turkey). His paternal uncle was Mar Shimun
XVIII of Rubil patriarch from 1860 to 1903), and Asyat, daughter of Kambar from
Iyl. He had six siblings: Isaiah, Zaya, Rolus (who succeeded him as Patriarch),
David, Hormizd, Surma.[1] His brother Hormizd was later killed while studying
in Istanbul during the Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915.
He
was consecrated a Metropolitan on March 1, 1903 by his uncle, the Catholicos
Patriarch who died on March 16, 1903. He succeeded his predecessor at the age
of eighteen and occupied the patriarchal See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon at Qudchanis
for 15 years. In March, 1918, Mar Benyamin along with 150 of his bodyguards
were assassinated by Simko Shikak (Ismail Agha Shikak), a Kurdish agha, in the
town of Salmas (Persia) under a truce flag (see Assyrian Genocide).
Life
He
was born in 1887 in the village of Qochanis in the Hakkari Province, Ottoman
Empire (modern-day southeastern Turkey). His paternal uncle was Mar Shimun
XVIII of Rubil patriarch from 1860 to 1903), and Asyat, daughter of Kambar from
Iyl. He had six siblings: Isaiah, Zaya, Rolus (who succeeded him as Patriarch),
David, Hormizd, Surma.[1] His brother Hormizd was later killed while studying
in Istanbul during the Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915.
He
was consecrated a Metropolitan on March 1, 1903 by his uncle, the Catholicos
Patriarch who died on March 16, 1903. He succeeded his predecessor at the age
of eighteen and occupied the patriarchal See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon at Qudchanis
for 15 years. In March, 1918, Mar Benyamin along with 150 of his bodyguards
were assassinated by Simko Shikak (Ismail Agha Shikak), a Kurdish agha, in the
town of Salmas (Persia) under a truce flag.
Quotes
"It
is impossible for me and my people to surrender after seeing the atrocities
done to my Assyrian people by your government; therefore my brother is one, my
people are many, I would rather lose my brother but not my nation."
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