Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin (1887–18 March 1918) () served as the Catholicos-Patriach of the Assyrian Church of the East from 1903 to 1918. He was consecrated a metropolitan on March 1, 1903, by his uncle, the Catholicos-Patriarch, and was eighteen years old when he succeeded him to the patriarchal see at Qudshanis for 15 years.
Life He was an ethnic Assyrian, born in 1887 in the village of Qochanis in the Hakkari Province, Ottoman Empire (modern-day southeastern Turkey). His paternal uncle and immediate predecessor was Mar Shimun XVIII Rubil, patriarch from 1860 to 1903. His father was Eshai, a brother of Shimun XVIII Rubil, and his mother was Asyat, daughter of Kambar from Iyl. He had six siblings: Isaiah, Zaya, Paulos (who succeeded him as Patriarch), David, Hormizd, Surma. His brother Hormizd was later killed while studying in Istanbul during the deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915.Mar Benyamin
Death Mar Shimun and Simko Shikak had planned to meet for future cooperation against the Turkish and Iranian governments, and eventually met in March 1918 in Kuhnashahir in Salmas. The meeting appeared to have gone well until the end, when Mar Shimun prepared to leave. Simko reportedly signaled to his men, who were hiding on the roof, to open fire, and they killed Mar Shimun and 150 of his armed guards.The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran: Pastoral Nationalism, F. Koohi-Kamali, 2003, pp. 76-77, .The Kurds in the Middle East: Enduring Problems and New Dynamics, 2020, pp. 209, .The Clash of Empires and the Rise of Kurdish Proto-Nationalism, 1905–1926: Ismail Agha Simko and the Campaign for an Independent Kurdish State, Mehrdad Kia, 2023, pp. 116-118, . Others estimated the death toll at 75. There were reports from contemporaries that a Kurdish associate of Simko tried to warn Mar Shimun of the plot while serving tea, although too late.The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural And Political Legacies, Hannibal Travis, 2017, pp. 152, ISBN 9781138284050. Simko also allegedly drank his blood in a blind rage.Kurds: A Concise Handbook, Mehrdad Izady, 2015, pp. 57, .For Lust of Knowing: Memoirs of an Intelligence Officer, Archie Roosevelt, 1988, pp. 251, . Followers and relatives of Mar Shimun began looting the districts of Urmia and Salmas and killing inhabitants, although Simko and his men had already retreated to the mountains and were unharmed, and the retaliation did not benefit the Assyrian forces, who were later forced to withdraw. The events seriously damaged Assyrian national aspirations.
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."Mar Benyamin
See also List of patriarchs of the Church of the East Our Smallest Ally Assyrian volunteers
References
Sources
External links Official site of the Assyrian Church of the East The Invitation of the Patriarch Mar Binyamin at www.aina.org (First-hand account by Malik Daniel Bar Malik Ismail of Mar Benyamin's assassination)