OUR INTELLECTUALS

RABBI BENJAMIN ARSANIS

The outbreak of the national self- awareness at the turn of the twentieth century with its epicenter around Urmia brought about a powerful legion of nationalistic intellectuals including Mar Tuma Odu, Paul Bedjan, Yuil Varda, David Malik, Joseph Israel, Shlimun Sarmas, Malik Jonan, Freidoon Atturaya, Benjamin Arsanis and many other activists who created anew history for the Assyrian nation and formed a new national mentality. Benjamin Arsanis obviously was one of the brightest stars in the whole constellation of names; he was prolific as a writer, educator, historian and diplomat.

Benjamin Arsanis was born on the 17th of August 1883 in the village of Dighala near the town of Urmia, Iran. Like many of his age fellows he was educated' in the orthodox Christian school at the Russian mission in Urmia. Most gifted children were sent to Russia for further education. In a way these tendencies resulted in formation of' Assyrian national cultural centers in the territory of the former Soviet Union. After he finished the Don region orthodox Christian seminary Benjamin Arsanis entered the Lasarev Institute of Eastern Languages in St. Petersburg. He graduated with a bachelor degree in 1910 and returned home in a short while. In the town of Urmia Benjamin Arsanis took over as' a teacher in the Russian orthodox Christian seminary. This time around he began his writing work. One of his earliest works was a tragedy poem "The Bride of Jesus". In his work he described a dramatic episode from the Assyrian history during the invasion of Tamerlan. This invasion caused a rapid decline of the medieval Assyrian culture.

In 1913 Benjamin Arsanis took up a very high position in the Russian consular section.

While he pursued his diplomatic career, .he came to the decision of setting up a national self-governing body like the national Assyrian society as he did. Thanks to his activity many social and legal issues were handled more successfully both in the local municipalities as well as in the Russian consular section.

This time around Rabbi Benjamin organized a literary group, which over time was turned into "The Assyrian Youth Society of Literature and Culture" .The successful activity of the society excited the population of Urmia. As Rabbi Benjamin was himself interested in amateur dramatics, he put on stage many plays in the Assyrian language.

Shortly before the First World War Rabbi Benjamin Arsanis composed a drama piece entitled as "The Assyrian Affair" .As he put it on stage, he invited the Russian Army brass band and a firework team to wind up his play. Afterwards this drama piece was performed in many Assyrian drama theaters in Iran, Iraq and Georgia.

His enormous strength and energy and his highly emotional attitude towards his personal commitment were driving him to undertake publishing as well. In 1913 Rabbi Benjamin first published the newspaper. "Khushavi D'Dinkha", and in 1915 he was assisted by his fellow adherent doctor Freidoon Atturaya in publishing another newspaper "Nakusha". Rabbi Benjamin was also closely connected with the Russian Counselor V. Nikitin, who helped him in publishing the Russian-Assyrian dictionary as well.

The tragic events of the 1918 brought Rabbi Benjamin under the hand of Ibrahim Khan who sent his gunmen to protect Assyrian refugees on their way to the "tent city" in Bakkuba. In the town of Mosul he at first trained in school of Kasha Joseph Killeta, and then he did a superintendent job in one of the Assyrian battalions, which was formed by the British military in northern Iraq. In Mosul in 1925 Benjamin Arsanis published "The Concise Book of the Assyrian History"

In a short while the Iraqi started persecution of many Assyrian leaders including Benjamin Arsanis. This fact caused him to go back to the town of Urmia. But until 1930 the Iraqi powers continued persecution of Benjamin Arsanis for his close ties with Russia and for his Russian citizenship. All this time he worked very hard and created some new literary works. The tragedy of Simele in 1933 was too hard to take for many Assyrians and especially for Rabbi Benjamin, who kept saying all his life the words like magic spell, "In La Khaiddakh - Bit Talkakh" (we will come into oblivion, if we never unite).

In late 1930s Rabbi Benjamin sent his sons Gewargis and Marona to study in the USSR. The Soviet propaganda was very successful in Iran as well. According to this, the life in the Soviet Union was described as the happy life of triumphant working people. So after the "Iron Curtain II fell his sons were separated from their parents.

In 1950s Rabbi Benjamin re-established in Teheran "The Assyrian Youth Society of Literature and Culture". This period was extremely fruitful for his art. He published such books like "Assyrian Riddles" (1947), "The Contract with Mukhamed, a Prophet of Allah" (1950), "The Assyrian Monument in China II (1951), "The Fall of the Assyrian Kingdom" (1952), "The Saving of Iran. The III Fate II (1953), "Juhannan, Get Up and GO!" (1953), "The Assyrian Public Workers in Asia II (1954), "The Book of Assyrian Sayings and Proverbs" (1958). It is noteworthy that the classical Assyrian writer Benjamin Arsanis is well-known as the author of very popular works like II Mirza, Badal and Marona" (1914), "The Assyrian History in Connection with Kurds" (1922), and also the text-book "Malpana Atturaya" (1925).

Rabbi Benjamin Arsanis died in Teheran on the 4th of August 1957. Thousands of Assyrians came to attend the funeral of this ardent patriot, a brilliant writer, philologist, diplomat, historian and essayist. Many of his manuscripts have not been published so far. Until recently many authors have focused his enormous legacy and exceptional importance for the modem Assyrian literature. They were Gabriel Jonan, Hannibal Gewargis, Pirra Sarmas, Juil Baba, Konstantin Matveev (Bar Mattai), Lev Sargisov and many others.

During the First World War the talented Assyrian poetess Keti Shmuil Ishu dedicated to Benjamin Arsanis a beautiful poem "Baidakh" (The Banner). This is one of the most popular song among Assyrians today.