He was 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
Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915
Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915
Shimun XIX Benyamin