Mkhitar Sebastatsi

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Mekhitar of Sebaste
)

Sebaste, Ottoman Empire
Died27 April 1749
San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Republic of Venice
Major shrineArmenian Monastery of San Lazzaro, Venice, Italy

Mkhitar Sebastatsi (

Mekhitarist Order, which has been based on San Lazzaro island near Venice
since 1717.

The Armenian historian Stepanos Nazarian described him as the "second Mesrop Mashtots".[1] The cause for his beatification was opened after his death; as such, he is termed a Servant of God.

Life

Early life

He was born Manug in

Sivas Eyalet (now Sivas) in Ottoman Empire on 17 February 1676, the son of a prosperous merchant Bedros [Peter] and his wife Sharistan. His parents gave him a good education to prepare him to assume the family business. Instead, from an early age, he wanted to become a monk. Refused permission for this, he found a young companion to flee to the mountains where they might live as hermits. Quickly found by his parents he was returned home. As a result of this, the bishop who the abbot of the nearby Monastery of Surp Nshan (Holy Cross) conferred minor orders on the boy so that he might assist at the liturgical services of the monastery. Still refused permission to enter the monastery by his parents, he began to frequent a neighboring family which consisted of a mother and her two daughters who lived a monastic form of life in their home, which they shared with an elderly priest, who then taught him about the Divine Office.[2]

At the age of fifteen, Manug finally received the permission he had long sought from his family and he entered the nearby monastery, where he was quickly

ordained a deacon. It was at this point that he changed his name to the one he is now known by, Mekhitar (The Consoler).[2]

Monk

After his admittance to monastic life, Mekhitar began to see that the state of monastic life was extremely low after the devastating destruction of the Armenian monasteries in previous centuries. He began to seek out a source of true learning of the spiritual life, being taken to various monasteries by several traveling religious scholars who promised to teach him what he sought if he would serve them.

During this period, he came into contact with members of

Congregation of the Propaganda. He determined to set out for there, but received many setbacks of both health and the rejection of those Armenian monks and bishops along the way who rejected Western doctrines. Finally he was forced to return to his home town, walking barefoot, though he was suffering from jaundice. Slowly regaining his health there, in 1696 he was ordained a priest by the abbot of Holy Cross Monastery.[2]

Founder

Inspired by the idea of creating a

Armenian people, based on the models of the Western Church, Mekhitar founded in 1701 in Constantinople
what would become known after his death as the Mekhitarist Order.

Two years later, escaping persecution by the

Venetian Republic. Mekhitar built up the monastery on the island and the order which sent out priests to serve Armenian communities in the Middle East
.

Mekhitar died at the monastery on 27 April 1749 and is buried in the monastery church.

Legacy

Malachia Ormanian, a conservative Armenian Apostolic scholar and Patriarch of Constantinople, wrote highly of Mkhitar Sebastatsi, calling him an "ecclesiastic of progressive and liberal views." Ormanian wrote:[3]

Mekhitar had to yield to the demands of the Roman Curia in order to be able to devote himself without restraint to his work of intellectual culture; he wisely abstained from being a party to the work of proselytism. Such a line of conduct, which was in keeping with national interests...

Veneration

The cause for Mekhitar's

Revolutionary France under Napoleon, in the course of which almost all monasteries were closed. It was begun about 1895 under the Patriarch of Venice, Giuseppe Sarto. In 1914, after his election as Pope Pius X, the cause was formally accepted by Holy See.[2]

See also

References

  1. Armenian Academy of Sciences
    : 88. Նա Մխիթար Սեբաստացուն' որպես այդ միաբանության հիմնադրի, առաջին անգամ համարել է երկրորդ Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց
  2. ^ a b c d Nurikhan, Minas, Father; McQuillan, John, Father, trans. (1915). The Life and Times (1660–1750) of the Servant of God Abbot Mechitar, Founder of the Armenian Mechitarists of Venice (San Lazzaro). St. Lazarus' Island, Venice: Mechitarist Press. pp. 30–40.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Ormanian, Malachia (1912). The Church of Armenia : her history, doctrine, rule, discipline, liturgy, literature, and existing condition. Translated by G. Margar Gregory. London: A.R. Mowbray. p. 85.

Bibliography

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