Mkhitar Sebastatsi

The text has been translated from Armenian

Mkhitar Sebastatsi was born in 1676 in Sebastia. His real name was Manuk, but when he became a clergyman, he got a new name Mkhitar. He got his primary education in the Monastery Nshan. When he was a young student he liked to ask questions, think logically and analyze. Little Mkhitar wanted to get a good education and for that purpose he came to Echmiatsin on foot. Even in Echmiatsin there were no good educated clergymen and he couldn’t find what he wanted. The clergymen in Echmiatsin treated Mkhitar as a servant, not a student. Soon Mkhitar understood that he couldn’t have a good future in Echmiatsin and ran away to the Sevan Monastery, but the Sevan Monastery and its clergymen were in no way different from those in Echmiatsin. Mkhitar left Sevan for Syria hoping to get light for his knowledge striving soul. There he made friends with the best clergymen who advised him to work as a catholic preacher but Mkhitar expressed his wish first to be ordained a priest. His wish was realized in his birthplace in Sebastia in the St Nshan Monastery in 1696.

In 1701 Mkhitar realized his longed for dream by organizing a religious congregation in Constantinople, Turkey. There were 10 members in it. The Armenian Apostolic Church was against this congregation as it reminded of a catholic origin. In 1706 Mkhitar had to move to Italy with his adherents. The Pope of Rome granted the Mkhitarean Congregation a small island near Venice, St.Lazar. Due to Mkhitar Sebastatsi St Lazar became an Armenian spiritual and cultural centre in Europe. This congregation became a special school for young Armenians striving for knowledge. Mkhitar Sebastatsi had to work and serve his two masters, the Rome Catholic Church and the Armenian nation. He had to write catholic religious books in order to be financed by the Pope of Rome but his most important creations for his nation were his first Armenian grammar books and dictionaries. Mkhitar’s most significant piece of work is the dictionary “Նոր բառգիրք Հայկազյան լեզվի” but this dictionary took such a long time to finish that he himself didn’t see it published. This dictionary was first published after his death in 1749. The second volume of the dictionary came out in 1769.

The Mkhitarean Congregation was the first to publish the manuscripts by Agatangeghos, Pavstos Buzand, Movses Khorenatsi, Nerses Shnorhali and others. They also translated the masterpieces of Greek and Romanic classical literature, the best pieces of West European literature and the best European text-books of different subjects for Armenian schools.

The text was translated into English by the learners of Grade 10: Eghikyan Liana, Markosyan Victoria, Martirosyan Ani,Alekyan Hovhannes, Sergeyan Sevak, Amirkhanyan Liana