Simeon I of Yerevan

Catholicos of Armenia from 1763 to 1780

Simeon I of Yerevan or Simeon Yerevantsi (Armenian: Սիմէոն Ա Երեւանցի;[a] 1710 – July 26, 1780) was the Catholicos of All Armenians (head of the Armenian Church) from 1763 to 1780. In 1771 he founded a printing press at the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the first in Armenia.[1][2] According to historian Rouben Paul Adalian, the pontificate of Simeon I of Yerevan marked the reemergence of Etchmiadzin as a "truly important center of Armenian national affairs".[3]

## Biography

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Simeon I was born in 1710 in Yerevan, then under Safavid Iranian rule.[1][4][5] According to his contemporaries and 19th-century sources, his family was of noble origin.[6] He received his education at the monastic school in Etchmiadzin, where he studied with his predecessor as catholicos, Hakob Shamakhetsi, and eventually joined the teaching staff.[1][7] As a legate of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, he travelled to Istanbul, New Julfa and Madras, the last of which was an important center of Armenian intellectual activity at the time.[1]

He was elected catholicos at Etchmiadzin in 1763.[1] At the time, due to the remoteness of Etchmiadzin in a frontier province of Iran, the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul had become the most important see of the Armenian Church.[1] Simeon took active efforts in order to increase the role of the See of Etchmiadzin and reassert its primacy over the other sees, including by establishing a printing press in 1771, the very first on the territory of historical Armenia.[1] Four years later he established a paper factory to meet the growing needs and costs of the printing press. He furthermore improved the monastic school, which would become a major center of theological learning in the 19th century.[1]

Catholicos Simeon was particularly hostile towards Armenian Catholics and sought to prevent the spread of Catholicism among Armenians, frequently and harshly criticizing them in his written works.[8] He was opposed to the activities of Indian Armenians Shahamir Shahamirian and Joseph Emin, who envisioned the reestablishment of an independent Armenian state.[9][10]

Simeon I died on July 26, 1780, on the holiday of Vardavar. In accordance with his wishes, his former student Ghukas Karnetsi was elected his successor as catholicos.[11]

## References

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### Notes

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1. ^ Reformed orthography: Սիմեոն Ա Երևանցի

### Citations

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1. ^ a b c d e f g h Adalian 2010, p. 543.
2. ^ Hacikyan et al. 2005, p. 151.
3. ^ Adalian 2010, p. 300.
4. ^ Bournoutian, George (1982). Eastern Armenia in the last decades of Persian rule, 1807-1828. Undena Publications. pp. 7–8\. ISBN 978-0890031230. "Thus until the Afghan invasion and the subsequent crumbling of the Safavids in 1722, Eastern Armenia was under Persian rule."
5. ^ Floor & Herzig 2012, p. 376.
6. ^ Aslanian 2004, p. 27.
7. ^ Aslanian 2004, p. 28.
8. ^ Aslanian 2004, p. 44.
9. ^ Aslanian 2004, pp. 71–76.
10. ^ Khachikyan 1972, p. 206.
11. ^ Aghaneantsʻ 1894, p. 195 (ՃՂԵ).

## Sources

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* Adalian, Rouben Paul (2010). Historical Dictionary of Armenia (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810874503.
* Aghaneantsʻ, Giwt, ed. (1894). "Simēon Katʻoghikosi Kensagrutʻiwně" [Biography of Catholicos Simeon]. Diwan Hayotsʻ Patmutʻean (in Armenian). 3. Tiflis.
* Aslanian, Sebouh (2004). "Dispersion History and the Polycentric Nation։ The Role of Simeon Yerevantsi's Girk or Koči partavčar in the 18th Century Nation Revival". Bazmavēp. 39. OCLC 79389306 – via Academia.edu.
* Floor, Willem; Herzig, Edmund (2012). Iran and the World in the Safavid Age. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1850439301.
* Hacikyan, Agop Jack; Basmajian, Gabriel; Franchuk, Edward S.; Ouzounian, Nourhan (2005). The heritage of Armenian literature. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2815-6. OCLC 42477084.
* Khachikyan, L. S.; et al., eds. (1972). Hay zhoghovrdi patmutʻyun [History of the Armenian People] (in Armenian). Vol. 4\. Yerevan: Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences.

Preceded by

Hakob V Shamakhetsi

|  Catholicos of the Holy See of St. Echmiadzin and All Armenians
1763–1780  | Succeeded by

Ghukas I Karnetsi

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