The journal is scholarly, peer-reviewed annual. It aims to intensify research on the culture and history of the Polish Armenians and bring these issues back to the scientific consciousness. This choice of title is not accidental. As a result of the change of borders after the Second World War, the actual cultural dimensions of the Polish Armenians were blurred. They fell into a political inheritance in Ukraine, and many of those who write about their history from the 14th to the 20th century are not aware of the real dimensions, the real identity of this political, social, economic, and cultural space, in which they existed and worked.
Kondak konsekracyjny Mikołaja Torosowicza. Źródło do dziejów unii diecezji ormiańskiej w Polsce ze Stolicą Apostolską
THE CONSECRATION KONDAK OF MIKOŁAJ TOROSOWICZ—A SOURCE FOR THE HISTORY OF THE UNION OF THE ARMENIAN DIOCESE IN POLAND WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE Nikolas Torosowicz, a young Armenian monk from Lviv, was consecrated bishop of the Armenians in Poland by the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin, Melkisedek, during the night of 3–4 January 1627 (24–25 December 1626 according to the Julian calendar) in the Armenian monastery of Hajgadar (Holy Mother of God) on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Lviv. Those participating in the consecration were: Johannes, rabunapet of Constantinople; Mardiros, archbishop from Etchmiadzin; Awedis, the Catholicos’s nephew; Eghija, archbishop-vardapet; Barsam, bishop; and two monks, Khachadur and Boghos. The rite was performed with the omission of the procedures obligatory in Lwów—that is, without the election of the candidate by the local Armenian community, at a non-canonical age, and through bribery. The event provoked strong protests within the local community, so the Catholicos promised to take the new bishop with him to Armenia. However, having arrived in the nearby town of Yazlovets, he ordered Torosowicz to return to Lviv. In Yazlovets, dated 8 January 1627 (29 December 1626), Melkisedek issued the consecration kondak, written down by Father Simon. In this document he called upon the Armenian communities in Poland to obey the new bishop under threat of excommunication. The kondak has not previously been published in full. The basis of the present complete edition is a reading of the Armenian original (kept in the Mekhitarist Library in Venice) and a French translation made by Agnès Ouzounian. The Polish translation and commentary were prepared by Krzysztof Stopka.
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ormianin piszący po łacinie (Józef Epifani Minasowicz, Nowołacińska Warszawa, przekład wybranych utworów pod redakcją Beaty Gaj, Kęty 2024)
A POLISH ARMENIAN WRITING IN LATIN (JÓZEF EPIFANI MINASOWICZ, NEO-LATIN WARSAW, SELECTED WORKS TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY BEATA GAJ, KĘTY 2024) The review concerns a work on 18th-century Warsaw as depicted in the writings of the Polish-Armenian, Józef Epifani Minasowicz (1718-1796), published in 2024 under the editorship of Beata Gaj. The volume also contains translations of the author’s Latin poems into Polish, English, and German.
łacińskojęzyczna twórczość Ormian polskich
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Sprawozdanie z realizacji projektu badawczego „Pomniki dziejowe Ormian polskich”
REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT “HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF POLISH ARMENIANS” The “Historical Monuments of Polish Armenians” project was funded by the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities (project registration number: 22h 16 0433 84) and carried out in the years 2017-2025 at the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians in Warsaw. Extensive source queries were conducted throughout the project. All acquired digital copies of sources – including those not yet qualified for publication – were added to the online source database for research on the Armenian community in Poland, created at the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians in Warsaw. Editions of seven volumes of historical sources, translated into Polish (as required by the NPRH grant competition), were prepared and published in the series titled Historical Monuments of Polish Armenians. These include: Records of the Armenian Ecclesiastical Court of Lviv for the years 1564-1608, in the Armeno-Kipchak language (Kraków 2020); Symeon Lehacy (Simeon Lehatsi), Travel Notes (Kraków 2022); Stefan Stefanowicz Roszka, Chronology, or Ecclesiastical Annals (Kraków 2024-2025); The New Alishan: Sources for the History of Polish Armenians from the 13th to the 18th Century, Polish translation, parts 1 and 2 (Kraków 2025); Minas Bższkianc, Journey to Poland and Other Countries in which the Exiles from the City of Ani Live (Kraków 2025). Participants in the project included: Monika Agopsowicz, Andrzej Gliński, Gevorg Kazaryan, Marcin Łukasz Majewski, Hripsime Mamikonyan (Malta), Andrzej Pisowicz, Maksym Potapenko, Tatevik Sargsyan, Paweł Siemianowski, Krzysztof Stopka, Edward Tryjarski, Stanisław Ulaszek, Mikołaj Walkowicz, and Andrzej A. Zięba.
Konferencja naukowa „Ormianie polscy w XX i XXI wieku: historia, kultura, tożsamość”
ACADEMIC CONFERENCE “POLISH ARMENIANS IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES: HISTORY, CULTURE, IDENTITY” On 3-4 June 2025, an academic conference “Polish Armenians in the 20th and 21st Centuries: History, Culture, Identity” was held at the Jagiellonian University to mark the 35th anniversary of the Armenian Cultural Association. The meeting brought together scholars from many academic centers and cultural institutions, who presented a wide spectrum of topics relating to history, culture, political science, musicology, linguistics, literary studies, and art history. This range of subjects enabled and examination of the Armenian community both in its historical dimension and in terms of its current condition. The papers and discussions highlighted three main areas of research on Polish Armenians: historical, social, and cultural—essential for a full understanding of Poland’s multiethnic heritage.
Bibliografia prac profesora Andrzeja Pisowicza za lata 1964-2025
Rola i znaczenie ormiańskich organizacji w Polsce w uznaniu i upamiętnieniu ludobójstwa Ormian
THE ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS IN POLAND IN THE RECOGNITION AND COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE The article discusses the role of Armenian organizations in Poland—active in the protection and promotion of Armenian cultural heritage—in commemorating the Armenian genocide in Turkey during the First World War. These organizations work to shape public awareness of these tragic events in Armenian history. Several significant Armenian organizations exist in Poland: the Armenian Cultural Association, the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians, the Polish-Armenian Foundation, the Armenian-Polish Social Committee, the Armenian Foundation, and the Grzegorz Piramowicz Institute. They undertake activities aimed at commemorating the mass killings in Turkey and organize annual ceremonies in various Polish cities to pay tribute to the victims on 24 April, the official day of remembrance. They are also active in publishing, intending to reach not only the Armenian community, but also a broader audience. The most active Armenian-Polish periodicals in this regard include the quarterly Awedis, the Bulletin of the Armenian Cultural Association, and the newly established journal Munetik.
Wystawy poświęcone tematyce ormiańskiej w Polsce
EXHIBITIONS DEVOTED TO ARMENIAN THEMES IN POLAND The article concerns Polish exhibition activities aimed at disseminating knowledge about the culture and history of Polish Armenians. The author discusses a series of exhibitions organized in Stanisławów (December 1928) and Lwów (June-October 1932), as well as the attempt to establish an Armenian Museum in Lviv, which was thwarted by the outbreak of the Second World War and the postwar resettlement of the Armenian community to Poland after the country’s territorial changes. She then describes the exhibitions organized after a long hiatus caused by the communist authorities’ suppression of Armenian minority activity: in Zabrze (November-December 1991), Kraków (February-March 1998), again in Kraków (November 1999–February 2000), Warsaw (October-December 2009), Zamość (April-August 2010), Wrocław (June-July 2011), Szreniawa (June-October 2016), Jarosław (September-October 2017), Warsaw (May-June 2021) and Kraków (August- November 2022). The survey concludes with a description of the permanent exhibition at the headquarters of the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians (December 2022).
Spuścizna majora Melika Somchjanca i jego rodziny w zbiorach Centrum Dokumentacji Zsyłek, Wypędzeń i Przesiedleń UKEN w Krakowie
THE LEGACY OF MAJOR MELIK SOMCHJANC AND HIS FAMILY IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTATION OF DEPORTATIONS, EXPULSIONS AND RESETTLEMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION COMMISSION IN KRAKÓW The article discusses materials in the collection of the Center for Documentation of Deportations, Expulsions and Resettlements of the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków relating to major Melik Somchjanc (1900-1979), an Armenian born in Georgia under Russian rule, an officer of the Polish Army, participant in the anti-Soviet Promethean movement during the interwar period, and a hero of the Western Front in the Second World War, as well as his closest relatives: his wife Władysława, his son Zbigniew, and his daughter-in-law Zofia. These documents and artefacts constitute an intriguing set illustrating the fate of an Armenian-Polish family from the south-eastern borderlands of Poland, whose members experienced the cataclysm of the war in various places and circumstances (the Soviet Union, Africa), and subsequently found itself in political exile in postwar Great Britain, where they spent the reminder of their lives.
Center for Documentation of Deportations
Expulsions and Resettlements of the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków
ERAZM BARĄCZ: HIS LIFE AND COLLECTION This article presents the biographical profile of Erazm Barącz, a descendant of a well-known family of Polish Armenians from Lwów (Lviv), one of the most distinguished Armenian collectors in Poland, a donor to the National Museum in Kraków. The author characterizes his collection, the circumstances of its donation, and discusses its fate, including losses suffered as a result of German looting in Kraków during the Second World War.
Przekłady utworów literatury polskiej na język ormiański z końca XIX wieku
TRANSLATIONS OF WORKS OF POLISH LITERATURE INTO ARMENIAN FROM THE LATE 19TH CENTURY The author analyses five selected, lesser-known translations of Polish literature into Armenian that appeared in the last decades of the 19th century. This modest bibliographic contribution confirms that the reception of the works of outstanding Polish writers in this cultural sphere took place entirely through the Russian language. This suggest that despite numerous personal contacts between the Polish and Armenian lands, there were at that time no individuals capable of competently and directly mediating cultural content between the two countries.
Ormiańskie ślady pod Krakowem w XVII i XVIII wieku: przyczynek do badań ludności plebejskiej pochodzenia ormiańskiego
ARMENIAN TRACES NEAR KRAKÓW IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF COMMON FOLK OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN This article discusses a hitherto unstudied phenomenon in the historiography of Polish Armenians—namely, their settlement and integration into the communities of Polish villages. The author draws attention to this issue through the examples of three villages near Kraków: Niedźwiedź, Więcławice, and Sułoszowa, based on parish registers from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Ormiańskie starania wokół wizyt monarszych we Lwowie w drugiej połowie XVII wieku
‘Kondak’ de consécration de NicolasTorosowicz. Source pour l’histoire de l’union du diocèse arménien en Pologneavec le Saint-Siège
THE CONSECRATION KONDAK OF MIKOŁAJ TOROSOWICZ—A SOURCE FOR THE HISTORY OF THE UNION OF THE ARMENIAN DIOCESE IN POLAND WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE Nikolas Torosowicz, a young Armenian monk from Lwów (now: Lviv), was consecrated bishop of the Armenians in Poland by the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin, Melkisedek, during the night of 3–4 January 1627 (24–25 December 1626 according to the Julian calendar) in the Armenian monastery of Hajgadar (Holy Mother of God) on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Lwów. Those participating in the consecration were: Johannes, rabunapet of Constantinople; Mardiros, archbishop from Etchmiadzin; Awedis, the Catholicos’s nephew; Eghija, archbishop-vardapet; Barsam, bishop; and two monks, Khachadur and Boghos. The rite was performed with the omission of the procedures obligatory in Lwów—that is, without the election of the candidate by the local Armenian community, at a non-canonical age, and through bribery. The event provoked strong protests within the local community, so the Catholicos promised to take the new bishop with him to Armenia. However, having arrived in the nearby town of Jazłowiec (now: Yazlovets), he ordered Torosowicz to return to Lviv. In Yazlovets, dated 8 January 1627 (29 December 1626), Melkisedek issued the consecration kondak, written down by Father Simon. In this document he called upon the Armenian communities in Poland to obey the new bishop under threat of excommunication. The kondak has not previously been published in full. The basis of the present complete edition is a reading of the Armenian original (kept in the Mekhitarist Library in Venice) and a French translation made by Agnès Ouzounian. The Polish translation and commentary were prepared by Krzysztof Stopka.
Profesor Andrzej Pisowicz – uczony, armenista, popularyzator wiedzy o języku i kulturze Armenii (sylwetka naukowa z okazji 85. urodzin)
PROFESSOR ANDRZEJ PISOWICZ—SCHOLAR, ARMENOLOGIST, PROMOTER OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE OF ARMENIA. A SCHOLARLY PROFILE ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 85TH BIRTHDAY Professor Andrzej Pisowicz (b. 1940), a Polish Orientalist affiliated with the Jagiellonian University, specializes in the study of Armenian and Persian languages. From 1957 to 1961, he studied Iranian studies at the Jagiellonian University, and then—as the first Pole to do so—pursued Armenian philology at Yerevan University from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, he defended his master’s thesis at the Jagiellonian University, devoted to the dialect of the village of Pharpi in Armenia. He continued to expand his knowledge through studies in France and Iran. In 1974, he defended his doctoral dissertation on Armenian dialectology and the development of Armenian consonantism. In 1985, he obtained his habilitation degree on the basis of a study describing the phonological system of the Persian language. He was awarded the title of professor in 2002. Andrzej Pisowicz’s scholarly output includes over 260 publications. Alongside his research, he has engaged in translation, popularization, and community activities. He was one of the most active members of the Circle of Interest in Armenian Culture in Kraków and of the Armenian Cultural Association. He participates actively in the cultural life of the Armenian community in Poland, conducts Armenian language courses, appears in media, and promotes knowledge about the language, history, and culture of Armenia. He is a moral authority, advisor, and a role model for successive generations of researchers.
Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski († 2024) jako historyk Ormian polskich
TADEUSZ ISAKOWICZ-ZALESKI († 2024) AS A HISTORIAN OF POLISH ARMENIANS Abstract, Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski (1956-2024), a biritual Catholic priest (of the Armenian and Roman rites), also known in Poland as a publicist and a social, charitable activist, was simultaneously a historian writing about the history of Polish Armenians, especially their Church of the Armenian Catholic rite and extermination during World War II. The article analyses his publications against the background of contemporary Polish historiography and discusses historical essays of his authorship devoted to these issues.
Z materiałów źródłowych do dziejów Ormian w zasobie Archiwum Państwowego w Przemyślu: akta miejskie i sądowe
FROM SOURCE MATERIALS ON THE HISTORY OF ARMENIANS. IN THE RESOURCE OF THE STATE ARCHIVE IN PRZEMYŚL: CITY AND COURT RECORDS Abstract, The Resource of the State Archive in Przemyśl includes source materials from 16th and 17th centuries, concerning the history of Armenian culture. Among these sources, mentions are valuable written down in city and court records preserved in the records of archive sets no 129 (Records of the city of Przemyśl) and no 132 (Records of the city of Jarosław). Set no 143 (Greek Catholic Chapter in Przemyśl) includes the court record of the Armenian law of Saint John jurydyka with entries from 1600-1605 (ref. no 490).
Badania nad antroponimią ormiańską w Polsce
STUDIES ON ARMENIAN ANTHROPONYMS IN POLAND The history of studies on Armenian anthroponyms in Poland dates back to the mid 1880s, when the works of Jan Hanusz (1858-1887), one of the precursors of Polish onomastics, were published. Subsequent linguists conducting this research in the 20th and 21st centuries include: Eugeniusz Słuszkiewicz (1901-1991), Mieczysław Buczyński (1936-1992), Andrzej Pisowicz (born 1940), Stanisław Stachowski (1930-2021), Łukasz Trzeciak (born 1984). The article presents selected works of Polish researchers devoted to the personal onomastics of Polish Armenians.
ARMENIAN PAINTING SAGA. ANTONI AND KAJETAN STEFANOWICZ The article presents historical and artistic analysis concerning the works of two Polish painters of the Armenian origin, from the Stefanowicz family: Antoni (1858-1929) and Kajetan (1886-1920), the father and the son. In the context of their biographies, the author discusses their works, covering various areas of painting: portraits, landscapes, monumental painting, graphics, drawings, book illustrations, posters. In reference to Kajetan Stefanowicz, she makes a successful attempt to place him in the stylistically and regionally variable European art of his time – Secession, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. She also extensively describes his politically engaged works, created in atmosphere of fight for Poland’s independence during and after World War I.
MODERN KHACHKARS IN POLAND The article analyses the history of erecting, artistic values and symbolism of Armenian votive crosses (khachkars) in Poland within its current borders, from the first one, funded in 1978, until the last one from 2023. It presents their geographical distribution (Warsaw, Krakow, Gliwice, Elbląg, Gdańsk, Lublin, Zamość, Kartuzy, Szczecinek, Kurów, Białystok, Zabrze, Kielce, Łódź, Polanów), funders, authors, goals and circumstances of foundations, dates of consecrations, persons consecrating, materials and places of creation. The analysis has been placed in the context of the history of carving art concerning khachkars, their connections with the culture of Armenia and its Church, the tragedy of the 1915 genocide, as well as creation an Armenian diaspora in Poland, its martyrology in the time of World War II and expatriation trauma after 1945.
Księgozbiór Grzegorza Ignacego Szadbeja (1796-1839) w Bibliotece Ossolineum
THE BOOK COLLECTION OF GRZEGORZ IGNACY SZADBEJ (1796-1839) IN THE OSSOLINEUM LIBRARY The article presents the book collection of Grzegorz Ignacy Szadbej (1796-after 1839), an Armenian lawyer and poet active in Lviv. Before commiting suicide, he donated his entire collection to the Ossolineum Library. This gift included publications representing fiction and law as well as economic and medical guides. It was Szadbej’s private library, primarily helping him in his professional work and assisting in development of interests and writing skills. In 1946, the collection was divided between the National Ossolineum Library in Wrocław and Wasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine.
Patriota czy buntownik? Działalność niepodległościowa księdza Grzegorza Moszory w okresie Wiosny Ludów w świetle archiwów lwowskich i wiedeńskich
A PATRIOT OR A REBEL?INDEPENDENCE ACTIVITIES OF THE PRIEST GRZEGORZ MOSZORA DURING THE SPRINGTIME OF THE PEOPLES IN THE LIGHT OF LVIV AND VIENNA ARCHIVES Abstract, Grzegorz Moszoro (1812-1881) was born in an Armenian family in Łysiec (Eastern Galicia). In 1838, he graduated in philosophy and theology from the University of Vienna and became a priest of the Archdiocese of Lwów within the Armenian rites. In 1839, he joined in Lwów a secret society called “Sons of the Fatherland”, for which he was accused of high treason, sentenced to death and deprived of his nobility. In 1845, the Emperor Ferdinand I pardoned him, ordering penance. In 1848, Moszoro became a vicar of the Armenian parish in Stanisławów, where he got involved in independence activities again. He participated in the work of the Regional National Council – an organisation striving for introduction of democratic changes and regaining independence by Poland. During sermons within the Armenian Church, he encouraged the faithful to rebel against the Austrian authorities. Gubernium in Lwów and starostvo in Stanisławów collected extensive material documenting the priest’s activity. On its basis, the activities of Moszoro were recreated – in the context of socio-political changes, occuring in Galicia at that time. In 1849, Moszoro became a rector of the Armenian parish in Tyśmienica, devoting himself exclusively to priestly work.
CARPETS AND DIPLOMACY. MORE ABOUT THE MISSION OF SEFER MURATOWICZ IN PERSIA: GENESIS, GOALS AND LISTS OF ABBAS I AND SIGISMUND III In 1601, Sefer Muratowicz, an Armenian merchant from Poland, travelled to Persia at the command of the Polish king Sigismund III. He wrote a concise account of this journey. Previous studies have defined purposes of his stay in Safavids’ country in various ways. Some researchers considered the journey to be a purely commercial expedition, during which he made a purchase of carpets for the king. According to others, it was a diplomatic mission. The article, beginning from the state of research on Muratowicz’s stay at the Persian court, re-discusses his account primarily from a Persian perspective and a standpoint of Polish diplomacy, in connection with the political situation at that time and the relations of Shah Abbas I with Europe and Moscow. This allowed a new interpretation on grounds of Muratowicz’s departure and purposes of his stay at the Persian court. Furthermore, the article includes two previously unknown letters of Abbas I and Sigismund III related to the mission of Muratowicz.
Szlachectwa Ormian polskich od XIV do XX wieku: zarys problematyki
THE NOBILITY OF POLISH ARMENIANS FROM THE 14TH TO THE 20TH CENTURY (OUTLINE OF ISSUES) The article is an introduction to analysis of the phenomenon of social advancement in the community of Polish Armenians, allochthonous in terms of the origin and minority in terms of the ethnicity, experienced by obtaining nobility status, throughout the history of Poland from the second half of the 14th century to the beginnings of the 20th century, i.e. in evolving political, socioeconomic and cultural conditions. It contains: 1) the discussion of previous studies and their further directions in this field; 2) the characteristics of chronology, bestowers and recipients of ennoblement, ways of its obtaining and consequences as well as myths developed around this phenomenon; 3) the initial list of ennoblement, indygenat, legitimacy, effective nobility usurpation, golden knighthood and aristocratic titles of Polish Armenians.
Tematyka ormiańska na konferencjach naukowych w Polsce w 2024 roku
ARMENIAN SUBJECT AREA WITHIN SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES IN POLAND IN 2024 Abstract, In 2024, several conferences, entirely or partially devoted to Armenian subject area, were organised in Poland. Two conferences, concerning the genocide of Armenians, took place in Warsaw – the first one at the University of Warsaw (participants: Edita Gzoyan, Nune Gevorgyan, Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala, Harutyun Marutyan, Dominika Maria Macios), the second one in the Eastern House of the Karta Center Foundation (Lech Nijakowski, Karine Arutyunova, Inga Nosikova). Subsequent four conferences concerned issues of archival science, museology, and historical documentation. They presented an Armenian strand in reference to the collections of the now-defunct Archdiocesan Armenian Museum in Lwów and the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians in Warsaw: “Archives of churches and religious organisations in Poland from 1918 to the present times” in the Archives of Modern Records and the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Hanna Kopczyńska-Kłos); “Family and social archives” in Lublin, within VI Domestic Archival Symposium, organisers: Association of Polish Archivists and State Archives in Lublin (Monika Agopsowicz, Hanna Kopczyńska-Kłos); “Polish museology in the inter-war period” in Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław (Tomasz Krzyżowski) and “National Scientific Conference devoted to Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Church” in Tarnów (Ewa Soszko-Dziwisińska, Małgorzata Podkańska). Two conferences concerned only Armenian content: “Axentowicz. On the 165th anniversary of the artist’s birth” in Szymbark, within the European Heritage Days, organisers: Museum of the Manors of Karwacjan and Gładysz Families in Gorlice, Mesrop Mashtots Foundation in favour of Supporting Armenian Studies (Adrianna Napiórkowska-Bek, Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha, Krzysztof Stopka, Andrzej A. Zięba) and “Armenians in the culture of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth: status and heritage”, panel within II Congress of Researchers of the History of Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus in Warsaw, organiser: Centre for Eastern Studies of the University of Warsaw (Krzysztof Stopka, Andrzej A. Zięba, Dzianis Liseychykau, Maksym Potapenko).
Mesrob z Kaffy († 1624) – ostatni przedunijny arcybiskup „wszystkich Ormian obojga płci, mieszkających we Lwowie, Kijowie, Łucku i Zamościu”
MESROP OF KAFFA († 1624). THE LAST PRE-UNION ARCHBISHOP OF “ALL ARMENIANS OF BOTH GENDERS, LIVING IN LVIV, KIEV, LUTSK AND ZAMOŚĆ” Mesrop from Kaffa (Kaffatsi), the last pre-Union archbishop of Lviv before the union of the Armenian Church in Poland with the Holy See, came from the Principality of Moldavia. He was born in a mixed Armenian-Ruthenian family. As a child, he was sent to the vardapet Hovhannes Aintabetsi in Sebastia to receive education. According to his vardapet command, he left for Crimea before finishing studies, where he was probably ordained a monk. For this reason, he later referred to himself as “from Kaffa” – Kafatsi, Kafali (1605). In Crimea, he arbitrarily accepted the title of a master (rabbuni) and a vardapet afterwards. In the search of Armenian manuscripts, he travelled to eastern Armenia (Ejmiatsin, Khor Virap, Saghmosavank, Sanahin and Haghpat). In 1607, he was in Jassy and in 1608 in Suceava, thence he moved in 1610 to Lwów, where in 1611 he was employed as a preacher- vardapet in the Armenian cathedral. In 1613, he began a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On the way back (about 1616) in Aleppo, he was already formally appointed as a vardapet by his former teacher Hovhannes Aintabetsi the catholicos of Cilicia, who also ordained him as a bishop of Poland and Moldavia. In 1617, he was recorded in Lwów as a local archbishop. In 1621, during the Polish-Turkish war, he was in the monastery of Saint Auxentius in Suceava. On 4 March 1623, the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa, during the Warsaw Seym approved him as the archbishop of Lwów. Mesrop was a benefactor of the Armenian church of Saint Nicholas in Kamieniec Podolski where he founded an altar dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator. He also took care of churches in Lwów and Zamość. He died 12 May 1624 in Zamość and was buried there. The article includes three supplements in Polish translation: the royal confirmation of the archbishop Mesrop by Sigismund III from 1623, written in Latin; the will of the archbishop Mesrop made on 9 May 1624 in Zamość in Kipchak-Armenian ethnolect, according to the transcription of Edward Tryjarski, and an extract of the Armenian chronicle by Grigor Daranaghtsi, concerning the archbishop Mesrop.
Rekognicje celne jako źródło do dziejów Ormian kamienieckich w drugiej połowie XVI wieku
CUSTOMS RECOGNITIONS AS A SOURCE FOR STUDYING THE HISTORY OF KAMIENIEC ARMENIANS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY Armenians were among the constituent ethnic groups in the society of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Actively participating in trade, they were subject to legal regulations in as much as other urban citizens. Customs recognitions, or testimonies given by merchants enjoying customs freedom, serve as evidence of this process. The article analyzes the overall trade activities of Armenians from Kamieniec Podolski [Kamianets-Podilskyi] at Lublin fairs based on these recognitions. On their basis, it discusses the significance of customs exemptions as one of the privileges of Kamieniec residents, as well as the intensity of trade relations between this city and Lublin, and the range of goods exchanged. Additionally, it addresses the Armenians’ knowledge of legal practices and their ability to use the Polish and Ruthenian languages. An annex includes the edition of customs recognitions, which are an interesting source for studying economic history, diplomatics, and sigillography.
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Lwowscy zastawnicy w niewoli tureckiej, 1672-1679
LVIV HOSTAGES IN OTTOMAN CAPTIVITY, 1672-1679 After capturing Kamieniec Podolski [Kamianets-Podilskyi] in late August 1672, Ottoman army moved towards Lwów [Lviv] and started its siege in September. The condition for withdrawing from the siege was a ransom of eighty thousandtalers. Only five thousand was collected, and the missing amount was compensated by agreeing to hand over eleven hostages, including two Armenians. Later efforts resulted in the release of the Armenian hostages in 1676, while the remaining ones were released only in 1679. The author attempts to organize the topic of Lwów hostages, frequently mentioned in source materials but scattered and containing many contradictions, especially regarding their names and fate.