December 16 – December 17
A Conference in memory of Father Sahak Djemjemian and on the Occasion of the 300th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Congregation in Venice

Event Flyer and Program Details

Confessionalization and Reform: The Mkhit‘arist Enterprise from Constantinople to Venice, Trieste, and Vienna,
A Conference in memory of Father Sahak Djemjemian and on the Occasion of the 300th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Congregation in Venice

Over the last few decades, historians have come to refer to the period from the Protestant Reformation in Europe to the late seventeenth century as the era of “confessionalization.” Confessionalization has come to be understood as a global process marking the birth of early modern religious revival and reform movements that affected societies, states, and cultures across Eurasia, including in the Ottoman and Safavid empires. This conference seeks to place the birth of the Mkhit‘arist congregation of erudite Catholic-Armenian missionaries and monks within the larger wave of confessionalization that was sweeping the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean in the late seventeenth century. Bringing together an international cast of scholars, the conference commemorates the 300th anniversary of the establishment of Abbot Mkhit‘ar’s reformist order on the island of San Lazzaro in the Venetian lagoon. Scholars will explore and analyze the pivotal role played by this Order in the remaking of early modern Armenian confessional and national identity through their interventions in print culture, Armenology, Armenian lexicography, grammar, and literary translation.

Organized by the Richard Hovannisian Chair of Modern Armenian History at UCLA

With the co-sponsorship of the Narekats‘i Chair of Armenian Studies (UCLA), the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the USC Armenian Studies Institute,
and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES