Abraham Petros I Ardzivian (in rmenian language|Armenian Աբրահամ Պետրոս Ա. Արծիւեան ) was an Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

. In 1738, the Armenian Catholics of Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

 obtained a church and brought a license to return Ardzivian to Aleppo in 1739. They decided to have an independent patriarchate with their bishop, who arriving to Aleppo, by the help of Greek Catholic bishops, ordained bishop his vicar Hagop and two other clergymen. They, in their turn, consecrated him patriarch on November 26, 1740.

To ratify the patriarchal election, Ardzivian went to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, to present himself to Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...

. The meeting of Cardinals on November 26, 1742 ratified Ardzivian's patriarchate and on December 8, the Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...

 granted him the Pallium

Pallium

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

.

The patriarchate founded by Ardzivian, being ratified according to the clerical rule and illegal according to the Ottoman rule, was the object of permanent governmental pursuits. In spite of European embassies' interventions, in the aim of getting a sovereignty, Ardzivian was obliged to resign in order to go to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, so he returned from Rome to the convent of Kreim. Being expelled somewhere on Lebanon mountains, accompanying him six bishops and 22 St-Antoine's Armenian Monks only.

External links

• Biography on official site of the Armenian Catholic Church