Magazine Winter 2008 Contra tabachi

24 November 2008, 15:30
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Contra tabachi

Who would have thought that even back in the 17th century a rancid anti-tobacco campaign was taking place in Armenia? The evidence of this is contained in the archives. This campaign was led by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Hovannes Vanetsi, also known as Tutunji. Despite the high clerical rank, Tutunji was a desperate adventurer. He was the first traveler who managed to describe the sources of the Blue Nile to the rest of the world.

At the source of the blue nile
In the period of the late middle ages the Kingdom of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) was considered a secluded and mysterious corner of the world, where Westerners did not set foot. The members of the Catholic Church were prohibited from entering the country by a special royal decree. As The Life of St. Eustachius tells, “Evil monks and clergy were prosecuting Saint Eustachius, even tried to assassinate him”. St. Eustachius found shelter and spent his last days under the protection of Armenians. He died in 1353 AD and was buried in an Armenian church. This is just a minute example of the centuries long Armeno-Ethiopean friendship and cooperation. Nevertheless, if the secular Armenians often traveled to the country for trade, the clerical figures would seldom visit here. The visit of the Archbishop of Shamiramakert (Van) was very elevated and pompous. The Ethiopian chronicles account, “The Archbishop came from Armenia carrying the most precious relic – a piece of bone from the arm of our Eustachius.” Tutunji further developed trust of the Ehtiopian by diligently answering all the questions about faith and the Nature of Christ asked by the chief Ethiopian cleric, Catholicos Constantine. In fact, Coptic Ethiopian and Armenian Apostolic Churches are very similar in their doctrine about the matter. Monophysitism (the belief in single nature of Christ) was the reason why the two, along with some other churches, separated from the Catholic Church during the Ecumenical Council of Chalchedon. During the two years of his stay in Abyssinia (1678-1680), Tutunji traveled to the most distant corners of the Empire. Thus, he became the first foreigner to travel to the source of the Blue Nile and see how the first tide of the great African river was born. Later on, he even managed to leave the country without any trouble. As Hovannes himself mentions in his memoirs, “No foreigner is able to enter the land, and even if he does, he will seldom be able to leave. But we, with the mercy of Christ and aid of the king, were able to do both… We decided to leave because the priests were interrogating us with questions of faith and righteusness.”

At the court of the sun king
After leaving Ethiopia, Tutunji with his companions made their way back to Cairo, then to Alexandria where they took a boat to Livorno, Italy. Hovannes was very skillful in combining his work as a missionary and a discoverer with his struggle of liberation of Western Armenia. Tutunji and his contemporaries were romanticists – they assumed that attending parties thrown by European royals and telling them about the miserable plight of the Armenian people would turn the monarchs to action. Historians relate to Tutunji’s death as the end of the “romantic” period of the Armenian liberation movement of the 17th century.
Armenians were given audience in France, where Louis XIV ordered a reception in their honor at Versailles Palace. This was one of the most lavish venues, even for Versailles; there were about 55 diverse and exquisite platters on the menu. The Armenian delegation included some of the most accomplished and dedicated representatives of the Armenian community of the time: Shahmirad Bahishetsi, Vardapet Hovannes Vanetsi himself, Vardapet Zacharias Sisiantsi, Giuseppe the sun of Lazaros of Aleppo, Solomon, the Nephew of Vardapet Voskan Yerevantsi (the first successful publisher of printed Armenian Bible ).
The Oriental guests told the Sun King and his court about the tough luck of the Armenians in their ancestral lands, as well as shared their impressions about their astonishing journeys into the distant lands.

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