|
|
IRAN
AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts
Kostikiyan,
Dr. Kristine, Institute of Oriental Studies – Academy of
Sciences, Yerevan, European
Catholic Missionary Propaganda among the Armenian Population of
Safavid Iran
The activities of
European Catholic missions in Iran, which began in the thirteenth
century, intensified during the reign of Shah Abbas I, when close
economical and political relations were established between Iran
and European countries.
Safavid shahs and the
Moslem clergy showed intolerance with respect to the activities of
European missionaries among Moslems.
Nevertheless, they were able to carry on Catholic
propaganda freely among the heterodox minorities of Iran and
particularly among Armenians.
Catholic missionaries and Rome took special notice of
Armenians, who formed the majority of the Christian population of
Safavid Iran. They
even had devised methods of effective work among the Armenians.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the
socio-economical and political conditions of Armenians subject to
Safavid Iran favoured the dissemination of Catholicism among them.
The Armenian Gregorian
clergy, especially in New Julfa, carried on a tireless struggle
against Catholic propaganda.
This struggle intensified at the beginning of eighteenth
century, when Russia came out as the liberator of Armenia.
Soon afterwards the Armenian liberation movement changed
its orientation from Europe to Russia.
The
Safavid shahs carried out a two-faced policy in respect of the
antagonism existing between Catholic missionaries and the Armenian
Gregorian Church. They
allowed the rights and privileges of Catholic missionaries in
order to maintain friendly relations with European countries in.
But, being interested in preserving their supremacy over the
Armenians, they kept the rising influence of the Catholics under
restraint. This
policy may be easily traced in their edicts.
One group of these edicts, obtained by the missionaries,
protected their rights to carry out free activities in the
territory of Safavid Iran. Another group, issued at the request of the Armenian
Gregorian church and clergy, restricted their rights with respect
to the Armenian population of Safavid Iran.
Three edicts of this group, issued by Shah Sultan Husain at
the request of Alexander and Astvatsatur, both in their time
Catholicos of Etchmiadsin, are kept in the Yerevan Matenadaran.
The first edict, dated 1710, prohibited the Catholic
missionaries from teaching Armenian children in Catholic schools,
marrying Armenian women by force and promoting the conversion of
the Armenians to the Catholic faith.
In this edict the Shah stated that it had priority over the
treaty concluded between Iran and France in 1708, with regard to
the rights and responsibilities of the missionaries.
The second edict, dated 1712, is stricter.
In addition to confirming the first edict, Shah Sultan
Husain charged the local governors and officials with
responsibility for the execution of his orders. The Shah also commanded the governor of Tabriz to give back
fifty-toman fine, taken from each of 25 persons who had forbidden
the Armenians to visit the houses of the Catholic missionaries and
their church.
These
edicts were issued in the period of Safavid decline, when the Shah
was unable to keep order in his state.
Nevertheless, it is most likely that these edicts gave the
Catholicos Alexander the power to hinder the activities of
Catholic missions at Tabriz, Tiflis, Ganja and etc. The third edict, issued later, in 1717, at the request of
Astvatsatur, fully confirmed the edict of 1710 and ordered the
local governors and officials to put it into execution and not
allow any Armenian to adopt Catholicism.
Back to
Abstracts
Directory
Back
to Programme
|
|
