Mkhitar Sebastatsi was an Armenian Catholic monk who founded the influential Mekhitarist Order in 1701 in Constantinople. He was born in 1676 in Sivas, Anatolia and entered the Surp Nshan monastery, taking the name Mekhitar. Inspired to raise education and spirituality among Armenians, he established the Mekhitarist Order which later moved to locations in Greece and Italy to escape Ottoman persecution. Under Mekhitar, the order grew its monastery on San Lazzaro Island and sent priests to Armenian communities throughout the Middle East.

1. Mkhitar
Sebastatsi (Armenian: Մխիթար
Սեբաստացի, also known
as Mekhitar or Mechitar of Sebaste;
1676 – 1749) was an Armenian
Catholic monk and a prominent scholar
and theologian who founded
the Mekhitarist Order. Stepanos
Nazarian described him as the
"second Mesrop Mashtots".

2. Born Petros Manuk (Peter of Manug)
in Sivas (Sebaste) in Anatolia on 7
February 1676, he entered the Surp
Nshan (Holy Cross) monastery, taking
the name Mekhitar ("The Consoler").
In 1696 he was ordained a priest.

3. Inspired by the idea of creating
an order of preachers dedicated to
raising the educational and spiritual
level of the Armenian people, Mekhitar
founded in 1701
in Constantinople what would become
known after his death as the
Mekhitarist Order.

4. Two years later, escaping persecution
by the Ottoman authorities, the order
moved to Modon in the Peloponnese,
then known as theMorea, which was
a Venetian possession. In 1715, the
order moved to the Island of San
Lazzaro degli Armeni at the invitation
of theVenetian Republic. Mekhitar built
up the monastery on the island and
the order which sent out priests to
serve Armenian communities in
the Middle East.

5. Primary school
5th grade
Tigran Arzumanyan
teacher:
Nelly Medoyan