Մխիթար Սեբաստացին և դավանական ներհակությունները պոլսահայ միջավայրում (XVII դ. վերջ – XVIII դ. սկիզբ)

<jats:p>In the biography of Mkhitar Sebastatsi, as well as in the chronicles of the Constan-tinople Armenian community, the years 1698 and 1701–1702 stand out as particularly signifi-cant. The founder of the future congregation engaged in preaching, guided by a conviction in the importance of Catholic values, while simultaneously advocating for national harmony and the avoidance of escalating religious contradictions. This was a unique concept at a time when religious friction among the Armenians of Constantinople (and within Western Armenian rea-lity as a whole) was intensifying due to Ottoman Turkey’s official – policy of sharply opposing the West, as well as a religious-ideological campaign launched by European countries to fur-ther their interests. The military confrontation between these parties within Ottoman society transformed into endless religious standoffs and clashes between the Sublime Porte which defended the millet system at all costs – and the European powers, which advocated for its collapse. The Armenian populace involved in the millet system, along with its national church and the intelligentsia holding divergent religious views, was inevitably drawn into this conflict. Mkhitar Sebastatsi’s perspective on national unity and lawful, non-disruptive development amounted to an exceptionally viable concept based on the synthesis of European ideology, Roman Catholic values, native culture, and enlightenment. This perspective was destined to face opposition from both the Ottoman authorities and the national ecclesiastical figures ac-ting under their jurisdiction. The biographical realities of Mkhitar Sebastatsi during this pe-riod were directly conditioned by these circumstances, which the great thinker countered through his formidable intellectual work, laying the foundation for modern Armenian culture.</jats:p>