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An international conference dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the establishment of Mekhitarist Congregation in Venice island of St. Lazarus took place on October 23-25, 2017. The conference was organized on the initiative of RA Ministry of Diaspora, NAS RA Department of Armenian and Social Studies, Yerevan State University, The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts- the Matenadaran and with the support of RA State Committee of Science.
The first day event took place in the Matenadaran session hall. Welcoming speeches were delivered by the RA Ministry of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, representative of the Mekhitarist Congregation of Venice, the Archbishop of the Armenian Catholic Archdiocese in Turkey, Levon Zekiyan and acting director of the Matenadaran Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan. Then “Tsakhkazard” ensemble of the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese performed at the cultural part of the event. The event ended with a tour of the Mekhitarist Congregation history and activities.
The official opening ceremony of the conference took place on the second day at the NAS RA Presidium Hall. The opening speech was delivered by NAS RA president, academician Radik Martirosyan. Then Levon Archbishop Zekiyan, Director of NAS RA Institute of History Ashot Melkonyan, Vice-minister of RA Ministry of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan, Director of the Institute of Literature after M. Abeghyan, Vardan Devrikyan delivered their reports. In the second half of the day, the conference continued with thematic sessions in history, philology, art and culture.
The experts and researchers from Armenia and Diaspora also participated in the conference. The head of the department of Armenian-Ottoman Relations of YSU IAS, Lusine Sahakyan, delivered a report on “The two handwritten manuscripts copied at Hamshen kept at the Venice Mekhitarist Congregation". The laboratory researcher of IAS department of Virtual Armenology and Information, Avo Aposhyan delivered a report on “History of school-establishing of Mekhitarist Congregation in worldwide Armenian diaspora”.
At the closing ceremony, Levon Zekiian highly appreciated the substantive and scientific approach of the Armenian intellectuals to the activities and heritage of the Mekhitarist Congregation. “Let's not wait fifty or a hundred years to organize a meeting and talk about the Mkhitarists, but to organize such scientific meetings at least once every five years”, - said Zekiyan summarizing the three-day events dedicated to the Mekhitarist Congregation.
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