Stephen Orbelian

Stephen Orbelian
Born	ca. 1250
Died	1305
Resting place	Noravank
Occupation	Metropolitan bishop, historian
Known for	History of the Province of Syunik

Stepanos Orbelian (Armenian: Ստեփանոս Օրբելյան; c. 1250–1305) was a thirteenth-century Armenian historian and the Metropolitan bishop of the province of Syunik. He is known for writing his well-researched History of the Province of Syunik.

Orbelian was a member of the Orbelian family of princes and feudal lords who ruled Armenia's province of Syunik. He received his education at a religious seminary, and in 1285 his father, Tarsayich Orbelian, sent him to Cilician Armenia, where he was consecrated a metropolitan bishop on Easter 1286. He remained there for three months as a guest of King Levon III and finally returned to Syunik in 1287. Orbelian died in 1305 and was buried in the family mausoleum in the monastery complex at Noravank.

Orbelian is known to have completed three works during his lifetime: the History of the Province of Syunik (Patmut'yun Nahangin Sisakan), in 1297; the Lament on Behalf of the Cathedral (Voghb i dimats' surb Kat'oghikeyin), where he calls on the Armenians to repopulate historic Armenia, which was at the time under foreign control, in 1300; and the Argument Against Dyophysitism (Hakacharut'iun unndem yerkabnakats'), in 1302, a work criticizing the pro-Byzantine and Westernizing tendencies of Grigor VII Anavarzetsi of Cilicia.

Of the three, the most prominent is that on the history of Syunik and the Orbelian family. Before he began writing it, he conducted an extensive amount of research, utilizing a wide variety of sources derived from speeches, letters, colophons, previous histories and chronicles by Armenian historians, as well as works by Georgian authors. Like other Armenian historians and chroniclers, Orbelian's work briefly narrates the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve, but then moves on to tell Syunik's and Armenia's history, spanning from the time of king Tiridates I to the end of the thirteenth century. Orbelian's work is especially valuable as it contains many previously unknown details about the province and Armenian history. In 1864 and 1866, History was translated into French by orientalist Marie-Félicité Brosset. Some excerpts were also translated into Russian and Georgian.

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