Chronologia, czyli roczniki kościelne

CHRONOLOGY OR CHURCH ANNALS BY STEFAN STEFANOWICZ ROSZKA

Stefan Stefanowicz Roszka (Stepannos Stepanian Roshka) was an outstanding Armenian intellectual from Poland, liturgist, lexicographer, historian, translator, and Catholic priest, who lived from 1670 to 1739. He was born into an Armenian merchant family in Kamieniec Podolski (Kingdom of Poland, today: Kamianets-Podilskyi in Ukraine) shortly before the city was captured by Turkey in 1672. At that time, he and his family took refuge in Transylvania, where in Gyergyószentmiklós (today: Gheorgheni in Romania), he received his basic education at an Armenian church school and was ordained to the minor orders by Minas Zilifdar-oghlu, bishop of the Moldavian and Wallachian Armenians, who sympathized with Catholicism. Around 1689, he returned to Poland to study for the Armenian Catholic priesthood in Lwów (today: Lviv). At the request of archbishop Vartan Hunanian, ordinary of the Armenian Catholic diocese of Lwów, he studied theology in Rome at the Collegium Urbanum (Pontifical Urban College for the Propagation of the Faith) from 1691. It was also in Rome that he was ordained a priest by Elia (Elijah), the Armenian bishop of Bethlehem (1700), and obtained his doctorate (1701). During his studies, he met many prominent figures of the Roman and Armenian Churches, translated letters from Armenian hierarchs and secular dignitaries (including those brought by Israeal Ori, envoy of the Armenian meliks) for Pope Clement XI, and became close to the wealthiest family of Armenian merchants from Persia, the Scerimans (Shahremanians). He returned to Poland in 1701 as a seasoned expert on Armenian rites and culture; he was fluent in Armenian, Latin, Italian, and Polish, as well as Greek and Bulgarian. In 1703, archbishop Deodat Nersesowicz, who administered the diocese of Lwów, sent him to do pastoral work in Podolia and Pokuttya, the regions with the largest Armenian settlements in Poland. He was first a dean there, residing mainly in the two largest parishes – Kamieniec Podolski and Stanisławów (today: Ivano-Frankivsk). In 1710, with the support of the Roman Curia, he sought the position of Armenian archbishop of Lwów, but was unsuccessful due to resistance from the Armenian community in this city. In 1718, the new archbishop, Jan Tobiasz Augustynowicz, appointed him as an official, i.e., the bishop’s judge in that part of the diocese which had previously been under his authority as dean. In 1719, he also became parish priest in Stanisławów. In 1729, he was general visitor of the Armenian Catholic parishes in Transylvania. The plan to make him bishop there failed due to opposition from the local Roman Catholic bishops. He died in Stanisławów. Throughout his life, Roszka collected books and manuscripts and created the latter. He documented his life, took notes of lectures he attended in Rome, wrote down words from Armenian readings, commented on the history of old manuscripts, translated from Latin, recorded the lives of his parishioners, systematically compiling books of their births, marriages, and deaths, and corresponded with numerous personalities. Many of his writings are now valuable sources for the history of Polish Armenians and their Church. He is the author of only one printed work – penitential reflections entitled Դուռն ողորմութեան Աստուծոյ (The Gates of Divine Mercy), published in Venice in 1702 at the expense of the Sceriman family. The rest of his works remained in manuscripts, most of which are now held by: the Mechitarist Libraries in Vienna and Venice, the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians in Warsaw, Matenadaran in Yerevan, and the Vatican Library. These include textbooks on theology and philosophy, translations of religious texts, revised versions of the liturgical books of the Armenian Catholic Church, and dictionaries (Armenian-Latin and Latin-Armenian, as well as Polish-Armenian and Armenian-Polish).