Eremia Chelebi Kömürjian (12–13 May 1637 – 15 July 1695) was an Ottoman-Armenian writer and intellectual from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

Background

Eremia's recent ancestors came from the district around Kemah in the

Armenian highlands The Armenian highlands (; also known as the Armenian upland, Armenian plateau, or Armenian tableland)Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: ...

. Eremia's great grandfather Sarkis Kömürjian, who was a coal dealer (), abandoned his properties in 1590s during the upheaval caused by the

Celali rebellions The Celali rebellions () were a series of rebellions in Anatolia of irregular troops led by bandit chiefs and provincial officials known as ''celalî'', ''celâli'', or ''jelālī'', against the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th and ...

like most local

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

and migrated to western

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

. Sarkis died in the town of

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

in southern Thrace. Nahabed, the son of Sarkis, and his only son Mardiros moved to

Early life

Eremia was born on 12 or 13 May 1637 in the Langa neighborhood of

to Papas (bishop) Mardiros. Eremia belonged to the Kömürjian family, which was distinguished in intellectual and ecclesiastical circles. Like most Ottoman-Armenians, Eremia was a member of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

. He had a younger brother Komitas, who would become a priest and "an officially beatified martyr" of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and was venerated by Armenian Catholics, but also Armenian Apostolics, Armenian Protestants,

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

, and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. At an early age, Eremia worked alongside Hajji Ampagoum, a wheat contractor who was Eremia's maternal uncle and guardian for some time. Eremia started school and was taught by Der Hovannes, the bishop of the Surp Sarkis Church in the Hisardibi neighborhood. Eremia picked up Turkish in 1656 and later learned

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. Although he grew up among clergy, Eremia steered away from that profession as he likely did not want to limit his studies.

Career

Following Hajji Ampagoum's death in 1658, Eremia Chelebi started tutoring the children of Abro Chelebi, a famous Armenian merchant. Eremia Chelebi was able to meet many important Turkish and European figures of the era who often gathered in Abro Chelebi's residence. Eremia Chelebi became the chief clerk and advisor of the

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

during the term of Mardiros II (1659–60) and mediated difficult disputes between members and dignitaries of the Church. In 1664, the Patriarchate sent Eremia to

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

to dissuade arch-patriarch Yeghiazar from creating a new arch-patriarchate based in the city. Eremia established a press in Constantinople under Abro Chelebi in 1677, where he was able to print two s (brief books).

Travels and death

Between 2 June and 3 October 1685, Eremia Chelebi traveled to

Echmiadzin Vagharshapat ( ) is the 5th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is commonly known as Ejmiatsin ...

as part of a diplomatic mission of the Armenian Church and also to see his son Kirkoris, who was a priest. En route to the town, Eremia Chelebi visited the cities of Ani,

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

, and

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

. When Eremia Chelebi returned to Constantinople the next year, he only worked on his books until his death. Eremia Chelebi died on 15 July 1695. He was buried in the Balıklı Armenian Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, volume=11, pages=293–294 , last=Yılmazer , first=Ziya , title=Eremya Çelebi , url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/eremya-celebi 1637 births 1695 deaths 17th-century Armenian writers Armenians from the Ottoman Empire People from Istanbul Armenian travel writers 17th-century travel writers