Pacradooni Kaloost Vartan (1835–1908) was a physician and missionary. He founded the Nazareth Hospital, the first missionary hospital in Ottoman

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

Early life

Vartan was born in

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, the son of a poor

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tailor, and attended the city's first American Presbyterian missionary school in Bebek. He joined the British army, serving in the Crimea as an interpreter, but after witnessing the dreadful inadequacies of battlefield medical facilities he resolved to become a surgeon. After his initial Crimean experiences, Vartan traveled to Edinburgh where he trained as a doctor at Edinburgh under the auspices of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society (EMMS). He married Mary Anne Stewart, a Scottish nurse, and immediately after the wedding he and his bride left for Palestine.

Mission in Palestine

Vartan's work was sponsored by the EMMS to whom he reported every quarter. With fundraising led by William Thomson, he was able to start the Nazareth Hospital. When he arrived in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

in 1861, and started working towards the establishment of the EMMS hospital. The first floor of the house he rented housed the dispensary, with a separate room for four beds. That was in the area of the Old Suuq today. The extended house eventually became inadequate and, after many difficulties, the land on which the present hospital stands was purchased in 1906. Patients came from Nazareth and the surrounding countryside for medical care. In addition, hospital staff ran clinics in the villages neighboring Nazareth. When the Free Church of Scotland mission wanted advice about starting their own missionary work, they asked him.

Personal life and death

Vartan and Stewart had ten children, five of whom lived to adulthood. The Vartan family were members of the Anglican Christ Church, Nazareth. John Zeller, the pastor of the church, assisted Vartan with his work in founding the Nazareth Hospital. Vartan died in 1908. An iris (' Iris vartanii') was named by Sir Michael Foster after Dr. Vartan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardan, Kaloost 1835 births 1908 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Anglican missionaries in the Ottoman Empire Anglican missionaries in Palestine (region) Armenian expatriates in the United Kingdom Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Armenian Protestant missionaries Christian medical missionaries Palestinian Anglicans Palestinian people of Armenian descent People from Nazareth Physicians from Istanbul