Abramo II (Adam Peter I) Arzivian (Aintaptzi)

ABRAMO II (ADAMO PIETRO I) ARZIVIAN (Aintaptzi). - Armenian Catholic patriarch, b. at Aintab on 12 Apr. 1679, d. on 1 Oct. 1749. Ordained priest and later bishop of Aleppo (1710), he suffered the vexations of the heretical party and was imprisoned twice. Superior of the Armenian Catholic convent of Kreim, he attended the Maronite Council of 1723 together with the apostolic legate Giuseppe Assemani. He was elected katholikos in 1740, and requested from Rome confirmation and the pallium, which he received there from Benedetto XIV, who, as a sign of particular benevolence, gave him an ivory statue of the Immaculate Conception. Having returned to the East, he took up residence on Mount Lebanon, continuing his apostolic activity until his death.