AGOP, GIOVANNI HOLLOV. – Armenian Catholic priest, born in Constantinople in the first half of the 17th century, distinguished as a grammarian, translator into Armenian of several Catholic ascetical works, and apologist in relation to his dissident compatriots.
He is especially responsible for the Armenian version of the Imitation of Christ (Rome 1674) and of Marco da Palermo’s work La Confessione e accusa secondo l'ordine dei 10 Comandamenti e dei 7 vizi capitali (Constantinople 1701). Lo specchio della verità (Venice 1680), written in Armenian, aims to demonstrate that the Catholic Church is the only true Church. As an Armenian writer, A. is little esteemed by his compatriots, because the purity of his language leaves much to be desired.
BIBL.: S. Somalian, Quadro della storia letteraria di Armenia, Venice 1829, pp. 162–63; F. Tournebize, s. V. in DHG, I, cols. 1004–1005. Martino Jugie