MELKONIAN, STEFANO. — Successor of the Ven. Mechitar, founder of the Mechitarists. Born in Constantinople on 23 February 1717, he entered the Order in 1730; ordained a priest in 1739 and elected general abbot on 6 April 1750, he died on 1 September 1799.
M. completed the construction of the abbey of S. Lazzaro begun by the founder. He fostered and gave new impetus to historical, critical, and literary studies. During his long government, the great figures of M. Ciamcian, Ingigian, Avedichian, Aucherian, and others were formed. In 1789 he founded the famous Armenian printing press at S. Lazzaro.
BIBL.: Mechitarian Jobelian, S. M., Venice 1901 (publication [in Armenian] by the Mechitarists of Venice on the occasion of the bicentenary of their foundation). Nicola Kehian