NAHAPET of EDESSA. – Armenian Katholikos of Egmiadzin (1691–1704).
On 5 September 1695 he sent a profession of Catholic faith to Innocent XII. He encouraged the initiatives for the union of the Armenian Church with Rome promoted by European and Armenian missionaries, and by Innocent XII’s legate, Pierre-Paul Bapaume, titular archbishop of Ancira. Many among the Armenians, together with N., were willing to sign the conditions laid down by the Pope for such a union. But the opposing faction, led by Bishop Stefanos of Giulfa, deposed N., who was replaced by Stefanos (1695–96); after barely a year, however, the latter had to abandon the see. N. was reinstated. The discussions for union between the Armenian vartapet of Persia and Fr. Vilotte, S.J., and Gaudreau of the Paris Foreign Missions, did not meet with success, and the attempt to win over the 30,000 Armenians of Giulfa, together with their 400 priests, failed because of secondary issues.
In May 1699, a delegation set out from Constantinople for Egmiadzin in the name of Innocent XII, led by Khaciatur Vartapet Arakelean, bearer of the brief of 3 May 1698, Graves, etsi non inconsueto, and of papal gifts for N., who received them with great ceremony. N. removed the anathemas against the Council of Chalcedon and St. Leo, recently introduced into the sacred ordinations, and excommunicated Avetik, the intruded bishop of Erzerum and later patriarch of Constantinople, persecutor of the Catholics. N. nevertheless failed in his aim of achieving union because of the many difficulties arising from the excessive dispersion of the Armenian dioceses, which were subject to different currents according to the various Empires in which they were situated, while enjoying in part the civil support of various Islamic states. N. was also renowned as the builder of many churches and monasteries in Armenia.