Tatev - Tatev University

Tatev University

Tatev Monastery has played a notable role in the advancement of cultural life of Armenia. In his History of the Province of Syunik, Stepanos Orbelian describes how the monastery served as the repository for thousands of valuable manuscripts, monastic and official documents and contracts. The Monastery hosted a university that operated between 1390 and 1434, where instructors were educated and trained not only for the province of Syunik, but also for other regions of Armenia.

In the beginning of 1340s, following the decline of the University of Gladzor, Hovhan Vorotnetsi departed from Vayots Dzor, and arriving in Dzghook, Vorotn, he obtained the blessing and patronage of the Orbelian princes to advance the educational system at Tatev. Vorotnetsi used his experience from Gladzor to revise the educational plan and to organize the admission and classification of students and instructors. This enabled Tatev to be transformed to a deserving university within a short period of time, attracting students from various regions of Greater Armenia and Cilicia.

Vorotnetsi organized the university into three departments – study of Armenian and foreign scriptures, the study of scriptural arts, and finally, the study of music. The first included the study of humanities and social sciences, philosophy, oration, grammar, literature and history. The second focused on calligraphy, artistic design of books and the painting of miniatures and murals. The third department included ancient music and musicology.

Following the death of Vorotnetsi in 1388, Grigor Tatevatsi assumed the role of abbot. He succeeded in raising the standard of the University to unprecedented heights. During his tenure, Tatev experienced its most dynamic and creative period. Topics of instruction included Armenian literature, interpretation and analysis of the Old and New Testaments, works of the holy fathers, works of Plato, Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria and Porphyry, and their analysis.

The University of Tatev became the leading scientific and cultural centre of the time. Its achievements appear even more significant when they are viewed in context with the turbulent political situation and endless devastations of the period, when the University was occasionally forced to migrate in order to avoid persecutions from invading forces.

Tatev University led the effort to combat the influence of the Fratres Unitores in Armenia. The Unitores were an Armenian branch of the Dominican order and the result of an initiative taken by Pope John XXII to extend the influence of Holy See of Rome onto Asia and to Latinize Greater Armenia. Scholars of Tatev University fought against the proselytizing of the Unitores and sought to diminish their influence on the Armenian Church and people.

Following the collapse of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in 1375, scholars of Tatev, led by Grigor Tatevatsi and then his followers, especially Tovma Metsobetsi and Hovhannes Hermonetsi played an important role in convincing the authorities to repatriate of the supreme patriarchal throne of the Armenian Church from Sis to Etchmiadzin, the original See of Saint Gregory the Illuminator. The effort succeeded in 1441 following the decisions of the National Congress of Etchmiadzin, proving to be one of the most significant events in Armenian history of that century.

The prominence of the University began to wane following the death of Grigor Tatevatsi. In spite of the dauntless efforts of its new leaders, the political and economic conditions, compounded with the security complications of the period led Tatev to lose its luster and finally ceased to function following the invasions of Shah Rukh in 1434.