Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan

Life His birthdate is not known. According to Raffi, his father was Velijan III (d. 1686), melik of Khachen. He was among the Armenian nobility who convened together and sent Catholicos Jacob IV along Israel Ori to gather Western support for liberation of Christians, namely Armenians from Safavid Empire.

Catholicosate After deaths of Simeon IV (1675-1701) and Eremia II (Esayi's uncle, 1676-1700), who were rival catholicoses of Aghvank, Esayi applied to Shah Sultan Husayn of Safavids in October–November of 1701 to be recognized as new catholicos and paid 50 gold. He was later consecrated as catholicos by Nahabed I of Armenia in 1702. Esayi used opportunity to broaden his influence to Russia during 10-month vacancy in Armenian See. However, another bishop, namely Nerses V (1706-1736) declared his own catholicosate in Yerits Mankants Monastery. Although in 1707, Alexander I of Julfa supported Esayi against Nerses, the latter kept claiming legitimacy. He went to Russia in 1711 with Israel Ori to meet Peter the Great, however Israel died in Astrakhan and Esayi went back to Karabakh. Alexander's successor Asdvadzadur of Armenia later took certain privileges of Esayi back to Armenian church in 1716, but returned these rights in 1719.

Work He collected inscriptions of Karabakh monasteries (Dadivank, Katarovank, Goshavank, Gandzasar, etc.), different manuscripts of Gospels. He is most famous for his incomplete work named "A brief history of Aghvank region", which is a description of the events of his time and reaches up to 1723. The book was first published in Shushi by Baghdasar Hasan-Jalalyan in 1836, later in French (1876) by Marie-Félicité Brosset, Armenian (1868), Georgian (1971), Azerbaijani (1992).