Oxendius Vărzărescu

Oxendius Vărzărescu (Latin: Oxendius Verzellescus, Armenian: Օշենտիոս Վըրզարեան or Վրզարեան, Hungarian: Verzár Oxendius) (1655 - 1715) was the first bishop of the Armenian Catholic Church of Gherla.

Biography

Oxendius Vărzărescu was born in 1655 in Botoșani. He was an Armenian Apostolic priest, coming to Bistrița with Moldovan Armenians.

In 1670 Vărzărescu was in Rome, where he studied and was appointed bishop of the Armenians in Transylvania. Between 1672 and 1686 he made his church's union in Rome. In 1687 he was ordained (consecrated) to the episcopate by the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Lviv.

With the Armenian gold he went to Vienna to buy a territory on which the Armenians could settle in order to build a city. Thus the town of Gherla was born, where he exercised his pastoral work for almost twelve years.

In 1712 he went to Vienna, where he died on 10 March 1715.