The First Phase of Smbat Shahaziz’s Orphan Care Activities

Smbat Shahaziz’s national and social activities are little knownin society. The fact of the organization of the group supporting the Western Armenian orphans by himhas been briefly focused on. Meanwhile, archival documents prove that at the end of the 19thcentury, when Western Armenians faced all-national tragedy, the poet showed great enthusiasm in terms of supporting his people. This article is the first attempt to study this issue. The writer’s concern about the fate of orphans is evidenced by the presentation of his program at the event organized in Moscow on the occasion of his 35 years of hisactivities. At the core of it, the writer put the issue of starting a fundraiser among Russian-Armenians and opening orphanages in Asia Minor, urging not to delay this important initiative under any pretext. The documents prove that the questions and approaches in his speech were derived from the content of the letter addressed to him by the Patriarch of Constantinople M. Ormanyan. The process of formation of the Moscow orphan care structurestarted at the meeting convened on May 23, 1898. The president and treasurer of the group was S. Shahaziz. The article presents in detail his efforts to organize a fundraiser and open as many orphanages as possible with the collected funds. There were many obstacles in this process and the poet’s aspirations were not always met, and he also experienced disappointment. Today, on the basis of unique documents, a number of details of the remarkable but not always smooth cooperation between S. Shahaziz and M. Ormanyan have been revealed, the various difficulties on the way to establishing orphanages have been highlighted, and the circumstances of the opening of five orphanages in the first stage of S. Shahaziz’s orphan care activities have been presented.