Iosif Argutinskii

(also I. Dolgorukii). Born 1743, in the village of Sanachin, near Tbilisi; died Mar. 9 (21), 1801, in Tbilisi. Prince; Armenian church and political figure. Archbishop from 1800—catholicos of all Armenians.

In 1780, Iosif Argutinskii participated in the conference called by G. A. Potemkin concerning Russian policy in the Caucasus and the liberation of Armenia and Transcaucasia from the Turkish and Iranian yoke. In 1783 he assisted in working out the plan for an Armenian-Russian treaty by which Russia was to restore an independent Armenian kingdom under its protection. Iosif Argutinskii was one of those who organized Armenian settlements in southern Russia. During the campaign of the Russian army in Transcaucasia in 1796, he appealed to the Armenian people to aid the Russian army.