Urmia Orthodokseta ("Orthodox Urmia"; russian: Православная Урмия, translit=Pravoslavnaya Urmia) was a magazine published every month (with one interruption) from 1904 to 1914 in

Urmia Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...

Qajar Iran Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...

by the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission. It was published in both

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Suret ( syr, ܣܘܪܝܬ) ( �su:rɪtʰor �su:rɪθ, also known as Assyrian or Chaldean, refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by ethnic Assyrians, including those identifying as religious groups rather than eth ...

. Publication permanently came to an end in 1914 due to the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In the early years of publication, the Russian and Neo-Aramaic versions contained the same articles, which, in the words of Lina Yakubova, were about topics of "general interest". However, this changed later. The Russian version focused primarily on the "geography and

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

of the Assyrians". On the other thand, the Neo-Aramaic version changed into being "primarily religious in character", and specifically aimed at the "expansion of Russian Orthodoxy". Yakubova notes that some issues of the magazine stood out in terms of content as they promoted then incumbent Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

(1894-1917) as a "benevolent ruler".

Circulation and format

Yakubova notes that separate versions of ''Urmia Orthodokseta'', one in Russian and one in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, were printed was due to fact that an ever increasing number of Assyrians in the area were converting to the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

rite and were attending the schools in the area founded and sponsored by the Russians. Furthermore, an increasing number of Russians were active in commerce and diplomacy in the area, as well as Russian military personnel. The magazine was thus primarily meant for Iran's Assyrian citizens and the Russian nationals inside the country. The magazine published some eight bilingual issues starting from 1905-1906. Publication of ''Urmia Orthodokseta'' was paused during the

Iranian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...

(1905-1911), "when the Russian presence became more suspect", but continued in 1911 with the arrival of the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

. The versions in Russian appeared in about 300 to 500 copies per circulation, while the Neo-Aramaic ones numbered 600 copies. The printing press used by the Mission to print the magazine was given to Iran by the new

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

government.

Subscription

Yakubova notes that people subscribed to ''Urmia Orthodokseta'' were mainly found in Urmia itself and in its confines. However, there were also people in Tiflis (

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

) and Erivan (

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

) who were subscribed to ''Urmia Orthodokseta'', as well as in other parts of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

where Assyrians from Urmia had settled. The subscription costs were one toman per year in Iran, and two

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s per year in the Russian Empire.

Circulation and format

Subscription

See also

References

Sources

Further reading