Andrey Nikonorov
This article continues a series of studies devoted to a 1691 topographic map from Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli's collection of oriental manuscripts, housed in the library archives of the University of Bologna. Previous publications, published in 2025 in the scholarly journal "Theology: Theory and Practice," characterized the source under consideration, analyzed and interpreted data regarding the status of the Ganjasar Catholicosate during the Safavid reign in the South Caucasus, identified and described the episcopal sees of the Caucasian Albanian Church, and deciphered directions regarding pilgrimage routes and the most important Christian shrines in the region. In this publication, we examine information related to monastic communities and sketes, and also touch upon the related topic of the monastic traditions of the Caucasian Albanian Church. It should be noted that the origins, spread, and functioning of monastic institutions in the South Caucasus have not yet been addressed by any research. Therefore, this article can be considered the first attempt to present the history of the monastic movement in the region, to characterize it, and to list those centers of monastic life in the 17th century that the Constantinople intellectual, diplomat, and explorer Jeremiah Çelebi deemed necessary to mark on his map. Undoubtedly, this article also touches upon issues related to the preconditions for the emergence of monasticism in the East, its forms, characteristics, rules for the formation of communities, and their internal life. Issues concerning liturgical practices and the canons regulating internal life are also addressed.