Johannes Avetaranian | |
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| Born | (1861-06-30)30 June 1861 |
| Died | 11 December 1919(1919-12-11) (aged 58) |
Johannes Avetaranian, bornMehmet Şükri (Erzurum,Ottoman Empire, 30 June 1861 –Wiesbaden,Germany, 11 December 1919) was originally amullah in Turkey who converted fromIslam toChristianity, and later became a missionary for theSwedish Mission Covenant Church in SouthernXinjiang (1892–1938).[1] He translated theNew Testament into theUyghur language. He preachedChristianity in Xinjiang andat a Swedish Protestant mission. He died in 1919, aged 58, in Wiesbaden.
According to his autobiography, he claimed that he was asayyid, meaning a direct descendant of the Islamic prophetMuhammad.
Avetaranian was born inErzurum, in 1861, to aMuslim family. His mother was deaf, blind, and mute, and died when Avetaranian was only two years old. His father was adervish.[2] According to his autobiography, he would have been allowed to wear the green turban reserved forsayyids by a mullah after his aunt showed him their family genealogy.[3] It appears that he received a rather good education, allowing him to speak multiple languages. Apart fromTurkish, otherTurkic languages, andArabic, he also spokeGerman,English, and possiblyFrench andSwedish.[2]
Avetaranian initially became amullah in theOttoman Empire but gradually turned towardsChristianity after reading theGospels, he was particularly shocked after the drowning execution of twelve Turkish students who had converted to Christianity in the 1880s inConstantinople.[2] He then came into contact with Pastor Amirkhaniantz and some priests of theArmenian Apostolic Church.[2]
He took theArmenian name of Johannes (John) Avetaranian (Avetaran means 'Gospel') and was baptised either in Tiflis, Russia (modern-dayTbilisi,Georgia) or inTabriz,Iran, on 28 February 1885.[4][5]
He was the first person from theMission Union of Sweden to stay inKashgar (in 1892).[6] He translated theNew Testament into theUyghur language.[7][8] Avetaranian was significant in the understanding of the Uyghur language and stands as one of the pioneers in the study of this language.[9] His knowledge ofTurkish enabled him to be a proficient translator of Christian religious texts in both Turkish and otherTurkic languages, unlike his missionary colleagues, most of whom were proficient only inGreek andHebrew.[2] He also translated in Uyghur some books of theOld Testament, such asJob,Genesis, thePsalms and in TurkishThe Pilgrim's Progress ofJohn Bunyan.[2]
He left Kashgar in 1897, thinking that he would soon return, but that did not work out. Instead he worked with theGerman Orient Mission (DOM) in Bulgaria, where he started a Christian newspaper,Gunesh, in Turkish. The newspaper was circulated in Turkey proper.
Gösta Raquette came to Philipopol, nowPlovdiv,Bulgaria, where he worked with Avetaranian on revision of the Bible translation.
He died in 1919, aged 58, inWiesbaden.
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