The Forerunner of the Armenian Liberation Movement: Hakob IV of Jughayetsi

In 1677, Hakob IV of Jughayetsi convened a meeting in the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, where the Armenian elite gathered. They decided to form a delegation headed by the Catholicos, which was to travel to Europe. The delegation was to negotiate with the Pope of Rome, the leader of Poland, who had anti-Turkish sentiments. For the first time, the Catholicos sent a letter about liberation to the Russian leader Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Peter the Great.