Voskan Yerevantsi

Voskan Yerevantsi was born in January 1614 in New Julfa, the Armenian suburb of the royal Safavid capital of Isfahan.

Voskan was expected to become a long-distance merchant like his brothers, Hovhannes and Avetis, but he instead pursued a religious career and enrolled in Khachatur Kesaratsi's school in New Julfa.

[4][5] There, he studied with the Dominican missionary Paolo Piromalli,[4] who taught him Latin, philosophy, geometry, astronomy and grammar.

It has been suggested that the Catholic Voskan did not wish to continue printing in non-Catholic Amsterdam, or that he was experiencing financial difficulties and left to evade his creditors.

Apparently, Voskan's three business partners had broken their agreement and refused to pay for the printing expenses, which caused him to go into debt.

Voskan, facing bankruptcy, began a business partnership with Father Tadeos (Thadée) Hamazaspean, also from New Julfa.

Soon after concluding their agreement, Hamazaspean sued Voskan in the local courts on charges of heresy, interrupting the operation of the printing press.

[3] His printing press was taken over by his nephew, Soghomon Levonian (Salomon de León), who continued to litigate the lawsuit begun by Hamazaspian.

[4] Voskan's Bible was based on the 1295 version belonging to King Hethum II of Cilician Armenia, with some changes to bring it closer to the Vulgate.

Historian Rafayel Ishkhanian credits Voskan's printing press with solving the long-term shortage of books among Armenians during this period.