It is a bold statement to make, especially coming from someone such as I, who claims no ecclesiastical expertise. The statement I made as the headline of this blog is a statemen that simply comes from my guts. I have been at Etchmiadzin only as a visitor. Obviously, a reader who comes across this blog may summarily dismiss it. Or the reader may give the benefit of the doubt read the attached and ponder.
At this moment I am driven more by the writing of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian. His narration of the last days and the last hours of the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin I Sarkissian in Etchmiadzin is for history, for all those who study Etchmiadzin as the historical spiritual center for the Armenians. But at this moment I am driven more by the statements Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian made.
It would not surprise me that Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian’s narration would go down in history as one of the finest Armenian church related writings. The archbishop noted about Etchmiadzin during the last days of Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian and wrote: “There are shadowy figures here and there. They are waiting. They come and go. They whisper. They show signs of impatience.”
The archbishop then spoke of, Karekin Catholicos as the Cilician eagle who “roosted on the slopes of Ararat, and how, contrary to all expectations, the eagle mortally tumbled down its wings clipped.”
Finally, the Archbishop confided that the blow the cancer inflicted to Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian was severe, but, the archbishop elaborated further, writing: “The cancerous wound was open and deep. Everyone saw that wound. But the majestic soul died from other pains. To this day no one knows that pain and the depth of his other wound.”
After Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian’s death I remember reading some of the luminaries of Armenia at the time, among them the names Vazken Sargsyan, Silva Kaputikyan come to my mind, admitting that Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian was neglected and left alone.
Such and my remembrances of other readings, notably reading about Gomidas Vartabed’s experience in Etchmiadzin have left me with the impression, rightly or wrongly, that Etchmiadzin is an opaque place. It is not the open transparent spiritual center, or the religious institution one expects whose spiritual reach is global.
“The last day and the last days of Catholicos Karekin” is the poignant narration by Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian. The write-up was placed in the testimonial book about the archbishop. The book is titled “Living Faith, the Life & Service of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian.” The coffee table size pictorial book was edited by Iris Papazian (1996)
. Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian is the only Armenian supreme patriarch of the Apostolic Church that occupied two pontifical seats, that of Cilician Catholicosate in Antelias and in Etchmiadzin.
I attached my translation of the archbishop’s narration’s narration I had posted earlier in two segments. I linked them below for all those interested to read:
1. The Last Day and the Last Days of Catholicos Karekin – 1/2 – “The tragedy of the cross of Karekin Catholicos has come to its end.”
2. The Last Day and the Last Days of Catholicos Karekin – 2/2 – “Srpazan, we lost Vehapar.”
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