The Longest March

Vahe H. Apelian

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The April 24, 1971 Armenian Genocide Commemoration march in Lebanon remains etched  in memory of a generation that lived through it. What made the march even more memorable was George Azad Apelian carrying a cross up the hill

Arguably it was the longest Genocide memorial march and was called from Memorial to Memorial. But it was for Hai Tahd, the Armenian Cause, as the fund raising ticket noted. We were stateless then. Our homeland was not free and independent. But since September 21, 1991, the official Armenian Independence Day, our march is endless into the boundless far reaches of history.

For all those who came of age in Lebanon in 1965, the year we commemorated the 50^th anniversary of the Genocide, likely remember also the  commemorative march on  Saturday, April 24, 1971. That march, in my estimation, remains the longest Armenian Genocide commemorative march where the participants walked from the Armenian Genocide monument situated on the premises of the Catholicosate’s monastery in the mountainous town of Lebanon, called Bikfaya, all the way to the Catholicosate of Cilicia in coastal city Antelias. Wikipedia tells me that the distance is 16 Km or 9.9 miles of steep down-hill walk. I do not believe that such a long Armenian Genocide commemorating March has taken place before and since.

I was reminded of this march when Laura Vartan Agnerian from Canada, after having read my article titled “The First Protest”, posted on my Face book page a copy of the tickets issued by the organizers of that march, members of the A.R.F. Zavarian Student Association. I doubt that any other exists. It is fair, I thought, that I pen my remembrance of the event aided by the reporting that appeared on the pages of “Aztag” Daily on Tuesday April 27. 1971

The ticket Laura posted is telling of the era. The clenched fist had become the standard poster displayed by the youth then. I can state with some confidence that it was designed by the member/s of A.R.F. Zavarian Student Association at the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Genocide and was often depicted on Genocide commemorative posters henceforth and to this day. The ticket also notes of one (1) Lebanese Pound due (dourk), not a donation, but a due for Hai Tahd, the Armenian Cause. This ticket is No.8445. Such tickets were usually issued in whole numbers. One can easily surmise that at least 10.000 tickets  were issued.   

The 1971 Genocide commemorative march was called “From Monument to Monument” (houshartsane houshartsan) because, as noted, it started from the Armenian Genocide commemorative monument on the premises of the Catholicosate of Cilicia monastery in Bikfaya. The monument there was designed by Zaven Khedeshian. It depicts an abstract figure of a woman standing with her hands extending towards the sky. The following is inscribed at the foot of the monument in Armenian and Arabic as well: “This monument, commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Armenian genocide was erected with the cooperation of the whole Armenian Community in Lebanon to celebrate the rebirth of the Armenian nation and to express gratitude to our country, Lebanon, April 24, 1969”. 

“Aztag” daily noted that the Saturday, April 24, 1971 March was a community wide undertaking but the event was conceived, planned and organized by the A.R.F. Zavarian Student Association. The event was a cornerstone. An upcoming generation had started asserting itself and assuming the mantle pursuing the peaceful but determined resolution of the Armenian Genocide.  "Aztag" Daily reported that an estimated 30,000 marchers participated in the event.

The Friday evening to the Saturday morning became a period of uneasiness both for those who planned to march and for the organizers as well due to a capricious weather. In spite of all indications that a downpour awaited them, the marchers started coming to the assigned sites from where they were bused to Bikfaya. By 9 a.m., when the march started, some 25,000 people had gathered around the Genocide Monument. Fortunately, it did not rain. The marchers on their way to Bikfaya in buses had encountered a moving sight. They saw a young man shouldering a huge wooden cross with a two-pan scale mounted on the cross, symbolizing quest for justice, braving the steep uphill walk towards the monument all by himself.

George Azad Apelian carrying the wooden cross

The bearer of the wooden cross was a late same age relative of mine, George Azad Apelian, who was a student at the Haigazian University, a College then. He had embarked on his lone march towards Bikfaya very early that day to meet the marchers at the monument on the scheduled time. He had his relative Stepan Panossian fabricate a large wooden cross to accentuate the event and draw attention. The late Stepan Panossian is the father of Dr. Razmig Panossian, the director of the Armenian Department of the Gulbenkian Foundation. The cross was big enough when George carried it on his shoulder its long arm touched the ground at its far end. On the front arm a double pan balance was attached. The attached picture depicts George mounting the cross with its double beam balance, nearing the Bikfaya Genocide monument. Henceforth George, in close circles, was endearingly called, “The Cross Bearer” (khachager). George’s maternal grandfather, Rev. Georji Shammas was an Armenian Evangelical pastor who was killed in 1909 during the Adana Massacre. His paternal great-grandfather was also killed during genocide in the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour. 

The march from Bikfaya started at 9 a.m. The marchers were lead by the scouting organization, student associations, community dignitaries lead by the long standing 76 years old Lebanese Armenian Parliamentarian, Movses DerKalousitan. The marchers walked in an orderly fashion along both sides of the road not to disturb the ongoing traffic. The marchers themselves made a 2 miles long procession. At times the progression of the march slowed down because of fatigue and then resumed its pace. It lasted more than 3.5 hours. Reporters from various local and international organizations were also there to report on the event. As the marchers approached Antelias city center, their rank swelled with those waiting for their arrival and both then headed towards the catholicosate where Archbishop Dajad Ourfalian, the prelate in Lebanon, addressed the marchers from the steps of the Armenian Genocide Chapel that houses bones of victims collected from the killing field, the desert of Deir-ez-Zor.

The aftermath of the 50^th anniversary commemoration was marked by a youthful activism. The 1971 Armenian Genocide commemorative march in Lebanon came to symbolize the young’s peaceful quest for a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide. Almost fifty years have come and gone by from that date. Some of the young organizers of the march are not with us anymore.  I can claim that generation did not fail their parents and grandparents and carried on the torch for just resolution of the Armenian genocide with determination. No wonder "Aztag" Daily heralded the event on its front page giving due tribute to the upcoming generation, as follows:  "A SENTIMENTAL EXPRESSION OF RESPECT, A MAGNIFICENT PICTURE OF REBIRTH”

(ՅԱՐԳԱՆԳԻ ՅՈՒԶԻՉ ԱՐՏԱՀԱՅՏՈՒԹԻՒՆ ՄԸ, 

ՎԵՐԱԾՆՈՒՆԴԻ ՊԵՐՃԱԽՕՍ ՊԱՏԿԵՐ ՄԸ).

««««

Դա, կարելի է ասել, Ցեղասպանության հիշատակի ամենաերկար երթն էր և կոչվել էր Հիշատակարանից հուշահամալիր: Բայց դա Հայ Թահդի համար էր՝ Հայ Դատի, ինչպես նշել է ֆոնդերի հավաքագրման տոմսը: Մենք այն ժամանակ քաղաքացիություն չունեցող էինք։ Մեր հայրենիքն ազատ ու անկախ չէր. Բայց 1991 թվականի սեպտեմբերի 21-ից՝ Հայաստանի անկախության պաշտոնական օրվանից, մեր երթը անվերջ է դեպի պատմության անսահման հեռավոր ճանապարհները:

Բոլոր նրանց համար, ովքեր մեծահասակ են դարձել Լիբանանում 1965 թվականին, այն տարին, երբ մենք ոգեկոչել ենք Ցեղասպանության 50 - րդ  տարելիցը, հավանաբար հիշում են նաև 1971 թվականի ապրիլի 24-ի շաբաթ օրը տեղի ունեցած հիշատակի երթը: Այդ երթը, իմ գնահատմամբ, մնում է ամենաերկար Հայոց ցեղասպանությունը: ոգեկոչման երթ, որտեղ մասնակիցները քայլեցին Լիբանանի լեռնային Բիքֆայա քաղաքում գտնվող Կաթողիկոսարանի վանքի տարածքում գտնվող Հայոց ցեղասպանության հուշարձանից մինչև Կիլիկիո Կաթողիկոսություն ծովափնյա Անթիլիաս քաղաքում: Վիքիպեդիան ինձ ասում է, որ հեռավորությունը 16 կմ է կամ 9,9 մղոն զառիվայր զառիվայր զբոսանքով: Ես չեմ հավատում, որ մարտին ոգեկոչող այսքան երկար Հայոց ցեղասպանություն տեղի է ունեցել նախկինում և դրանից հետո:

 

Այս երթը հիշեցի, երբ Կանադայից Լաուրա Վարդան Ագներյանը, կարդալով իմ «Առաջին բողոքը» հոդվածը, Face book-ի իմ էջում տեղադրեց այդ քայլարշավի կազմակերպիչների՝ ՀՅԴ Զավարյան ուսանողական միության կողմից թողարկված տոմսերի պատճենը։ Ես կասկածում եմ, որ որևէ այլ գոյություն ունի: Արդար է, կարծում էի, որ հիշել եմ այդ իրադարձության մասին, որին նպաստել է «Ազդակ» օրաթերթի երեքշաբթի, ապրիլի 27-ի էջերում հայտնված հաղորդագրությունները։ 1971թ.

Լաուրայի տեղադրած տոմսը պատմում է դարաշրջանի մասին: Սեղմած բռունցքը դարձել էր երիտասարդների ցուցադրած ստանդարտ պաստառը։ Որոշակի վստահությամբ կարող եմ փաստել, որ այն նախագծվել է ՀՅԴ Զավարյան ուսանողական միության անդամի կողմից՝ Ցեղասպանության 50-րդ տարելիցին նվիրված միջոցառմանը և այսուհետև մինչ օրս հաճախ պատկերվել է Ցեղասպանության հիշատակի պաստառների վրա: Տոմսում նշվում է նաև մեկ (1) լիբանանյան ֆունտի վճար ( dourk),  ոչ թե նվիրատվություն, այլ Հայ Թահդի՝ Հայ դատի պարտքը: Այս տոմսը թիվ 8445 է։ Նման տոմսերը սովորաբար թողարկվում էին ամբողջական թվով։ Հեշտությամբ կարելի է ենթադրել, որ թողարկվել է առնվազն 10.000 տոմս։   

 

1971 թվականի Ցեղասպանության հիշատակի երթը կոչվել է «Հուշարձանից հուշարձան» (հուշարձանե հուշարձան ), քանի որ, ինչպես նշվում է, այն սկսվել է Բիքֆայայում Կիլիկիո կաթողիկոսության վանքի տարածքում գտնվող Հայոց ցեղասպանության  հուշահամալիրից ։  Այնտեղ գտնվող հուշարձանը նախագծել է Զավեն Խեդեշյանը։ Այն պատկերում է կնոջ աբստրակտ կերպար, որը կանգնած է դեպի երկինք մեկնած ձեռքերը:  Հուշարձանի ստորոտին հայերեն և արաբերեն մակագրված է հետևյալը. « Այս հուշարձանը, ի հիշատակ 50- րդ . Հայոց ցեղասպանության տարելիցը կանգնեցվել է Լիբանանի ողջ հայ համայնքի համագործակցությամբ՝ տոնելու հայ ազգի վերածնունդը և երախտագիտություն հայտնելու մեր երկրին՝ Լիբանանին, 1969 թվականի ապրիլի 24-ին »: 

«Ազդակ» օրաթերթը նշեց, որ 1971թ. ապրիլի 24-ի շաբաթ օրը տեղի ունեցած երթը համայնքային նախաձեռնություն էր, սակայն միջոցառումը մտահղացել, ծրագրել և կազմակերպել էր ՀՅԴ Զավարյան ուսանողական միությունը։ Միջոցառումը հիմնաքար էր. Գալիք սերունդը սկսել էր ինքնահաստատվել և ստանձնել Հայոց ցեղասպանության խաղաղ, բայց վճռական լուծումը հետամուտ լինելու թիկնոցը։ «Ազդակ» օրաթերթը տեղեկացրեց, որ միջոցառմանը մասնակցել է մոտ 30000 երթի մասնակից։

Ուրբաթ երեկոն մինչև շաբաթ առավոտ  քմահաճ եղանակի պատճառով անհանգստության շրջան դարձավ թե՛ երթ անողների, թե՛ կազմակերպիչների համար։ Չնայած բոլոր ցուցումներին, որ իրենց սպասվում է հորդառատ անձրև, երթի մասնակիցները սկսեցին գալ նշանակված վայրեր, որտեղից ավտոբուսով գնացին Բիքֆայա։ Առավոտյան ժամը 9-ին, երբ սկսվեց երթը, մոտ 25000 մարդ հավաքվել էր Ցեղասպանության հուշարձանի շուրջ։  Բարեբախտաբար, անձրև չի եկել։ Երթի մասնակիցները ավտոբուսներով դեպի Բիքֆայա ճանապարհին բախվել էին շարժվող տեսարանի։ Նրանք տեսան մի երիտասարդի, ով իր ուսերին բռնած էր խաչի վրա ամրացված երկու թավայի կշեռք, որը խորհրդանշում էր արդարության որոնումը, և ինքնուրույն համարձակորեն քայլում էր դեպի հուշարձան դեպի հուշարձանը տանող զառիթափ քայլքը:

Փայտե խաչը կրողը իմ վերջին հասակակից ազգական Ջորջ Ազատ Ափելյանն էր, ով այդ ժամանակ քոլեջի Հայկազյան համալսարանի ուսանող էր։ Այդ օրը նա սկսել էր իր միայնակ երթը դեպի Բիքֆայա՝ նախատեսված ժամին հանդիպելու երթի մասնակիցներին հուշարձանի մոտ: Նա իր ազգական Ստեփան Փանոսյանին հանձնարարել էր փայտե մեծ խաչ պատրաստել՝ իրադարձությունն ընդգծելու և ուշադրություն գրավելու համար։ Հանգուցյալ Ստեփան Փանոսյանը Գյուլբենկյան հիմնադրամի հայկական բաժանմունքի տնօրեն դոկտոր Ռազմիգի հայրն է։ Խաչը բավական մեծ էր, երբ Ջորջը կրեց այն իր ուսի վրա, նրա երկար թեւը դիպավ գետնին նրա հեռավոր ծայրում: Առջևի թևի վրա ամրացված էր կրկնակի թավայի հավասարակշռություն: Կցված նկարում Ջորջը պատկերում է խաչը իր կրկնակի ճառագայթային հավասարակշռությամբ՝ Բիքֆայայի ցեղասպանության հուշարձանի մոտ: Այսուհետ Ջորջը, մերձավոր շրջապատում,խաչագեր ): Ջորջի մորական պապը՝ վերապատվելի Գեորջի Շամմասը, հայ ավետարանական հովիվ էր, ով սպանվել է 1909 թվականին Ադանայի կոտորածի ժամանակ։ Նրա հորական նախապապը նույնպես սպանվել է Սիրիայի Ջիսր ալ-Շուղուր քաղաքում ցեղասպանության ժամանակ։ 

 

Բիքֆայայից երթը մեկնարկեց առավոտյան ժամը 9-ին. Երթի մասնակիցներին գլխավորում էր սկաուտական ​​կազմակերպությունը, ուսանողական միությունները, համայնքի բարձրաստիճան պաշտոնյաները` լիբանանահայ 76-ամյա վաղեմի պատգամավոր Մովսես Տեր Գալուսիթանի գլխավորությամբ: Երթի մասնակիցները կանոնավոր քայլեցին ճանապարհի երկու կողմերով՝ չխանգարելու ընթացող երթևեկությանը։ Երթի մասնակիցներն իրենք են կատարել 2 մղոն երկարությամբ երթ։ Երբեմն հոգնածության պատճառով երթի առաջընթացը դանդաղում էր, այնուհետև վերսկսում իր ընթացքը։ Այն տեւել է ավելի քան 3,5 ժամ։ Միջոցառման մասին զեկուցողներ էին նաև տարբեր տեղական և միջազգային կազմակերպությունների լրագրողներ: Երբ երթի մասնակիցները մոտեցան Անթիլիաս քաղաքի կենտրոնին, նրանց շարքը մեծացավ նրանց ժամանմանը սպասողներով, և երկուսն էլ շարժվեցին դեպի կաթողիկոսարան, որտեղ Լիբանանի առաջնորդ արքեպիսկոպոս Դաջադ Ուրֆալյանը,

 

50 -  ամյակի ոգեկոչման հետևանքները նշանավորվեցին երիտասարդական ակտիվությամբ։ 1971 թվականին Լիբանանում Հայոց ցեղասպանության հիշատակի երթը խորհրդանշելու էր երիտասարդների խաղաղ ձգտումը Հայոց ցեղասպանության արդարացի լուծման համար: Այդ օրվանից անցել և անցել է գրեթե հիսուն տարի: Երթի երիտասարդ կազմակերպիչներից ոմանք այլեւս մեզ հետ չեն։ Ես կարող եմ պնդել, որ այդ սերունդը չի ձախողել իր ծնողներին ու պապիկներին և վճռականորեն կրել է Հայոց ցեղասպանության արդար լուծման ջահը։ Զարմանալի չէ, որ «Ազդակ» օրաթերթն իր առաջին էջում ազդարարել է այդ իրադարձությունը՝ պատշաճ հարգանքի տուրք մատուցելով գալիք սերնդին, հետևյալ կերպ.

( ՅԱՐԳԱՆԳԻ ՅՈՒԶԻՉ ԱՐՏԱՀԱՅՏՈՒԹԻՒՆ ՄԸ ,    

ՎԵՐԱԾՆՈՒՆԴԻ ՊԵՐՃԱԽՈՍ ՊԱՏԿԵՐ ՄԸ ).   

 

Updated on 4/16/2022

After the Breakage..Կոտրելէն Ետքը

By Krikor Zohrab 

Translated by Vahe H. Apelian

This piece from Krikor Zohrab (1861 to 1915) was a required reading for students. He  was an influential Armenian writer, politician, and lawyer in Constantinople. He was  also arrested on April 24, 1915, and sent to a military court in Diyarbakir and was murder en route. 

The ORIGINAL STORYl IS ATTACHED.

Certainly, the cup sitting on its saucer was made of superbly crafted crystal when he gave it to me as a gift.

He was a friend to whom I had rendered a small service.  He had said it wasn't much of a thing he had given. After he left, I glanced over it casually. He had picked the cup so I would remember him as I sipped my coffee.

The transparent crystal made it obvious that it was the finest of its kind. It had the logo of a famous producer of crystal goods. The logo, imprinted in a red ring, read 1844.

For a long time, the cup sat in a corner of my office gathering dust. As an appreciator of finer things, I had initially been content with the idea of having it in my office.  After a while I had forgotten it. One day it occurred to me that it was ludicrous to have it sitting in my office without being used. I thought it was best that I took the cup home and drank my coffee from it.

There also the fortunes of the cup did not fare any better. Things resemble people a bit. They have their own fate. No one paid any attention to the poor cup, although it was one of a kind.

We placed it somewhere as decoration. More than once it was shuffled from one place to another. I saw one of my children playing with it. One day it fell from her hands and broke into many shards.

*****

The other day I came across its saucer. I scrutinized its delicate and intricate drawings. Indeed, they were wonders of art. Two intertwined letters with imperial markings caught my attention. Right across the ring I also noticed the same imperial coat-of-arms and the same letters.

The letters were L and P. I realized that the letters were the initials of Louis Philippe. The coffee saucer had belonged to him. Next to the logo of the famous manufacturer said Fontainebleau Palace. It is now that I was noticing. Yes, there was no doubt. It had belonged to King Louis Philippe of France. The masterful decoration should have made it amply evident to a connoisseur that it could not have  belonged to an ordinary mortal.

Now its cup was broken into pieces. I had not recognized its value. It had stayed with me for years, within easy reach. How much did I now regret what I had done to it. I reprimanded myself for not having given the attention it had deserved and for not having taken better care of such a valuable item.

*****

The small incident gave way to thoughts. Those reading these sentences surely would have similar thoughts.

It is commonplace not to appreciate those who live with us for a long time. Death and loss trigger the living to render an impartial and a just verdict of the deceased. The void that the cemetery brings is necessary to discern the delicate and beautiful features of the faces of those who have passed away. The impossibility of their return is required to have our blind eyes opened to the truth and humble ourselves to proclaim their virtues we could not bring ourselves to appreciate openly, unknowingly maybe, while they were alive.

I think that friendships are like that too. Often no one gives the slightest consideration to the hearts that eagerly and faithfully wait for the person. It is required that these hearts be broken to feel and measure the depth and the magnitude of the loss.

That is what happened to my coffee cup as well. I recognized its value... after its breakage.

 

 

Հարկաւ ազնիւ յախճապակի էր այս սուրճի սկահակը իր պզտիկ պնակին մէջ, երբոր նուէր բերին ինծի օր մը:

Տուողը, բարեկամներէս մէկը, որուն պզտիկ ծառայութիւն մը մատուցեր էի, ըսաւ թէ չնչին բան մըն էր տուածը:Ասիկա զատեր էր, որպէսզի սուրճը անոր մէջէն խմեմ եւ միշտ յիշեմ զինք այս առթիւ:

Պարզ զարդի համար տեղ մը դրինք: Քանի մը օր վերջը հոս ու հոն նետուեր էր. անգամ մը պզտիկ զաւկիս ձեռքը տեսայ. հետը կը խաղար ու ժամանակ կ'անցընէր: Օրին մէկն ալ ձեռքէն վար ինկաւ, հազար կտոր եղաւ:

Անցած օր անոր պզտիկ պնակը ձեռքս անցաւ. սրտի նեղութեան մէկ վայրկեանիս, նուրբ գծագրութիւններն ու գունագեղ կիտուածները կը զննէի: Ստուգիւ գեղեցիկ արուեստի մը հրաշակերտ էր: Յանկարծ, իրարու ՝փաթթուած երկու տառեր նշմարեցի՝ վրան արքայական զինանշանով: Ճիշդ դիմացի կողմը շրջանակին՝ միեւնոյն զինանշանը ու միեւնոյն սկզբնատառերը:

Այս տառերը ֆրանսերէն Լ եւ Ֆ տառերն էին. եւ ահա լոյսը ծագեցաւ միտքիս մէջ: Լուի Ֆիլիփի կը վերաբէր այդ սուրճի սկահակը իր պնակով:

Ա՛լ տարակոյս չկար, Ֆրանսիայի թագաւորինն էր անիկա. զարդարուն ու նրբակերտ շինուածքը բաւելու էր արդէն մէկ նայուածքով ճշդելու թէ ան սովորական մահկանացուի յատուկ բան մը չէր կրնար ըլլալ:

Եւ հիմա որ կտրած, փշրուած էր այդ խեղճ սկահակը, որուն արժէքը չէի կրցած ըմբռնել, երբոր տարիներ մնացեր էր քովս, ձեռքիս տակ, հիմա որքան կը զղջայի ըրածիս վրայ, որչափ կը կշտամբէի ինքզինքս՝ քիչ մը հոգ եւ ուշադրութիւն չտանելուս համար թանկագին բան մը հասկնալու եւ պահպանելու:

Բարեկամութիւններն ալ ատանկ են շատ անգամ. ամենադոյզն արժէք մը չենք տար այն սրտերուն, որոնք յօժար ու լուռ հաւատարմութեամբ մը մեզի կը սպասեն, եւ հարկ է որ այդ սրտերը խորտակուին, որպէսզի կորուստին մեծութիւնը կարենանք զգալ ու չափել:

Այսպէս պատահեցաւ իմ սուրճի սկահակիս համար ալ: Ճանչցայ... կոտրելէն ետքը:

Գրիգոր Զօհրապ

 

Tale of an Armenian Hymnal (1/2) - Compiling a Songbook.

Vahe H. Apelian

The article is reproduced from Keghart.com when I first posted it on June 1, 2011.

Several years ago, I purchased an Armenian hymnal on eBay from a bookseller in Turkey. It is titled ‘Hayoun Yerkaraneh’ (The Armenian’s Hymnal) by Hmayag Aramiants. The hard-cover hymnal was printed in Istanbul in 1911. Its 318 pages are very well preserved. There is a signature on the inner page that is hard to decipher to ascertain the name of the person who, in all probability, owned the hymnal at one time.

The hymnal is dedicated to the legendary Armenian woman named Shake’ who hurled herself down a precipice in Sassoon lest she be abducted by a Turk or a Kurd. There is a drawing of her with a rifle on her shoulder and a child in her lap looking down the precipice. The following is inscribed as the bottom legend of the picture: “Shake’, The Immortal Heroine of Sassoon”.

The dedication reads in part as follows: “Adorable Shake’, you illuminated a page of our modern day history with your heroism and you elevated the honor of the Armenian Woman and of the Armenian Race. Forgive me to dedicate this modest work in your memory as a token of my deep admiration towards you and to your innocent child”.

Recently, I gifted the book to Bedros Alahaidoyan, the eminent musicologist, whose life-long passion has been and continues to be the preservation of Armenian folk songs. He has single handedly salvaged the folk songs of Palou and preserved them by publishing the words and the musical notes of the songs in an exhaustive study titled Balui (yev Taratsashrjani) Yerazhshtakan Azgagrakan Havakatso (An Ethno-Musicological Collection of Palou and its Neighboring Areas). Upon receipt of the book, Bedros published an article in Armenian in this year’s April 24 special issue of Asbarez Daily. However, it’s the naïveté in the introduction that has caught my attention.

The hymnal definitely leans toward the Social Democratic Hnchak Party, as Bedros also assesses and claims that 90% of the songs and the majority of the pictures relate to that Party. However, the hymnal also carries the pictures of two prominent Tashnag freedom fighters – fedayens-, Kevork Chavoush and Hrair Tjoghk. There are also pictures of armed fedayen groups. Few of the songs of the hymnal have survived the test of time and are sung to this day.

The hymnal leans as well towards international brotherhood, the cornerstone of socialism. There is a picture of Karl Max along an Armenian song titled ‘Heghapokhoutiun’ (Revolution). There are Armenian songs dedicated to the social brotherhood, such as titled ‘Proletariat’ (in Armenian characters), ‘Enger Panvor’ (Comrade Laborer), ‘International’ (in Latin characters). The hymnal also contains at least one Turkish song tiled ‘Ittihad Marshe’ (The March of the Ittihad) in Armenian characters reading Turkish. Bedros Alahaidoyan claims that the few pictures of the non-Armenians in the hymnal are that of noted European socialists.

In the introduction, Hmayag Aramiants, trusting the “new order” of “Liberty, Equality, Justice”, naively notes that the Armenians living under the Hamidian regime could not have possibly chosen any other path towards social justice and could not have adopted political alignment other than manifested in the Armenian revolutionary movement. Furthermore, he notes, the self-preservation efforts of the Armenians under Hamid’s Armenocidal policies are in fact manifestations of noble and obedient citizenship that were eventually manifested “on the flag dedicated to Liberty, Equality and Justice”. Therefore, Hmayag concludes that "the just manifest of rightful Anger and Racial Self-Determination against the oppressive regime, cannot disturb the spiritual tranquility of free citizens, be they government employees, be they servants of laws, or just citizens”.

I do not think I need to elaborate on the sinister plans that were being laid down as Hmayag was writing the introductory notes of the hymnal he published. The naïveté of Hmayag and the majority of the Armenians in opening themselves to their inner most humane needs, I believe, played in the hands of those who were planning the “final solution” and served to justify the “righteousness” of their cause. That is not to say that the absence of such overt humane outbursts by the Armenian subjects would have changed the hearts and the minds of the new masters of the Ottoman Empire to set aside their policy of “cleansing” the Empire’s “heartland “.

With regard to the Armenians, including the flamboyant intellect and lawyer Krikor Zohrab, I believe, it would have been humanly impossible to imagine that extermination of such a magnitude, we have come to term as Genocide since 1943, could have possibly be fathomed and planned for execution by other human beings, be it Turks.

Over the years I have perused the hymnal many a time and wondered what happened to Hmayag Aramiants four years after publishing his hymnal, that is to say in 1915, as the planned genocide of the Armenians started being implemented. In his introduction he promised, if circumstances permit he wrote, to publish a second volume of the hymnal to complete the compiling of the Armenian revolutionary and nationalistic songs that were not included in this volume. 

Did he survive? I do not know of any other hymnal from Hmayag Aramiants.  

Note: Read the attached to find out who Hmayag Aramiants was and what happened to him.

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/search?q=the+Betrayal

 

  

Missionary William Goodell Among the Armenians.

By Vahe H. Apelian

During family discussions in my formative years, I would hear the elders of the family say that the American missionaries, failing to evangelize a single Turk, resorted to evangelizing the Christian Armenians.

Some time ago I came across the memoirs of Rev. William Goodell who played a prominent role in establishing the Protestant community in the Ottoman Empire. The book, titled “Forty Years in the Turkish Empire or Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell D.D, Late Missionary of A.B.C.F.M at Constantinople”, was edited by his son-in-law, E. D. G. Prime. It was published by Robert Carter and Brothers (New York). Its fifth edition, posted online by Google, is dated 1878. The quotes below are from the online book. (see excerpts from the book below).

Rev. William Goodell left the United States and embarked on his overseas mission in 1822. After a long sojourn in Malta, Lebanon, and Syria, he arrived in Constantinople, as Istanbul was known then. He had embarked on his mission on behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.), which was the premier and the most influential and far-reaching American missionary organization.

I was surprised to read that Rev. Goodell’s primary, if not sole, mission was evangelizing the Armenians. I quote “When Mr. Goodell went to Constantinople, his mission was to the Armenians”. Mr. Goodell was entrusted with the mission to Turkey proper because of his knowledge of Armenian and Turkish he had mastered while in Malta, Syria, and Lebanon. He was also fluent in Arabic, Greek and Italian. He translated the Bible into “Armeno-Turkish”, that is to say a Bible that reads Turkish but is in Armenian characters. It was a twenty-year endeavor.

This assertion was a revelation to me but it made sense. Sultan’s Sublime Porte would have never allowed American missionaries free rein to evangelize Turks. It caved to the Western powers and allowed Americans to do missionary work in the Ottoman Empire as long as their evangelism was carried among the Christian subjects of the empire. In all probability, the missionaries and their organizations, if not also their governments, were warned of dire consequences should they attempt to evangelize the Turks. No wonder then not a single Turk was evangelized.

Rev. Dr. Riggs; Rev. Dr. Goodell; Rev. Dr. Schauffler

Translators of the Bible

into Armenian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabo, Turkish & Armeno-Turkish

at Constantinople 1861

Why would A.B.C.F.M embark on its mission, I wondered, singling Armenians when there were other Christian communities in the empire? Reading the memoirs presented an interesting picture of a way of life that did not have a natural evolution for reasons we sadly know all too well, the planned extermination of the Armenians, the Genocide.

Rev. William Goodell arrived in Constantinople on June 9, 1831. It appears that he was the first American missionary to have set foot in Constantinople In a letter to a friend in the United States, he noted: “My family is said to be the first who has ever visited this place.” Wikipedia notes that "during his missionary life, he and his devoted wife cheerfully endured many trials and tribulations". 

Constantinople, where the Goodells established their residency, presented the following demographics according to him. I quote: “The city of Constantinople contained, including the suburbs, a population of about 1,000,000 of various nationalities and religions. The Turks and other Mohammedans comprised more than half; the Greeks and Armenians each numbered 150,000, the former being the more numerous, there were about 50,000 Jews; the remainder was made of Franks and people from almost every part of the world”. These distinct ethnic communities naturally intermingled but “for the most part occupied different quarters of the city with the Turks having almost exclusive possession of the city proper.”

The ‘Millet’ system that constituted the core of the Ottoman Empire appeared odd to this western visitor who found it to be an “anomalous form of government, the Sublime Porte, as the Sultan’s government is called, being supreme, while each separate nation has its own head.” In the case of the Armenians, it was the Patriarch of Constantinople who was also the secular head of the Armenian community (Millet).

The A.B.C.F.M. board and Rev. Goodell knew well that the Armenians "were descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Armenia. The nation embraced Christianity about the commencement of the fourth century”. The zealous missionary and the organization that supported his mission apparently had already determined, even before the missionary arrived into the fold of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, that the Armenian Church needed to embrace the “truth”. According to Rev. Goodell, the Armenian Church “has almost wholly given up to superstition and to idolatrous worship of saints, including Virgin Mary, pictures, etc.” 

There appears to be a more pragmatic and practical, if not a strategic reason, for A.B.C.F.M and Rev. Goodell to single out the Armenians for their mission. I quote: “ The Armenians were an enterprising people, and the great wealth of the bankers, who were nearly all Armenians, made them very influential throughout the empire, even with the Turkish officials, who were largely dependent upon them for pecuniary advances and assistance. The various connections of this people with different parts of the country, and the influence which they were in a position to exert, in promoting the spread of the Gospel in Turkey, made it exceedingly desirable that they should embrace the truth." 

Mr. Goodell’s arrival in Constantinople coincided with a reformation movement within the Armenian Church. Fifteen years later, and after much agony and ecstasy, on July 1, 1846, “Forty persons, of whom three were women, voluntarily entered onto covenant with God and with each other, and we, in the name of all the evangelical churches of Christendom, rose and formally recognized and acknowledged them as a true church of Christ.” The assembly on that day became the foundation of The Evangelical Church of Armenia--"Hayasdaniatz Avedaranagan Yegeghetsi". 

On November 15, 1847, “the grand vizier issued a firman, declaring that the Christian subjects of the Ottoman government professing Protestantism should constitutes a separate community...This firman was so worded that converts form among the Greeks and Jews who joined the Protestants might enjoy the same immunities”. On Nov. 27, 1850, Sultan Abdul Mejid ratified the edict that became the “Magna Carta” of the Protestant community that stands, to this day, in the Middle East. The Armenian Evangelicals are part and parcel of the Protestant community.

Having lived through this turbulent period for over 30 years, Rev. Goodell left Constantinople on June 27, 1865, some 40 years after leaving his homeland. Through those over four decades, he had visited his country only once. Before taking leave for good, he addressed his brethren in the Evangelical Churches in Turkey and, alluding to the recent schism in the Armenian nation, said, “When we first came among you, you were not a distinct people, nor did we expect you ever would be; for we had not sectarian object in view, it being no part of our plan to meddle with ecclesiastical affairs. Our sole desire was to preach Christ and Him crucified.” 

By then the Armenian Evangelical Church was firmly entrenched among the Armenians as a distinct denomination separate from the Apostolic Church. In time, the adherents of the "Hayasdaniatz Avedaranagan Yegeghetsi". would continue to render much service to the Armenian nation, enriching it way more than one would have expected from the meager demographic constituency of its faithful.

After his return to the United States, Rev. Goodell visited friends and gave sermons. He lived with son and namesake in Philadelphia where he passed away on Feb. 16, 1867.   

Note:

The First Evangelical Church, the First Ordination, the First Marriage

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/01/blog-post_14.html

 

"Hayrig Hayrig” - «Հայրիկ, Հայրիկ»

Vahe H. Apelian, Loveland OH, 27 August 2015

Recently I read “HAYRIG HAYRIG” (ՀԱՅՐԻԿ ՀԱՅՐԻԿ) that shed a lot of light about the man, Mgrdich Khrimian, who would be known in Armenian history more by his endearing nickname ‘Hayrig’ implying a compassionate and a concerned father.  Ara Aginian, who has passed away in 1976, wrote the book, which was published as supplement to an Armenian newspaper. Aras Publishing published the edition I read, in 2004 in Istanbul.

The book, which is a biographical sketch, begins from the time sixteen-years-old Mgrdich set foot in Istanbul as another migrant and ends with his death at the age of eighty-seven in Echmiadzin. Some of the conversations noted in the book are commonly accepted to have taken place but the overall narration is likely partly figments of the author’s imagination to give cohesion to the story and make it readable.

Reading the book it becomes evident that Khrimian stood apart from the crowd from get go. From his days as a teenage migrant in Istanbul to an aged pontiff, he attracted people by his physical attributes. He was tall, handsome and had expressive bluish eyes. The eminent British historian H.F. B. Lynch, who attended his inauguration as catholicos, commented on the imposing splendor of his appearance. 

His physical endowments could have helped any ambitious person to ascend the social scale. He, on the other hand, loved to be with the common every day folks and remained totally oblivious to social status and to wealth. The upper class Armenians of Istanbul who wanted to rub shoulder with the Patriarch who sat at the apex of their social order and sat at the table with the Sultan himself, were dismayed finding him continue visiting and staying with the Armenian migrants from the interior of the country who did menial jobs and lived in the communal housing (khans). When they vehemently objected to his hitherto unheard behavior that should have no place with a sitting Patriarch, they said. He dismissed them saying, “It should not have happened, it happened. You had not seen it before, you saw it now”. He gave away his salary as a patriarch, who ranked among the high placed officials in the administrative hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire. 

Five years after his resignation as the Patriarch, his successor Nerses II Varjabedian, appointed him in 1878 to head the Armenian delegation to the Berlin Conference even though Khrimian did not speak much of Turkish let alone other foreign languages and had no administrative position. He was chosen to lead the delegation because of his forceful personality and imposing physical stature and the loyalty and the trust he commanded.

Mkrtich Khrimian was born on April 4 in 1820 (1921?) to a well-to-do family of merchants who may have originated from Crimea, Khrim in Armenian, as his the family last name attested. His life consisted of two distinct phases. He spent the first 34 years of his life as a layperson in search for his niche. His first sixteen years were spent in Van with his parents and with the local priests learning how to read and write Armenian, a rarity at the time in the interior of the country. He came to Istanbul at the age of sixteen along the many young men  in quest of knowledge while the other migrants his age looked for work to get by. Pretty soon he established a reputation as a promising, out of the ordinary young man but his association with the migrants from the interior of the country never wavered. Not long after his arrival he became the protégé of an Armenian Amira who hosted him in his opulent residence and appointed him as a tutor to his two children and had him placed as a teacher in an Armenian school.  

His stay in Istanbul lasted four years. He returned home to find out that his father had passed away. He tried some business ventures that were financially disastrous. Fortunately his well-to-do family could absorb the losses. He reluctantly gave in to his mother’s wishes and married the girl chosen for him, as was the customs of the day. He became a loving father to his daughter and through her felt bonded to his spouse with whom he shared nothing much. His wanderlust in quest of knowledge eventually took the better of him and he left home embarking on a pilgrimage to get connected to his nation’s roots. He visited Etchmiadzin and other historical Armenian sites, wrote, returned to Istanbul and had his first book published through the generosity of Amira Ayvazian in memory of the Amira’s son whom Khrimian had tutored. He returned home after an absence that had lasted seven years to find out that his wife, daughter and mother had passed away. It is then that he had a revelation that celibate priesthood is his calling and the best venue to enlighten his people who indeed lived not only in abject poverty but also in ignorance.

He remained a maverick during the second phase of his life as a celibate priest even though he ascended the hierarchy all the way to its apex as Catholicos of All Armenians. Instead of finding in the church the instruments and the support he needed to help him enlighten the Armenian masses he found the entrenched clergy vehemently objecting to his efforts along with the Armenian landlords who opposed him. It became an uphill battle for him to establish the first printing press among the Armenians in their Anatolian heartland. He became a thorn and a rose, arousing heightened sentiments towards him, either way. A segment of Armenians conspired against him and plotted at least two failed assassinations. They also instigated the Turkish authorities against him. But he won the hearts of the people at large, who started calling him Hayrig, an endearing moniker he cherished a lot. The people bestowed it upon when he, as the prelate of Daron, stood with them and had their exorbitant taxes lowered a bit for their vital relief.  It is through the unwavering support of the people that he ascended the ecclesiastical ranks always remaining true to them.

Six years after the ratification of the Armenian National Constitution by the Ottoman High Porte, he was elected the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1869.  The Armenian denizens of Istanbul thought that the prelate from the interior of the country would be compliant. But, not long after his election he made amending the constitution, against the wishes of the upper class Armenian in Constantinople, his primary agenda. The hundred thousand plus Armenians in Istanbul commanded three times more representation in the National Assembly than the entire Armenians in the interior of the country, he estimated to be three millions. A plausible figure given that Hamidian, Adana massacres along with the rampant usurpation of Armenian lives and property had not yet run its course decimating the people to two million at the dawn of the Genocide.

He faced a vehement opposition by who’s who. Krikor Odian, an architect of the Armenian Constitution attempted to reason with him about the obvious flaws of the Constitution giving in to the wishes of the Sultan's court to secure his ratification of the Armenian Constitution. But Khrimian remained adamant. Unable to amend the constitution to have a fairer representation of his flock to have their grievances heard and acted upon, he resigned in 1873 but continued to remain a moral authority and an intellect to reckon with. With the collusion of Armenians, the Sultan’s Sublime Porte eventually had him banished on a “permanent pilgrimage” to Jerusalem in 1890. To the outrage of the people, in Jerusalem, his spiritual brethren treated him more as pariah in his ecclesiastical home. Yet everyone, foe and friend alike, knew that they were dealing with an out of the ordinary individual who commanded an unwavering loyalty and esteem by the people. When the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians became vacant with the death of his predecessor, he was unanimously elected Catholicos of All Armenians in 1892. His move from Jerusalem to Etchmiadzin took months. There was not a community that did not want to host the newly elected pontiff on his way to occupy the throne set by Gregory the Illuminator.

His reign as the Supreme Head of the Armenian Church may be the crowning years of his long service to his people. He might have been mellowed a bit. The people at large might have understood the person more.  Those years proved to be a harmonious years between the shepherd and his flock from all walks of life. His reputation as the champion of the Armenian nation was further cemented when the aging Eagle, as he himself would liken him to one, stood his grounds against the orders of the almighty Tsar to have the Armenian Church properties nationalized and he won.

He was a prolific writer and publisher. He established the first printing press in Western Armenia and started publishing a journal titled Artzvi Vasburagan (Eagle of Van) in 1855. In 1863 he started a similar journal titled Artzvik Darno (Eagle of Daron).  Along with these journals, the book I read credits him with fifteen literary titles spanning from 1849 to 1909. Like Khatchadour Apovian (1809-1848) in Eastern Armenia, he wrote in local Western Armenian vernacular peppered with literary and classical Armenian. He had special reverence to Armenian authors. When the young poet Bedros Tourian, who had dedicated a poem to him as the newly elected Patriarch of Constantinople, died at the age of twenty-one, his followers wanted a music band play accompanying his coffin to fulfill the wishes of the young poet. It was unheard of to have a music band in a burial procession, so the Church did not give them permission to do so. In desperation they appealed to Patriarch Khrimian who famously told them that he too would not give them his permission, but he would forgive them for doing so.

Khrimian Hayrik to this day is referenced more as the messenger of the famous speech he delivered in 1878 upon return as the head of the Berlin Armenian delegation. The speech remains known in Armenian history as the “Iron (or Paper) Ladle Speech”. He likened his experience at the Berlin Conference to a feast where the attendants with their iron ladles took their share from the favored Armenian dish Herissa. He, on the other hand, was carrying a paper ladle and thus could not scoop anything for himself even though he was the taller and the more imposing among the delegates.  He urged the people to arm themselves and to gift each other arms and only arms.

It is not uncommon to read claiming that he was a revolutionary by citing his famous speech. Reading this book has made me realize that such an interpretation is way too simplistic. Revolutionaries aim to topple an existing order and have it replaced with an ideologically more conducive one.  To draw a parallel to modern parlance, Khrimian was more of an advocate of the people’s right to bear arms, a holy grail in the American Constitution, and not an advocate of revolution. He never advocated raising arms against the State be it Sultan’s or the Tsar’s. He had no vision to have these states abolished and replaced or even for the Armenians to have their own independent homeland.

Members of the oldest Armenian political party, Hnchag Party, tried to entice him to work with them when he was in the Western Armenian homeland. He refused to deal with them.   The Tashang party was established in Tiflis in 1890, two years before his ascendancy as Catholicos. The party stood with him against the nationalization of church property but it is not likely that there was an ideological parity between him and the party. He was and remained a clergyman at heart safeguarding the institution that was the Armenian Church. He wanted was to ameliorate the lot of the Armenian people through the established orders. The concepts of free and independent Armenia or of social–isms were alien to him. All he wanted was to safeguard Armenians against unlawful usurpation and assure their rights as subjects of the Sultan or the Tsar.  When the Sultan’s Sublime Port and the European Powers proved to be unable or unwilling to assure the sanctity of the labor, honor, lives and property of his flock, the Armenian people he appealed to them to take matters in their own hands and assure for them those unalienable rights , as the U.S. Constitution states,  by themselves.

He passed away on October 27, 1907 and in the grounds of the  Etchmiadzin, not far from the Cathedral.

The book “HAYRIG HAYRIG” made for a fascinating reading and portrayed a way of life and living the Genocide would end up obliterating.