“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.” (see the link below). His narration about the life and death of Karekin I Catholicos of All Armenians is for history. Attached is my translation of the archbishop’s narration. 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. Vahe H Apelian
"Everything is accomplished."
The tragedy of the cross of Karekin Catholicos has come to its end. The funeral ceremonies have come to an end. The official expressions of mourning are over. The venerable Karekin now rests next to his predecessor of blessed memory Catholicos Vazken I of all Armenians, in Etchmiadzin church courtyard.
Karekin Catholicos, the one who wrote his whole life with a sense of history and almost lived his whole life for history, belongs to history. Now, I am also thrown onto the ocean of the waves of his life’s history. On the night of July 8, I am sitting in the yard of the Etchmiadzin Mother Cathedral, almost alone. Unfortunately, I am not by myself. There are shadowy figures here and there. They are waiting. They come and go. They whisper. They show signs of impatience. This moment of the night, a little after 12 midnight, is not unfamiliar hour for me. There have been many nights when, after a long conversation, I have taken leave of Catholicos Karekin and quietly walked from the monastery to my monk's room. In those days, the Etchmiadzin Cathedral was silent and the fragments of light that emanated from the five domes, symbolized to me our history. The fragments of light, portrayed the faces of the Armenian Church luminaries. While walking, I felt that our elders were walking with me. Gregory the Illuminator and King Trdats were talking about the construction of the new Cathedral. Saint Mesrop and Saint Sahak wer taking a walk contemplating. Vahan Mamikonian was planning to renovate the cathedral. Then came bright and dark centuries of Catholicos Movses Datevatsi, Hakob Jughayetsi, Nerses Ashataraketsi, Khrimian. Who has not threaded in Etchmiadzin and not written a page of Armenian history?
Now there are other people – clergymen from Echmiadzin. Others representing the Cilician See. There are also random travelers, who have come and are waiting for the Catholicos of Cilicia, Aram I.
Catholicos Aram Vehapar was in Etchmiadzin for the funeral of the Catholicos Karein I of All Armenians. Before returning to Antelias, Catholicos Aram wanted to bow once more in front of the grave of his predecessor on the Catholicosate Cilicia Throne.
Catholicos Aram I, finally arrived. Prayer, requiem, farewell speech was said. Catholicos Aram announced that he has brought soil from the Zarehian tomb in Antelias and wanted to sprinkle it on the newly dug grave of Catholicos Karekin. He spread the soil. Blessed the grave and anointed it with a sign of the cross.
Then he said, "and now I wish all of us together". But he could not finish the sentence and could not continue. He suddenly burst into tears. It took all of us by surprise. But we understood what Aram Vehapar wanted and the song rose from our chests.
“When the door for hopes will open,
And when winter will leave our country,
Our graceful Armenian country –“
I felt that tears were pouring from my eyes, as hot drops, down my cheeks. They were stubbornly absent during the days of interment and burial. Those around me are just as moved. Some remember the days of the election of Catholicos Zareh. Others the Holy Father Catholicos Karekin, who sang Nahabed Rousinian's "Cilicia" in such a heartily manner. The song had become a hymn, a march, an anthem.
We sang that song at the grave of Catholicos Karekin, a little bit subdued. What could I say? But let me say that I wished that we sang that song during the funeral and that Catholicos Aram mixed the Cilician soil with that of Etchmiadzin in the presence of everyone. But Catholicos Aram did not do so. Maybe he did not find a suitable moment for it. But I know that that single song became embodiement of the tragic life of Catholicos Karekin. After all, he was the son of Kessab, the only Armenian border village of what once the Armenian Cilicia. Young Nshan Sarkissian was the most promising student of the seminary of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. He became its most eloquent Patriarch. Then came the waves of Armenia's independence that brought him to Etchmiadzin and he became the Catholicos of All Armenians. Perhaps he himself tried to forget his past as the Catholicos of Cilicia, and embrace his new role as the new Catholicos of All Armenians. But everyone continued to see in him the Catholicos of the Cilician See. He could not separate himself from his past. It is a pity that there was no time that night to ask Aram Vehapar to have a small stone placed in the Zarehian tomb in Antelias to remember that Karekin Catholicos of All Armenians, was also the Catholicos of Cilicia for 18 years. Let there be a piece of stone to remember him in Antelias,and not leave him unburied there.
Indeed, in 1995, he was elected Catholicos of All Armenians under some strange circumstances. The enthusiasm was great. The hope was bright. The expectations were high. But life had something else in store for him. The erudite clergyman, the radiant personality, had a sad ending. A cruel and merciless pain gnawed him was emaciated his soul. No one knew that pain. The blow inflicted by the cancer was strong. 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.
It is very early to analyze the life of Catholicos Karekin, his personality, the deep waves of his psychological make up; to open the pages of his soul, and to know how that the eagle who hovered over the heights of Cilicia, roosted on the slopes of Ararat, and how, contrary to all expectations, the eagle mortally tumbled down its wings clipped. With his premature death, Catholicos Karekin limited his place in the history of the Armenian Church, where he seemed, he was destined to write a golden page. I am forced to draw a parallel with one of his predecessors, Catholicos Mattheos Izmirlian, the "Iron Patriarch" and his fate. He also came to Etchmiadzin with great charm, but within two years, plummeted broken down.
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Catholicos Karekin is no more. I want to write down the history of the last days of his life. Whatever I have to say is subjective. My relationship with the Holy Father was subjective that started from the days of my boyhood. Strangely, my father passed away that same week. I was a 13 years old lad. Most likely, it was because of it that Catholicos Karekin always retained the image of a father to me. But he was a young father. There was not a big age difference between the two of us. Nevertheless, that connection remained, strengthened in time, became close, sometimes harsh, but always sincere. He also became a mentor, a teacher, a role model to me, and I followed him, as a humble student, as the principal of the seminary, as the prelate in Iran and lastly as the prelate in the United States of America. I was also an ardent supporter of his election as Catholicos of All Armenians, even though I took my last step to follow him late and did not move to Etchmiadzin together with him. I stayed in America until the end of my term. What was the dictate of my tenure, was an unexpected alienation for him.
To be continued....,
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Link: Cilicia song by Stepan Frounjian
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/search?q=Cilicia+
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Link: “Living Faith, the Life & Service of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian"
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/02/archbishop-mesrob-ashjian-and-mughni.html
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Հաերէն բնագիրը
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/02/12.html
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