“Red Offering”: The gun stifled critical analysis - 1 -

Vaհe H Apelian

The cover of the book we read as a compulsary reading.

The title of Arpiar Arpiarian’s book  “Garmir Jamouts – Կարմի Ժամուցը», is at times translated as “Crimson Offering”, or “Scarlet Offering”. I guess the choice of the color is made in an attempt to make the translation a bit more palatable. But red is the accepted color for describing blood. The offering after which the book is titled has to do with shedding of blood and hence I stuck with “Red Offering” as the translation of the title of this book that has withstood the test of time.

According to the Armenian Wikipedia, “The book presents two opposing trends, conservative and revolutionary. The representative of the first is Hayrabed Efendi, who was against all revolutionary movements”. A young priest called Der Houssig from the interior of the country, is the protagonist of the latter, that is to say the revolutionary.

Hayrabed Effendi was very influential in a suburb of Constantinople called Ortakiugh,. The Effendi was a devout Christian and never missed attending mass. He gave generously to the community but was very cautious in anything he thought remotely might raise the ire of the local Turkish pasha. Der Houssig, on the other hand, was a daring and an enlightened young priest who improved the lot of his village, and advocated the villagers to buy guns and train in their use.

 The book is thought to have been published in 1901 and the unfolding of the book appears to reflect upon the Armenian experience during the Hamidian massacres. During the mayhem Hayrabed Effendi was imprisoned, humiliated in spite of his good rapport with the Turkish pasha. Der Houssing  was also imprisoned and was treated as Armenian prisoner would have been.

 When calm returned, Hayrabed Effendi and Der Houssig happened to meet each other again in the patriarchate of the Constantinople. When Hayrabed Effendi found out that Der Houssig’s village had fared well and had remained safe during mayhem, it dawned on the Efendi that he had misunderstood Der Houssig. Instead of appreciating the wisdom of the village priest from the interior of the country, he had chastised the priest at one time. To make amends for his mistreatment, Hayrabed Effendi presented Der Houssig an offering. When Der Houssig objected, Hayrabed Effendi insisted, saying that the offering is his “red offering”. That is to say towards the purchase of guns.

The book has been reprinted countless of times and the depiction of a rifle on the cover of the book remained associated with the book with me and with the students of my generation, because that is what the cover of the book we were asked to read, depicted. The book was a mandatory reading for my generation attending Armenian schools in Lebanon. The interpretation of the Garmir Jamouts story offered to us was obvious and was depicted on its cover. It was self-reliance through arms.

But in reality, is that all Arpiar Arpiarian wanted to convey?

Not so, in my view.

It’s during my recent re- reading of the book that it dawned on me that the message of the book is more than what we were offered all along. Even my mother, in a lengthy assay about the Armenian national movement, had cited the book as an example, that the 19^th century message of Armenian liberation movement was the reliance upon guns as a cornerstone of the Armenian liberation movement. (see note)

But that is not what aat ll thArpiar Arpiarian wanted to convey. I quote from the last passage of the book. 

“ Effendi – said Der Houssig – do not say such things. All Armenians who love their nation and desire the best for it, do not necessarily think alike. Who can predict the future in all certainty? Especially nowadays, our nation is in a such state that where what is deemed to be to its favor in one place, could be detrimental in some other place. Things that may be the cause of the demise in one place, could be salvation in another place. True, that our village did not experience any disaster thanks to the guns the people had, but I heard that here, nothing happened in Ortakiugh.

- Yes, thank God, here in Ortakiugh no one’s nose bled – in a visible humility replied Hayrabed Effendi – the guardian of the Ortakiugh.

- But Ortakiugh did not resort to guns – continued Der Houssig, but the district was salvaged thanks to your directives driven by cautionary farsightedness. You see, in one place political conduct can be helpful and in other places the conduct of guns. The Armenians should attend to their safety according to the needs of their circumstances.”

That “The Armenians should attend to their safety according to the needs of their circumstances” never came into discussion. The message that gun is the answer made no room for critical evaluation of the book and for debate. What was conveyed to generations of students remained the gun. 

 

Note. My mother had hand-written a 86 pages long, study in May-June 1990 to participate in a contest at the 100^th anniversary of ARF, organized by the CC of Western U.S. In Armenian she had titled it, “A century of daily endeavor”,  “Մէկ Դար Անմիջական Առօրեայ», 86 էջ, ձեռագիր ուսումնասիրութիւն մըն է որ մայրս՝ Զուարթ Աբէլեան ներկայացուցած էր, Մայիս – Յունիս, 1990-ին մասնակցելու համար  Պատմաբանասիրական Մրցոյթի մը կազմակերպուած Հ.Յ. Դաշնակցութեան 100-ԱՄԵԱԿԻ ՅԱՆՁՆԱԽՈՒՄԲին կողմէ, Արեւմտեան Ամերիկա։