They Were, are No More (Կային, Չկան): Levon Shirian (No. 3)

“They Were, (and) are no more” (Կային, Չկան) is the title of the last chapter of Antranig Zarougian’s “The Greats and the Others” (Մեծերը եւ Միւսները) book. The book casts a glimpse of the way of an intellectual group of writers as poets, novelists, journalists, and editors who propelled the post genocide Western Armenian literature to new heights that subsided with their passing away. The attached is a an abridged translated segment from that chapter. Vahe H. Apelian

- “Tell the boy to come here. We do not devour people. Let him not be scared…."

The person who is speaking at the other end of the line is Aram Andonian¹ who is instructing Megerditch Barsamian. The “boy” in question is I. I  had taken the handset to set up an appointment with Andonian, when at that very moment a stranger entered the shop and grabbed the handset from my hands and started talking on my behalf.

- “Aram, you know that we middle easterners are addicted to coffee and in this town only you and I know how to make middle eastern coffee. But  poor fellow, you do not have coffee. Therefore, I am taking the boy with me. Tomorrow he will meet you, by then I am hoping that you will procure coffee, if you can that is, good luck. Bye for now…."

Without asking me and after setting up my appointment on my behalf, he introduced himself

- Levon Shirian (Լեւոն Շիրեան)

His name did not ring a bell. I did not know any writer or a party activist by that name or anyone else for that matter. I hoped he was not also one of those who had made a fortune on the black market and was more than eager to show me the trappings of the fortune he made during the war. The war had recently ended and among the widespread misery in the country there were those who had made a fortune. There were a good number of them.  You could even tell them from twenty steps away, from the way they walked, dressed and the air of contentment they carried on their faces.

The previous evening, I had become the victim to one of them, our own Hagop from our days in the orphanage. He dragged me to his house, kept me for dinner and ruined my evening. There was not a cup of water I drank, or a cup of coffee I sipped that was not accompanied by a lengthy explanation: “ Mon Vieaux, old chap, I hope you did not mistake it for glass. It’s pure crystal”, and when it came to the dishes: “Did you see the logo of the castle imprinted on them? When it came to old fashioned armchairs, “these are from Countess Matilda’s house!”

And now this Shirian, with his daring demeanor, carefree disposition, reminded me of Hagop. I looked with an apprehension to Barsamian covertly conveying my intention of declining the offer and expecting an affirmation from him. He understood my predicament and with an air assurance told me:

- “Go, go, you will not regret.”

We went. He was a cheerful man. His house resembled the untidy and unkept bachelor’s den. As far as I remember he lived next to his small socks manufacturing factory he ran. As to the coffee, although he had bragged about his coffee preparing skills it turned out to be the type that you feel like pouring it on the person after having taken one sip. But instinctively I knew that he did not lack the skills, he was simply in a hurry to show me a moment too soon his prized treasure. 

He opened the door of a room, much like people open the door of holy sanctum or holy of holies, slowly, ceremoniously and with reverence. And with a gentleness that contradicted his audacious personality, led me inside.

- "Step in please."

It was quite large room. All the walls were literally coated with books. What kind of books? Only and only pertaining to Dikran the Great. There is nothing unusual about a room full of books. But such a vast collection of books pertaining only to one person, Dikran the Great, and one subject, the empire he carved, is rare, especially that the collection had been realized painstakingly by the relentless efforts of a single person. I had not seen such a collection of books before and I have not seen since.

Hundreds of books in whatever language, suffice that the Dikran the Great’s name was mentioned in a single sentence or reference is made to Dikran the Great in any way. Then maps, sculptures, coins, and more maps, large and small, in Armenian, French, Latin or Greek. Any depiction of the empire Dikran the Great carved, that showed the outward boundaries of his empire and depicted the glory of Dikran the Great was in his collection.

Levon was standing still in the middle of the room and was savoring my  amazement and astonishment. 

- “What?”, he spoke finally and said: “seeing me in my work garmet covered with dust, you took me for a miller.”

Levon Shirian was an educated person. He was an ardent literary man and a committed Dikranophile.  His life’s mission had been amassing that library about Dikran the Great and the empire he carved.

After forty years, Levon Shirian and the library he had amassed that included rare books and maps are no more.

What happened to Levon Shirian and his collection? 

They were, are no more.

                                        *****

1.               Aram Andonian was born in Constantinople. There he edited the Armenian journals Luys (Light) and Dzaghik (Flower) and the newspaper Surhandak (Herald). Andonian then went on to serve in the department of military censorship of the Ottoman Empire. He was arrested by order of interior minister Talat Pasha of the Ottoman Empire on the eve of April 24, 1915, and joined the large number of Armenian notables who were deported from the Ottoman capital. Andonian was deported to Chankiri, then, halfway there, returned to Ankara and was deported again to the camps in the Ra's al-'Ayn and Meskene. However, Andonian survived in Aleppo in the underground.[3] When British forces occupied Aleppo, a lower-level Turkish official, Naim Bey collaborated with Aram Andonian in publishing his memoirs, an account of the deportation of the Armenians. The Memoirs of Naim Bey were published in 1920, and are sometimes referred to as the "Andonian Telegrams" or the "Talat Pasha Telegrams." The telegrams are purported to constitute direct evidence that the Armenian genocide of 1915–1917 was state policy of the Ottoman Empire. They were introduced as evidence in the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian.

According to Robert Melson, Andonian's report on post-1915 deportations and killings of Armenians are crucial for the research of that period.

          From 1928 to 1951 Andonian directed the Nubarian Library in Paris, and succeeded in hiding and saving most of the collection during the German occupation of Paris. He also worked to collect eyewitness testimonies of the genocide.

He is the author of a Complete Illustrated History of the Balkan War (Vol. 1–5, 1912–1913), published originally in Armenian. (Wikipedia)

 

They Were, are No More (Կային, Չկան): Rue Richer (No. 2)

“They Were, (and) are no more” (Կային, Չկան) is the title of the last chapter of Antranig Zarougian’s “The Greats and the Others” (Մեծերը եւ Միւսները) book. The book casts a glimpse of the way of an intellectual group of writers as poets, novelists, journalists, and editors who propelled the post genocide Western Armenian literature to new heights that subsided with their passing away. The attached is an abridged translated segment from that chapter. Vahe H. Apelian.

“ It is a narrow street. On both side there are shops and small restaurants and hardly a perceptible sideway. It looks more like the main street of a rural town, but from a far distance, this small street – Rue Richer – was the center of Paris for me and Paris was the heartbeat of the world.

In my youthful imagination this is where the Louvre Museum, the Pantheon, the opera, along with that all beauties about Paris should have been located. Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb and the Eiffel Tower could not have been further away. That was all that Rue Richer was to me before I visited Paris for the very first time.  The taxi took me to a street that negated everything I had conjured in my mind.

Barber shops, grocery stores, cafés……….

Having noticed my disappointment, Puzant, still in his blue work garment held me by my arm, took me to the end of the street and with the same boastfulness and emphasis Napoleon must have pointed the great Sphynx to his soldier and told them: ““From the heights of the Pyramids, forty centuries look down on us”, Puzant said:

- “Our neighborhood is modest, but see, Folies Bergere is here.¹”

*****

It was fifty years ago. Everything that reached us from France as beautiful literature, in a beautiful publication carried Rue Richer Street in its address. “Zvartnots” (Զուարթնոց)2, “Gyank Yev Arouesd” ( “Life and Art” -  Կեանք եւ Արուեստ)3, “Arevmoudk” (“West”-Արեւմուտք)4 and all their contributors iincluding “Araxe” (Արաքս) printing shop, were all here, on Rue Richer, behind a two paneled door that opened to an inner neighborhood. On the right  was Hrand Palouyan (Հրանտ Բալուեան)5, and on the left Puzant Topalian (Բիւզանդ Թոփալեան)6 and in between the two was Megerditch Barsamiam’s (Մկարտիչ Պարսամեան) 7 cellar bookstore as if to keep a harmonious balance between the two.

During the past fifty years I have been in Paris many times, at times twice a year. I have a lot of memories and sentimental remembrances about my visits there. Some of which I have written and published; others could be written but there are some that will never be written. It is fair that I frame my first visit to Paris, that is to say the Rue Richer Street.

 But before I start writing about it, should I not visit and see what is left on the Rue Richer Street from the old? I am immersed in such thoughts when suddenly, of all places and circumstances, I come across face to face to Vahram (Mavian)8, who happened to be in Paris on vacation from “the far distant Portugal”.  Ever cheerful and ready to crack a joke, but his demeanor changed, a sadness appeared on his eyes when he learned my intention and with an utmost solemnity told me:

- “Yes, the Rue Richer Street, let us visit it together.”

We set up a time to visit it the following day. But we did not go; not together nor by ourselves. There is no need to confirm what we already know.  None of the dear faces we knew is there anymore, absolutely no one. Visiting Rue Richer would be much like pursuing  lost souls in the ruins of Ani. Attempting to look for (Puzant) Topalian, (Megerditch) Barsamian, (Hrand) Palouyan would be much like playing an unpleasant game hoping that we can suddenly meet (Arshag) Chobanian (Արշակ Չոպանեան)9, (Nighoshos) Sarafian (Նիկողոս Սարաֆեան)10, (Shavarsh) Nartouni (Շաւարշ Նարդունի)11, (Nshan) Beshiktashlian (Նշան Պէշիկթաշլեան)12,  (Arshavir?) Khontgarian (Արշաւիր Խոնդկարեան)13 and the others.

It is much better therefore to hold on to the old picture as it was  and without retouching it let it remain hanging on the wall just as it was.”

They were, are no more.

 

Notes 

1.      The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall, located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement.

2      Zvartnots (or Zwartnots / Zwarthnotz, Armenian: Զուարթնոց, was a literary review in the Armenian language founded in January 1929 by Hrant Palouyan and ceased publication in 1964.

3. “     Gyank Yev Arouesd” ( “Life and Art” -  Կեանք եւ Արուեստ), Armenian literary magazine edited by A. Barsamian in Paris from 1931-1940. 

4.    Arevmoudk” (“West”-Արեւմուտք), a literary magazine in Paris published by  Levon Mozian ( Լեւոն Մոզեան) from 1945 to 1952.

5.     Hrand Palouyan (Հրանտ Բալուեան) publisher of Zvartnots literary magazine.

6.      Puzant Topalian (Բիւզանդ Թոփալեան), 1902-1970. He was born in Aintab and passed away on April 30, in France. He was a poet, a painter, and an editor. 

7.      Megerditch Barsamiams’ (Մկարտիչ Ասատուի Պարսամեան), 1886-1965. He was born May 7, in Agn, in the Ottoman Empire and passed away on June 18, in Paris. He was a writer, literary critic, an editor, and a pedagogue.

8.    Vahram Mavian (Վահրամ Մավեան), 1926-1983.  He was born in Jerusalem and passed away in Lisbon, Portugal. From 1960 and onward, he was affiliated with the Armenian Department of the Calouste Gulbenian Foundation in Lisbon. He was a poet and a prose-writer.

9.      Arshag Chobanian  (Արշակ Չոպանեան), 1872-1954.  He was born on July 15 in Beşiktaş, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire and passed away on June 8 in Paris. France. He was an Armenian short story writer, journalist, editor, poet, translator, literary critic, playwright, philologist and a novelist. 

10.    Nigoghos Sarafian (Նիկողոս Սարաֆեան),1902-1972.  He was born on March in Varna, Bulgarian and Passed away in Paris, France. He was an Armenian writer, poet, editor and journalist.

11.   Shavarsh Nartouni (Շաւարշ Նարդունի), 1898-1968. His baptismal name was Askanaz Ayvazian. He was born in Armash, Ottoman Empire and passed away in Marseille, France. He was a physician by training but was more involved in literary endeavors. For decades he also edited “Hye Pouj” (Հայ Բուժ – Armenian Medicine), a medical monthly.

12.    Nshan Beshiktashlian (Նշան Պէշիկթաշլեան), 1898-1972.  He was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire and passed away in Paris, France. He was an Armenian poet, writer, satirist and novelist.

13.     Arshavir Khontgarian (Արշաւիր Խոնդկարեան)  ? Information I have about him is conflicting. Comments welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 1, 1846, and Beyond

Vahe H. Apelian

The First Church Council of the Armenian Evangelical Church,
 Pera, Istanbul, Turkey

I may have more of a reason to remember that date because it is my official birthday, a hundred years later. In fact, I was born on June 22, in Lebanon. Apparently, it was not unreasonable that it would take more than a week to have my birthday registered and the certificate issued by the authorities.

Rev. William Goodell, who was a missionary on behalf of the most influential American missionary association called American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM), recalled July 1, 1846 and noted the following in his memoir: “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" – «Հայաստանեաց Աւերտարանական Եկեղեցի».  

Why A Separate Armenian Church?

I quote Rev. Dr. Vahan Tootikian: “The causes of ”separation" were not random, shallow and capricious. Rather, these causes were a direct outcome of the Armenian Renaissance in the 19th century. It was part of the great upsurge of Armenian intellectual spirit. There was a revival of thinking in the social, economic, and religious realms. Some reform-minded Armenians in the Patriarchal Academy of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Istanbul insisted that the Armenian Apostolic Church should be revitalized. In 1836 these reformists established a secret society named Barepashtoutian Miabanoutune (The Society of Piety) in order to reform the church. They met the strong resistance and the opposition of the Armenian ruling magnates and the patriarch. Failure to reform the Church became the basic source of conflict. The reformists continued to push their demands, which provoked strong retaliation from the Armenian Patriarch Mateos Chookhajian. Persecution and suffering did not alienate the Armenian Evangelicals from the Mother Church. It was the act of excommunications of the Patriarch that forced them to organize themselves into a separate religious community, the Protestant Millet. It was this separation which resulted in the formation of the Armenian Evangelical Church on July 1, 1846.”

Indeed, there was a reform movement within the Armenian Apostolic Church. But the reform was not only in ecclesiastical matters but in temporal matters as well because the Patriarchate was in fact an Armenian government of sort in the Ottoman Empire. Sixteen years later, in 1863, the Armenian Millet would have its national constitution after centuries having the Patriarchate run the affairs of the Armenian nation (Millet) in the Ottoman Empire without a national constitution.

Why Did Excommunication Matter?

The Patriarch’s excommunication was not a mere rebuke or a moral reprimand. It had serious implications for the ostracized reformists. The Millet system constituted the core of the Ottoman Empire governance of its minorities. Rev. William Goodell found that system of governance as 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 Millet (confessional community) in the Ottoman Empire.

Consequently, excommunication meant that those reformists were banished from the Armenian Millet and were left without recourse. It was akin to  depriving forty natural born Americans of citizenship leaving them stateless. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, the present-day Istanbul, had the authority to marry, divorce, settle disputes, and even run its prison for the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Sultan and the Armenians conducted their affairs with the Ottoman authorities through the Armenian Patriarchate. By banishing the reformists, the Patriarchate disowned them and ceased to represent them. Consequently, the reformists were left on their own without recourse for any issue they might face. 

But the reformists treaded on. A year and a few months after the July 1, 1846, assembly,  on November 15, 1847, Rev. William Goodell noted  that “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”. The reformists now had their own “nation”. 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 from the get-go. In fact, they were instrumental in the founding of the Protestant Millet.

Was the Excommunication the Cause for the Separation?

The excommunication could very well have been a cause that acted as a catalyst for the inevitable separation of the reformists’ church. I do not have sufficient knowledge on  the Armenian church doctrinal matters to expand on the issue here. But any lay person who has attended both Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Evangelical churches surely realizes that these two churches have fundamentally different worship services and consequently also differ in some doctrinal and in administrative hierarchical matters.

We should also take into consideration the influence the American missionaries might have exercised for having facilitated the formations of a separate church, or a millet, but not necessarily advocating a separate church or a millet. 

After excommunicating the leadership of the movement, the separation of the Armenian Evangelical Church from the Armenian Apostolic church became inevitable.

A Different Church as Well?

Rev. William Goodell arrived in Constantinople on June 9, 1831. His arrival had coincided with a reformation movement within the Armenian Church. Fifteen years later, and after much agony and ecstasy, on July 1, 1846, the Armenian Evangelical Church came about and in 1863, the Armenian National Constitution. 

Was the separate Armenian Evangelical Church a different church as well? No doubt during the initial phase of its founding and accreditation as a separate Millet, the adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who constituted the overwhelming majority of the Armenians, regarded the Armenian Evangelical Church faithful as members of a different church and even as different Armenians as well. Anointing the newborns with Holy Muron during baptism had made a person a Christian Armenian. The Armenian Evangelical Church did not require its adherents to be anointed in Holy Muron and on Sundays they worshiped in an altogether different service in their sanctuaries.

Rev. William Goodell’s parting letter hints to the schism that had come about between the two churches.  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, the United States of America, only once. Before taking leave for good, he addressed his brethren in the Evangelical Churches in the Ottoman Empire and alluded to the recent schism in the Armenian nation that led to the formation of the Armenian Evangelical Church. Rev. Goodell wrote in his last letter: “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.

Driven with a Christian missionary zeal for service, the adherents of the Armenian Evangelical Church rendered much service to the Armenian nation, enriching it way more than one would have expected from the meager demographic constituency of its faithful. I quote Rev. Vahan Tootikiian: “Within a decade after its birth, the Armenian Evangelical Church had grown by leaps and bounds. To administer these churches effectively, the following four church Unions were organized: Bithynia, Eastern, Cilician and Central Unions. These Unions lasted until 1915, prior to the Armenian Genocide.

The Genocide changed the whole dynamics. More than 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives. Most of the Armenian Evangelical churches, schools and institutions were destroyed. Prior to the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Evangelical community in Tur key numbered 51,000. It had 137 organized churches with 82 ordained ministers and 97 preachers and evangelists. In the aftermath of the Genocide, the Armenian Evangelicals counted 14,000 members, 31 churches, with 25 ordained ministers and 13 preachers.” 

Thus, in time the Armenian Evangelical Church came to be the evangelical front of the Armenian Church. A separate but not a different Armenian church. I used the adjective evangelical for brevity for the purpose of this blog and did not mean to imply that the Armenia Apostolic Church is not. 

The Indispensable Heritage.

Whenever I think of the Armenian Evangelical Church, Rev. Barkev N. Darakjian’s book “The Indispensable Heritage” (Անփոխարինելի Ժառանգութիւնը) comes to my mind. The book is an in-depth presentation of the Armenian Evangelical Church in an impeccable Western Armenian. Rev. Barkev N. Darakjian cites three pillars on which the Armenian Evangelical rested when it came about. The three pillars he cites are the following: that the church is Evangelical (Աւետարանական), that it is rooted in the Armenian Christian experience (Հայաստանեաց), and that it is a movement (Շարժում).

One hundred and seventy-five years (175) years have passed since that fateful day on July 1, 1946. Has the Armenian Evangelical Church remained true to the three pillars on which it stood?  I invite interested readers to contemplate and draw their own conclusions.

Sources:

1.      “Armenian Evangelical Church – A Brief History” by Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian, in the AMAA NEWS, April.May.June 2021.

2.    “Forty Years in the Turkish Empire or Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell D.D, Late Missionary of A.B.C.F.M at Constantinople”, edited by his son-in-law, E. D. G. Prime, published by Robert Carter and Brothers (New York). Its fifth edition, posted online by Google, is dated 1878.

3.    Վեր. Պարգես Ն. Տարագճեան, «ԱՆՓՈԽԱՐԻՆԵԼԻ ԺԱՌԱՆԳՈՒԹԻՒՆԸ», Հայ Աւետարանչական Ընկերակցութիւն, Փըրամսշ Նիւ Ճըրզի, Ամերիկայի Միացեալ Նահաններ, 2004. (Rev. Barkev N. Darakjian, “The Indispensable Heritage”, published by Armenian Missionary Association of American, Inc., Paramus, NJ, U.S.A., 2004)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hotel Lux: Hrant Kevorkian:

Hrant Kevorkian is the composer of the song “Sweet is the Night”. Its lyrics is a poem by Missak Medzarents. The attached are passages I translated from his autobiography titled “Կեանքիս Պատկէրազարդ Ժապաւէնը» - My Life’s Picturesque Ribbon” (pages 166 and 170) reminiscing about his stay in Hotel Lux. The book was published in 1983 in Aleppo. He had personified and gifted a copy to my parents. Mr. Hrant Kevorkian passed away a few years later in Aleppo. Vahe H. Apelian

 

Hrant Kevorkian with Mr and Mrs Hovhannes Zvart Apelian

“ One day, as usual, we were sitting on the roof top veranda of our hotel, where Armenians from different countries had gathered. Upon request I played several songs on the accordion. After which, a lady (who was a scouts leader from Aleppo) was asked to sing a song. After hesitating for a few moments and after some thought, she began to sing the "Night is Sweet” song.  She had barely uttered the first two words, there came a restrained commotion in the audience, but she continued singing without paying attention to the stealthy smiles and meaningful looks. When the song ended and the applause stopped, the ever ready and always active Mrs. Zuart Apelian, without any further patience, addressed the lady and said:

- Miss, you sang very well, congratulations. But did you know that the composer of the song you sang is the gentleman wearing eye glasses sitting right next to you?

The lady,  caught by surprise, turned to me, and said:

- Sir, first of all, I congratulate you for your beautiful composition.  But do you know how many hearts have moved with this song of yours?

I answered without hesitation in a light hearted mood :

- Thank you, ma'am. I hope that one of those hearts moved in your favor.

The Hotel Lux Roof Top Veranda

*****

" I could never forget the proprietor of our Armenian hotel, Mr. Hovhannes Apelian and his esteemed wife, Zvart. Both of whom treated me kindly. Also, his sons  Vahe and Garo and his nephews Stepan’s (Steve) and Ara who extended their sincere friendship to me.

Hovhannes Apelian

"Vahe graduated as a pharmacist from the American University of Beirut; Steve graduated as an agriculturist, and Ara as a doctor. Ara is also known as a writer and as a serious young man engaged in the Armenian literary culture. 

It would be impossible to forget, especially our Sunday lunch (chicken and rice pilaf). All in the inn ate together like a patriarchal family and carried on conversation with joy and laughter. After lunch we had coffee and  gradually moved to our rooms. Mr. Hovhannes had a habit of taking a nap on a chair .... 

This man, Hovhannes, a native of Kessab from the village of Keurkune, had a rare heart and soul. A few years ago, at the sight of  the desolate state of his and our beloved hotel, because of the devastating civil war in Lebanon, left for the United States to join his son Vahe. Garo got married and moved to the U.S. as well with his wife. Mrs. Zvart Apelian, the faithful educator and the devoted teacher at Shamlian-Tatigian School, remained behind for now. Steve and Ara  intend to further their specializations in their chosen fields. I wish success to the studious brothers.”

Aram's Widow Gadarine՛ Manougian

Gadarine՛ Manougian’s Golgotha

 

The attached is my translation from the last segment of Dr. Armenag Yeghiyan’s remembrances (numbered 20) - (Հայրենի Յուշեր 20). In this segment he dwelt upon the state of Aram Manougian’s widow, their daughter Seta and their houseէ in Yerevan. The original is attached. Vahe H. Apelian

Aram Manougian passed away on January 29, 1919, due to typhus, after putting a life and death struggle for a month and after having – if it could be characterized so – the pleasure of witnessing the independent statehood. He left behind his physician widow Gadarine՛ Zalian (Կատարինէ  Զալեան) and their four months old orphaned daughter Seta (Սեդա) in her crib. 

*****

Aram Manougian’s and Gadarine՛ Zalian’s wedding took place during the early part of 1918. At the time she was engrossed in her work keeping the refugees safe from prevailing epidemics. Their meeting had taken place in the very hospital she was working. 

Their marriage lasted hardly a year and a half.

After the death of her husband, his widow was elected as a delegate to the 80 members national assembly becoming one of the three women delegates. Meanwhile she continued providing medical care to the refugees.

Not long after her widowhood, the Sovietization of Armenia took place, and her Golgotha began. 

The Soviet authorities first confiscated her two-story beautiful residence that was constructed with black stone. Aram Manougian’s friend Fadey Kalantarian (Ֆատեյ Քալանդարեան) had gifted the house to him when he arrived in Yerevan. The Soviet authorities also forbad her from practicing medicine. 

Having become homeless, Mrs. Manougian took refuge in her sister’s one bedroom apartment. From there she went to Krasnodar in Russia and moved in with her deceased husband’s relatives living a modest life doing menial work.

 In 1937 the need for physicians became acute in Armenia because of shortage for trained physicians. This gave her the opportunity to return to Yerevan and devote herself to her profession. “My mother went to work in the morning, would come home during lunch to feed me and would return to work keeping me behind closed door. That was her life in a nutshell.” Recalled Seta Manougian in her memoirs.

 The communist authorities not only attempted to crush the family Aram Manougian left behind, but also desecrated his grave unearthing Aram’s remains.  The state of the First Republic had undertaken the burial of Aram’s remains in the state pantheon where the present Komidas Park and Pantheon is located, in Yerevan. His widow, while in a state of abject poverty, took upon herself and had her husband's remains buried in the cemetery of Tokhmam Geol. ( Note: Dr. Armenag visited Aram Manougian’s gravesite in 1989 and met the eminent scholar Varag Arakelisn who had spearheaded the sculpting of the memorial monument and having it placed at Aram Manougian’s gravesite. See my blog titled “ Aghpalian, Aram, and Njteh: http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/05/armenag-yeghiayan-aghpalian-aram-and.html”).

During the years of independence (post September 21, 1991). Aram Manougian’s remains were unearthed and were taken and reburied in the Yerevan Pantheon, which is the most revered cemetery. The remains of Aram Manougian’s widow Gadarine՛ and those of their daughter Seta were also brought and buried next his.   

*****

 There came the 1937 dreadful years. Mrs. Gadarine՛  Manougian once again was evicted from her home and released from her work. She lived in abject poverty until the start of the world war, at which time, once again, the need for trained physicians became acute in Armenia. The government restated her rights as a citizen and her professional qualifications and permitted her to resume practicing her profession as a medical doctor for the rest of her life.  

She passed away in 1965.

Gadarine Zalian-Manougian, Berjouhy Parseghian, Varvara Sahagian

A short while before her death, she has told her daughter Seta, “I did not see, but you will most definitely see the day when people will remember and appreciate your father. I am sure that the Armenian people will not forget him.”

After the death of her mother Seta Manougian continued to live in Yerevan until 1976. Subsequently she moved to Moscow where she lived the remainder of her life until her death in 2005, at the age of eighty-six. Throughout those years Seta visited Armenia once in 1998 when she gifted to the national museum her father’s personal belongings and pictures.

         Regarding the state of Aram Manougian’s house, Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan noted the following in a footnote: 

“Aram Manougian’s dilapidated house is on the former Spandarian Street, nowadays Aram Street, No. 9.  For unknown reasons, the once beautiful and fortified structure in central Yerevan has reached its current neglected state. Through the years of independence, the house turned into a landfill, where passersby did not hesitate to meet their needs there. Sometime later. Mayor Taron Margarian granted it a lock that would at least note to keep it "clean" and placed a plaque on the only wall standing, the façade, that reads: “In this house lived and died the founder of the Armenian Republic, Aram Manougian, 1917-1919”. A heartbroken journalist testified to the following in Aztag Daily on 8/25/2015, in an article titled “Shame”.  "I go in carefully, avoiding the stinking garbage bags and the dirt that people have expelled." 

 No one, or a party, or an organization has managed to find a proper solution to this deplorable situation. On the contrary, everyone found a way avoiding the matter and pointing fingers to the municipality of Yerevan, whose official position remains the following:  "Aram Manougian's house is privately owned. The municipality has no authority there." 

It turned out that its owner is Vartan Srmakesh (Վարդան Սրմաքէշ), a resident of Switzerland who has bought the whole street from a certain Yagoupian (Եագուպեան), who is now deceased, and started demolishing to erect new building.  The public remains unaware of any successful attempt to compensate the current owner to repossess Aram Manougian’s house and return it to the nation.”

  

Հայրենի յուշեր (20)

(Իբրեւ վերջաբան)                                               

         Հայրենի յուշերուս այս վերջին դրուագը կ’ուզեմ յատկացնել Արամի յիշատակին, անոր  անձին ու ընտանիքին վերաբերող կարգ մը մանրամասնութիւններու, որոնք ընդհանրապէս կը վրիպին արդի հայու  գիտութենէն, թէկուզ  միշտ  ու միանշանակ՝ բոլորովին անծանօթ   չըլլան պատմածներս:

         Արամի գործունէութեան փայլուն  փուլերէն մէկը կը կազմէ Վանը: 

         Ան  առաջին անգամ հոն ոտք կը դնէր 1904-ին եւ այնուհետեւ,-- կարգ մը ընդմիջումներով,--  բախտը կը կապէր  մասնաւորաբար այդ պատմական ոստանին եւ ընդհանրապէս ամբողջ Վասպուրականին՝ արժանանալով  «Վանայ Արամը»  յորջորջումին եւ առարկայ դառնալով շրջակայ թուրք, քուրդ եւ  այլազգի  շրջանակներու  միահամուռ յարգանքին՝ մինչեւ «փաշա» անուանումը: Այստեղ ան  քիչ մը ամէն բան է՝ ուսուցիչ, դպրոցի հիմնադիր,  երիտասարդական խումբերու կազմակերպող, ազգային հաստատութեանց վերակացու եւ հայութեան մնայուն ներկայացուցիչը՝ յաչս  թրքական կառավարութեան:

         Արամ Վանը կը լքէ անոր ինքնավարութեան անկումէն ետք՝ 1916-ին, որ կը զուգադիպի ռուսական բանակի նահանջին Արեւմտեան Հայաստանէն, երբ այլեւս կարելի չեղաւ այնտեղ պահպանել՝ հայ կամաւորական գունդերու առաջնորդութեամբ ու օգնութեամբ ազատագրուած տարածքները, ուր պահ մը նահանգապետ  ալ նշանակուեցաւ  ան ռուսական իշխանութեան կողմէ: 

*   *   *

         Նահանջելով Վասպուրականէն՝ ան կը հասնի Թիֆլիս, ուր կեդրոնացած էին օրուան կարեւորագոյն գործիչները եւ կը վճռուէին ազգային բոլոր հարցերը: Սակայն այս միջավայրը իր նստակեցական ու դիւանակալական բարքերով չի գրաւեր զինք, եւ 1917-ին, Ազգային խորհուրդի լիազօր ներկայացուցիչի հանգամանքով  ան կ’անցնի Երեւան, որ շատ աւելի կը պատշաճէր իր  ճաշակին ու ըմբռնումներուն եւ ուր, մանաւանդ, շատ աւելի գործ կար ընելիք:

         Արդարեւ, Երեւանը այդ օրերուն լեցուած էր արեւմտահայ  հոծ գաղթականութեամբ,  մասնաւորաբար մեծաթիւ՝ մօտ 50.000, անտէր որբերով, որոնց վիճակը շուտով պիտի օրհասական դառնար աւելի քան հարիւր տարիէ ի վեր այնտեղ հաստատուած ռուսական  բանակի վերջին մնացորդներու հեռացումով՝ ի հետեւանս  Լենինի կոչերուն՝  դադրեցնելու պատերազմը   եւ վերադառնալու տուն, ինչ որ բոլորովին անտէր կը ձգէր  Հայաստանը թրքական զօրքերու  դէպի Արարատեան դաշտ խուժումի փորձերուն դիմաց:  Հայրենի հայութեան  ու կամաւորական գունդերուն վերջին բեկորներուն աչքերը բնական հակումով մը կը յառին  Արամ Մանուկեանին, որուն վարչական ու ռազմական  համբաւին  այլապէս ալ  ծանօթ էին անոնք:

         Այս առանձին ու անտէր մնացած զանգուածի  ջանադիր կազմակերպութեան շնորհիւ է,  որ յառաջացաւ այն  դիմադրական ուժը, որ համակած էր հայութիւնը երեք տարի առաջ Վանի մէջ  եւ պիտի ամիսներ ետք վերայայտնուէր Սարդարապատի մէջ՝  յաղթական դիմագրաւելով   թրքական ներխուժող հորդաները եւ պարտութեան մատնելով զանոնք` վերականգնելու համար վեց դարերէ ի վեր կորսուած հայ պետականութեան հիմքերը՝ 28 մայիս 1918-ին:

         Եւ մինչ կ’ակնկալուէր, որ ի՛նք ալ գլխաւորէր  հռչակուած հանրապետութիւնը, Արամ Մանուկեան,  որ  միշտ  խուսափած էր տիտղոսներէ ու ցուցական պատիւներէ,  իր տեղը կը զիջի Յովհաննէս Քաջազնունիի, որ կը դառնայ  առաջին վարչապետը, մինչ ինք կը ստանձնէ ներքին նախարարութիւնը, ուր շատ աւելի գործ կար ընելիք,  մօտ ամիս մըն ալ ժամանակաւորապէս կը վարէ աշխատանքի եւ խնամատարութեան  նախարարութիւնները:

         Կը մահանայ 29  յունուար 1919-ին, բծաւոր տիֆի վարակով, ամբողջ ամիս մը պայքարելէ ետք հիւանդութեան դէմ եւ  հազիւ եօթը ամիս վայելելով,-- եթէ կարելի է այսպէս ըսել,-- անկախ պետականութեան հրճուանքը: Ետին կը ձգէ այրին՝ բժշկուհի Կատարինէ Զալեանը, եւ չորս ամսու որբուհի մը՝ Սեդան, խանձարուրի մէջ:

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         Արամ Մանուկեանի եւ Կատարինէ  Զալեանի ամուսնութիւնը տեղի ունեցած է 1918-ի սկիզբը: Այն ատեն  կինը լծուած էր գաղթականներն ու որբերը համաճարակներու դէմ պաշտպանելու համար մղուող պայքարին, եւ անոնց հանդիպումն ալ տեղի կ’ունենայ  ճիշդ  այն հիւանդանոցին մէջ, ուր կը գործէր  ան:

         Այս ամուսնական կեանքը կը տեւէ նուազ քան  տարիուկէս:

         Ամուսինին մահէն ետք կինը  կ’ընտրուի  խորհրդարանի պատգամաւոր՝ դառնալով   80 անդամ հաշուող  Ազգային ժողովի երեք կիներէն  մէկը՝  շարունակելով միաժամանակ բերել իր մասնակցութիւնը գաղթականներու խնամքին: 

         Վրայ կը հասնի Հայաստանի խորհրդայնացումը, եւ կը սկսի  անոր գողգոթան:

         Նախ կը գրաւեն բնակարանը , որ  սեւ քարէ կառուցուած երկյարկ գեղեցիկ  շէնք մըն էր, որ Արամ Մանուկեան, Երեւան ժամանելուն առթիւ,  նուէր ստացած էր Ֆատեյ Քալանդարեան անուն  բարեկամէ մը, ապա  կը զրկեն աշխատանքէ եւս: Տիկին Մանուկեան,   բոլորովին անտէր մնալով, կը հաստատուի  քրոջը  մէկ սենեականոց  տունը,  այնուհետեւ  կը մեկնի Կրասնոտար՝ Արամի ազգականներուն քով, ուր կ’ապրի չարքաշ կեանքով մը՝ կատարելով քանի մը աշխատանք: 1927-ին Հայաստանի մէջ խիստ կարիքը կը զգացուի մասնագէտ բժիշկներու, ահա այս առիթէն ալ օգտուելով ան  կը վերադառնայ Երեւան ու կը նուիրուի իր մասնագիտութեան.  «Մայրս առաւօտեան աշխատանքի կ’երթար, ճաշի կու գար, զիս կը կերակրէր, նորէն դուռը վրաս փակելով՝ կ’երթար ուրիշ գործի, դա էր նրա ամբողջ  կեանքը»,-- կը վկայէ Սեդա Մանուկեան իր յուշերուն մէջ:

         Արամի ընտանիքը խորտակելու փորձէն ետք՝ օրուան համայնավար իշխանութիւնները  կ’արտաշիրմեն անոր աճիւնները  եւս, որ օրին կը գտնուէր այժմեան Կոմիտասի անուան պանթէոնի տեղը, ուր  թաղուած էր Առաջին հանրապետութեան ծախսերով, եւ կնոջը  շատ նեղ միջոցներով անոնք կը փոխադրուին այժմեան Թոխմախ գէօլի գերեզմանատունը, որուն ակնարկուած է այս յուշերու 12-րդ դրուագին մէջ: Անկախութենէն ետք՝ Արամ Մանուկեանի շիրիմը մէկ անգամ եւս տեղափոխուեցաւ  ու հանգրուանեց  այս անգամ,− յուսանք վերջնականապէս,− Երեւանի պետական պանթէոնի մէջ, ուր բերուեցան  ու  ամփոփուեցան անոր կնոջ եւ աղջկան աճիւնները  եւս:

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         Կը հասնի 1937 չարաշուք թուականը,  եւ Կատարինէ Մանուկեան անգամ մը եւս դուրս կը դրուի տունէն ու կ’արձակուի աշխատանքէն: Ան տնանկ ու ծայրայեղ թշուառ կ’ապրի մինչեւ Համաշխարհային պատերազմի սկիզբը, երբ մեծ կարիք կը զգացուի բժիշկներու, ուստի  կը թոյլատրուի, որ  ան  վերատիրանայ իր քաղաքացիական  իրաւունքներուն եւ  վերսկսի աշխատիլ:

         Այսպէս կ’ապրի ան մինչեւ մահը՝ 1965-ին:

         Մահէն քիչ առաջ ան կ’ըսէ աղջկանը. «Ես չտեսայ, բայց դու անպայման կը տեսնես  այն օրը, երբ մարդիկ  կը յիշեն ու կը գնահատեն քո հօրը: Ես վստահ եմ, որ հայ ժողովուրդը  չի մոռանայ նրան»:

         Մօրը մահէն ետք Սեդա Մանուկեան Երեւան կը մնայ մինչեւ 1976, ապա  կը հաստատուի Մոսկուա, ուր կ’ապրի կեանքին մնացեալ տարիները մինչեւ 2005` 86 տարիքը: Այս ամբողջ միջոցին ան միայն մէկ անգամ՝ 1998-ին կ’այցելէ Հայաստան, ուր Սարդարապատի թանգարանին կը նուիրէ հօրը անձնական իրերն ու լուսանկարները:

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