RELIGIOUS MINORITIES www.media-diversity.org SPECIAL REPORT MAY 2004 ARTICLES OF FAITH UNDER SCRUTINY An increase in ‘alternative’ religions has alarmed the Church and society, but are these fears justified?

 HEGHINE KOSHTOYAN, ARAM MANUKYAN of Armenia is not new – lets only remember AND HASMIK HOVHANNISYAN the Tondrakians and Pavlikians (medieval religious movements),” he said. “History shows us that their actions al- SINCE the collapse of the Soviet Union ways met with determined action by the and the tragic earthquake of 1988, a host Armenian Apostolic Church.” of religious organisations became wide- The biggest religious communities after spread in Armenia, religious activity that Armenian Apostolic Church are Catholics has sometimes been viewed with suspicion (more than 120,000), Pentecostals (50,000- by the Church and society at large. 80,000), Jehovah’s Witnesses (about Stepan Danielian, of the Collabora- 30,000). Other religious groups have a tion for Democracy Union, an NGO that much smaller number of followers. “For deals with religious minorities, said that in instance, there are about 1,000-2,000 Mor- 1991, before independence, nine religious mons, they are rather closed, they avoid the Following the same book is not enough to guarantee religious harmony in today’s Armenia Picture: German Avakian organisations were registered. Today, 55 press because, as they put it, their activities religious organisations are registered in the are presented badly 99 percent of the time,” into effect in the autumn of 2004. She says: example, the leader of the “One Nation” next or second generation,” Father Arshak territory of Armenia. Danielian says. “With the law going into effect, the ques- party, Gor Tamazian, has recently urged the says. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Molokans, Hare Religious minorities have few problems tion of Jehovah’s Witnesses released from Armenian people to fight against the spread The Armenian Apostolic Church has it- Krishnas and some other movements re- with the authorities -- with the glaring ex- arrest will be discussed. There are 21 mem- of Jehovah’s Witnesses. self been blamed for the proliferation of main unlisted: because they have too few ception of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The con- bers of the sect in prison today”. But Kharatian says that, so far, there has “sects”, because, some argue, it does not adherents or for other reasons. But Danie- troversial movement first came to Armenia Alternative service is for three years, been no study in the society to show wheth- promote Christian education and upbring- lian thinks that Jehovah’s Witnesses will as far back as in 1975, and has long been whereas regular military service is two er Witnesses are dangerous or not. ing the way it should. eventually be registered under pressure in dispute with the authorities and society, years and there are questions over how “The main reason for the society’s nega- “We hear that allegation quite often,” Fa- from the Council of Europe. particularly in regard to military service. fair this one-year difference is. Kharatian tive attitude towards sects is that they pros- ther Arshak said. “Recently, the press had A spokesman for The Holy See in Ech- Dozens of members of the movement have says: “There are countries where military elytize aggressively in the streets and even accused the Holy See of not taking active miadzin, Father Arshak Khachatrian, said been jailed for refusing to serve in the army, service is three years for all. In our coun- disturb people in their homes,” says Vardan steps to prevent the activities of various that the Armenian Apostolic Church has a state of affairs that has raised human rights try, situated in a conflict zone, even one or Khachatrian, professor in Yerevan State sects in Armenia. I can say that there is re- always been tolerant to the ethnic minori- questions in Europe and elsewhere. two thousand people not wanting to serve University’s Theology Department. ally a need to make the Armenian Apostolic ties’ faiths. Hranoush Kharatian, Head of the Gov- in the army may have a negative impact,” Religious identity in Armenia has been Church more active. Our church has very But the church is less tolerant towards ernment’s Department on National Minor- Kharatian said. associated traditionally with national iden- limited resources, we have only 160 clergy- some of the more controversial move- ity and Religious Affairs, thinks that Wit- Armenian society has a negative attitude tity. “History shows that those Armenians, men in the whole of Armenia, we have very ments, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, nesses’ problems with avoiding military towards Jehovah’s Witnesses and other so- who had rejected Armenian Apostolic few operating churches. Thirteen years of which it views as sects. service will be solved with the new law called sects. Most of the political parties Church either willingly or by force, had independence is a very short time to restore “The spreading of sects on the territory on Alternative Military Service that goes and press criticize Jehovah’s Witnesses. For eventually lost their national roots from the our activities after 70 years of inaction.” Jehovah’s Witnesses: firm believers in the face of persecution

MHER ARSHAKIAN He comments on Armenian Ap- recollects that Sedrak Marutovi- are more virtuous”, Gagik says. reading the Bible, she has a dif- The Karabakh war participant’s ostolic Church, “There is nothing ch’s sick wife was baptized as a Sedrak Marutovich has his rea- ficulty in reading other literature. answer was short: “Get out of SEDRAK Marutovich Ghazar- there to believe in”. Jehovah Witness in the tub of his son for studying the Bible. “I was “After reading Bulgakov’s Mas- here!”. Later returning to the bat- ian is an atheist. But every week He opens “Get Closer to Je- apartment bathroom. dismissed from work, I have to do ter and Margarita I was horrified tlefield, he prayed to Jehovah to the 75-year-old former engineer hovah”. “Whose name is Je- At present Sedrak Marutovich, something, don’t I?” and threw this book away alto- survive in the trenches. “I felt Je- attends the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ hovah?” Gagik asks Sedrak Ghaz- in his words, assesses Jehovahs There are about 500 Jehovah’s gether”, the teacher says. Prior to hovah’s assistance during those rallies, and every Friday he invites arian. “It is the name of Father, highly - not to steal, not to kill, not Witnesses established a sort of her work at the college, Lianna battles”, Albert says. two Jehovah’s Witnesses – hus- God, don’t you understand?” Se- to lie. kinship among themselves in Ka- was expelled from a school for Karen Mkrtchian, 36, was bap- band and wife Gagik and Sonya -- drak Marutovich replies. “Do you really want to become pan, which, according to them, is being a Jehovah’s Witness. tized as a Jehovah’s Witness in into his house to study the Watch- Sonya explains: “Jesus means Jehovah’s Witness?” he is asked. stronger than blood ties. Lianna Taxi driver Albert Davtian 1994 in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. He tower magazine. Jehovah is our salvation”. “Unfortunately I do not want, “ he Sardarian is harassed by her hus- does not take seriously people’s often visits families. “We continue The pensioner welcomes us, “It happens this way as well? I answers. As he states, obligatory band for being a Jehovah’s Wit- attitude to Jehovah’s Witnesses. the work of Christ”, Karen clari- limping and smiling broadly. The did not know”, Sedrak Marutovich faith is not to his liking. But it is a ness. She refuses to go to the “They show disrespect not to fies. Several times he visited an old men of the Hunan Avetisian replies. different sort of “dislike”, dissimi- birthday parties of her relatives. Kapan resident Abo but Jehovah apartment with a Jehovah woman street building are playing back- How did the Jehovah’s Witness- lar to most other cases. “The holidays that are against the himself”, he says. Albert fought where they talked with a daughter- gammon in the yard. “We were es find him? It turned out that his “Ordinary people do not like us, Bible - human birthday, Christ- in the Artsakh war, during which in-law and a mother-in-law. On a playing backgammon at the mo- wife, Hripsimeh, was a member of but the girls prefer our boys”, says mas, Easter - are not attended by his wife and son turned to Je- recent visit, the door was opened ment when the barbecue was de- this organisation. She died in Janu- one of the “old residents” of the us”, she explains. She works as hovah. When Albert came home by the male head of the family. layed”, Sedrak Marutovich says. ary 2002 from heart attack. Gagik organization, Sonya. Why? “They a teacher in Kapan college. After on leave, he was urged to join. Continued on Page 2

Eyewitness After the tragedy Other worlds  In her own words, a  Armenia's devastating  Two very different faiths Jehovah’s Witness earthquake in 1988 provided have found refuge in the explains what faith fertile ground for religious country’s remote mountain means to her PAGE 2 organisations PAGE 3 regions PAGE 4 Produced by the Media Diversity Institute with the support of the European Community and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE 2 MAY, 2004 RELIGIOUS MINORITIES www.media-diversity.org Insulted, but unbowed

FROM PAGE 1 Saint Mesrop Mashtots Church “Get out”, the husband tells them Father Sahak Martirosian lives in before they can utter a word. this building. People say he insults Karen’s wife is also a Jehovah’s Jehovah’s Witnesses publicly and Witness, a baptized preacher. Karen even initiates criminal proceedings has a son as well. “My son is in the against them. Father Sahak consid- sixth grade, and he is not yet bap- ers this to be libel and exaggeration, tized”, Karen says. but adds: “I would rather prefer an Visiting apartments is one of the atheist than a sectarian in general”. promotional undertakings of this re- He views Jehovah’s Witness- ligious organisation. Last week they es as “strayed folk”. He is even visited the Harutyunians. Only one against reproaching the Witnesses, woman, Elena, was in. “Don’t you although he is convinced that “the want to live a better life in the future, sectarians are pimples on human ma’am? The young Jehovah said at body”. once. “I am living for today”, was Artashes Sadeghian is of the Elena’s answer. “Don’t you want to opinion that he was a “pimple” be- be happy in the Paradise”, the young fore becoming a Jehovah’s Witness. man kept asking. “I am not happy “In the early 1990s I was notorious. even in this world”, Elena says, ask- I drank, fought, used hashish -- my ing them not to tell her fairytales. daily dosage of hash if weighed Nevertheless, Jehovah’s Wit- was over 300 grams!” nesses do not get discouraged. Other Witnesses reminisce about They were never treated adequately those years when they hid them- Jehovah’s Witnesses of all ages attend a service in Yerevan last week Pictures: German Avakian anyway. Arthur is 15. His father selves upon seeing Artashes in the was killed in the Artsakh war. Four street. Artashes says that he got years ago, his teacher called him familiar with the Bible during the to the blackboard and urged his military service. “People have the wrong idea about our organisation” classmates to taunt him for being Father Sahak has no doubt that “Anna” is 35, married, a mother of four and a to start living in accordance with the Bible’s principles. I “In the beginning, when my wife started going to that a Jehovah’s Witness. It was only by becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses, started attended their meetings regularly. I would feel organisation, I had some reservations. I was concerned last year that Arthur managed to people generally solve a social prob- Jehovah’s Witness. Her husband, however is not. Initially suspicious of the faith, she tells God’s presence more strongly after each of these meet- with the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses were referred to as change school. On Saturday, May lem. The Witnesses don’t comment ings. I would get filled up with unimaginable happiness, a sect. I didn’t like that name, because I knew that sects are 8, he and his brother attended a rally on this. They just say:, “We extend a Hasmik Hovhannisyan about why she converted I would feel extremely grateful to Jehovah the God that those who deviate from the teaching of the Bible. where they listened to the assistant helping hand to one another”. and what her faith means to her. created me, that gave me all this, guided me in order for “I started studying that faith and their ideas in a logical preacher Frunz Arakelian’s “pub- At present, Jehovah’s Witnesses me to understand this science, to understand him. way. I met a few Witnesses that used to come to our house. lic speech” on the topic “Let’s act are not persecuted in Kapan, they “One day, I started looking through the book a witness “People have the wrong idea about our organisation. They were all polite, friendly people. I was particularly honestly in all times”. Frunz Arake- can be met in the city streets just had given me . The book was like this – a thought and Organisations that do not accept us often distort facts impressed with their patience and tolerance. lian asks, “Whom would we like to like to the representatives of other a related chapter and verse from the Bible. The book about Jehovah’s Witnesses, ascribing all possible worldly “The more I studied, the more I would get convinced that resemble with all our hearts. Cer- active religious organisations – Sev- seemed to be a guide as to where in the Bible can one find sins to us. We preach the truth, and people are afraid of the rumours about Jehovah’s Witnesses are ungrounded. tainly Father Jehovah, the thought ent Day Adventists, Adherents of answers to specific questions. There were things about the truth. We are guided by the Bible. The Bible is like The changes that had taken place in my family members of resembling Father Jehovah will Holy Saturday, Christians of Gos- the world structure, God’s purpose for us and the world. bread. Whatever we eat, we eat it with bread. The Bible is were proof of that. Happiness and peace grew stronger day make us be honest”, he says. pel Faith”. Jehovah’s Witnesses in I started reading the Bible with that book. The book our spiritual food.” by day in my home. I fell in love with my wife all over again.” A similar lecture takes place a Kapan are essentially an organisa- raised questions that I always used to wonder about, and, “I would love to become a Jehovah’s Witness myself, but few days ago in one of Shahumian tion victorious over the state, since indeed, I would find the answers to all those questions in Anna’s Husband I first need to make changes in my life. For example, I have street apartments owned by a local despite harassment, they remain the Bible. This is how I started studying their literature. “I have always been indifferent to religion and faith. It is to give up smoking, because Jehovah’s Witnesses keep their wealthy member of the organisa- resistant believers. Then, one day, I expressed a desire to participate in one of true that I have attended church every once in a while bodies clean from all kinds of impurities, including tobacco. “ tion, Haykaram Avetisian. Coin-  Mher Arshakian is a reporter for their meetings.” since I was a child, I am baptized, but, in reality, I am not “Now I am trying really hard to overcome that unhealthy cidentally, the priest of the city’s the Ayb-Fe newspaper “I finally decided to take a new look at my life and concerned with questions like that in real life. habit.” Waiting for a thaw in frosty relations Mormons: building on Gyumri’s Baptists tread a fine line in dealing with each other, and the established church strong foundations

 AGHASI ABRAHAMYAN have stepped into the quarter was  AGHASI ABRAHAMYAN provide food to the needy from American-Armenian Levon Yer- the Yerevan branch, however this THE HISTORY of the Evangelic- katian, whose son-in-law, Toros GYUMRI, Armenia’s second aid is not permanent so as not to Baptist church in Gyumri goes as Piliposian, heads the Austrian city, is home to a large Mor- encourage idleness and sloth. far back as the 1920s, when the quarter’s Evangelical Church. He mon community, numbering There are also cases when the two coexisted. Virtually identical transformed his apartment into 165 worshippers, which became church meets the medical needs in their mission (the key difference a social centre for adherents. A established during the construc- of its members. Funds are raised being that Baptists profess the dog- church is built adjacent to the tion of a new district funded by through tithes (10% of income), ma of the “conscious baptizing” ), house where 100 little children, 25 a wealthy American, John Hants- and the sick and hungry are allot- in 1922 these two churches were young boys and girls, 40-50 adult man. ted hardship payments. unified, accepting the condition of members attend a Sunday school, It was the organiser of the Hants- Tonoyan, joined by two Amer- the Baptists that only the baptised and the church also funds social man district construction work, ican missionaries, elders Okin can be members of the church. programmes.. Roy Stevens, and his wife, Carol, and Grifet – said that Christian The number of baptised members Soul hunting is not a practice in who first spread the word about the rituals are conducted in the Mor- in Shirak region is 427, plus about Evangelical churches. “We have Church of the Latter Day Saints mon Church. “We do not enter 600 children and youngsters. not knocked on any door and do in 2000 ... and their message got homes”, the missionaries said. The pastor of Gyumri Armenian Evangelical movements are proving popular throughout the country not allow it. Everyone is free in through to many citizens. “We have never been treated Evangelic-Baptist church Ruben his belief, obligation is against our Hrach Tonoyan, a 46 year old rudely but before introducing Pahlevanian says that the rela- missions in Artic, Maralik, Mar- 100 families benefiting from this creed”, Piliposian says. family textile worker, is the head ourselves we have to necessarily tions with the Armenian Apostolic mashen, Kamo, Amasiya, Harich, assistance, as well as two charity Piliposian is the President of the of the Gyumri chapter. He re- state that we are not Jehovah’s Church are normal. “We do not Pemzashen and Haykavan. canteens for 150 elderly and nu- quarter’s school council. He says calls: “It was back then that I first Witnesses”, Okin and Grifet, have contradictions in ideology, The Armenian Evangelical As- merous children’s groups. the Armenian Apostolic Church is heard about the Church of the Lat- who have identification cards at- we accept Nikian (apostolic) sym- sociation of America visited the The Reverend is unhappy with tolerant towards his church: but ad- ter Day Saints. In an arts center, tached to the chest, say. bolism, the Holy Trinity, believe country after the 1988 earthquake the absence of direct contact with mits he was once invited for talks communion meetings were held Mormons have a big problem in Jesus Christ’s resurrection and as a helping hand of Diaspora Ar- the Evangelical church of the city’s and was and warned not to preach on Sunday. We attended to find with misconceptions about their Second Advent. We accept the menian evangelical churches, to Austrian Quarter, “It is a pity, we against the cross and sacrifice. out what creed was professed by faith. They say many people are cross as a symbol of Christ’s sal- help all the needy irrespective of would be considered more Chris- “We preach for the crucified the participants. We acquired lit- not aware that polygamy has vation mission, not as an object for their creed. Pahlevanian says that tian if the churches of the same Christ, the cross without Christ has erature, and learnt about a consti- been rejected by the Church. The worship; holy offerings - as an act one of the main directions of his creed did not pay attention to the no value”, he says. tution of their own. newly converted Mormon church of goodwill, not sacrifice. If there church’s activity is the improve- small differences of purely for- This problem, as Principal of “Both the creed and the consti- members must abstain from al- is any coolness in the relations ment of relations between Chris- mal worship and cooperated more School No 40 Anahit Papoyan in- tution were to our liking, and our cohol and tobacco, and must lead with the Mother Church, this has tian churches. closely”, he says. formed us, caused certain discord family, four of us, were baptized a healthy way of life. to do with specific individuals.” “If there is sympathy, there is also The Austrian quarter of Gyumri in the school. For the present, re- on June 17, 2000. There are no obvious contacts The Gyumri Evangelic-Baptist cooperation”, the Reverend says. was built with the funds of the lations are settled and the school’s The faith’s creed – loyalty to with the Armenian Apostolic Church, was officially registered “We avoid giving any assessment Austrian government and the Ar- Armenian language teacher, Jesus, obedience with command- Church, they say, except for as far back as 1926, it was reregis- about the activity of any church”. menian community of this country, Marineh Vardanian, who is knowl- ments – are rigorously observed what they claim is “false infor- tered in 1965. Re-registration also The Armenian Evangelic-Bap- after the 1988 earthquake. By the edgable about the history of the by the baptized believers of the mation” disseminated by the occurred in 1992 and 2000 accord- tist church helps its needy country- benefactor’s demand, the quarter Armenian church and gives reli- Gyumri church (Baptism takes Church about Mormonism. In ing to Armenian law. “On Free- men, including parentless children. was populated by homeless fami- gious lessons to grades 4 and 5 , place from the age of eight.) contrast, ties with the relevant dom of Conscience and Religious Any person living abroad – Ar- lies of those who were disabled in does not express any discontent. In desparate times, Tonoyan, government bodies are quite Organisations”. They have two menian or any other – sponsors the disaster. The first of the Evan-  Aghasi Abrahamyan is editor- as head of the branch – a posi- close, certainly with the assist- church buildings, and there are a local resident. There are about gelical church loyal members to in-chief of the Kumayri weekly tion he attained in 2002 – can ance of the Yerevan branch. MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE www.media-diversity.org RELIGIOUS MINORITIES MAY, 2004 3

Amidst the devastation of the earthquake, thousands sought spiritual guidance and hope in the arms of numerous religious organisations Picture: Ruben Mangasaryan

MMEDIATELY after the earthquake read at home as well. I got indifferent to of 1988, the Hare Krishna movement everything”, he says. Idescended on the devastated Spitak S. E. and E. H. are practicing Je- region. hovah’s Witnesses and are neighbours. An Eastern faith with Hindu traditions, S. E. lost her mother in early childhood for a short time their young adherents ac- and was raised by her stepmother. She costed people in what remained of Spi- married but soon lost her husband, and tak’s streets, trying to convince them to AFTERSHOCK had to live in her father’s house where, buy expensive, beautifully bound reli- to put it mildly, a highly unpleasant at- gious books. Largely unsuccessful, they mosphere reigned and she was exposed disappeared from Spitak as suddenly as Armenia’s devastating earthquake in 1988 provided fertile to her father’s drunken violence and they appeared. abuses. She married a second time and The Head of “Collaboration for De- ground for a number of religious organisations seeking new is now bringing up her three children mocracy” NGO, Stepan Danielian, says in poverty. S.E.’s “house” is little more that the Hare Krishna movement in Ar- members. Fahrad Apujanian reports from Spitak than a dilapidated hut. When I visited her menia had its proponents as far back as “house”, the young woman was deeply in Soviet times. “Today only a few mem- ing the Armenian people’s impoverished taken. They still continue their activity remain anonymous. One, A. A., a bap- immersed in reading the “Watchtower” bers of their community stay”, Danielian social conditions for their own interests, in the region, alongside educational and tized Jehovah’s Witness, returned to the – the Witness’s journal -- while the chil- says. he insists. health programmes. There are no obsta- Armenian Apostolic Church. He recalls: dren huddled together in a corner. There After the earthquake, in Armenia as a “Sectarians are secluded from society, cles for their activity which is unimped- “Those joining this sect are mostly highly was an imprint of indifference on eve- whole and especially at the epicenter in from our Apostolic church. They are iso- ed and free. educated persons. In Armenia the center rything. the Spitak region, any number of social, lated, become followers of suspect ide- But the Armenian Apostolic Church is in Yerevan. I was baptized there. I was The other two Witnesses in the region mental, emotional and spiritual fervent ology. They destroy the family, disrupt dressed in long white clothes and plunged share S. E.’s tragic story. E. H. is beauti- activities were launched boosting revival the unity of Christ’s community. They in the water seized by the hair. It was very ful and charming. Like her neighbour S. of spiritual life. Combined with the prob- disorient the people about the national interesting.” E., she, too, found herself in an extraor- lems of nascent independence, the region church, rise against the state and authori- “Your brain seems to be in Adherents may attend sermons for dinary situation: her husband was con- became a fertile ground for various reli- ties. They do not celebrate any of church years, and read all the distributed litera- victed of murder and imprisoned. gious groups. or state holidays. They do not participate a sort of shackle, and you ture, but can still fail to reach the level of L. P. is a divorced mother of two. Her Armenia at the time faced a spiritual in rituals, have no national mentality, are “baptized”, A.A. says. You need to read brother committed suicide under vague vacuum. For more than 70 years, the self-interested. No national value inter- start thinking only about a lot: there is practically no time left for circumstances. One of her children fell in people, brought up in the spirit of athe- ests them”, Father Avetik states. private life, and you forget your circle of with drug addicts, and has been missing ism, were deprived of spiritual commu- Father Soghomonian isn’t critical friends and your relatives, according to for more than 10 years. nication -- there was not a single active of all these movements: the Armenian one thing - salvation” A. A. Father Avetik claims that adherents church in the whole Spitak region. After Evangelists, he says, represent a Chris- “Your brain seems to be in a sort of of what he views as sects are suffering the fall of Communism, therefore, both tian protestant movement that consider shackle, and you start thinking only about a form of mental disorder. “They do not the Armenian Apostolic Church and other themselves a branch of the mother views the other religious movements as one thing - salvation that is possible only have leaders from the past, they act them- religious movements arrived on the scene church. Starting from 1988, they took sects and considers them dangerous to through the way mentioned by them. It selves as preachers of the truth, and do not simultaneously. under their control a large number of the the country. The Church qualifies the was very depressing. And in the course of have eyewitnesses’ evidence that would In Spitak, the consequences of human population. Alongside spiritual activity, Jehovah’s Witnesses as the most danger- five years I have not found the answers to pass on the truth to them. There is logi- and material losses were mixed together; they implemented charity programmes. ous, having penetrated Armenia already the questions troubling my soul, my soul cal blindness in all of this, they do every- hopelessness, emotional breakdown, sor- Through their investments, a school was in 1975. did not find peace, it grew even more thing blindly. They consider themselves row and mourning became the defining built in Spitak, a children’s dental center There are only three baptized Je- restless. Later starting from 1998, I did the saved and the rest -- strayed. They do values of human existence. The grief opened and repair works were under- hovah’s Witnesses in Spitak. All wish to not attend the sect for three years, did not not respect the Church, the cross, priests, over lost relatives made people vulnera- traditions, the past, the tombs”, he says. ble to the overtures of many movements: The head of Spitak municipality, Vahe Armenian Evangelists, Hare Krishnas, Ghochikian, says that everyone is free Pentecostals, Charismatics, Seventh Day to choose any religious belief. “But that Adventists, the New Brotherhood Church PAST TENSE: EXPERIENCES IN THE SOVIET UNION does not mean however that we protect and Jehovah’s Witnesses were as active “The Pentecostal movement has existed in the Spitak region This was viewed as a genuine emergency in those times. the teachings diverted from the true reli- in the region as the Armenian Apostolic since Soviet times. In the mid-1980s I was a member of the This story is 20 years’ old, but today I come across many group gion. We have to fight not against the sect Church. members but the teachings of the sects”, The pastor of Spitak Saint Resurrection Spitak regional committee of the communist party and coordi- members who are “Pentecostals with a long record”. he says. Church, Father Avetik Soghomonian, is nated antireligious activity or, as it was called at the time, “was There is nothing strange or extraordinary about them, they are Sixteen years have passed since the still aggrieved over this situation. With- engaged in atheist education of the proletariat”. just ordinary people with daily concerns. They are sometimes earthquake. Spitak still lives with its out true apostolic precepts, he insists, On the suggestion of the KGB, I participated in “a raid’ on a visited by the preachers from Vanadzor, Gyumri, Alaverdi. The problems, but as it rebuilds it looks to- people live by a wrong creed; a way of wards a better future. life alien to the Armenian people. They group at the moment of their conducting a church ritual -- they number of adherents within the Pentecostal movement sur-  Fahrad Apujanian is the editor-in- fell a victim to the foreign sponsors us- were simply reading the “Gospel” in a choir. passes 2000.” Fahrad Apujanian chief of “Lusardzak” newspaper MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE 4 MAY, 2004 RELIGIOUS MINORITIES www.media-diversity.org OTHER WORLDS The mountains are home to two very different faiths that have found refuge and acceptance away from society at large. Hamlet Khachatrian profiles the Yezidis, while Manvel Mikoyan spent time with the Molokans

THE BIGGEST minority group in Arme- Armenians. We have survived massacres, nia, the Yezidi Kurds, live in the remote and travelled a long way. Only in Armenia mountains of Aragatsotn, north-west of have we felt ourselves to be a nation. We Making their homes in the mountains, Yezidis make up Armenia’s largest ethnic minority. Picture: Ruben Mangasaryan Yerevan. had our culture and alphabet, our schools”, They lead a hard life – shepherding is Dr Abasian says. Armenians. As of 1989 – the most recent life and in education system is in the past, Tsaghkahovit, Norayr Hakobian, says: the dominant work – and, despite religious Mraz Bsharian, the head of Gyalto Yez- reliable figures -- just 1.3% of Yezidis had but no substitution has been developed yet. “While there are no Yezidis in our com- differences, have long been accepted by idi community in Talin, says: “History is been through higher education, and 20% This is also a point of concern for Yezidis. munity, we have friendly relations with the the Armenian community at large. not forgotten and never will be. No Yezidi of them had no secondary education. The And we are concerned as well.” neighbouring Yezidi communities.” The immigration of Yezidis started in the can forget the losses we suffered during situation has since deteriorated, particu- “Today the Yezidi minority does not “We have always been together, in joy first half of 19th century. The second, the the Armenian Genocide. Turks massacred larly for the girls who get married at a very have the state support”, says Rostam Aloy- or in sorrow, have always been support- biggest inflow, occurred in 1915-20, after us, too, because we are not Muslims. And early age (13-14). an, the director of the Alagyaz secondary ing each other. Considering Armenia to be the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Some but for Armenian commander Andranik, “I am greatly concerned because of the school in the Aragats area. In the absence their homeland, they do their utmost for of their villages are populated by Yezidis Yezidi commander Jangir Aga and others, the stability and development of country. only, but there are also villages with mixed there would be just one Armenian and one As always, during the Artsakh War, they population. Yezidi in the museum only.” were by our side, in the same trench. Many Their national identity is a complex The Yezidi communities are structured ‘We have survived massacres, and travelled a long way. of them died”, Hakobian says. question, not yet answered to any satisfac- along religious and clan lines. Each com- “Years have passed, but all the Yezidis tion. Within Armenia, the Yezidis stress a munity is governed by a sheikh: this “post” Only in Armenia have we felt ourselves to be a nation’ and even Armenians have vivid memo- different ethnic identity from Kurds as a is inherited. The authority of the sheikh is ries of the [early 20th Century] Yezidi whole, based on their idiosyncratic faith, recognised by all. Their only place of pil- leader Usub Bek”, the head of the Shami- which incorporates elements of sun-wor- grimage is the tomb of the founder of Yezidi fact that Armenia seems to have forgotten of this support very complicated processes ram community (Ashtarak region), Mraz ship, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. Out- ideology, Prophet Sheikh Adi, in the village the minorities after the independence”, says evolve that do give grounds for anxiety. Usubian says. He devoted his life to the side Armenia, many Yezidis claim Kurdish of Lalesh, in the Mosul region of Iraq. Their the head of Shenavan village (Aparan area) How can you not be concerned, when our establishment of the Armenian state, and identity. sacred books, “Revelation” and “the Black Andranik Karapetian. “It is understandable ethnic identity is not recorded in the new was a member of the Military Council of However, Thar Abasian, the former di- Book”, espouse Yezidi beliefs on nature, that the authorities today are more preoc- Armenian passports? When authorities up the First Armenian Republic. rector of Avtona village school in Talin, the creation of the world, the animal world, cupied with the economy, the Karabakh to this day refrain from giving a practical Since early 1990s for economic reasons who has a doctorate in history, insists daily life, marriage and divine eternity. Conflict, but would the involvement of the solution to the issue of Yezidi-Kurdish many Yezidis left Armenia. However, Yez- Yezidis and Kurds are different peoples. Despite their acceptance and relations main minority, the Yezidis, in the political separation, that is, there has been no defini- idis believe the emigration is temporary: “It is a fact that we are completely un- with the Armenian community, Yezidis’ decision-making do any harm? It is true the tion given as to whether the two are differ- they have no other motherland but Armenia. related to Kurds. We, Yezidis, are an day to day life is a world apart. Their level Soviet policy of involving minorities and ent groups or not?”  Hamlet Khachatrian is the editor-in- Aryan nation and have always lived with of education is much lower than that of ensuring their participation in the public The head of Armenian community of chief of Talini Ashkhar newspaper

way of life. “We do not sell any- thing, we hardly meet our daily Molokans: a glimpse needs. There are eight in the family – five brothers and three sisters. All of us live by hard labour.” inside a closed society In Lermontovo and Fioletovo, no TV antennas are visible. Molokans, Yakov Ivanovich Shubin, 76, con- characterized by religious ecstasy, especially prigun-maximists, are siders Armenia his homeland. We jumping, flying, trembling, etc, es- prohibited from watching TV or talk in his courtyard – to be invited chatologists (doommongers who listening to the radio. inside a Molokan home is highly awaited the end of the world) and “TV is secretly watched in young unusual – sitting on mats brought chiliasts, who believed in the 1,000 families”, says Fioletovo’s second- from the cattle-shed. “If my grand- years of God’s kingdom on Earth. ary school principal, Vanadzor resi- fathers thought this way, why In Soviet times, the Molokans dent Valeri Mirzabekian, who has should I have a different view? We did not accept their children joining worked in the village for 30 years. have lived here for so many years the Communist Party youth move- Of 230 school children, three without even a single case of eth- ments. They viewed the Pioneer tie are Armenians. The building is nic, religious discrimination.” as a “red snake” and banned their repaired and in good condition. Molokans are a spiritual Chris- children from wearing it. “The children do quite well in the tian sect that emerged in Rus- The Lermontovo community first three grades”, Mirzabekian sia in the early 18th century. The numbers 960 residents, of which said, “After becoming literate they name Molokan – from the Russian 770 are Molokans, 140 are Arme- attend school only intermittently moloko for milk – derives from nian and 50 are Yezidi. The Head until the eighth grade. This year’s their belief in the Gospel “spiritual of the community, Edik Chakha- ninth grade has no pupils, and there milk” – what they see as the true lian, views reconstruction of the Yakov Ivanovich Shubin: ‘Armenia is my homeland’ Picture: Emil Yavrian are only five in the tenth grade. The teaching of Jesus – as well as their village’s dilapidated school as top seniors are frequently absent also custom of drinking milk on fast priority. He explained that one of the and smoking are prohibited by toyanniye leader, Ivan Ivanovich during the farming season, helping days. They have a different inter- The population here is engaged core differences from the Russian Molokans). Tanaev, 77. It was pouring with their parents. The Armenian lan- pretation of the Bible, theology, in farming and cattle breeding. Orthodox Church is over holidays “Molokans became spoilt: there rain, and he invited us indoors. He guage, strange as it may seem, is a and the commandments. They grow cabbage, turnip, potato celebrated by the Orthodox Church are a lot of drunkards, people are explained the difference between foreign language, like English, to Exiled from Russia for their dif- and carrot. In the past they export- but not mentioned in the Bible. He corrupted. Some have been ban- his order and the priguns, and with Molokans. The boys study it in the ferences with the Orthodox Church, ed pickled vegetables to Russia, enumerated the holidays accept- ished from our sect”. the Orthodox Church. military service, but the girls do not the first Molokan groups settled in Ukraine and Central Asia, but at able to them – including Christmas Shubin has six children (three “We believe in the living and even have time for thinking of it.” Armenia’s Sevan district in 1836 present their market is limited to and Easter. Every Saturday sect sons and three daughters). He only saviour Jesus Christ: we are The leader of Gugark Diocese during the rule of Tsar Nikolai I. Armenia. members are required to bathe in notes: “My elder son is a normal far from the cult of iron crosses of the Armenian Apostolic Church, They later established the Fio- According to Chakhalian, the order to participate in religious person, but the younger one is a and the Church”, he said. “At the Bishop Sepuh Chuljian, is toler- letovo settlement in the Lori region Molokans pay all their taxes and gatherings on Sunday. drunkard, he does not let me live same time, we cannot prohibit our ant, even respectful, towards the in 1842, entered Tashir in 1846 and the young men carry out their mili- But the reclusive Molokans in peace. I built a house on the out- believers from visiting church. But Molokans. They are pious, mod- Lermontovo in 1847. They number tary service. cannot completely cut off modern skirts of the village, married him young people seldom attend our est and hard-working. They keep about 5,000 in Armenia. Shubin is the leader of the com- influences. Shubin is upset about off, he had four children. He started gatherings”. themselves to themselves and, in Molokanism was a religious munity’s 50-strong priguns – an- some young Molokans who marry drinking, divorced his wife. Now In the village of Fioletovo, the contrast to the evangelical faiths means of protest against slavery and other 100 are priguns-maximists, outside the community (including my son lives with us. What can I only community that is almost ex- emerging in Armenia, they do not the Church. Social tensions gave (an even more secluded sect, who marrying Armenians), and is con- do? I have to be tolerant; I cannot clusively Molokan, Ivan Zadorkin, try to take on new converts. birth to many unorthodox practices refused to speak to us) while the cerned about alcoholism and other call the police, can I?” 30, returns from his fields. He is  Manvel Mikoyan is the editor-in- – priguns – mystical ecstatic cults rest are postoyanniye. social problems (drinking alcohol We visited the house of the pos- not very satisfied with the Molokan chief of Loru Marz