Volume 1, Issue 16 Diocese of the Armenian Church of the United Kingdom and Ireland 27 November 2015 Armenian Church News Ecumenical Prayers at St. Yeghiche Church for the victims of the Paris Terrorist Attacks After the Sunday Divine Liturgy on 22nd November, a prayer service was held at St. Yeghiche Armenian Church in solidarity with the French people. The prayer service was organised In this issue: jointly by the Diocese of the Armenian Church and Armenian Prayer Service for the Victims of the Paris Attacks Community Council. During the Memorial Service participants Lecture on St. Gregory of prayed for the victims of the Narek Sherrington, representing His recent attacks in Paris, as well as Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Historic Photography those in Beirut, Baghdad, and Archbishop of Westminster, and His Exhibition at the Armenian Sharm el-Sheikh. The incense- Genocide Museum Grace Bishop Mor Athanasius filled church was almost full. Touma Dakkama, Primate of the Article about Armenian Attending this mournful event Syriac Orthodox Church, also made Genocide in WalesOnline were hierarchs from the Syriac speeches in solidarity with the and Coptic Orthodox as well as Manchester Parish: New French People. His Grace Bishop Deacon’s Training Catholic Churches. Angaelos, preached on how we can Programme deal with evil and how we After the introduction speech by Cardiff Parish: Pilgrimage to overcome it only by the grace of St. Davids Harry Hagopian, in English as well God. At the end of the service the as French - as a sign of respect for Hamazkayin Celebrates 25 hierarchs blessed the congregation. the French faithful present during Years There was a reception after the the prayer - he recited in English service. prayers written by St. Francis of Diocese of the Armenian Church of the United Assisi and by Brother Roger of the Kingdom and the Republic We quote here an extract from of Ireland Taizé Community. His Grace Bishop Hovakim’s speech: “The Bishop Hovakim addressed the His Grace Bishop Hovakim apostle Paul in his letter to the Manukyan, Primate congregation inviting them to Hebrews, said: ‘Remember those observe a one-minute silence Diocesan Office earlier days after you had received Tel. 0208 127 8364 respecting the memory of the primatesoffice@ the light, when you endured a great armenianchurch.co.uk victims. His Grace Bishop John Page 2 Armenian Church News conflict full of suffering.’ Speaking both on the borders of Armenia on behalf of my Church and and also in the Middle East, community I would like to convey particularly in Syria and Iraq my deepest condolences to the where we have large communities. French people. The Armenians and the faithful of the Armenian I would like to state that terrorism Church deeply feel the sorrow that cannot be justified in any way. It is the French people are experiencing not an act against any nation or a at this time. The Armenian nation particular group of people; it is an shares in their pain for many act against God and God’s plans for reasons. For Armenian people have His beautiful creation. During the endured a great conflict full of last decades Christian Churches suffering, as the apostle Paul said. and inter-religious meetings have We know the price that we paid to always called upon people for have peace. Firstly, we have peaceful co-existence, dialogue historical closeness to the French and cooperation: “for God is not a people and feel deep gratitude God of disorder but of peace’’ (1 towards the French for the last 100 Cor. 14:33). However, this call years, because of their hospitality doesn’t often echo in the hearts towards the survivors of the and minds of people. Some Armenian Genocide. The largest deliberately distort the name of Armenian European diaspora God, as you cannot kill in the community is in France. The name of God. Unfortunately, second reason is the daily tragedy these incidents have become a part that our people experience. We try of our daily lives. The attack in to live in peace, but every day we Lebanon and the explosion of a feel the terrorist threat that Russian airplane in Sinai are just snatches away our children’s lives two examples. People in the Page 3 Armenian Church News Middle East have been the victims of terrorism for almost four years. When we speak about this, we have to bear in mind that this didn’t just happen overnight and the reasons for the situation today are complex. I believe that some of the causes of extremism are based predominantly on the value system that we provide for our people. It is also closely related to the way that people address the questions of the past. When we see the manner in which ISIS threatens innocent civilians, I am reminded of the stories told by my great- grandmother, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. We have to commit ourselves to the culture of peace, which starts in our daily lives. We do this by being at peace with ourselves, at peace with others and at peace with creation…’’ Lecture on St. Gregory of Narek Annual Lecture of the St. John Chrysostom Society given by Bishop Hovakim ‘St. Gregory of Narek: Doctor of the Anglican Chaplain in Istanbul. the Universal Church, with After the welcoming remarks of Rev. Canonised Armenian martyrs, Fr. Mark Woodruff, Vice Chairman of Communion of Saints and the the Society, Bishop Hovakim, the Ecumenism of Blood’ was the topic main speaker of the day, presented of the annual lecture of the St. the life and works of St. Gregory of John Chrysostom Society, held on Narek and spoke about the act of the 24th November on the occasion of Catholic Church proclaiming the the 20th anniversary of the Armenian theologian, mystic and Apostolic letter “Orientale poet as a “doctor of the Universal Lumen,” at the Ukrainian Catholic Church.’’ His Grace presented the Cathedral. The meeting was question from the ecumenical attended by more than 40 lay and perspective and discussed historical ordained people. At the beginning developments of the bi-lateral of the presentation the Primate relations between the Armenian and was greeted by the President of Catholic Churches. At the end of his the Society, the Very Revd. John presentation the Primate spoke about Salter. Father John also spoke the centennial of the Armenian about the Armenians in the UK Genocide. He presented the history of and recounted the story of the Genocide and spoke about the Calouste Gulbenkian and how this efforts of Church leaders and the prominent Armenian was rescued ecumenism of blood, which is stressed in 1915 by Canon John Douglas, nowadays by Pope Francis. At the end PagePage 44 ArmenianArmenian ChurchChurch NewsNews of the lecture there was a Q&A session about the Armenian Church, the Genocide and its relation to the present situation in the Middle East. Our legacy and history Daylight after a Century Historic Photography Exhibition at the Armenian Genocide Museum, Yerevan th On 12 November, the Djerdjian Collection was exhibited at the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute (AGMI) in Yerevan together with other exhibits of Ottoman Armenian Photographers. Dr. Hayk Demoyan, the Director of AGMI, made the opening remarks about the exhibition to a few hundred visitors and several TV, radio and print media journalists and introduced George th Jerjian, who made a five-minute speech. The exhibition will run until 5 December 2015. Dr. George Djerdjian (1870-1947), grandfather of the writer, took 240 photographs of his hometown of Arabkir and his college town of Erzurum between 1900 and 1907, of which only about 100 survive. These photographs capture the way of life of a people that within a decade would become extinct in Anatolia, their homeland for over 3,000 years. The photographs are varied and have been arranged under separate headings such as water, land, people, churches, schools, economic life, social life, and political life. For over a century, these photographs were stored in a grey steel box, which migrated from Arabkir to Alexandria, Egypt, where it stayed for almost 50 years. Then it moved with descendants to Khartoum, Sudan, where it stayed for 20 years, then onto London, England for 30 years, and then to Washington DC for about 10 years. Now this collection of photographs has finally been exposed to daylight after a century of darkness. (George Jerjian) To watch the video material, please, visit http://georgejerjian.com/ or watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKC3PPrhujU Page 5 Armenian Church News The genocide that took place 100 years ago and has been airbrushed from history By Martin Shipton (published in Wales Online on 24th April 2015) Perhaps it’s not so strange that the Turkish Government is so reluctant to describe what happened on its territory 100 years ago as genocide. After all, there remain plenty of people who to this day deny the Jewish Holocaust during World War Two, despite the overwhelming evidence that it happened. And it’s no surprise that Hitler himself said weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” In his new book – the second he has written about Armenia – Canon Patrick Thomas, the Vicar of Carmarthen, clearly sets out the facts of what happened to the Armenian community in Turkey in 1915. Earlier this month Pope Francis acknowledged the killing of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, but despite promising to do so during his presidency, Barack Obama will not do so for fear up upsetting Turkey at a time of continuing tension in the Middle East.