DOCSLIB.ORG

Rich Faith of an Ancient Culture Waves of Immigration Build a Church Armenia Sits at the Intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rich Faith of an Ancient Culture Waves of Immigration Build a Church Armenia Sits at the Intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East Rich Faith of an Ancient Culture Waves of Immigration Build a Church Armenia sits at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In 301 AD, it was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion. Christianity was suppressed in Armenia for more than 600 years under the Ottoman authority. More recently, Armenia gained its sovereignty after the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. “Being Christian kept us Armenian,” Bishop Mouradian says. Since the faith was widely adopted early in the modern history of Armenia it became deeply rooted in cultural identity. Bishop Mouradian Armenian Catholics began arriving in the celebrates Mass at By Beth Griffin United States in the late nineteenth century, Our Lady of Nareg following the first in a heart-breaking series Parish on Easter. eing Armenian and being of massacres and genocides in their home- Christian are like two wings of land. They settled on the East Coast and “Bthe same bird. The bird can’t asked Patriarch Stepan-Bedros X Azarian to fly with only one wing,” says Bishop Mikael send a priest from Armenia to serve them. Antoine Mouradian, leader of the Armenian Bishop Mouradian says the first wave of Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg. Armenian immigrants concluded with sur- “My first priority is to keep my people in the vivors of the 1915 genocide that killed more Catholic faith with the growing challenges in than 1.5 million people. A second wave of the United States and Canada. Second is to immigrants came after the Second World War, keep them as Armenians, because for us, to and the most recent wave began after imper- be Christian and to be Armenian is one thing. iled minority Christians fled civil wars in the We can’t imagine an Armenian who is not 1970s in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Christian,” he says. The Christian faith is inex- and Iran. Because of the Armenian diaspora, tricably intertwined with Armenian culture and today’s Armenian Catholic immigrants gener- national identity because Armenia has been a ally arrive in North America after a generation Christian country for more than 1,700 years. or two in the Middle East. As a result, new- Bishop Mouradian’s diocese serves the entire comers may speak Arabic, French, English, Armenian Catholic population of 45,000 in and/or Armenian. the two countries. It receives grant support The Armenian Catholic Church is one of from Catholic Home Missions. twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches that …continued on page 2 WINTER 2017 A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM MISSION AMERICA …continued from page 1 FROM THE non-Catholic Armenian Christians to attend services. “Whoever comes is welcome. We bring the Good News to CHAIRMAN everybody, but we do not proselytize Dear Brothers and other denominations; we just assist with Sisters in Christ, their spiritual needs,” he explains. I recently moved to Alaska to serve Huge Diocese, Small Staff, as archbishop of Dynamic Community Anchorage. Moving Third-graders from the Armenian Sisters Academy gather with their teachers after Bishop Mouradian is the only full-time so far from the mainland was an celebrating their First Holy Communion. employee of the eparchy. From his base adjustment, especially regarding the enjoy the same dignity, rights, and obli- in Glendale, he travels by plane, train, change in the amount of daylight. gations as the Latin Church and is in and automobile to minister to his peo- Throughout winter, our daylight is full communion with the Holy Father. short here, as brief as 6 hours! The ple spread across eight million square Eastern Catholic Churches have dis- night is very long. miles. His predecessor was ill for seven tinctive liturgical and legal systems that years before he retired. Because of this, For many people, winter can be reflect the national or ethnic character some of the parishioners had never hard. The lack of sunlight and the of their region of origin. For example, met an Armenian Catholic bishop colder weather can remind us of the Armenian Catholic liturgy is cele- before Bishop Mouradian was installed the darkness in our world. But just brated in the Old Armenian language. in 2011 and toured his new diocese. as the season of winter turns to St. John Paul II created the Bishop Mouradian, a Lebanese hopeful spring, we know that the Armenian Catholic Exarchate in 1981 native, recalls, “I had never been to the gloom of our world is transformed to organize the parishes under a single United States and my English wasn’t by Christ. geographic diocese. The eparchy was too good. Everything was new!” established in 2005 as the number of In this issue, you will read about our He was determined to establish a parishioners grew. Eparchies in the Armenian Catholic brothers and central office for the diocese, closest to Eastern Churches are akin to dioceses sisters. They have darkness in their the largest number of parishioners, and in the Latin Church. The Eparchy of past and continue to face chal- to make personal contact with each par- Our Lady of Nareg is headquartered lenges, but the light of Christ shines ish in the diocese. The headquarters was in Glendale, California. Its eight par- brightly in their diocese. Take a look relocated from New York to California. ishes and three missions are located in in this issue at how they strengthen While his small cadre of diocesan California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, their faith and share the bright light clergy met once a year, the bishop Massachusetts, Michigan, Quebec, of hope. found that parishioners did not see and Ontario. The largest parish is in For the Armenian Catholic Eparchy themselves as part of a larger church Glendale, with 1,800 families. The of Our Lady of Nareg, and for so community. He extended membership smallest is in Detroit and the fastest many dioceses in the United States, in his advisory council, the Armenian growing is in Montreal, where Syrian sharing this hope is possible because Catholic General Association, to immigrants arrive in large numbers. of your support to the Catholic representative lay leaders from each Armenian Catholics are “a minority Home Missions Appeal. Your gen- parish. Their interactions at annual within a minority,” according to Bishop erosity means so much. summer meetings inspired programs Mouradian. “We are all part of the and widespread communication efforts. Thank you for your support! Let us Armenian nation, but we’re spread “The laity was astonished to find there continue to pray for one another as all over the world because of the were other active Armenian Catholic we share the light of Christ. genocides,” he says. “Armenians are a communities,” Bishop Mouradian says. minority in every country where they In the Heart of Christ, Young adult groups throughout are; Catholics are about 10 percent of the diocese developed a website and all Armenians, so we are a minority email database and are now connected among minorities.” through a Facebook page. Catholic Because of their small numbers and Home Missions supports the epar- the close connection among Armenian chy’s youth and young adult ministry, Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne, DD, STL Christians, Bishop Mouradian says religious education, evangelization, and Archbishop of Anchorage Armenian Catholic parishes welcome PAGE 2 | WINTER 2017 lay ministry training programs. finding vocations in the United States DID YOU KNOW? Local parishes have liturgy, devotions, and responds with faith. “Do you • The Armenian Catholic Eparchy sacramental preparation, religious believe in miracles? The Lord said, of Our Lady of Nareg covers instruction, and youth and social out- ‘Ask and you will be given.’ I prayed 8,000,000 square miles and reach. They concentrate on caring for for vocations and I ask at each parish the spiritual and material needs of the I visit.” encompasses all of the United people in their community. The diocese Seminarians study at the Armenian States and Canada. focuses its ministries on families and Pontifical College in Rome, where the • The eparchy has eight parishes tries to tailor them to reflect the rich bishop was formerly the rector. The and three missions, served by ten and diverse background of its mem- eparchy uses Catholic Home Missions active priests, two permanent bers. “We’ve had five generations since funds to support its seminarians. deacons, and nine women the 1915 genocide and some groups The Armenian Catholic Church is religious. It operates four have been here longer than others. It’s an expression of the universality of the elementary schools and one a challenge to understand and respond Catholic Church, Bishop Mouradian high school. to the different places and situations says. “There is both unity and diversity people have experienced,” Bishop in the Church. When Roman Catholics • Worldwide, there are Mouradian says. imagine the Middle East, they may approximately 800,000 “At St. Gregory the Illuminator think all Arabs are Muslim, which is not Armenian Catholics. The Cathedral, for example, we celebrate the case. Those who don’t have contact Armenian Catholic Eparchy of the liturgy in classical Armenian, but with Armenian Catholics don’t know Our Lady of Nareg includes use Modern Armenian and English we exist.” 45,000 parishioners. in an instructive dialogue within the “We bring the Word of God to the service,” he explains. faithful, but in an Armenian way,” • Our Lady of Nareg is a portrait he says. of the Blessed Mother believed Catholic Home Missions supports to have been touched to her the efforts of the Armenian Catholic face. The portrait was brought Church to keep its people close to to Armenia by the Apostle the intertwined faith and culture.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Holy See
    The Holy See ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER TO HIS BEATITUDE NERSES BEDROS XIX PATRIARCH OF CILICIA OF THE ARMENIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Monday 13 December 1999 Your Beatitude, Dear Bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church, Brothers and Sisters! 1. With heartfelt affection I welcome you to this nurturing city, sanctified by the blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the See of that Bishop who is himself built upon the rock which is the Church's foundation and whose mandate is to confirm his brethren in the faith. A special welcome in the holy kiss of brotherhood to you, venerable Brother Nerses Bedros XIX. A few days after your election as Patriarch of Cilicia for Armenian Catholics, after receiving ecclesiastical communion from me, you have come here as a joyful sign and expression of your communion and that of your Church with the Successor of Peter. This event celebrates the goodness of the Lord who has so loved us that he has granted us to share fully in the same faith. We have shown this gratitude in the highest and most solemn way given to Christians: by concelebrating the same Eucharist and exchanging the holy gifts of the Body and Blood of the Lord, our common hope. I am particularly grateful for your affectionate words to me. As you did in your first Pastoral Letter, in your address today you also cited the holy Armenian doctor Nerses the Gracious, whose name you have taken as you accept your new responsibility as father and head of the Armenian Catholic Church, together with the name of Peter which, in accordance with a beautiful and significant tradition of love for this Apostolic See, is taken by all Armenian Catholic Patriarchs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Armenian Genocide
    The Armenian Genocide During World War I, the Ottoman Empire carried out what most international experts and historians have concluded was one of the largest genocides in the world's history, slaughtering huge portions of its minority Armenian population. In all, over 1 million Armenians were put to death. To this day, Turkey denies the genocidal intent of these mass murders. My sense is that Armenians are suffering from what I would call incomplete mourning, and they can't complete that mourning process until their tragedy, their wounds are recognized by the descendants of the people who perpetrated it. People want to know what really happened. We are fed up with all these stories-- denial stories, and propaganda, and so on. Really the new generation want to know what happened 1915. How is it possible for a massacre of such epic proportions to take place? Why did it happen? And why has it remained one of the greatest untold stories of the 20th century? This film is made possible by contributions from John and Judy Bedrosian, the Avenessians Family Foundation, the Lincy Foundation, the Manoogian Simone Foundation, and the following. And others. A complete list is available from PBS. The Armenians. There are between six and seven million alive today, and less than half live in the Republic of Armenia, a small country south of Georgia and north of Iran. The rest live around the world in countries such as the US, Russia, France, Lebanon, and Syria. They're an ancient people who originally came from Anatolia some 2,500 years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Are Christians in the Middle East?
    Who Are Christians in the Middle East? Seven Churches, each bearing a great and ancient history with Patriarch, who chose as his patriarchal seat the monastery at unique liturgical traditions and culture, comprise the Catho- Bzommar, Lebanon. After a brief relocation to Constantinople, lic Church in the Middle East. Each of these Churches is in the Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics returned his seat full communion with Rome, but six with an Eastern tradition to Bzommar, with his residence and offices in Beirut, Lebanon. are sui iuris, or self-governing, and have their own Patriarchs. The Chaldean Catholic Church has almost 500,000 mem- All these Churches are Arabic-speaking and immersed in Ar- bers, with about 60 percent residing in the Middle East. The abic culture. Chaldeans are historically concentrated in Iraq as they came The Maronite Catholic Church is the largest of the East- from the Assyrian Church of the East. In 1552, a group of As- ern Catholic Churches in the Middle East at around 3 million syrian bishops decided to seek union with Rome. Although members. It has a strong presence in Lebanon, with smaller Pope Julius III proclaimed Patriarch Simon VIII Patriarch “of communities in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, and the Holy Land. the Chaldeans,” pro- and anti-Catholic parties struggled with- However, slightly over half its members have emigrated from in the Assyrian Church of the East until 1830, when another the Middle East to countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Aus- Chaldean Patriarch was appointed. The Patriarch of Babylon of tralia, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cost of Memorializing: Analyzing Armenian Genocide Memorials and Commemorations in the Republic of Armenia and in the Diaspora
    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR HISTORY, CULTURE AND MODERNITY www.history-culture-modernity.org Published by: Uopen Journals Copyright: © The Author(s). Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence eISSN: 2213-0624 The Cost of Memorializing: Analyzing Armenian Genocide Memorials and Commemorations in the Republic of Armenia and in the Diaspora Sabrina Papazian HCM 7: 55–86 DOI: 10.18352/hcm.534 Abstract In April of 1965 thousands of Armenians gathered in Yerevan and Los Angeles, demanding global recognition of and remembrance for the Armenian Genocide after fifty years of silence. Since then, over 200 memorials have been built around the world commemorating the vic- tims of the Genocide and have been the centre of hundreds of marches, vigils and commemorative events. This article analyzes the visual forms and semiotic natures of three Armenian Genocide memorials in Armenia, France and the United States and the commemoration prac- tices that surround them to compare and contrast how the Genocide is being memorialized in different Armenian communities. In doing so, this article questions the long-term effects commemorations have on an overall transnational Armenian community. Ultimately, it appears that calls for Armenian Genocide recognition unwittingly categorize the global Armenian community as eternal victims, impeding the develop- ment of both the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. Keywords: Armenian Genocide, commemoration, cultural heritage, diaspora, identity, memorials HCM 2019, VOL. 7 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/202155 12:33:22PM via free access PAPAZIAN Introduction On 24 April 2015, the hundredth anniversary of the commencement of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians around the world collectively mourned for and remembered their ancestors who had lost their lives in the massacres and deportations of 1915.1 These commemorations took place in many forms, including marches, candlelight vigils, ceremo- nial speeches and cultural performances.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnic Return of Armenian Americans: Per- Spectives
    Karolina Pawłowska: Ethnic return of Armenian Americans: Perspectives Ethnic return of Armenian Americans: Per- spectives Karolina Pawłowska University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan, [email protected] Abstract The field research conducted among the very few Armenian Americans who have moved to Armenia showed that the phenomena of migration of the diaspora of Armenians to Armenia holds great potential both as a theoretical issue within migration studies and potentially a social phenomenon, as Armenian Americans differ from other migrants and expats in Armenia, because they carry stereotyped pre-images of that land that influence their expectations toward their future lives there. Field research conducted in Armenia in 2012 shows that the disillusionment that repatriation brings causes internal tensions and identity crises, eventually forcing migrants to redefine their role in Armenia in the frame- work of their contribution to the development of their homeland, often isolating them from local Armenians through diaspora practices and maintaining the symbolic boundary between these two groups of Armenians in Armenia. KEYWORDS: diaspora, ethnic return, symbolic boundary, boundary maintenance, so- journers Introduction Both diaspora and specifically the Armenian diaspora are topics well explored in litera- ture (Cohen 2008; Dufoix 2008; Bauböck & Faist 2010; Tölölyan 2012). However, the migration of Armenians from the diaspora to Armenia is not a popular topic among re- searchers and the diaspora of Armenians themselves. The number
    [Show full text]
  • The Armenians
    THE ARMENIANS By C.F. DIXON-JOHNSON “Whosoever does wrong to a Christian or a Jew shall find me his accuser on the day of judgment.” (EL KORAN) Printed and Published by GEO TOULMIN & SONS, LTD. Northgate, Blackburn. 1916 Preface The following pages were first read as a paper before the “Société d’Etudes Ethnographiques.” They have since been amplified and are now being published at the request of a number of friends, who believe that the public should have an opportunity of judging whether or not “the Armenian Question” has another side than that which has been recently so assiduously promulgated throughout the Western World. Though the championship of Greek, Bulgarian and other similar “Christian, civilized methods of fighting,” as contrasted with “Moslem atrocities” in the Balkans and Asia Minor, has been so strenuously undertaken by Lord Bryce and others, the more recent developments in the Near East may perhaps already have opened the eyes of a great many thinking people to the realization that, in sacrificing the traditional friendship of the Turk to all this more or less sectarian clamor, British diplomacy has really done nothing better than to exchange the solid and advantageous reality for a most elusive and unreliable, if not positively dangerous, set of shadows. It seems illogical that the same party which recalled the officials (and among them our present War Minister) appointed by Lord Beaconsfield to assist the Turkish Government in reforming their administration and collecting the revenue in Asia Minor, and which on the advent of the Young Turks refused to lend British Administrators to whom ample and plenary powers were assured, should now, in its eagerness to vilify the Turk, lose sight of their own mistakes which have led in the main to the conditions of which it complains, and should so utterly condemn its own former policy.
    [Show full text]
  • Yeghishe Charents March 13, 1897 — November 29, 1937
    Հ.Մ.Ը.Մ.-Ի ԳԼԵՆԴԵԼԻ ԱՐԱՐԱՏ ՄԱՍՆԱՃԻՒՂԻ ՄՇԱԿՈՒԹԱՅԻՆ ԲԱԺԱՆՄՈՒՄՔ Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Chapter Cultural Division Get to Know… Volume 2, Issue 3 March 2009 YEGHISHE CHARENTS MARCH 13, 1897 — NOVEMBER 29, 1937 Yeghishe Charents (Yeghishe Soghomonian) was born in March 13, 1897 in Kars, currently located in North-Eastern Turkey. Born into a family of tradesman, he became one of the legendary figures of Armenian art and anti-Soviet activism. His works have fostered generations of patriotic Armenians and have been translated and read by peoples as diverse as the subjects on which he wrote. One of the leaders of the literary elite of the Soviet Union, his poetic dynamism and musical modality set him apart as one of the most inspired poets—not Armenian poet, but poet—of the twentieth century. Charents spent 1924 and 1925 as a Soviet diplomat, traveling throughout the Armenian Diaspora urging Armenian writers to return to Armenia, and continue their literary work there. After returning to Armenia, in 1925, he and a group of other Armenian writers founded a literary organization called the Association of Armenian Proletarian Writers. Unfortunately, many of his colleagues were either deported to Siberia, or shot or both, under Stalin’s regime. During the years following 1925, Charents published his satirical novel, Land of Nairi (Yerkir Nairi), which rapidly became a great success among the people. Later on, Charents became the director of Armenia’s State Publishing House, while he continued his literary career, and began to translate, into Armenian, literary works by various writers. Charents also published such famous novels as: Rubayat (1927), Epic Dawn (Epikakan Lussapats, 1930), and Book of the Road (Grik Chanaparhi, 1933).
    [Show full text]
  • What Makes a Restaurant Ethnic? (A Case Study Of
    FORUM FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND CULTURE, 2017, NO. 13 WHAT MAKES A RESTAURANT ETHNIC? (A CASE STUDY OF ARMENIAN RESTAURANTS IN ST PETERSBURG) Evgenia Guliaeva Th e Russian Museum of Ethnography 4/1 Inzhenernaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia [email protected] A b s t r a c t: Using restaurants in St Petersburg serving Armenian cuisine as a case study, the article studies the question of what makes an ethnic restaurant ethnic, what may be learnt about ethnicity by studying a restaurant serving a national cuisine, and to what extent the image of Armenian cuisine presented in Armenian restaurants corresponds to what Armenian informants tell us. The conclusion is that the composition of the menu in these restaurants refl ects a view of Armenian cuisine from within the ethnic group itself. The representation of ethnicity is achieved primarily by discursive means. Neither owners, nor staff, nor customers from the relevant ethnic group, nor the style of the interior or music are necessary conditions for a restaurant to be accepted as ethnic. However, their presence is taken into account when the authenticity or inauthenticity of the restaurant is evaluated. Armenian informants, though, do not raise the question of authenticity: this category is irrelevant for them. Keywords: Armenians, ethnicity, ethnic restaurants, national cuisine, authenticity, St Petersburg. To cite: Guliaeva E., ‘What Makes a Restaurant Ethnic? (A Case Study of Armenian Restaurants in St Petersburg)’, Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2017, no. 13, pp. 280–305. U R L: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/fi
    [Show full text]
  • 273 KING ARTHUR of the ROMANS: LUCIUS ARTORIUS CASTUS and the SARMATIANS in BRITAIN J O H N M a T T H E W S the Earliest Docum
    KING ARTHUR OF THE ROMANS: LUCIUS ARTORIUS CASTUS AND THE SARMATIANS IN BRITAIN J o h n M a t t h e w s UDK:94(37)Artorius Castus, L. 821.111-34 Izvorni znanstveni rad John Matthews Oxford (FIOS, BCM Hallowquest London U radu se iznose moguće veze između života rimskog vojnika iz 2. st., Lucija Artorija Kasta, i kasnijih, srednjovjekovnih legendi oko polu- mitskog kralja Artura. Autor pretpostavlja da se zahvaljujući natpisu otkrivenom u blizini Splita (Podstrana), može izgraditi čvrsta teza da je Kast bio najstariji povijesni lik za koji se može dokaza- ti da je utjecao na razvitak kasnijih legendi u Bri- taniji. Sačuvane su priče o sarmatskim ratnicima koji su u Britaniju došli kao dio rimskih legija, a kojima je zapovijedao sam Kast; naime sarmatske i keltske priče stapaju se međusobno u razdoblju nakon Kastovog života. The earliest documents that record the deeds of the British hero Arthur show that he was not perceived as a king but as a soldier, bearing the Latin title dux (duke); a charismatic leader who fought ‘alongside the leaders of the British’. Just such a man is a career-officer of the legions named Lucius Artorius Castus, who lived and fought in Britain in the 2nd century AD – almost 300 years earlier than the more usually accepted dates for Arthur. ‘Arthur’ is the generally accepted form today, but in reality this name has a far longer history and a variety of spellings. It can be proven with reasonable certainty that ‘Artorius’ either derives from the British name Arthur or is the Latin original of that name.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Armenian Immigration to Southern California Daniel Fittante
    But Why Glendale? But Why Glendale? A History of Armenian Immigration to Southern California Daniel Fittante Abstract: Despite its many contributions to Los Angeles, the internally complex community of Armenian Angelenos remains enigmatically absent from academic print. As a result, its history remains untold. While Armenians live throughout Southern California, the greatest concentration exists in Glendale, where Armenians make up a demographic majority (approximately 40 percent of the population) and have done much to reconfigure this homogenous, sleepy, sundown town of the 1950s into an ethnically diverse and economically booming urban center. This article presents a brief history of Armenian immigration to Southern California and attempts to explain why Glendale has become the world’s most demographically concentrated Armenian diasporic hub. It does so by situating the history of Glendale’s Armenian community in a complex matrix of international, national, and local events. Keywords: California history, Glendale, Armenian diaspora, immigration, U.S. ethnic history Introduction Los Angeles contains the most visible Armenian diaspora worldwide; however yet it has received virtually no scholarly attention. The following pages begin to shed light on this community by providing a prefatory account of Armenians’ historical immigration to and settlement of Southern California. The following begins with a short history of Armenian migration to the United States. The article then hones in on Los Angeles, where the densest concentration of Armenians in the United States resides; within the greater Los Angeles area, Armenians make up an ethnic majority in Glendale. To date, the reasons for Armenians’ sudden and accelerated settlement of Glendale remains unclear. While many Angelenos and Armenian diasporans recognize Glendale as the epicenter of Armenian American habitation, no one has yet clarified why or how this came about.
    [Show full text]
  • HISTORICAL ESSAYS About the Armenian Catholic Community in Armenia, Georgia and Oriental Europe
    HISTORICAL ESSAYS About the Armenian Catholic Community in Armenia, Georgia and Oriental Europe. Written by S. E. Archbishop Nerses Der-Nersessian 1. ORIGIN OF CATHOLICS IN ARMENIA The story of Armenian Catholics in Armenia and the Caucasus is long. There is no doubt that their roots go back many centuries and involve an interminable and controversial Christology concerning the Chalcedonies tradition. Historically, the Armenian Catholic community was characterized by migrations, which took place in the first quarter of the nineteenth century after the Russian– Turkish Adrianupol Alliance (1829). Seeking to escape the brutal conditions of the Ottoman Empire, Armenian Catholics left cities such as Karin-Erzerum, Alashkert and Mush and found sanctuary within the Russian Empire. New villages were created and the church was stabilized in the Shirak, Tashir and Lori regions of modern day Armenia, as well as in Javakhk, currently the Georgian provinces of Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki and Ninodzminda (formerly Bogdanovka). Churches, schools and hospitals were built, organized by clergies and priests. They contributed to the Armenian Catholic Hierarchy with diocesan members and prominent monks educated in Mechitarist Congregation of Venice and Vienna and in Patriarchal Convent of Bzommar in Lebanon. The Armenian Catholic Church enjoyed a glorious century. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the Holy Seat of Rome created an ecclesiastical organization, and with the blessing of Russia’s imperial czarist government, designated the city of Saratov as the Armenian Catholics’ center. In 1909, Reverend Sarghis Der-Abrahamian [born Alexandrapol (currently Gümri) 1868, died Rome as an Archbishop 1952] was nominated Apostolic Administrator for Armenian Catholics in the Caucasus.
    [Show full text]
  • Mithra Oct 2015
    Mithra The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation James R. Russell. 2015. "Mithra." In the Proceedings of Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the Great War, 1915-2015: One Hundred Years of Research. International Conference on the Armenian Genocide, Sorbonne, Paris, France, March 25-28, 2015. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23514774 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP Mithra. By James R. Russell, Harvard University. I want to take you to the ancient city of Dura Europos. Dura, whose Aramaic name means something like “fortified place” was a populous, cosmopolitan walled city on a hill looking over the Euphrates frontier of the Roman Empire with the realms of the Arsacid Parthians, near modern-day Deir ez-Zor in Syria. The Seleucid successors of Alexander made what had been a fort into a town, appending its second, Greek name. Dura Europos was destroyed, never again to be inhabited, during a sudden, swift Sasanian attack in AD 256: devastating for the inhabitants but good for archeology. The French occupying forces discovered the ruins in 1918; and over the succeeding two decades a team of archeologists excavated it and for generations art historians and textual scholars have pored over the finds: great scholars such as Franz Cumont, father of Mithraic studies, and Mikhail Rostovtzeff, historian of the Hellenistic era, worked there.
    [Show full text]