illustrated gospel manuscript
For years beyond count they have been languishing undisturbed,
save for an occasional peek, in the cavernous archives of the
Armenian Patriarchate of St James, in the Old City of Jerusalem.
For
years
beyond
count
they
have
been
languishing
undisturbed,
save
for
an
occasional
peek,
in
the
cavernous
archives
of
the
Armenian
Patriarchate
of
St
James, in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Three
fat
tomes
of
painstakingly
meticulous
script,
with
frequent
lapses
into
flowery
forays,
the
official
registers
recording
the
births,
baptisms,
marriages
and deaths of the denizens of the city's Armenian Quarter, the kaghakatsis.
The
passage
of
time
has
taken
its
usual
toll
of
the
150
pages,
but
the
onslaught
has
been
mercifully
mild.
Except
for
places
where
the
faded
writing
makes
for
difficult
reading,
the
entries
penned
by
the
ancient
clerks
have
retained most of their pristine clarity.
Locked
away
within
the
hallowed
confines
of
the
Convent
of
St
James,
the
pages
rarely
again
saw
the
light
of
day
after
being
bound
into
books.
They
would
only
be
brought
out
when
some
one
needed
to
consult
them
and
verify
a
date or name. Only to be re-consigned later to relative oblivion.
Until now.
In
keeping
with
his
wish
to
exude
a
measure
of
"glasnost"
into
the
moribund
life
of
the
Armenians
of
Jerusalem,
and
to
promote
efforts
by
the
kaghakatsi
Armenian
Family
Tree
Project
to
preserve
the
history
and
culture
of
his
Old
City
community,
the
Patriarch,
Archbishop
Torkom
Manoogian,
has
agreed
to
have
the
contents
of
the
registers
made
available
for
study
and
research
by
the
Project organizers.
The
Patriarchate
also
gave
the
organizers
permission
to
copy
the
information in the books, under proper security and privacy safeguards.
To
facilitate
this
arduous
task,
the
Patriarchate
even
offered
to
house
and
feed
the researcher for the few weeks needed for the job.
With
the
support
and
blessing
of
the
Patriarchate
in
hand,
the
Project
organizers
then
faced
the
problem
of
deciding
on
the
safest
and
easiest
way
to
undertake
the
copying
of
the
registers.
One
option
would
have
been
to
use
a
hand-held scanner. Another, a photocopier.
But
the
delicate
and
brittle
texture
of
the
paper
has
precluded
these
and
it
has
finally
been
decided
to
use
a
camera
and
photograph
the
pages
instead.
This would have to be done by a professional, not just anyone with a camera.
The
cost
would
be
considerable
for
the
Project
which
has
no
budget
of
its
own, and is run entirely on a voluntary basis.
It
was
at
this
point
that
the
cavalry
arrived,
in
the
form
of
Garo
Nalbandian,
one
of
Jerusalem's
foremost
photographers
whose
work
appears
regularly
in
leading local and international publications and venues.
Once
Garo
knew
of
the
nature
of
the
project,
he
promptly
offered
his
services to the organizers.
He would waive his fee.
"If
you
are
doing
a
'labor
of
love',
my
dad
is
willing
to
help
too,"
his
son
and
assistant, Hovsep, told the organizers. "So he will do it for free."
The organizers were ecstatic at this new and "welcome" development.
"The
man
is
so
busy
he
can
scarcely
scratch
his
head,
yet
here
he
is
donating
his
time
and
services
to
a
project
for
nothing,
when
he
could
have
made
a
package for himself," a kaghakatsi Armenian commented.
The
fact
that
his
wife
is
a
kaghakatsi
herself,
a
member
of
the
Toumayan
clan, would have also influenced his decision.
Besides,
he
is
no
stranger
to
the
Patriarchate
and
has
been
involved
in
some
of
its
preservation
projects,
among
them
the
Edward
and
Helen
Mardigian
Museum, for which he helped create the graphic display of old Armenian coins.
The
registers
are
a
rare
and
delightful
treasure
trove.
They
speak
volumes.
A
quick
look
reveals
their
quaint
twist:
apparently,
in
the
old
days,
clerks
had
developed
only
a
pedestrian
attitude
towards
the
art
and
science
of
archiving,
as
evidenced
by
the
fact
that
they
were
not
particular
about
recording
or
tracing
accurate
patronymics:
often,
people
are
referred
to
by
a
sobriquet
instead
of
a
surname.
Thus
it
is
not
surprising
to
find
"tertzag
(tailor)
Garabed"
rubbing
shoulders
with
"sabounji
(soap
maker/seller?)
Tavit,"
"badgerahan
(photographer)
Hagop,"
"sevaji
(shoemaker)
Sahag",
"Krikor
vosgerich
(goldsmith)" . . .
Now
that
access
to
these
registers
has
been
secured,
the
Project
enters
a
challenging
and
definitive
phase.
The
Family
Tree
online
database
already
houses
over
2,300
names
belonging
to
some
50
clans:
the
genealogical
information
there
has
to
be
validated
by
the
contents
of
the
kaghakatsi
registers.
Apparently
these
documents
are
not
the
only
legacy
of
the
ancestors
of
the
kaghakatsis
living
in
the
Armenian
Quarter
of
the
Old
City
of
Jerusalem.
Patriarchate
sources
believe
there
is
a
mountain
of
data
about
this
community
being retained in various forms at the Patriarchate.
"There
must
be
enough
material
there
to
keep
a
researcher
happily
busy
for
a lifetime," one source said.
Like
the
registers,
these
unknown
archives
also
face
the
threat
of
degradation unless urgent measures are taken to preserve them.
Manoogian
would
like
nothing
more
than
to
computerize
all
Patriarchate
archives,
but
such
a
daunting
undertaking
would
tax
the
meager
resources
of
St
James.
Nevertheless,
he
continues
to
pursue
his
dream
of
propelling
this
august
establishment
into
the
technological
age,
a
move
that
has
seen
the
Patriarchate
go
online
and
its
offices
linked
by
a
web
network.
Gone
are
the
stolid,
lumbering
Remington
typewriters
and
messy
ribbons,
making
way
for
sleek
PC's
running the latest operating systems.
And accountability and openness have become the order of the day.
Armenian
Jerusalem
has
come
a
long
way.
It
would
not
have
been
possible
without sabounji Tavit, sevaji Sahag, tertzag Garabed or badgerahan Hagog.
"Their
legacy
lives
on
in
us,
and
will
continue
down
the
line,
as
long
as
there
is
one
single
kaghakatsi
still
breathing
on
this
planet,"
as
one
community
leader
puts it.