entrance to Armenian Patriarchate
Two of the supreme leaders of the Armenian church in the Holy
Land were kaghakatsis, members of the Mnatzaganian clan,
according to family sources. This, despite the fact that
an unwritten Patriarchate edict prohibits kaghakatsi
youth from joining the church as members of the
priestly Brotherhood of St James.
Ardavazt Minassian, whose mother is a Mnatzaganian, and
Apraham
Mnatzaganian
report
separately
that
their
common
ancestral family included a son who later became Patriarch Giragos.
Giragos
was
born
in
AD
1783
and
ordained
a
celibate
priest
in
AD
1807.
He
was
consecrated
bishop
in
AD
1815
and
elected
Patriarch
in AD 1847.
The
tales
our
two
clan
sources
tell
differ
differ
slightly
in
the
details.
According
to
Ardavazt,
two
brothers
had
originally
come
to
Jerusalem
in
the
early
AD
1800s
from
Persia.
Apraham
raises
the
number to 4.
"The
story
I
was
told
in
my
childhood
was
that
there
were
4
brothers
that
arrived
in
Palestine
from
Tchoogha
(Djolfa
near
Ispahan)," he says.
Ardavazt
reports
that
from
AD
1825
to
AD
1834,
Giragos
was
posted
to
Egypt
before
returning
to
Jerusalem
in
AD
1847
as
Patriarch.
While
in
Egypt,
he
fostered
a
Moslem
boy
and
converted
him
to
Christianity, giving him the name Harutiun.
Harutiun,
born
AD
1819
(his
family
name
had
been
changed
to
Vahabedian)
went
on
himself
to
become
the
Patriarch
of
Jerusalem,
from
AD
1886
to
AD
1889.
He
had
been
ordained
in
AD
1850
and
bishop in AD 1860.
"He
was
very
successful
in
buying
a
lot
of
land
and
property
for
the
Armenian
convent," Ardavazt says.
He
notes
that
Patriarch
Giragos
died
in
1850
under
suspicious
circumstances,
possibly
having
been
poisoned,
a
fact
apparently
buttressed
by
an
incident
his
aunt
Marianne relates.
It
seems
she
had
gone
to
pay
her
respects
to
her
distant
relative
the
Patriarch,
and
when
she
came
back,
she
remarked
that
as
she
ran
her
hand
along
his
face,
the hair from his beard came out in her hand.
She said they "have poisoned him!"
Apraham
says
he
had
requested
a
search
among
the
Jerusalem
Patriarchate
records,
but
had
been
told
"there
was
no
entry
of
Giragos
as
a
Mnatzaganian
-
which I thought was curious at the time."
The
Patriarchate's
official
chronological
list
of
patriarchs
lists
a
"Giragos
of
Jerusalem"
and
a
"Harutiun
Vehabedian."
But
research
conducted
by
Haig
A.
Krikorian
(April,
2005)
does
mention
a
"Giragos
Mnatzaganian
Yerusghameatzi
(1847-1850)" and a "Harutiun Vehabedian Yekibdatzi" (1885-1910).
According
to
Apraham's
account,
of
the
three
other
brothers
who
came
to
Jerusalem,
one
established
the
family
line
to
which
he
belongs,
another
settled
in
Jerusalem
as
well
and
became
scion
of
the
family
line
that
Berge
and
Giragos
Mnatzaganian belonged to.
"The 4th disappeared, probably went West," Apraham says.
He
concedes
that
he
has
"been
intrigued
by
this
story
for
some
60
years,
and
perhaps
the
time
has
come
now,
through
the
kaghakatsi
Armenian
family
tree
project, for me to explore this line of my genealogy."
Patriarch Vehabedian