It is a crying shame that a truly comprehensive and scholarly
gratifying history of the annals of the Armenians of Jerusalem
has yet to be penned. Armenians have been living in Jerusalem
continuously for over two thousand years, even before their
conversion to Christianity.
That's a lot of history, by any reckoning.
Not
that
this
demonstrably
vital
colony
of
artists,
craftsmen,
and
other
creative
spirits
-
the
list
is
endless
but
runs
the
whole
gamut
of
human
experience
-
lacks
the
necessary
skill
or
expertise
to
do
it,
scattered
though
most
of
its
members
may
be
around
the
four
corners
of
the
world.
The
reasons
behind
this
omission
are
not
mere
inertia
on
the
part
of
Armenian
scribes.
The
lamentable
fact
is
that
the
ancestors
of
Jerusalem's
Armenians
gave
record-
keeping
a
pedestrian
glance,
leaving
their
progeny
with
precious little reliable records or resources to tap.
And
let
us
not
forget
that
the
whole
Middle
East
region
has
been
so
enmeshed
in
periodic
patches
of
political
upheaval
over
the
centuries,
the
foremost
preoccupation
of
the
city's
Armenian
denizens
has
always
been
to
win
the
struggle for survival.
But all is not lost.
As
we
look
through
the
glass
of
history,
darkly,
though
we
perceive
dark
clouds
of
unknowing,
we
can
also
sporadically
discern
some
bright
lights
of
promise,
personified
in
a
minuscule
pride of historians, like Ormanian and Savalaniantz.
Their
books
have
almost
become
objects
of
veneration,
preserving
for
posterity
as
they
do
segments
of
the
story
of
the
Armenians of Jerusalem.
Several
years
ago,
Jerusalem-born
scholar
Kevork
Hintlian
attempted
to
fill
part
of
the
gap
in
the
history
of
his
people
with
a
well-researched,
slim
but
titillating
volume,
"The
History
of
the
Armenians in the Holy Land."
Unfortunately,
this
book
remains
generally
undervalued
and
unappreciated
-
it
deserves
better.
Hintlian
has
been
urged
repeatedly
to
expand
it,
extend
its
range.
Hopefully,
he
will
get
around to it sometime soon.
In
sharp
contrast
to
Hintlian's
slender
tome,
US-based
Haig
Krikorian
has
just
celebrated
the
culmination
of
a
ten-year
labor
of
love
with
a
massive
800-page
endeavor,
entitled
"Lives
and
Times
of
the
Armenian
Patriarchs of Jerusalem."
Krikorian's
book
is
a
timely
treasure,
foraging
into
the
profound,
almost
inaccessible
niches
and
caves
of
disparate
archives
to
encapsulate
for
perpetuity the vicissitudes of the Armenian church in Jerusalem.
The
Armenian
nation
owns
this
patient
plodder
an
incalculable
debt
of
gratitude
for
rescuing
from
obscurity
the
epic
tale
of
the
panoply
of
Armenian
church
leaders,
with
a
detailed
chronicle
that
covers
over
a
millennium
and
a
half of the lives of the Armenian patriarchs of Jerusalem.
Krikorian
has
the
good
fortune
of
being
a
close
friend
of
the
current
incumbent,
Patriarch
Torkom
Manoogian,
and
that,
coupled
with
his
unflinching
support
for
the
Armenian
Patriarchate,
opened
several
doors
for
him
and
accorded him unprecedented access to existing records and private papers.
Despite
the
heavy
lifting,
I
could
not
put
the
book
down.
Krikorian's
fluid
writing
style,
his
meticulous
choice
of
diction
and
paraphrase
and
the
lack
of
any literary mannerism of ostentation makes reading his book a delight.
And
there
is
plenty
to
tell
his
readers.
Some
of
the
facts
he
has
uncovered
have
probably
never
been
revealed
before.
How
many
Armenians
are
aware
that
Abraham
(638-669),
regarded
by
many
as
the
first
Armenian
Patriarch
of
Jerusalem,
had
trekked
all
the
way
to
Mecca,
to
plead
with
the
Prophet
Mohammed for protection for his flock?
[While
it
is
almost
impossible
to
determine
the
exact
number
of
Armenian
Patriarchs in Jerusalem, various sources place the number between 75 to 100].
Krikorian
has
taken
great
pains
to
trace
the
origins
of
the
Armenian
presence
in
the
Holy
Land,
and
in
particular
in
Jerusalem,
and
as
you
read
you
come
to
realize
that
the
story
of
the
Armenians
of
Jerusalem
is
actually
the
story
of
their
church,
embodied
in
the
Patriarchate
of
St
James,
with
its
grand
cathedral,
and
that
their
history
is
linked
inevitably
to
their
entity
as
Christians.
While
recapping
his
chronicle,
with
a
great
eye
for
detail,
the
writer
also
delves
into
the
deeds
and
misdeeds
of
priestly
members
of
the
Brotherhood
of
St
James,
an
interlude
that
no
doubt
is
bound
to
raise
eyebrows:
not
many
Armenians
will
be
happy
to
see
the
dirty
wash
of
their
spiritual
leaders
aired
in
public.
Krikorian
is
not
interested
in
a
whitewash.
He
emphasizes
that
the
Armenian
church
survived
the
ravages
of
time
despite
the
relentless
threat
of
internal
strife
and
corruption
at
the
hands
of
unconscionable
clergymen
who
pitted
their ambitions ahead that of the good of the church.
Inevitably,
there
is
the
sorry
episode
of
the
25
manuscripts
purloined
in
the
late
1940's
and
the
battle
to
get
them
back.
Not
all
25
were
retrieved.
Three
still
remain
unaccounted
for,
languishing
perhaps
in
the
safe
of
some
millionaire
collector.
Whether
he
or
she
would
know
or
appreciate
half
the
value
of
so
precious a possession, nobody will know.
Nor
does
Krikorian
shy
away
from
pointing
the
finger
at
the
attempts
by
other
Christian
denominations,
particularly
the
Greeks
and
Latins,
to
expropriate Armenian properties and subjugate the Armenian church.
At
some
point
down
the
timeline
of
history,
Armenians
are
said
to
have
built
over
500
monasteries
in
and
around
Jerusalem.
Many
of
these
have
been
lost
now
-
either
destroyed
or
taken
over,
either
through
wars
or
subterfuge,
and
sometimes by sheer chicanery or incompetence.
Ironically,
while
fellow
Christians
persecuted
the
Armenians,
their
non-
Christian
overlords,
particularly
the
Moslems,
seem
to
have
viewed
them
with
special
favor,
granting
them
rights
and
privileges
they
enjoy
to
this
day.
Krikorian
points
out
that
this
was
no
doubt
politically
motivated,
as
a
counter
to their enemies with their Byzantine sympathies and loyalties.
Krikorian,
a
former
student
at
the
theological
seminary
of
the
Armenian
Patriarchate
of
Jerusalem,
takes
us
through
a
travelogue
that
spans
the
Byzantine,
Arab,
Crusader,
Maneluke,
Turk,
British
and
Jordanian
administrations,
and
down
to
the
present
era
of
the
Israeli
and
Palestinian
conflict.
Throughout
this
epoch,
pockmarked
by
frequent
violence
and
endemic
corruption,
the
Armenians
continued
to
survive
and
thrive,
honing
their
skills
at
diplomatic and politician maneuvering, alongside the arts and crafts.
It
is
their
presence
that
gives
Jerusalem
its
unique
flavor
and
contributes
to
the city's claim to be the center of the world.
HB Abp Yeghishe Derderian
HB Abp Torkom Manoogian
HB Abp Nourhan Manoogian
Patriarch Harutiunm Vehabedian