ARMENIAN - Erevangala500
ARMENIAN - Erevangala500
ARMENIAN - Erevangala500
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The American Protestant mission to the Armenians of Van<br />
began its work in 1872. The resistance from the indigenous<br />
Armenian Orthodox clergy was bitter. (Van had, after all, been<br />
the seat of the Armenian Catholicos for a long time.) It was thus<br />
a full five years before the Americans managed to erect the first<br />
place of worship for their mission.<br />
The Americans called Van "the Sebastopol of the Armenian<br />
Church" obviously alluding to the long siege and eventual<br />
assault by the allies in 1855. Partly because o f the bitter rivalry<br />
between Orthodox and Protestant Armenians over who the<br />
"better" Armenian was, Van quickly became a breeding ground<br />
for fanatical nationalism. This erupted in a number of uprisings<br />
and finally led to the revolt o f 1915, in which tens of thousands<br />
of Moslems lost their lives. What had started with an offer of<br />
education ended in nationalistic excesses, in spite of the idealistic<br />
zeal o f many well-meaning missionaries, such as Dr.<br />
Reynolds and his wife.<br />
Worship service in an Armenian Protestant church in Istanbul<br />
(built in 1914, immediately before the outbreak of World War I).<br />
A m erica's Indians could not be converted... they<br />
were partically killed, exterminated.<br />
The Armenian tragedy began here in Boston, at<br />
the headquarters o f Am erican Protestant<br />
Missionaries.<br />
In 1811 they started an enterprise o f missionary<br />
work within the Ottoman Empire. They wanted<br />
to convert the Muslims, and, when they failed,<br />
turned their activities toward the Christians,<br />
where they had some success within the<br />
Armenian M illet, thus weakening not only the<br />
Armenian Patriarchate but also provoking a<br />
deadly race between the Armenian Churches:<br />
which one was the most fanatic? Hatred was<br />
preached against the Turks:”...our Mission and<br />
our Missionaries, whose alone can disinfect the<br />
land...” no, they don't speak o f dangerous<br />
insects - no, they speak about “the Sultan and his<br />
Soldiers” who are “the devil's scourge” in the<br />
Ottoman Em pire, “because M ohammedans<br />
believe before all things in the harem” so that<br />
apparently Turks have to be “disinfected” while<br />
Armenians “are unarmed and they do no harm to<br />
none”: who wonders, when we hear that “their<br />
personal resemblence to the supposed physical<br />
type o f our Lord is probably more striking than<br />
any other Race” .<br />
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