Entries by stjohn

ARAM YERGANIAN

A plan to massacre the Armenians of the provinces of Nukhi, Aresh, Shamakh, and Baku was prepared at a secret meeting of the government of Azerbaijan and the leaders of the ruling right-wing Musavat Party. Before the massacres, a secret order sent by Behbut Khan Jivanshir, Azerbaijani Interior Minister, to the mayors of Nukhi, Shamakh, and Baku, instructed: “It is necessary to exterminate the Armenians to achieve our goals crossing over their corpses. Do not spare anyone and execute faithfully the orders given to you.”

BIRTH OF ARAM KHATCHATURIAN

Forty-four years after his death, Aram Khachaturian remains the most widely known Armenian classical composer of all times. His “Sabre Dance,” the electrifying dance of the final act of the ballet “Gayane,” made him known on a popular level worldwide.

THE ENTHRONEMENT OF OUR PRIMATE

With a spirit of joy and hope, the public is cordially invited to a special “Service of Enthronement,” during which Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan will take his place as the 13th Primate of the Eastern Diocese.

BIRTH OF TRO

Tro (Trasdamad Ganayan) was a freedom fighter, a military leader of the first Republic of Armenia, and a political activist in the Diaspora. He was born in the town of Igdir, in the province of Surmalu (Eastern Armenia, then part of the Russian Empire).

A PRAYER FOR THE MASSACRED INNOCENTS OF UVALDE, TEXAS

Yesterday, evil manifested itself again in our national life: another lone gunman, another unfathomable motivation, another atrocity to chill the heart. This time, the scene was an elementary school in southern Texas; the victims, nineteen innocent children, and two teachers.

OPENING OF THE MONUMENT OF SARTARABAD

Sartarabad, located 25 miles to the west of Yerevan, became the last Armenian stance against the advance of the invading Third Ottoman Army in May 1918. A defeat would not only open the door for their penetration to the rest of Eastern Armenia, but also the follow-up to the genocide of 1915-1916.

DEATH OF SIMON VRATSIAN

The last Prime Minister of the first Republic of Armenia, Simon Vratsian, was born in 1882, in the village of Medz Sala, near Nakhichevan-on-the-Don (today Rostov-on Don, in the northern Caucasus).

Death of Keri

Keri, a veteran leader of the Armenian liberation movement at the turn of the twentieth century, became also a prominent military figure in the last years of his life. He was born Arshag Kavafian in 1858 in Erzerum, and was twenty-four when he entered the short lived self-defense organization “Defender of the Homeland,” founded in 1882.

FR. MESROP PARSAMYAN’S ADDRESS TO THE DIOCESAN ASSEMBLY

As part of the proceedings of the 120th Diocesan Assembly, Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan presented an address to the clergy and lay delegates, as one of the three candidates for the office of Primate. In his remarks, Fr. Parsamyan sketched out his background and upbringing, and revealed his early experience of God’s call, and some of his thoughts about the future.