The Armenian clergy are divided into three classes: the pastor,
the preacher, and the presiding bishop. The pastor is called Yeretz,
the preacher is called Vartabed, and the presiding bishop is called
Yebisgobos (Episcopus). The presiding bishop ordains the preacher and
the teacher. The Armenians believe in apostolic succession, and they
believe in immersion. Baptism can be administered both to grown people
and to children, if they are the children of members of the church;
but always by immersion, and in the name of the Father, the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. If you unite the present Episcopal church with
the Baptist, you will make an Armenian church. All the clergy of the
Armenian church, bishops, preachers, and teachers, were married in the
early centuries. Gregory the Illuminator, the first bishop of Armenia,
was married. His sons were bishops, and were married. There was no
church law whatever against marriage of the clergy. At present the
bishop and the preacher, or the Yebisgobos and the Vartabed, cannot
marry, but the pastor or Yeretz must be married. No Armenian pastor
can be ordained if he is not married.
Of course I am not writing here an Armenian church history; the main
object in writing this book is to inform the American public about the
causes of the atrocities, and the atrocities themselves. Therefore
I consider the above information about the Armenian church enough;
but I will add that the Armenian church until the twelfth century
was as simple in ceremonial as any American Protestant church is
to-day. But when their kingdom was coming to an end, and they were in
a life-and-death struggle with the Mohammedan powers, Popes Innocent,
Benedict, and others promised to help them if they would accept some
of the Roman doctrines and ritual; and since that time--the twelfth
century--there has been more or less similarity in the ceremonial of
the two churches. But Armenians have never believed in the Pope, and
now they are getting rid of the Roman ritual also, as it is foreign
to them.
Before I finish this subject, I must give a little information about
the Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople, and the Armenian Catholicos
of Etchmiazin. There are many people in this country who do not know
the difference between the Patriarch and the Catholicos. The difference
between them is as follows: The Patriarch at Constantinople has nothing
to do with religion, though he is a bishop. As a personal bishop, he
goes to the church, and occasionally preaches and leads the pastors,
but his duty is political. He is the political head of the Armenians
in Constantinople, and responsible to the Sultan for the Armenian
nation who live in Turkey. The Armenians are not anxious to have
such a political head; it is simply the wish of the Sultan, or it
has been the wishes of the Sultans in centuries gone by. The present
Patriarch, Right Rev. Bishop Izmirlian, is a very learned, experienced,
and eloquent bishop. He is very popular; the whole Armenian nation
love and esteem him; but the Sultan hates him, because he is brave,
honest, and true. The Sultan ordered him to send out false reports,
alleging that the Armenians were not being massacred, but were safe
and prospering under Abdul Hamid's reign; but the Patriarch refused
to issue any such documents while in fact the Armenians were being
plundered, tortured, outraged, and killed. The Patriarch's life is
consequently in great danger, but the Patriarch says that if it is
necessary to sacrifice his life for his beloved nation, he is ready
to die.
The Armenian Catholicos is the spiritual head of the Armenian
church; he has nothing to do with politics. He is considered to
be fallible, and he is elected both by bishops and laymen; and if
the nation is not satisfied with him, they may remove him and elect
another. He is a presiding bishop. He lives at Etchmiazin (the former
Vagharshabad) north of Mt. Ararat in Russia; it has been the seat of
the Pontiff since the time of St. Gregory. The present Catholicos is
Rt. Rev. Bishop Mugurditch Kirimian. He is very much esteemed and loved
by the Armenians throughout the world. Before he became Catholicos,
he was Patriarch in Constantinople, and was the most popular and
the ablest of Patriarchs, but the present Sultan of course hated
him, and according to stories I heard from good authority, when I
was in Constantinople, tried repeatedly to kill him. One day he was
summoned to the palace to see the Sultan; but on arriving there, was
instead locked into a room with a brazier of burning charcoal, and
left to die. Before it was too late, however, the Russian Ambassador,
being informed of the attempt, saved his life. Failing to get rid of
him that way, the Sultan banished him to Jerusalem, but sent false
reports to the newspapers, that he thought highly of the Patriarch,
and had given him money to go to Jerusalem that he might improve his
health and enjoy himself. The Sultan lives and breathes falsehood.
While in Jerusalem, Kirimian was shadowed by the Sultan's detectives;
but about three years ago he was elected Catholicos by the Armenians,
and the Russian Czar (not the present one, but his father, Alexander),
sanctioned his election. The Armenians are proud of him, for he
is worthy of his office. He is a great scholar, and the author of
several books which are worthy of translation into English. His book
Traghti Endanik (the family of Paradise), is the best book I ever saw
or read in any language on family life. In it he describes the first
holy family, which was created in the Garden of Eden, in Armenia,
and then goes on to describe a holy family, the ideal family, a true
home. It is full of the Holy Spirit. Catholicos Kirimian was married
and had a family, and really his family was a holy family and he had an
ideal home,--therefore Armenians call him Kirimian Hayrig or "father,"
and he is worthy of the title; but his wife died. He is also a great
orator, preaching fiery gospel sermons as our greatest revivalists
preach them. He loved the American missionaries in Constantinople,
and they returned the feeling. Kirimian was born in Van April 16,
1820; therefore he is now 76 years old, but full of life and vigor. I
hope he will live longer, to see his beloved nation and country saved
from the oppressions of the cruel Turkish Sultan. I could write a
book on the life of Kirimian and his great deeds in Armenia, for the
Armenians; how he opened schools and established printing presses;
how he went to the Congress in Berlin and championed the Armenian
cause; and all his noble works. But this is not the place.