THE ARMENIANS.
1836-1840.
The first visit of Mr. Johnston to Trebizond was in 1834. Through
priestly interference, he failed in three successive attempts to
procure a house, and at last secured a contract for one only on
condition of obtaining a firman from Constantinople. The United
States Minister at the Porte procured a vizierial letter, directing
that Mr. Johnston suffer no further molestation, and he removed his
family thither in the spring of 1835. The breaking out of the plague
prevented him for a time from having much intercourse with the
people. In August of the next year, he had the pleasure of welcoming
the Rev. William C. Jackson and wife as associates.
The Patriarch of the Armenian Church at this time was Stepan, who
was averse to severe measures; and Boghos, his vicar, though
inclined to oppose the spreading reformation, thought it prudent to
do nothing openly. Several high ecclesiastics were on terms of
intimacy with the missionaries, and some of them seemed on the point
of yielding to the influence of the truth. But generally they were
without fixed religious principles, and were ready to follow the
lead of the men most able to favor their own advancement in office
or emolument. Matteos, the newly appointed bishop of Broosa, was one
of these. While residing on the Bosphorus, he was a professed friend
of the mission; and after his removal to Broosa, he expressed by
letter the most friendly sentiments, and assured Mr. Schneider of
his approbation of the school then recently established in that
city. But this school, after a few months, was entirely broken up
through the agency of this same prelate, who also sought in other
ways to weaken and destroy the influence of the missionaries.
Somewhat later, having been elevated to the Patriarchate, he became
a reckless persecutor of the Protestants of Turkey, as will appear
in its proper place.
The beautiful type used by the Catholic-Armenians at Venice, made it
necessary for the mission to procure new fonts of type adapted to
the taste of the Armenians. The monks of Venice refusing to sell to
the mission, Mr. Hallock, the printer, visited the United States,
and superintended the cutting of the needful punches. The Prudential
Committee, appreciating the new demands, authorized an expenditure
of five thousand dollars for punches and types in the Armenian,
Greek, and Hebrew languages, and for foundries of types and
stereotype plates. After Mr. Hallock's departure, the mission
succeeded in procuring two Armenian fonts of great beauty from
Vienna.
Meanwhile the Turks were making some advance in civilization.
Lancasterian schools were established by them in the barracks of
Dolma Baktche and Scutari, which were carried on with remarkable
success. The missionaries being present by invitation at a public
examination, Azim Bey publicly declared, that the Turks were
indebted to them for everything of the kind. Travellers were no
longer obliged to depend on slow sailing vessels, since steamers ran
every week from Constantinople to Smyrna and Trebizond, and every
fortnight to Galatz on the Danube. A road for carriages was
constructed from Scutari to Nicomedia, a distance of sixty miles;
and as a means of arresting the ravages of the plague, the European
style of quarantine was extensively introduced.
The most determined opposers of the mission at this time were the
Papists, who spared no pains in exciting prejudice among the
Armenians. The Papal Armenians were estimated at from fifteen to
twenty thousand, and according to usage in Turkey they had a
Patriarch of their own. This functionary came out with a public
denunciation of all Protestant books, including the New Testament.
He even forbade the receiving of copies of the Armenian Scriptures
in the ancient language, which had been printed at their own press
in Venice, and were purchased, several years before, by the British
and Foreign Bible Society for sale at a reduced price or gratuitous
circulation.
There was so much desire for religious instruction among the
Armenians, that two weekly meetings, in the Turkish language, were
established in Constantinople, one conducted by Mr. Goodell, the
other by Mr. Schauffler. Their houses were frequented by
ecclesiastics as well as by laymen, and some of the former seemed to
be sincere inquirers after the truth. One of them, attached to the
patriarchal church, proposed that they publish a revised edition of
the modern Armenian New Testament; and offered to subscribe five
hundred piastres, or somewhat more than twenty dollars, towards the
object, and also to procure aid from others. It was a favorable
sign, that bishops and vartabeds began now to give instructions from
the sacred Scriptures, instead of the legends of the saints. It
subsequently appeared, indeed, that most of them were influenced in
this more by public opinion, than by personal interest in the
subject. They probably had exaggerated notions as to the actual
prevalence of evangelical sentiments.
Female education, which had been almost entirely neglected, began
now to receive attention, both at Constantinople and at Smyrna. No
regular school, indeed, had as yet been opened for females in the
former place, but a few parents were providing means for the
instruction of their daughters, and one of the evangelical brethren
had a class of twelve Armenian girls. In Smyrna, a school for
Armenian girls was opened by the mission in a commodious room, with
desks, benches, and cards, and was commenced with the express
approval of influential men in the community. More than forty girls
attended it the first week. But an influential Armenian made such an
appeal to the national pride of his countrymen, that the community
assumed the charge of the school, and refunded what the mission had
expended on it.
At Constantinople, Der Kevork, the most learned of the fifteen
priests ordained in 1833, was at the head of a school of four
hundred boys, supported by his countrymen and having no connection
with the mission. Kevork boldly introduced the custom of daily
reading and explaining the Scriptures. He also selected twenty of
his most promising scholars for the critical study of the New
Testament.
The learned and amiable Peshtimaljian died in the year 1837. In the
same year, Mrs. Dwight and one of her children became victims of the
plague. Her husband escaped the contagion, though of course greatly
exposed. This terrible disease had been almost an annual visitation
at Constantinople, and was believed to be imported from Egypt. As
soon as it made its appearance, schools must be closed, public
worship suspended, and the giving and receiving of visits in great
measure interrupted. The quarantine appears to have been an
effectual preventive.
In the course of this year, the missionaries had a meeting at
Smyrna, at which Messrs. King, Temple, Goodell, Bird, Adger, and
Houston were present. Its results were important and interesting.
During the sessions, Mr. King preached two sermons to a Greek
audience in the chapel of the Dutch Consulate. This was seven years
after the commencement of his mission in Greece. Mr. Bird was there,
on his way from Syria to his native land, and wrote, on hearing Mr.
King preach and seeing the apparent effect, that he became quite
reconciled to his laboring among the Greeks, rather than the Arabs.
In the same year Boghos, vicar of the Patriarch, encouraged by
certain bankers, resolved to break up the mission High School for
Armenians in Pera, of which Hohannes was the principal. In
preparation for this, a College had been built at Scutari, some
months before, on an extended scale; and the public school in Has
Keuy, superintended by Kevork, had been committed to the general
supervision of one of the great bankers residing there, that it
might be remodeled according to his own wishes, and made a
first-rate school. This was deemed a needful preliminary to shutting
up the mission High School. Early in the year, the parents were
summoned before the vicar, and ordered to withdraw their sons from
that school. The plan of the opposing party was, in this case, after
breaking up the school, to procure from the Turkish government the
banishment of Hohannes. But they had misapprehended the banker, and
great was their astonishment when they heard that Hohannes was no
sooner released, by their own act, from his connection with the
mission school, than he was engaged by the banker of Has Keuy to
take the superintendence of the national school they had placed in
his hands. In vain they remonstrated. To their assertion, that it
was the American system he had adopted he replied, that he knew
nothing of the Americans, but had adopted the system because it was
good. To their objection, that the principal was evangelical, he
responded, "So am I." He at length declared, that unless they
permitted him to manage the school in his own way, he would withdraw
from the Armenian community. They could not afford to lose one of
the leading bankers; and one of the principal opposers, finding it
necessary, in a business transaction, to throw himself on his
clemency, opposition ceased for a time, and a school of six hundred
scholars went into successful operation, with Hohannes for its
superintendent, and Der Kevork, the active priest, for one of its
principal teachers.
It is worthy of special note, that up to this time, the banker was
wholly unknown to the missionaries, and to the evangelical brethren
generally. He was evidently raised up by divine Providence for the
occasion. Not only did the Has Keuy school greatly exceed the
mission school at Pera in the number of its pupils, but it was
formally adopted as the school of the nation, and Hohannes was
appointed its principal by the Armenian Synod. Having liberty of
action, he devoted an hour each day to giving special religious
instruction to a select class of sixty of the more advanced pupils,
besides his more general teaching, and the daily good influence
exerted by Der Kevork and himself. The course of study was liberal,
the philosophical apparatus of the mission was purchased by the
directors, lectures were given on the natural sciences, and the
school obtained a temporary popularity.
Yet there were secret opposing influences too powerful to allow this
state of things long to continue. In the middle of the year 1838,
the distinguished patron understood, not only that there was a
growing dissatisfaction among the leading Armenians with the school,
and especially with its principal, but that his munificence was
attracting the attention of the Turks; and he deemed it prudent to
withdraw his patronage. Before the close of the year, the teachers
were dismissed, and the school was reduced to its former footing.
The leading men of Has Keuy sent a delegation to the Patriarch
deprecating the disaster, but obtained only fair promises. Hohannes
now renewed his connection with the mission, and was placed in
charge of the book distribution. Der Kevork spent much time in going
from house to house, reading the Scriptures to the people, and
exhorting them to obey the Gospel.
At Broosa, the number of visitors at the house of the missionaries
was increasing, and among them were two young teachers in the
Armenian public school, who were specially interested in the subject
of personal religion. They were among the first to make the
acquaintance of Mr. Powers, on his coming to take up his residence
in their quarter of the city. One of these young men, named Serope,
had the sole charge of about fifty of the most advanced scholars,
whom he instructed daily in the Word of God. The principal men in
the Armenian community at Broosa soon decided to place a select
class of boys under his instruction, to be trained for the priest's
office, and eight were thus set apart. Before the end of the year
both of these teachers gave hopeful evidence of piety.
Very interesting cases of conversion occurred at Nicodemia, at the
head of the gulf bearing that name. Mr. Goodell, when passing
through this place in 1832, gave several tracts to some Armenian
boys. One of these, a translation of the "Dairyman's Daughter," came
into the hands of a priest, whom Mr. Goodell did not see. This led
him to study the Word of God. A brother priest, on intimate terms
with him, was induced to join in the study, and the result was the
hopeful conversion of both. Their united efforts were now directed
to the conversion of their flock, and a spirit of inquiry was
awakened. In the spring of 1838, Mr. Dwight found sixteen at
Nicomedia, who appeared to be truly converted men. He was surprised
at the seriousness and intelligence with which they conversed on the
great truths of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit had evidently been their
teacher, and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith
alone, was the foundation of their hopes. The joy with which they
greeted the missionary of the cross for the first time, was most
gratifying to him, as was the earnest attention they gave to his
instructions. Compared with their countrymen in the same place, they
might be called intelligent men, and some of them were in very easy
circumstances. The two converted priests, Der Vertanes and Der
Haritûn, became afterwards well known in the mission. Of their own
accord they removed to Constantinople, and were placed together in
charge of a village church on the Bosphorus; and the Patriarch
Stepan, being an old acquaintance, spent several weeks with them,
and generally assented to the views advanced by them in their free
conversations.
We now enter the year 1839, which was a year of severe persecution.
Of this persecution, in which the Porte itself became a party, I am
now to give a brief account.
The missionary force at Constantinople had become unusually small.
Mr. Dwight was absent until September, on a visit to the United
States. Mr. Schauffler left in May for Vienna, to superintend the
printing of the Hebrew Spanish Old Testament. He went by way of
Odessa, and both there, and among the German churches in that part
of Russia, he did much to sustain a religious revival that had been
long in progress. Mr. Homes left in the spring to join Dr. Grant in
exploring Kurdistan. Mr. Hamlin arrived early in the year, but was
occupied in the study of the language. Mr. Goodell was, therefore,
almost alone in this trying season.
The extent and violence of the persecution were convincing proof of
the progress of the reformation. A corrupt priesthood dreaded its
tendency to deprive them of their sinful gains. Certain persons no
longer enjoyed a monopoly of Armenian printing. Education ceased to
be exclusively in the hands of a few bankers. And the popularity of
Hohannes and Boghos Fizika was thought to operate against the great
Armenian college at Scutari. Nor were the members of the Romish
Church idle.
The patriarchs were elected by the primates, who were chiefly
bankers, and were in an important sense their creatures. The bankers
were divested of much of their power in 1839, by the rise of three
men of the artisan class, who suddenly stood before the nation as
its guides and dictators, and more especially as extirpators of
heresy. These were the two chief architects of the Sultan, and the
superintendent of the government powder works. The two first, being
employed in erecting the most splendid of all the imperial palaces,
were often in contact with the Sultan. The expulsion of
Protestantism lay near their hearts, and they resolved to make use
of the strong arm of Mahmood to effect it. What were the
representations made to him is not known; but it is known that the
three favorites were authorized to call on the civil power to aid
them in extirpating the dangerous heresy.
The first thing was to get the tolerant Patriarch out of the way.
For some reason they did not at once remove him from office, but
procured from the interior a man named Hagopos, notorious for his
bigotry and sternness, whom they appointed Assistant Patriarch. A
month later, Stepan was deposed, and permitted to retire to his
convent near Nicomedia, and Hagopos was installed in his place.
Before this, Hohannes had been thrown into the patriarchal prison,
without even the form of an accusation; but every one knew that his
crime consisted in following the Bible, rather than the Church.
Boghos Fizika was arrested, and cast into the same prison; and four
days after, they were both banished by an imperial firman. Their
place of exile was a convent near Cesarea, four hundred miles
distant. Stepan took leave of them with tears, well knowing the deep
injustice of the act. This was in the month of February, and the
Turkish police-officer sent back word from Scutari, that Boghos,
being an invalid, was too feeble to bear the fatigues and exposures
of such a journey in that inclement season; but positive orders were
returned to carry him to Cesarea, either dead or alive. Nicomedia
lay on their route; and the brethren of that place hastened in a
body to the post-house, and had a season of prayer with the exiles,
which greatly comforted them. This intercourse was kept up during a
delay of several days authorized by the Nicomedia primate. When the
Armenians of Cesarea were told, on their arrival at that place, that
their banishment was for receiving the Bible as the only infallible
guide in religious matters, they said the Patriarch might as well
banish them all, for they were all of that opinion.
It was reported in Constantinople, that the Patriarch had a list of
five hundred persons suspected of heresy, and that among them were
bishops, priests, and bankers, some of whom were to be banished
immediately. Few dared to visit the missionaries, and those only
under cover of the night. A proclamation was issued by Hagopos,
forbidding the reading of books printed or circulated by the
missionaries, and all who had such books were required to deliver
them up without delay. On the 14th of March, Der Kevork was arrested
and thrown into prison; and when respectable Armenians of Has Keuy
made application for his release, they were rudely told to mind
their own business. After lying in prison for more than a month, he
and several others were banished into the interior. A rich banker,
who had long been on friendly terms with the missionaries, was
arrested and imprisoned in a hospital as an insane person,--a method
of persecution not unfrequently resorted to in Turkey. He was
released after a week's confinement, on paying a large sum for the
college at Scutari.
Nor were the Greek ecclesiastics behind the Armenian in hostility to
the reformation. The Greek Synod and Patriarch issued a decree,
excommunicating all who should buy, sell, or read the books of the
"Luthero-Calvinists;" and condemning in like manner the writings of
Korai, the illustrious restorer of learning among the Greeks, and of
the learned Bambas, the friend of Fisk and Parsons. An imperial
firman was also published, authorizing, and even requiring, the
several Patriarchs to look well to their several communions, and to
guard them from infidelity and foreign influence; thus connecting
the Porte itself with the persecution.
A strong effort was made to procure the expulsion of the
missionaries. Multitudes were active, from diverse motives, to
secure this end. One of the most conspicuous of these was a renegade
Jew, once baptized by an English missionary, but now an infidel who
seemed to have satanic aid in the invention of slanders against
Protestants and Protestantism. Another was a disappointed infidel
teacher, whose malice and bitterness made him a fit ally for the
Jew. The enemy seemed to be having everything in his own way, and
strong was his confidence of success.
At this crisis, Divine Providence interposed. The army of the
Egyptians was on the march towards Constantinople, and the Sultan
deemed it necessary to call upon all the Patriarchs and the chief
Rabbi of the Jews, each to furnish several thousand men for his
army. It was an unprecedented demand, and occasioned great
consternation, but must be obeyed. The army was raised, and was
estimated at eighty thousand. It encountered an Egyptian army of
about the same number on the plains of Nezib near Aleppo, on the
24th of June, and the Turkish troops were scattered in all
directions. The tidings of this disaster never reached Mahmood, as
he died in his palace on the first day of July. A few days after,
the Capudan Pasha surrendered the Turkish fleet to Mohammed Ali; and
on the 11th of July, Abdûl Medjid, a boy of seventeen, was placed
upon the throne. The news of the entire loss of his army and navy
arrived in a few days, and the empire seemed on the verge of
dissolution. It was saved by the intervention of the great powers of
Europe. The apostate Jew, to avoid punishment for various crimes,
professed himself a Mohammedan; and for crimes subsequently
committed, he was strangled by the Turks, and thrown into the
Bosphorus. On the 12th of August, between three and four thousand
houses in Pera were consumed by fire, with the loss of several lives
and an immense amount of property.
The persecution had extended to Broosa and Trebizond; and at
Erzroom, in ancient Armenia, where Mr. Jackson had commenced a new
station, a letter was read from the patriarchate, warning the people
against the Americans, and their schools and books.
The Egyptian war and its consequences broke the power of the
persecution. The Armenian Synod voted to recall all the exiles,
except Hohannes, whom they adjudged to perpetual banishment as the
ringleader of the "Evangelicals." At length an English physician, of
humane feelings, being informed as to the facts in the case, stated
them to one of the sisters of the late Sultan. The result was that,
on the fourteenth of November, an imperial _request_ for Hohannes's
release was sent to the Patriarch. He resorted to various devices,
first to procure the reversal, and then to delay the execution of
the order, which was addressed by the Turkish minister of foreign
affairs to the governor of Cesarea, and had on it the Sultan's
sign-manual, and the seals of several high offices of state. Not
daring to delay longer, on the tenth of February, 1840, he placed
the imperial requisition in the hands of the father of Hohannes, by
whom it was immediately forwarded to Cesarea, and Hohannes arrived
at Constantinople on the twenty-fourth of May.
The persecutors, one after another, were brought low. A change was
made, about this time, in the mode of collecting the revenue of the
empire, rendering the board of Armenian government bankers useless,
and they were directed to settle up their accounts and close their
offices. This reduced some of them to poverty, and stripped them all
of a great part of their power. The Greek Patriarch was deposed, on
complaint by the British Ambassador of his interference with matters
in the Ionian Islands; and the Armenian Patriarch found himself in
trouble with his own people. He was too overbearing, and was
obliged, in November, 1840, to resign his office, to avoid a
forcible deposition; and it was a significant sign of the times,
that Stepan, who had been ejected from office on account of his
forbearance towards the Protestants, was now re-elected; first, by
the vote of the principal bankers, and afterwards by acclamation in
an immense popular assembly convened for the purpose. He was
immediately recognized by the Turkish government.