THE ARMENIANS.
1845-1846.
We come now to the grand crisis, when the evangelical Armenians, who
claimed the right of worshipping God according to the teachings of
his Word, were on that account excommunicated, pronounced accursed,
and subjected to a protracted and most cruel persecution. But
inasmuch as this made it necessary to organize Protestant churches
all over the country, it was overruled, in God's providence, for the
furtherance of his kingdom.
Matteos, the leader of this persecution, became Patriarch of
Constantinople in the autumn of 1844. Peshtimaljian, the celebrated,
teacher, who knew him as one of his scholars, said of him, ten years
before, when he was on very friendly terms with the missionaries,
that he was a man of enlightened views, but without principle, and
always governed by what he considered the wishes of those who were
likely to promote his interests. His position as Patriarch was one
of great difficulty. The evangelical doctrines were spreading in all
directions, and their enemies demanded that they be rooted out. A
report was even started, that Matteos himself was a Protestant, and
his convictions were known to have been at one time in that
direction; but his interests and his ambition now led him to oppose.
He had attained the highest post in his nation, and was resolved to
keep it. As the evangelical brethren would not yield, he must, if
possible, put them down. He resolved to sacrifice the Protestants;
and all his powers, personal and official, were employed to
eradicate Protestantism from the land.1
1 Dr. Dwight, in his _Christianity Revived in the East_ is severe on
Bishop Horatio Southgate, of the American Episcopal mission in
Turkey, on the ground of his publicly declared sympathy with the
Patriarch Matteos, and the advice and countenance he was believed to
have given that cruel persecutor. How far the Patriarch was actually
influenced by Bishop Southgate, it is impossible to say; and I have
supposed that at this late day, the demands of history would be
satisfied with this brief allusion to the case. See _Christianity
Revived_, pp. 211-213.
He first secretly directed those among his own flock, who were
patrons or regular customers of the evangelical brethren, silently
to withdraw their patronage. Many of the Protestants thus suddenly
found themselves deprived of business, and that remonstrances
availed nothing, unless they pledged themselves to withdraw from the
preaching of the missionaries. A more decisive measure was, ordering
the priests to hand in to the Patriarch the names of those who did
not come to confession, and partake of the communion, in their
respective churches. All such were threatened with excommunication
and all its dreaded consequences.
As two or three vartabeds and some of the priests continued to
attend the preaching of the missionaries, and others were known to
be friendly, something must be done to operate upon those spiritual
guides of the people. Bedros Vartabed was the first to be made an
example. He was ordered to perform a mass, but declined on
conscientious grounds. He was then instructed to proceed forthwith
to a town on the Russian frontier, ostensibly to take charge of a
diocese, but really to get him where he could easily be conveyed as
a prisoner to the monastery of Echmiadzin. He politely declined to
go, and the Patriarch was not then prepared to resort to force.
After some delay, it was arranged that Bedros should go to the
monastery at Jerusalem. He proceeded no farther, however, than
Beirût, and from thence went to Aleppo and Aintab. His usefulness at
the latter place, and his Christian death at Aleppo, have been
already stated.1
1 See chapter xxi.
The Patriarch's attention was next turned to Priest Vertanes, who
was already in his hands as a prisoner at the monastery of Armash,
whither he had been sent by his predecessor. It was found that he
had been preaching to the monks salvation through the blood of
Christ alone, without the deeds of the law. It was represented to
Matteos, that if the Protestant priest was not removed, the inmates
of the monastery would soon become corrupted. An imperial firman was
therefore procured for his banishment to Cesarea, whither Hohannes
had been sent, six years before, for a like offense. On his way
there, in charge of a Turkish officer, and indeed after his arrival,
he ceased not to preach the Gospel for which he was in bonds. In the
same year the Sultan gave orders, on occasion of a great feast, to
have all the exiles in the country set at liberty, and Vertanes
returned to Constantinople. Letters came to the Patriarch from
Cesarea, soon after, saying that he had seduced many, and that had
he remained there much longer, all would have gone after him.1
1 _Christianity Revived_, p. 152. Authority for most of the
following statements concerning these persecutions, may be found in
the _Missionary Herald_ for 1846: pp. 193-203, 218-230, 263-273,
298-304, 397-406; and for 1847, pp. 16-22, 37-45, 75-83, 150,
193-199, 264-273, 298-301, 372-374. The account of them given by Dr.
H. G. O. Dwight, in his work entitled _Christianity Revived in the
East_, published in 1850, is so well written, that I cannot confer
upon the reader a greater favor than by a free, though much
abridged, use of his language.
At the metropolis there were restraints upon the hierarchy, that
were unfelt in the provinces. Ephrem, bishop of Erzroom, had once
acknowledged the errors of his Church, and had often strongly
expressed his desires for reform, though now among the most zealous
and persevering of the persecutors. The same was lamentably true of
Boghos, Vartabed of Trebizond. Ephrem and Boghos had actually
suffered persecution, on the charge of being Protestants. The change
in their conduct was owing to the change in their relations, and to
their loving the praise of men more than the praise of God.
The Bishop of Erzroom exceeded all others in bitterness against the
followers of the Gospel. He had spies in every part of the town, and
often upon the roofs of houses adjacent to the dwellings of the
missionaries, to observe who were their visitors. He never allowed
disobedience to his orders to go unpunished. The bastinado was
repeatedly applied under his own eye, merely for an expression
indicating reverence for the Word of God. Twenty blows were
inflicted on the bare feet of a young man, and he was thrown into
prison, because he had sold a copy of the Psalms in modern Armenian,
and called at the house of a missionary. A teacher of a country
school was severely bastinadoed for teaching the Gospel to the
villagers. A merchant, who had early embraced the truth, was cruelly
beaten in the bishop's own room, and the people were commanded to
spit in his face in the streets, merely because he visited the
missionary. A priest, for showing so much sympathy as to call upon
him, was summoned before the bishop and bastinadoed. Another, who
had called once at Mr. Peabody's house and procured some books, was
seized, put in irons, and thrown into prison, and his books were
burnt before his eyes. In most cases these violent measures
confirmed the individuals in their new ways; and the truth is said
never to have made so much progress among the permanent Armenian
residents of Erzroom, as during the period of these outrages.
One principal reason for the determination of the ecclesiastics to
uproot Bible religion from Erzroom, was the central and consequently
influential position of that city in the interior of Armenia. In the
district of Pasin, to the east, were nearly two hundred villages, in
which Mr. Peabody found both priests and people remarkably
accessible. In the nearer villages, a few were always found so much
awake to the truth as to pay little regard to the injunctions of
their spiritual rulers, who were opposed to Bible teachings. Not
unfrequently individuals from Egin, Diarbekir, and other distant
places, called on Messrs. Peabody and Smith for religious inquiry. A
tour of Haritûn of Nicomedia to Sivas, Erzroom, Egin, etc., brought
to light many encouraging facts in those places. In every important
place some inquirers were found, and only laborers seemed needful to
gather in an abundant harvest.
The author can bear witness to the increase of intelligence at
Trebizond. The quiet preaching of the word by Messrs. Johnston and
Bliss, and the distribution of the Scriptures and other evangelical
books, had, by the blessing of God, moved many minds, and taught the
difference between truth and error; and they gladly availed
themselves of every opportunity to come together for conference and
prayer. Not many, however, were willing to run much risk for the
truth's sake, and few gave satisfactory evidence of being "born
again."
A young man of superior attainments in Trebizond, belonging to the
Papal Armenians, died in the spring of 1844, giving the most
satisfactory evidence of conversion. His priest had made every
effort to reclaim him, but Mugurdich, for that was his name, was
very decided, and a few days before his death made a formal
renunciation of his Church in writing, and peacefully committed his
all to Christ. His body was not allowed a burial in the graveyard,
or with the usual religious ceremonies, but was carried out at a
late hour, in a dark stormy night, by common street porters, under
the direction of a Turkish police-officer, and buried in a waste
place about a mile out of the city. His priest had threatened to
bury him like a dog; but he told them, at the time, that they could
thus do him no harm, as they could not reach his soul.
The Vartabed in this city was not deemed sufficiently energetic as a
persecutor. But Boghos, his successor, was. On receiving
instructions from the Patriarch in the spring of 1845, he
immediately set the whole persecuting machinery in motion. And so
terrific did it become, that in the space of ten days about one half
of the Bible readers had recanted.
Just at this juncture, a highly respected evangelical inhabitant of
Trebizond, named Tateos, returned from a visit to Constantinople,
Smyrna, Broosa, Nicomedia, and Adabazar, whither he had been to make
the acquaintance of the missionaries and native brethren in those
places. Fearing the influence of such a man, the persecuting party
resolved to put him out of the way. He was accordingly decoyed on
board the steamer as it was leaving for Constantinople, thrust down
into the hold, and confined there by order of the Turkish Pasha.
Thus was he torn from his affectionate wife and children, and
carried off like a felon, they knew not whither, without even the
show of a trial. Arriving at the capital, he was taken to the
Armenian hospital, and shut up in the mad-house. Placed in a sitting
posture, he was fastened with two chains, one from his neck to the
wall, the other from his feet to the floor. Orders from the
Patriarchate were, that no one should have access to him, but some
of the native brethren discovered the place of his confinement, and
gained admittance. He was then removed to another place, where it
was believed he could not be found. On the Sabbath, the eighth day
of his imprisonment, while the Armenian congregation was engaged in
singing in the chapel at Pera, he entered, a free man! Much prayer
had been offered for him, and his sudden liberation reminded all of
Peter the Apostle. Sir Stratford Canning had been informed of his
case, and there was no doubt that the remonstrances of this
benevolent statesman had caused the Patriarch to loosen his grasp
upon this innocent victim of his oppression.
But whatever was the influence exerted to moderate the proceedings
of the Patriarch in this case, he was fully resolved not to fail of
success. In the beginning of 1846, he entered upon the more decisive
course of subjecting the evangelical Armenians to the pains and
penalties of excommunication. He began with Vertanes, who escaped
arrest only through the friendly agency of his landlord, (not a
Protestant,) and was concealed for several weeks in the house of a
friend. At the patriarchal church, after the morning service,
January 25th, the church was darkened by extinguishing the candles,
the great veil was drawn in front of the altar, and a bull of
anathema was solemnly read against Priest Vertanes; and, on the next
Sabbath, against all who were of his sentiments,--"followers," as
the instrument read, "of the corrupt new sect, who are accursed,
excommunicated, and anathematized." Vertanes was denounced in the
usual style of such documents, as "a contemptible wretch," "a
vagabond," "a seducer of the people," "a traitor and murderer of
Christ," "a child of the devil," "an offspring of Antichrist," and
"worse than an infidel or a heathen." "Wherefore," says the
Patriarch, "we expel him, and forbid him, as a devil and a child of
the devil, to enter into the company of our believers; we cut him
off from the priesthood, as an amputated member of the spiritual
body of Christ, and as a branch cut off from the vine, which is good
for nothing but to be cast into the fire. By this admonitory bull, I
therefore command and warn my beloved in every city far and near,
not to look upon his face, regarding it as the face of Belial, not
to receive him into your holy dwellings, for he is a house
destroying and ravening wolf; not to receive his salutation, but to
refuse it as a soul-destroying poison; and to beware, with all your
households, of the seducing and impious followers of the false
doctrine of modern sectarists, and to pray for them to the God who
remembereth not iniquity, if perchance, they may repent, and turn
from their wicked paths, and secure the salvation of their souls,
through the grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is
blessed forever and ever. Amen."1
1 _Missionary Herald_, 1846, pp. 197, 198.
The Patriarch immediately issued orders to his clergy, to see that
the temporal penalties threatened in the anathema were all
inflicted. Most of the clergy obeyed these orders with good will,
but some reluctantly. The leading men in the different trade
corporations were required to deprive the persons anathematized, and
their families, of their employments and means of living, and they
evinced more pitiless zeal than did even the clergy. Many of the
brethren were forcibly driven from their houses and shops, and some
were expelled even from the paternal roof. A form of recantation was
drawn up, and a new creed, and these were sent throughout the
country for the signature of the Protestants. The evangelical
brethren were everywhere summoned before their ecclesiastical rulers
for this purpose. The creed contained the worst errors of Popery.
The recantation required was, in substance, a confession that "being
deceived by the enticements of Satan" they had "separated from the
spotless bosom of the holy Church," and had "lovingly joined the
impious New Sectaries," which they now saw to be "nothing else but
an invention of arrogance, a snare of Satan, a sect of confusion, a
broad road which leadeth to destruction." Wherefore repenting of
their "impious deeds," they "fled again to the bosom of the
immaculate and holy Armenian Church," and confessed that "her faith
is spotless, her sacraments divine, her rites of apostolic origin,
her ritual pious," and promised to receive "whatever this same holy
Church receiveth, whether it be a matter of faith or ceremony," and
to "reject with anathemas whatever doctrines she rejects."1
1 Appendix to _Christianity Revived in the East_, p. 272.
The persecutions designed to enforce this bold and cruel measure,
both at Constantinople and elsewhere, were too numerous to be fully
set forth in this history. It appears, from a statement drawn up by
the missionaries at Constantinople, that nearly forty persons, in
that city alone, had their shops closed and their licenses taken
away, and were thus debarred from laboring for an honest livelihood.
Nearly seventy were ejected from their own hired houses, and
sometimes from houses owned by themselves, and were thus exposed as
vagabonds, to be taken up by the patrol and committed to prison; and
could find shelter only in houses provided for the emergency at
Pera, or Galata, through the charity of Europeans or Americans. To
increase the distress, bakers were forbidden to furnish them with
bread, and water-carriers to supply them with water. Thirty or more
persons were exiled, imprisoned, or bastinadoed, on no other charge
than their faith. Many were compelled to dissolve partnerships, and
bring their accounts to a forced settlement, involving their utter
ruin. Where the agents of the Patriarch ascertained that debts were
due from the anathematized to faithful sons of the Church, the
latter, however reluctant, were compelled to urge an immediate
settlement.1
1 _Annual Report_ for 1846, p. 98.
Dr. Dwight gives us a glimpse of the working of the Anathema in the
following narrative: "At one time the Patriarch called before him
several of the leading Protestants, and sought to win them by
gentleness and argument. When he found that they could outreason
him, he said, rather petulantly, 'What is the use of your talking? I
only called you to sign this paper. If you cannot do it, you may go,
and next Sabbath you will all be anathematized.'
"One of the number he retained for a more private conversation. This
was Mr. Apisoghom Khachadûrian, who afterwards became the first
Protestant pastor. After those present had been sent away, the
Patriarch, with a great show of kindness, entreated our brother to
yield to the demands of the Church, for the sake of peace. 'Let me
know,' said he, 'how much you receive as a salary from those men
(meaning us), and I will pledge myself to secure more for you, if
you will only come over to our side.' Ap. Khachadûrian begged the
Patriarch not to pain his feelings again by addressing to him any
such motives, which, in a matter of such solemn moment, were worthy
of no consideration.
"The Patriarch then said: 'If you will only come back to us, you may
retain your own private opinions and nobody shall molest you; only
you must not speak of them to others. Why should you preach? You are
no priest.'
"_K_. 'I cannot return on any such conditions. It is every man's
duty to try to enlighten his neighbors in things pertaining to
salvation, so far as he understands the Gospel.'
"_Patriarch_. 'But, if the evangelical men are permitted to remain
in the Church on such conditions, the time is not distant when they
will make the whole Church evangelical.'
"_K_. 'And what if they should? Would it be a calamity to our people
to receive the Word of God as a body, and endeavor to follow it? You
well know that this is the true way. You know that you confessed
this to me some years ago. The course you are now pursuing will be
destructive to our nation. I well understand your motive. You have
been called a Protestant, and you seek to wipe this blot from your
name; but have you not already done enough? Surely everybody must be
convinced, by this time, that you are an Armenian, and no
Protestant. Desist, I beseech you, from this work; for your own
sake, I beseech you desist; otherwise it may result in something
very bad for you.'
"_Patriarch_. 'Why? what will they (meaning the missionaries) do
unto me?'
"_K_. 'They will do nothing to you, but your own nation will, if you
go on in this way.'
"This conversation continued for some time, and the Patriarch's
conscience seemed, for the moment, to be touched by our brother's
faithful appeals, and he looked very thoughtful. He requested Mr.
Khachadûrian to call again after two days, which he accordingly did,
but was not received. A vartabed was sent to say, that if he
continued of the same mind as before, the Patriarch did not wish to
see him; and on the following Sabbath he was publicly anathematized
in all the churches."1
1 _Christianity Revived_, pp. 199-201.
Soon after this anathema, the persecuted brethren addressed a letter
to the Patriarch, explaining their religious sentiments, and asking
to be relieved from their sufferings. This producing no effect, they
addressed themselves to the Primates of the Armenian community, but
no one of them was disposed to interfere in their behalf. At length
they presented a petition to Reschid Pasha, Turkish Minister of
Foreign Affairs. This petition was treated with respect; but, owing
to the influence of some of the Armenian Primates, it procured no
relief. Subsequently they carried their case before the English,
Prussian, and American Ministers, asking their intervention. These
gentlemen took the kindest interest in their case, and made repeated
efforts to procure redress. Still the persecution went on. The
Patriarch even ventured, within a month after the excommunication,
to send the names of thirteen leading Protestants to the Porte,
requesting their banishment. This was going a step too far. The
English Ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, had called the attention
of the Turkish ministry to the pledge given, three years before, by
the Sultan, that "henceforth there should be no more persecution for
religious opinions in Turkey;" and it was now decided, in accordance
with this pledge, that the persecution of the evangelical Armenians
could not be allowed.
Scores of men, women, and children were wandering houseless, for the
faith of Jesus, in the streets of the great metropolis, but they
could not be left thus to suffer. Through the kindness of Mr. Allan,
missionary of the Free Church of Scotland to the Jews, twenty
individuals were comfortably lodged in a large building he had
secured for a chapel and mission house. For the rest, the
missionaries hired such tenements as could be found; at the same
time providing bread for those cut off from all means of procuring
their own subsistence. Nor was any time lost in appealing for aid to
evangelical Christians throughout the world; and responses were
received from the United States, from England, from every country in
Europe, and from India; and five hundred dollars were contributed by
foreign Protestant residents on the ground.
One good resulting from this evil should not be overlooked. The
evangelical brethren in Constantinople had lived scattered over a
territory eight or ten miles in diameter, so that they could rarely,
if ever, come together. But while driven from their homes, and
sheltered by the hand of Christian charity, they were, for many
weeks, almost in one neighborhood, with abundant opportunity to
cultivate each other's acquaintance. Most of their time, indeed, was
spent in social prayer and religious conference; the effects of
which were seen in a deeper interest felt for one another, and in a
stronger bond of union.1
1 _Christianity Revived_, p. 208.
Early in March, Reschid Pasha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
called up the Armenian Patriarch, and charged him to desist from his
present course. This was an important point gained. It was now
virtually decided, that the evangelical subjects of the Porte could
have a civil existence in Turkey, without being under the spiritual
dominion of the Patriarch.1
1 _Missionary Herald_, 1846, p. 218.
But freedom from the Patriarch's civil power they did not actually
attain until their full and formal recognition as a Protestant
community. In point of fact, there was no material relief from the
persecution; though the Patriarch issued a pamphlet, about this
time, utterly denying that there was any. He even proclaimed from
the pulpit, that religion was free in Turkey. There was no doubt a
change for the better in the Turkish government, and the Patriarch
was gradually learning that persecution for religious opinions was
not to be allowed. Therefore he felt constrained to use every
artifice, so that nothing should seem to be done contrary to law;
and, if possible, so that no ambassador should be able to prove upon
him an act of persecution. At that very time, however, thirty-four
shops were closed in Constantinople, and their former occupants were
forcibly kept from resuming their business, merely because they did
not subscribe to the Patriarch's creed. This was all, however, under
the pretense of law. The Patriarch was the civil head of the
Armenian community, and as such was responsible to the government
for every trade. No person could open a shop without a license, and
each trade was incorporated, and regulated by a small committee of
the most prominent persons in that business. The license came from
this committee; and each one taking out a license was required to
give two or more sureties for good conduct. Licenses were refused to
the evangelical Armenians; or if not, they were not accepted as
sureties for each other, and none others ventured to assume the
relation. Thus, until the slow moving Turk discovered the abuse, the
persecutor pursued his work with impunity under the broad shield of
the law.
It was specially so in the interior. One of the most trying cases of
persecution was that of Priest Haritûn at Nicomedia, whose
conversion was mentioned in connection with that of Vertanes, more
than twelve years before. When Der Vertanes was anathematized, the
bishop of Nicomedia required Haritûn to write a confession of his
faith, in order to show the people that he was a true son of the
Armenian Church. The document was far from being satisfactory, and
his letter appended to it was still less so, for in that he affirmed
the Holy Scriptures to be the only infallible rule of faith and
practice, and declared his willingness to receive whatever
punishment was prepared for him. He was naturally timid, but now he
was filled with the spirit of martyrdom. He was brought to the
church on the Sabbath, and the bishop, after reading his confession,
immediately pronounced him excommunicated and accursed. Two priests
then violently tore his clerical robes from his shoulders, and with
boisterous shouts, cried, "Drive the accursed one from the church."
The excited rabble now fell upon him, and with kicks and blows
thrust him into the street. All this he received with the greatest
meekness, and returned to his house exceeding glad that he was
counted worthy "to suffer for the name of Jesus."
The bishop then sent him a paper of recantation to sign. Refusing to
do this, he was by an easy artifice, thrown into prison. Finding
that he owed small sums to different individuals, the debts were all
bought up by a magnate of the place, and immediate payment was
required. Being unable to meet the demand, as it was well known he
would be, he was cast into prison. It was under sanction of the law.
After thirteen days, he was conducted by a soldier to the bishop's
palace, where the Patriarch's creed was offered for his signature.
When they could not persuade him to sign it, he was threatened with
the loss of his beard, which was considered the greatest indignity
to a priest. He replied, "For the wonderful name of Christ, I am,
God helping me, ready even to shed my blood." A barber was called
in, and not only his beard, but all the hair from his head was
shaved off. They then tore his clerical cap, and cast it into a
filthy corner of the street, together with the hair and beard. A mob
of boys now fastened the beard and the disfigured cap to the end of
a long pole, and paraded through all the wards of the city,
shouting, "Heads out! behold the cap of the accursed Haritûn." He
was afterwards sent back to prison, the soldiers leading him by a
circuitous route to prolong his sufferings, and the mob continually
following him with opprobrious language. "I entered the prison," he
wrote to a native brother, "with a joyful heart, committing myself
to God, and giving glory to Him, that He had enabled me to pass
through fire and sword, and brought me to a place of repose."
The Turkish governor of the prison, moved by pity, immediately
released the unoffending old man. Passing through a Turkish burying
ground, he reached his home unobserved. It was the Sabbath day, and
he says, "Being delivered from the hands of reckless men, I fell
down on my face about the eighth hour, with my wife alone, and gave
glory to God that He had accounted me worthy of such an honor, which
I formerly avoided, but now by his grace he has made me cheerfully
to receive, though I am altogether unworthy. He has kept me for such
a day."
Haritûn's inability to pay his debts subjected him to a second
imprisonment; but as his cup increased in bitterness, his resolve
was the more firmly fixed, never to deny his Lord and Saviour. His
spotless reputation, and his meekness in suffering, procured for him
many friends, even among the Mohammedans.1
1 _Missionary Herald_, 1846, pp. 219-223, 366.
It deserves to be recorded, that the magnate who secured his
imprisonment, was thrown from his horse, not long after, and
received a fracture of the skull, from which he died; and his
splendid mansion was subsequently consumed by fire.
After having thus cruelly treated Priest Haritûn, the bishop
summoned the evangelical brethren before him, as a body, and so
wrought upon their fears, that they all agreed to sign the paper of
recantation. Some of them, however, declared to the bishop, at the
time, that they should continue to read the Gospel, and come
together for prayer; and he assured them, that he merely wanted
their signatures as a matter of form, and that they should be left
at liberty to believe and act as they pleased. But they lost all
peace of mind from that moment, until they had abjured their
recantation, and publicly declared their determination to abide by
the doctrines of the Gospel, even unto death. This was in March,
1846. They were all soon after excommunicated.
At Adabazar, there was much suffering. Four of the brethren were
seized for debt, and thrown into prison. The Protestants were
assailed with hootings and curses. Fresh outrages were of daily
occurrence. A native brother, named Hagop, on his way from Adabazar
to a village an hour distant, was passed by one of the persecutors
on horseback, who turned upon him and cruelly beat him. Returning
home with eyes and forehead swollen and blackened, and his limbs
bloody from the blows he had received, he was taken by his friends
to the Turkish governor, and two Turks came in as witnesses; but the
governor refused to give him a hearing. Soon after, the houses of
the brethren were stoned, and some of them were imprisoned on false
pretenses, while the governor and judge, though perfectly aware of
these things, cared not for them. Emboldened thus, the chief ruler
of the Armenians headed a band of about fifty desperate fellows, and
went in the evening to the house of Hagop, who had been beaten a few
days before, broke down the door, rushed up-stairs, and, in the
presence of his family, beat him on his nose and mouth, and wherever
else the blows happened to fall, and threw him down stairs. They
there beat him again, pushed him into the street, and dragged him to
a place of confinement. Other brethren were subjected to similar
violence, until the mob became so outrageous that the governor and
judge were obliged to interfere.1
1 _Missionary Herald_, 1846, p. 270.
At Trebizond, a young man, refusing to sign the recantation, was
beaten on the soles of his feet, the vartabed aiding with his own
hands in inflicting the blows. He was afterwards thrown into a
miserable stable as a prison; water was plentifully poured upon the
cold, damp ground on which he stood with mangled feet; his hands
were tied behind him by the two thumbs; a rope was passed under his
shoulders and fastened to a beam over his head; and in this
torturing condition he was left to stand during the night. Orders
were also issued that no one should give him food. After being kept
here nearly two days, with some mitigations, and repeatedly
importuned to sign the recantation, with terrific threatenings in
case he did not, the sufferer was induced to yield. The
ecclesiastics were encouraged by this to bastinado and imprison all
who refused to comply. Those who could, fled to the house of the
missionary, and ten men were at one time lodged in the chapel, and
fed at his table.
This mode of proceeding could not continue. The British Consul
interposed and gave information to the Pasha, who arrested the
barbarous proceedings, and virtually advised the brethren to secede
from their persecuting Church. Mr. Powers thought the effect of
these sufferings had been salutary on all the brethren.1
1 _Missionary Herald_, 1806, [sic, 1846?] pp. 298-300.
Another case occurred at the remote station of Erzroom, and I
mention it because of the extreme violence of the persecutors,
though regretting that they partially gained their point. The man
was a recent convert, but his answers when interrogated, were so
judicious and decisive, and so sustained by Scripture proofs that
his adversaries were unable to reply. The main question was, whether
he would worship the sacred pictures. This he refused to do,
whereupon he was severely bastinadoed; and afterwards some of the
priests kicked him, spat in his face, and smote him on the face,
till the blood gushed from his nose and mouth. He was then put in
chains, and thrust into a cold prison, without being allowed water
to wash the blood from his face, though he earnestly requested it.
During the evening two priests went to his prison, and he begged
them to secure his removal to a stable. They called him a dog, and
told him he could receive no favor unless he submitted in
everything. This he said he could never do. He was afterwards
removed to a stable, and the next day was brought before his
persecutors and required to sign a creed they had drawn up. This he
did, after the most objectionable parts had been erased. Emboldened
by this, and by the refusal of the Pasha to protect the sufferer,
the ecclesiastics next Sabbath ordered the same man to appear before
them, and he was immediately thrust into prison. In the evening he
was taken into the church and brought before the altar, where, in
the presence of a great multitude, curses were heaped upon him
without measure. The vartabed who performed this service, used
language fitted to stir up the worst passions of the people; many of
whom being partially intoxicated, became so enraged that when the
brother was conducted to the vartabed's room they grossly abused
him, not only by words, but by blows and spitting in his face. They
crowded the door, declaring that he was worthy of death, and that
they were ready to shed his blood, even if for so doing, they should
have to shed their own, and it was with difficulty they were
prevented from rushing upon him. Indeed some actually entered and
kicked him on the head as he was seated on the floor, without one
word of rebuke from the ecclesiastics. Their object was to compel
him to sign a paper recently sent them by the Patriarch. He told
them he could never heartily sign such a paper. "No matter about
your _heart_," they exclaimed, "perform the outward act." In
consequence of this remark, and terrified by the mob, which seemed
panting to lay violent hands upon him, and into the midst of whom he
was to be thrust if he did not sign his name, he at length yielded,
and the next morning his sentence of excommunication was revoked.
A month later, this man much regretted having done so, even under
such a pressure, and had no thought of abandoning the new religious
life. He continued his efforts to enlighten the dark minds of those
to whom he had access, though by so doing, he exposed himself to new
trials.1
1 Mr. Peabody, in Missionary Herald, 1846, pp. 265-267.