THE PROTESTANT ARMENIANS

16.03.2010

THE PROTESTANT ARMENIANS

Vahram Hovyan

The Protestant Armenians form one of the layers of the Armenians who belong to different confessions. The Protestantism was spread among Armeniancy in the 19th century. The first Protestant Armenian community was formed in 1846 in Istanbul by order of sultan Abdulmecid. It was called “Protestant nation” (millet). At first the number of the Armenian Protestants grew and they spread over the other regions of the Ottoman Empire including Western Armenia. On the eve of World War I the number of the Protestant Armenians was more than 60 thousand¹. They lived in Adana, Arabkir, Balu, Berri, Evdokia, Erzurum, Talas, Kharberd, Kesaria, Marash, Mezire, Cungus, Partizak, Sebastia, Sis, Sgerd, Sivrihisar, Marsvan, Samsun, Ordu. Carsamba, Van, Istanbul and Ankara².

After the Armenian Genocide the Protestant Armenians just like other Armenians immigrated and settled in different parts of the world. That is why almost in all the Armenian communities the communities of the Protestant Armenians form a kind of sub-layer. After the collapse of the USSR alongside with many other Armenian figures and organizations, Armenian Protestant activists and structures also came to Armenia and started eager activity. Particularly, Armenian Evangelistic Church was re-registered in Armenia in 1994 and acquired the name “Armenian Evangelical Church”. Consequently, the number of the Protestants in Armenia is also increasing.

Despite being conscious of their confessional peculiarity, the Protestant Armenians, nevertheless, have high national morale and they consider themselves a part of the Armeniancy. They do not accept the idea that they are cut off or estranged from the rest of the Armeniancy. In the perceptions of the Protestant Armenians the thesis about the inalienability from the Armeniancy is mostly based on the discussions and argumentations arisen around two principle issues:

The origin of the Protestantism among Armenians. Here they aspire to show that the Protestantism is not alien to the Armenians.
The role and the significance of the Protestants in the history of the Armenian people. An attempt is made to prove that the Protestants made a valuable contribution to solving the issues and problems standing before the Armeniancy during its whole history. Special attention is paid to presenting the well-known Protestant Armenians as worthy sons of the Armenian people.

The issues of origin in the self-perception of the Protestant Armenians

In the issues of origin the Protestant Armenians have their own perceptions which mostly contradict to those widespread opinions according to which the Protestantism was disseminated among Armenians by the foreign missionaries. Among the Protestant Armenians the standpoint that the Protestantism has inner Armenian origin prevails. The foreign missionary activities greatly contributed to the dissemination of the Protestantism but it did not cause its origination. American missionaries simply found fertile ground among Armenians to start up their activity.

The Protestants ground the Armenians origin of the Protestantism or that it has its roots among the Armenians mainly in two plains which can conventionally be called:

Sectarian (Pavlikians and Tondrakians)
Reformist

Sectarian trend regards Protestantism as the successor of the medieval sectarian movements – Pavlikians and Tondrakians. This trend shows the religious commonalities between the Armenian medieval sectarian movements and Protestantism.
Reformist trend insists that the Protestantism formed here back in the 17th century as a result of a reformist (Evangelist) movement within the Armenian Apostolic Church. The initiators and the executors of the reformist movements were the clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

At first the reformist wing of the Armenian Apostolic Church peacefully co-existed with the traditional wing. Though later they were removed from the Armenian Apostolic Church: “… their deceased remained unburied, children not christened, young people unmarried, and they were denied any legal protection…”³. All those problems brought to the necessity of the establishing the new church. In 1846 by order of the Ottoman sultan the Protestant Armenians were recognized as a separate community.

Though these two trends which point out the Armenian origin of the Protestantism are independent from each other, they are of conventional character. The point is that, nevertheless, there is some connection between those two plains. The reformist movement, which had begun since the beginning of the 17th century, sometimes is regarded as a revival of the medieval Armenian sectarianism (Pavlikian and Tondrikian movements). There is a standpoint that though Pavlikian and Tondrakian movements were defeated, they had not been fully eradicated and revived in the 17th century in the face of the reformist movement within the Armenian Apostolic Church. Thus, the Protestantism is considered as a successor of the Pavlikian and Tondrakian sectarian movements in the medieval Armenia.

There is also another, not so widespread point of view, which tends rather to show that the foreign origin of the Protestantism do not deprive the Armenians of their Armenian identity than to prove the Armenian origin of the Protestantism. According to this approach, even if Protestantism was spread among Armenians by the missionary activity of the foreigners, there is nothing to be afraid of. The history of the humanity is the history of reciprocal influence of different civilizations and cultures which, per se, is like a “trade”. Different civilizations, reciprocally influencing each other take and at the same time give their values. Thus, if the Protestantism has entered Armenian reality from the external world, one should not make a tragedy of it. In course of its history Armeniancy has taken lots of values from other civilizations and cultures and at the same time it has contributed as well. If the Armeniancy refuses from the values taken from other civilizations and cultures, its civilizational and cultural treasury will essentially be impoverished. Thus the segment of the Armeniancy which adopted the Protestantism as confessional or religious value from the external world is not reprehensible, particularly when it does not cause the loss of the national identity and crisis of the national morale. The Protestant Armenians are the same Armenians as the others.

The self-perception by the Protestant Armenians of their role in the past and the future of the Armeniancy

The perceptions by the Protestant Armenians of their role in the fortune of the Armeniancy come to the conclusion that the Protestant Armenians, just like other Armenians, suffered persecutions and privations, went through the sorrow which fell to the lots of the Armeniancy. They have made a great contribution to the solution of the problems facing Armeniancy (preserving of the Armenian identity, development of culture and education, social problems and etc). And their stimulus in the actions of the nationwide importance was their Armenian roots and not the Protestantism.

The self-perceptions by the Protestant Armenians concerning their great role in the fortune of the Armeniancy can be divided into several spheres:

Educational and cultural
Preservation of the national identity
Social

In educational and cultural sphere a special importance is allotted to the fact that the Protestant Armenians were the first who translated the Bible into the modern Armenian language and thanks to this Christian values became accessible to the Armenians who do not know Old Armenian (grabar). The Protestant Armenians opened many schools and educational institutions where Armenian children could get education of a high quality.
The important role of the Protestantism in the development of the cultural and educational life is also conditioned by the fact that the appearance of Protestantism caused competition between Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Evangelistic Churches and this led the spiritual and cultural life of the Armeniancy out of the stagnation and became a serious stimulus to the development. Thus the translation of the Bible and opening of the Protestant Armenian schools were followed by the translation of the Holy Script and opening of schools by the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to the Protestants, without this competition Armenian spiritual life would have been doomed.
The role of the Protestant Armenians in the sphere of preservation of the national identity in their personal self-perceptions is particularly important from the point of view returning of the Armenians who are on different stages of assimilation to their roots. In the Ottoman Empire the Protestant missionaries (including Armenians) began their activity among the forcibly Islamized Armenians too and returned them to their roots. This fact is also accepted by the adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Particularly, the Protestant Armenians make a reference to Raffi who wrote: “Arriving to Dersim the Protestants began reading Gospel in Armenian for the Kurdishized Armenians; they taught them their forgotten native tongue. What do we have to say to those preachers? Do we have to say: “Go and preach among the pagans. You have nothing to do with Armenians”?⁴
In the social sphere the Protestant Armenians carried out and continue carrying out many social and beneficial programmes in Armenia and Diaspora. E.g. in 1989 in France the “Hope of Armenia” organization was established which aim was to help in the restoration of the districts demolished during the earthquake in Spitak in 1988 and overcoming the difficulties of the transition period in Armenia⁵.

According to the self-perception of the Protestant Armenians their actions are based not on the religious but on the national morale. The vivid example is the killing of Talaat Pasha by S. Tehlirian in 1921. As Pargev Taragchian mentions S. Tehlirian killed Talaat Pasha not because he was a Protestant but because he was an Armenian⁶. Thus, in the self-perception of the Protestant Armenians the nationwide actions are conditioned by their Armenian roots. The important part of the national identity is the national morale. As Raffi mentions: “…The national unity is not annihilated by the variety of the confessions. The unity should be sought in the harmony of those parts; its main motive should be the nationalism in its high meaning”⁷.

The Protestant Armenians, despite some of their confessional peculiarities, have a clear feeling of being a part of the Armeniancy. Due to the high level of the national morale they constitute the integral part of the Armeniancy.

¹Армянская Евангельская церковь http://www.hierarchy.religare.ru/h-refpresb-aec.html

²Արման Հակոբյան, Բողոքականները Թուրքիայում, http://www.yerkir.am/newspaper/index.php?section=8&id=1287

³Hagop A. Chakmakjian, The Armenian Evangelical Church and The Armenian People http://www.cacc-sf.org/c-aecHAC.html

⁴Պարգեւ Ն. Տարագճեան, Հայ Աւետարանական դիմագիծ http://www.chanitz.org/2009/12/blog-post_2262.html

⁵Interview with the chairman of the Armenian Evangelical Church Reverend, Doctor Rene Levonian. http://www.hayernaysor.am/news.php?p=9&c=0&t=0&r=0&year=2009&month=10&day=12&shownews=3941&LangID=4

⁶Barkev N. Darakjian, Armenian Evangelical Identity: Historical and Theological Perspectives http://www.cacc-sf.org/c-aeidentityBND.html

⁷Րաֆֆի, Ի՞նչ կապ կա մեր և Տաճկաստանի հայերի մեջ, http://www.eanc.net/EANC/library/Fiction/Original/Raffi/Essays_9.htm?page=31&interface_language=en

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