Armenian Genocide

Recalling that it was for only 30 silver shekels that Judas betrayed the Lord 

An excerpt from
"Armenian History"
by Levon Zekiyan

Persians ruled Eastern Armenia until 1828, when it was annexed by Russia. However, it was the Ottoman Turks who governed most of the Armenian land and population (Western Armenia). During the 19th century, Armenians under Turkish rule suffered from discrimination, heavy taxation and armed attacks.

As Christians, Armenians lacked legal recourse for injustices. They were taxed beyond their means, forbidden to bear arms in a country where murdering a non-Muslim often went unpunished, and were without the right to testify in court on their own behalf. During the late l9th century, the increasingly reactionary politics of the declining Ottoman Empire and the awakening of the Armenians culminated in a series of Turkish massacres throughout the Armenian provinces in 1894-96. Any illusion the Armenians had cherished to the effect that the acquisition of power in 1908 by the Young Turks might bring better days was soon dispelled. For in the spring of 1909, yet another orgy of bloodshed took place in Adana, where 30,000 Armenians lost their lives after a desperate resistance. World War I offered a good opportunity for Turks to "solve the issue." In 1915, a secret military directive ordered the arrest and prompt execution of Armenian community leaders.

Armenian males serving in the Ottoman army were separated from the rest and slaughtered. The Istanbul government decided to deport the entire Armenian population. Armenians in towns and villages were marched into deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia. During the "relocation" many were flogged to death, bayoneted, buried alive in pits, drowned in rivers, beheaded, raped or abducted into harems. Many simply expired from heat exhaustion and starvation. 1.5 million people perished in this first genocide of the 20th century. Another wave of massacres occurred in Baku (1918), Shushi (1920) and elsewhere.

The defeat of the Ottoman Turks in World War I and the disintegration of the Russian Empire gave the Armenians a chance to declare their independence. On May 28, 1918, the independent Republic of Armenia was established, after the Armenians forced the Turkish troops to withdraw in the battles of Sardarapat, Karakilisse and Bashabaran. Overwhelming difficulties confronted the infant republic, but amid these conditions the Armenians devoted all their energies to the pressing task of reconstructing their country. But due to pressure exerted simultaneously by the Turks and Communists, the republic collapsed in 1920. Finally, the Soviet Red Army moved into the territory (Eastern Armenia) and on November 29, 1920, declared it a Soviet republic. Armenia was made part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic in 1922, and in 1936, it became one of the Soviet Union's constituent republics.

The tumultuous changes occurring throughout the Soviet Union beginning in the 1980's inevitably had repercussions in Armenia. In 1988, a movement of support began in Armenia for the constitutional struggle of Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) Armenians to exercise their right to self-determination. (This predominantly Armenian populated autonomous region had been placed under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan by an arbitrary decision of Stalin in 1923.)

That same year, in 1988, Armenia was rocked by severe earthquakes that killed thousands, and supplies from both the Soviet Union and the West were blocked by the Azerbaijani Government fighting the Armenians in Nagorno Karabagh. Both of these issues have dominated Armenia's political arena since the first democratic election held in Armenia during the Soviet era. In 1990, the Armenian National Movement won a majority of seats in the parliament and formed a government. On September 21, 1991, the Armenian people overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence in a national referendum, and an independent Armenia came into being.

Wednesday's Wages are a series of posts which highlight past and present struggles faced by Eastern and Oriental Catholics including the topics of bioethics and persecution. Do you know of a homily, lecture, interview or biography which you think should be featured here? Leave a comment to let me know.

Holy Ghost in McKees Rocks, PA

Monday's Map: We're traveling with the angels! 

Today we're flying over to McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, USA where you'll find the Byzantine Catholic (Ruthenian) parish of Holy Ghost.

 

The parish has Eastern Christian formation (religious education) classes every week, is surrounded with beautiful iconography and stained glass, and maintains a mission location in northern Pittsburgh. Their Sunday Liturgy is broadcast on WEDO and streamed online from 9-10 AM EST. They also maintain a presence on Facebook, which you can find here.

Their website has a wealth of information including numerous articles for those unfamiliar with the Byzantine Church or making a first visit. Check it out! http://www.holyghost-byzantinecatholic.org/

Liturgy schedule:

• Saturdays until April 2011 4:00 PM (Anticipated Divine Liturgy--typically 6:00 PM)
• Sundays 9:00 AM (Divine Liturgy)
• Sundays 9:00 AM (Divine Liturgy broadcast on 810 AM WEDO)
• Sundays 10:30-11:15 AM (Eastern Christian formation classes)
• Sundays 11:00 AM (Divine Liturgy at mission location)
• Weekdays 8:00 AM (Divine Liturgy)
• Holy Days 9:00 AM (Divine Liturgy)

The parish is currently served by the following:

• Fr. Frank A. Firko
• An extremely proficient crew of altar servers, so I hear.

Monday's Map gives updates on the Universal Map project and highlights Eastern and Oriental Catholic institutions as well as those who run and serve them.

Social Saturdays (2/05/11)

It's Saturday! That means we're chatting with the living and praying for the dead. 

Prayer Requests: 

• For Jim F., whose diabetes is swinging to extremes requiring emergency attention, that his doctors are able to restore him to health. Also for his wife K that the Holy Spirit guide and direct her in peace and contentment.
• In thanksgiving that Father Deacon Stan is stable and home and for his continued restoration of health.
• For all those traveling this weekend, that they return home safely.
• For Australians affected by cyclones and flooding, that they be protected as they begin the rebuilding process.
• For Christians in Europe, Egypt, Somalia, China, the Middle East, and around the world who are persecuted for their faith.

Continuing Prayer Requests: 

• For the souls of the reposed, especially of Kaye, Tim L., Mother Nadia Baranik, Fr. Constantine Brown, Elaine Dorko, Helen Boytim, and George Michael Ritchey.
• For the infant Gregory, and his parents and doctors, that he be restored to the fullness of health.
• For an abused woman and mother, A, who is in desperate straits and in need of many prayers.
• For Kat's family, including their current and future children, that they be restored to health and guided in discernment and finances in their next adoption. (Kat has other prayer requests at the link.)
• For Francisco and his mother who are surrounded by violence that the Lord protect them and give them hope and peace as well as guide them to jobs that allow them to provide for their needs and glorify Him.
• For all of our clergy, religious, and monastics that they be directed in strength, courage, patience, and fortitude to radically live God's will for their lives.
• For mothers, that they not abort their offspring; for infants in danger of being put to death in the womb; for a change of heart of providers of abortions and of their collaborators; for human victims of stem cell research, genetic manipulation, cloning, and euthanasia; and for all entrusted with the government of peoples, that they may promote the "Culture of Life" so as to put an end to the "culture of death."
• For Your Word From The Wise and all who are connected to it, that it may bring glory to God.
• For the intentions of those who are praying.

Do you have a prayer request you'd like to add? Please put it in the comment box any time this week so we can pray with you.

---

---

What's going on at Your Word From The Wise?

• I followed up on the interviews that are out.
• I researched several upcoming blog posts.
• I got my first unsolicited email! It's a short book. The cover letter was 12 pages long! From what I gleaned from my skimming, it is a Protestant-inspired personal revelation which might have gnostic leanings. I feel so official now.
• I've been having trouble with Facebook. The posts show on the Your Word From the Wise page wall, but don't show in my feed. Some friends see it in their feed while others don't. I think it is a Facebook issue and not something I can affect. Please check the blog or the fan page directly while Facebook works out the kinks.

Praying for the Dead in the Syro-Malabar Church

The commemoration of the dead was also given special importance. When a person died, his body was washed, dressed and anointed with perfumed oil before it was exposed before the community to pay due homage. Usually, the dead body was placed facing the East. Till the purification of the house after the burial, no food was prepared or eaten in the house. After the burial service, the members of the family would gather in the house in the presence of the parish priest and say special prayers for fhe dead and sprinkle holy water to purify the house. There were also special observances for the commemoration of the dead on the 7th, 16th, 28th, and 41st day after the demise. The annual ceremony to commemorate the dead is known as sradham or chattam. Till the commemoration on the 41st day only vegetarian meals were served in the house.

The above is an excerpt from an article on the catechetical heritage of the Syro-Malabar Church on the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly's webpage for the Department of Catechesis and Bible Apostolate.

Social Saturdays feature homilies, lectures, interviews, and biographies related to funerals, memorials, and prayers for the dead. Do thou thyself, Lord, give them rest there in the land of the living, in thy kingdom, in the delight of Paradise.

Anger, Desire, Timidity and Envy

Friday's Fast: Focusing on the Cross 

The righteous path leads from matter, to the spirit, to life. Whoever fixes his attention on the radiance and grace of this beauty, will take something from It and will be marked by It, as though by a dye, when he exposes his own face to its colored rays. In this way the face of Moses, who participated in this Beauty, was glorified during his communion with God.

Anger, desire, timidity and envy all confuse the soul's intuition. In the same way that a dull eye does not perceive visible objects, it is also impossible to attain a knowledge of truth with a troubled heart. Therefore, we should withdraw from worldly affairs and not introduce superfluous thoughts into our souls.

-St. Basil

Friday's Fast features homilies, lectures, interviews, and biographies on topics such as prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and repentance. For in the cross of Christ crucified lies both the power of God and the wisdom of God for those being saved (I Corinthians 1:24).

Live Webcast Tonight (2/3/11)

1 There are two ways, one of life and one of death; and between the two ways there is a great difference.

2 Now, this is the way of life: …

The second commandment of the Teaching: "Do not murder; do not commit adultery"; do not corrupt boys; do not fornicate; "do not steal"; do not practice magic; do not go in for sorcery; do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant. "Do not covet your neighbor's property; do not commit perjury; do not bear false witness"; do not slander; do not bear grudges. Do not be double-minded or double-tongued, for a double tongue is "a deadly snare." Your words shall not be dishonest or hollow, but substantiated by action. Do not be greedy or extortionate or hypocritical or malicious or arrogant. Do not plot against your neighbor. Do not hate anybody; but reprove some, pray for others, and still others love more than your own life. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles from The Didache (1st Cen. AD)

---

The pro-life movement is uniting TONIGHT on a huge nationwide webcast to respond to the recent videos which show yet more Planned Parenthood clinics/employees involved in covering up human sex trafficking of minors.

The webcast will be live-streamed at http://www.exposeplannedparenthood.com/ 

on Thursday, February 3rd at 8:30 PM Eastern, 

7:30 PM Central, 6:30 PM Mountain, 5:30 PM Pacific Time. 

On the webcast, you’ll hear the latest from nationally respected pro-life leaders on how we must respond right now to the shocking video. It is not recommended for minors. Presenters include:

• LILA ROSE, Live Action 
• MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, Susan B. Anthony List 
• TONY PERKINS, Family Research Council 
• DAVID BEREIT, 40 Days for Life 
• ABBY JOHNSON, Former Planned Parenthood Director, Now Pro-Life Activist and Author 
• DR. ALVEDA KING, Priests for Life 
• WENDY WRIGHT, Concerned Women for America 
• CHARMAINE YOEST, Americans United for Life Action 
• STEVE WAGNER, The Renewal Forum 

During the event, you will:

• Watch key parts of the undercover video, narrated by Lila Rose, President of Live Action 
• Learn how Planned Parenthood is aiding and abetting in alleged human trafficking while receiving MILLIONS of our tax dollars 
• Discover what YOU can do about it 

We look forward to seeing you there tonight! Learn More.

The Minnesota Blizzard's Americanism

Recalling that it was for only 30 silver shekels that Judas betrayed the Lord 

A Roman Catholic archbishop who was nicknamed the "Minnesota Blizzard" was so convinced of the heresy of Americanism that it led him to drive what eventually became tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of Ruthenian Catholics out of the Catholic Church, leading to the new nickname of "The Father of American Orthodoxy" in reference to the Ruthenians who joined the Russian Orthodox Church in Archbishop Ireland's wake. Below is a short excerpt from Marvin Richard O'Connell's John Ireland and the American Catholic Church which covers some of the difficulties Greek-Catholic immigrants from Eastern Europe experienced upon moving to the United States in the 18-1900s. (It uses terminology that is considered offensive today but which was acceptable at the time.)

     Two weeks after writing the long report to Cardinal Gibbons about the Scandinavians, on December 19, 1889, the archbishop of St. Paul gave an interview in his office to Father Alexis Goergievich Toth, recently arrived in the United States from his birthplace and the scene of his early priestly ministry in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Toth, a learned man of thirty-six, was a Uniate--that is, he belonged to one of the non-Latin rites in union with the Roman see but distinctive in their liturgical languages and ecclesiastical customs. A group of Ruthenian Uniates had established their own parish earlier in the year in Northeast Minneapolis--where a good many eastern European immigrants had settled--and had called Father Toth to be their pastor.

     The priest presented the archbishop his credentials, and, as Toth recalled it, Ireland's hands trembled as he read them. Then he looked up, and said abruptly in Latin: "Have you a wife?"

     "No," Toth answered in the same language.

     "But you had one?"

     "Yes, I am a widower."

      Ireland tossed the documents on the desk in front of him. "I have already written to Rome protesting against this kind of priest being sent to me!"

     "What kind of priest do you mean?"

     "Your kind."

     "I am a Catholic priest of the Greek rite," Toth protested. "I am a Uniate and was ordained by a regular Catholic bishop."

     "I do not consider that either you or this bishop of yours are Catholic; besides I do not need any Greek Catholic priests here; a Polish priest in Minneapolis is quite sufficient; the Greeks can also have him for their priest."

      This rude and testy reaction on Ireland's part was only the beginning of his vendetta against the Uniates. He immediately instructed the clergy of Northeast Minneapolis to have no association with Toth and, furthermore, to state publicly from their pulpits that not even the Ruthenian Catholics were permitted to approach the Uniate priest for the sacraments. Nor was the archbishop content to manifest his dislike within the limits of his own jurisdiction. In every national forum during the succeeding years he pressed for a general prohibition of Uniate activity, and he carried his case directly to Propaganda. Father Toth, meantime, was not one to be intimidated; he carried on his ministry in the face of Ireland's hostility until 1891, when he and 365 parishioners, refusing in effect to either be Americanized or Latinized, were formally received into the Russian Orthodox church. What started as a trickle in Minnesota soon swelled into a vast wave of schism all around the country, costing the Roman church, by conservative estimates, a quarter of a million communicants.

      Ireland's bias against the Uniates was by no means unique; his episcopal colleagues, Americanist and anti-Americanist alike, shared it, or at least condoned it and thereby participated in causing the massive exodus. Their conduct, if tragically shortsighted, was perfectly predictable. One principal reason for it can be seen in the very first part of the exchange between Ireland and Toth: celibacy for the parochial clergy was not a requirement in the Eastern tradition, whether Uniate or Orthodox. Some bishops feared--though Ireland himself did not stress this point--that their Latin-rite priests would demand wives if the married Uniates established parishes nearby. For Ireland, however, the problem was not so much one of sexual expression as of status and and conformity. In the United States a Catholic priest was, in the popular mind, defined as an unmarried man, and indeed enjoyed a certain position within his community as a result. Would it do to try to explain to the average Catholic parishioner that Father Toth was as much a priest as, say, Monsignor Ravoux? But of course he was, as the Catholic church had taught consistently for unnumbered centuries, and Ireland knew it. His attitude therefore is hard to forgive, but not hard to explain. And even leaving aside the celibacy issue, his obsession with the process of Americanization would have led him to strike hard at the Uniates, who were notoriously attached to their Old-World customs. Bad enough the Germans, who at least worshiped in the Latin tongue and maintained an unmarried clergy like other Catholics.

      Finally, the conflict boiled down, as did so many conflicts in Ireland's career, to the issue of governance. Toth's credentials came from his bishop back in Slovakia. They stated clearly that Toth and those like him were subject to the local Latin ordinary, until such time as a Uniate jurisdiction were established in the United States. This was a perfectly reasonable and canonically acceptable position to take. But Ireland and the rest of the hierarchy stubbornly resisted any such intrusion into their authority. Propaganda, so often annoyed at the American bishops' claims to independence of Rome, supinely surrendered to their demands vis-à-vis the Uniates, and so shared responsibility for the catastrophe that followed. When on one occasion Ireland wrote Simeoni to thank him for his support against the "Greeks," he put it succinctly the principle of policy that meant more to him than any other: "The difficulties encountered by the Church in America due to diverse populations coming to our shores are immense. The only remedy, I am convinced, is to strengthen the authority of the bishops [les bras episcopals]. It is the only way to bind the different elements together and prevent chaos and schism." These words have a hollow sound in light of events going on before Ireland's eyes.

      If Ireland's advocacy of the blacks displayed him at his best, his belligerence toward the Uniates showed him at his bull-headed worst. Meanwhile, the American dream still awaited fulfillment for all that multitude of diverse peoples who had settled the new land, but Ireland never doubted that his own mixture of religion and patriotism could bring that happy day ever closer.

Wednesday's Wages are a series of posts which highlight past and present struggles faced by Eastern and Oriental Catholics including the topics of bioethics and persecution. Do you know of a homily, lecture, interview or biography which you think should be featured here? Leave a comment to let me know.

Cultural Differences in Icons

Have you ever wondered what cultural differences there are in icons?

Most icons of given saints or events will have common, shared story elements.... In addition to these common elements - shared by most icons - icons often reflect the culture and tradition of the iconographer's ethnic background. There are four readily recognized ethnic types of icons: Greek, Russian, Arabic, [and Coptic]. When representative examples are placed side-by-side the differences become quite clear. 

This webpage offers a simple chart that will have you in-the-know on the four main cultural styles of icons in less than 2 minutes!

http://www.melkite.org/arabicon.htm

Talented Tuesdays is a feature which focuses on art, architecture, music, culture, food, and the running of the domestic church. User submitted questions and solutions are welcomed.