1461- The Founding of the Armenian Millet-Patriarchate in Constantinople
6 - Why the Roman (Ottoman) Empire under Süleyman the Great was more tolerant than under the Roman Byzantine) Empire under Justinian the Great : The case of Armenia, one of the founder nations of the Ottoman Ecumenical Empire
(I just received the following letter from a good friend and distinguished Armenian (as well as American and Greek), Diran Majarian, mourning today the death of Charles Aznavour, at the age of 94. Aznavour was an Armenian like Diran and a Frenchman like myself. Dimitri Kitsikis)
Dimitris: This morning we celebrated Agios
Grigorios in church. The Armenian Church separated from the other
churches from the 4th Ecumenical Council. In fact, the
Armenians were at war with the Persians, who wanted to force them to abandon
their Christianity to become Zoroastrians like they were. They were
unable to send any representative. The Byzantines would forbid any
Armenian Churches in Constantinople for centuries thereafter. The
Armenians occupying key positions in Byzantium were largely Hayirum like
myself – they belonged to the Byzantine Church.
After the fall of Constantinople,
the agreement with Gennadios led to the Greek Millet. The Greeks
correctly preferring the Ottomans to the West to keep the Orthodox faith
intact. The Turks called the Armenians and offered to them a similar
arrangement. The first Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople was Hovakim
I (Ἰωακείμ Α΄), who was at the time the Metropolitan of Bursa. In 1461, he was brought to
Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II and established as the Armenian Patriarch of
Constantinople. Armenians were permitted freely to build their churches
that the Byzantines had forbidden.
The current Armenia - which is
Eastern Armenia - was part of Persia until the 1828, when the Russians
conquered the space along with Azerbaijan from the Persians. They had taken the
space earlier from the Ottomans. Ever since the Armenians have had a very
close relation with the Russians. The Russians recruited heavily
Armenians to fight the Ottomans in WW1 and the biggest, bloodiest Ottoman
defeat was the Battle of Sarıkamış by a Russian-Armenian army. This
disastrous defeat under mainly Armenians enraged the three Pashas and is one of
the basic factors - never discussed - in the Armenian Genocide.
The Bolshevik revolution financed
and supported by the Germans resulted in Brest Litovsk. This was a
disaster for the Ottoman Greeks and Armenians stranded with the Russian
withdrawal. Eventually Lenin recognizing and arming Kemal that led to the
defeat of the Greeks in Asia Minor.
I will never understand why the
Greeks love so much the Bolsheviks, the KKE, etc. I have enormous respect
for the Russians, who survived the Bolsheviks, restored their Orthodox
Christianity and national identity. The Greeks have done the opposite
with the EU and surrendered national identity, ironically under a SYRIZA
government who are successors of the Bolsheviks. They are as culturally Greek
as Jehovah’s witnesses have any relation to Orthodox Christianity. A
major reason in my mind why Greece in its current state could never play the
elder father to the Russians. The Russians would never take them
seriously, especially with a government of Orthodox apostates and declared
Atheists totally beholden to the EU as a protectorate. Not exactly as
basis for respect that Ioannis Metaxas considered so important in international
relations.
Currently in Istanbul, there are
at least 5 to 10 times more Armenians than Greeks as well as an enormous number
of Armenian migrants. The current Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan
suffers Alzheimer disease and is incapacitated. In his place was
appointed a caretaker Aram Ateşyan. The Armenian Synod decided to retire
the Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan on October 26, 2016 and to organize an
election for a new patriarch, which the Turkish State under Erdogan has been
blocking. Erdogan prefers Ateşyan, with whom he has extremely good
relations and does not want him to leave.In essence, the Millet system
remains in part and Erdogan acts accordingly.
Diran Majarian October 1, 2018
