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H. H. Catholicos Aram I

DIOCESES UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE CATHOLICATE OF CILICIA:

A Brief History Of The Cilician See

After the fall of Ani and the disappearance of the Armenian Kingdom of the Bagradits in 1045 under the fierce attacks of the Seljuks, the whole Armenian territory was ravaged and the people had to flee the persecutions and the prevailing destitution, taking refuge in the West. It was so that considerable masses of Armenians migrated from Armenia Major to Mesopotamia and Cilicia, where new Armenian principalities were formed and organized.

 

The Pontifical See and the Catholicos followed this movement. Along with the people, they too came to settle there, on the borders of Cilicia, first at Thavblour (1062), then Dzamendav (1072) and Dzovk (1116), then Hromkla (1149) for nearly 150 years, and finally Sis (1293), the capital city of the Cilician Kingdom, thus once again becoming the companion of the political arm. Here in Sis it would remain for the last seven centuries. That is why the Catholicosate of Cilicia is very often referred to as "the Catholicosate of Sis".

In 1375 the Cilician Kingdom too fell under the terrible attacks of the Mamelukes of Egypt, and from then on the Armenian people did not have any independence or its own statehood, if we do not take into consideration the partial and short-lived independence recovered in some places.

 

In this given situation the Armenian Church was compelled, though unwillingly, to assume also the whole charge and responsibility of the temporal, national leadership, and the Armenian Catholicoi besides their religious title were recognized also as ethnarchs (Head of nation). This national responsibility would broaden the scope of the Church's mission.

 

TWO CATHOLICOSATES WITHIN THE ARMENIAN CHURCH

 

In the meantime, Armenia Major was having a relatively peaceful time. There had been even a cultural awakening accomplished by the monastic Orders. Now that the Kingdom of Cilicia had fallen and the situation in Cilicia was deteriorating, bishops and Church divines (= Vardapets) of great influence in Armenia Major made plans to elect a Catholicos in Etchmiadzin, the original and highly venerated place of the Catholicosate which had ceased to function as a Catholicosal Seat since 485. Thus, in 1441 they elected Kirakos Virapetsi, a devout monk. At the same time Krikor IX Moussabekiants (1439-1444) was the Catholicos in Cilicia.

 

Since 1441, therefore, there have been two Catholicosates in the Armenian Church with equal rights and privileges and with their respective jurisdictions. However, the Armenian Church is ONE and INDIVISIBLE. There have never been two Armenian Churches. It is due to historical circumstances only that there are two Seats with equal rights and privileges. Therefore, within the hierarchy of the Armenian Church the two Catholicoi have the same rank and the same status, although the Catholicosate of Cilicia recognizes the PRIMACY OF HONOR of the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin, due to the fact that its Seat is in Armenia, in the place where the Throne of Saint Gregory the Illuminator was erected.

THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA IN SIS

From the 15th to the beginning of the 20th century, the Catholicosate of Cilicia continued to serve the Armenian people who survived the invasion of the Mamelukes and were subjugated to the unbearable tyrannical rule of various Turkish chieftains and nomadic people, who by constant attacks kept the Armenian people under servile and fearful condition. Many Catholicoi - Church Heads - were even strangled or killed in different cruel manners. These were the hardest and darkest centuries of the Cilician Catholicosate. Nonetheless, the Catholicosate survived and served her people in silent but heroic faithfulness.

 

However, the authority of the Catholicosate was very much reduced in the eyes of the Ottoman Sultans, who since 1461 had recognized the Armenian Patriarchs of Constantinople as the official ecclesiastical and civil authority over all the Armenian Churches under Ottoman domination, whether depending on the jurisdiction of Etchmiadzin or Cilicia.

In fact, it was the Conqueror of Constantinople, Fateh Sultan Muhammed II who nominated Hovakim, the Bishop of Broussa, as the Patriarch of the Armenians under the Ottoman rule in 1461. As the politico-ecclesiastical authority of the Armenian Patriarchs of Constantinople grew in the subsequent centuries, the authority of the Catholicosate of Cilicia was reduced on the grounds of civil rights and activities. But the Catholicos of Cilicia was recognized as the Supreme Ecclesiastical Head of the Armenians in Cilicia. The main Dioceses under his jurisdiction were: SIS, ADANA, HADJIN, PAYAS, PERIA (Aleppo), MARASH (Germanicia), ZEYTOUN (Ulnia), FERNOUZ, AYNTAB, ANTIOCH, MELITENE, YOZGAT, GURUN (Kurin), CYPRUS. In fact, all the main cities and regions of Cilicia and surrounding areas such as Syria and Cyprus.

 

In spite of the intolerant historical circumstances, there have been some periods of constructive work. Two names must be singled out in this respect: Catholicos Kirakos Atchabahian (1797-1882), called Kirakos the Great, and Mekerditch Kefsizian (1871-1894), who made great efforts to strengthen the Catholicosate with new constructions and visited their faithful in the parishes and organized the Dioceses.

THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

In 1902, a new Catholicos was elected in the person of His Holiness Sahag II Khabayan. A learned and devoted servant of God, a member of the Jerusalem Religious Order, he made heroic efforts to organize the Catholicosate. He opened a Seminary to prepare qualified priests for the pastoral care of a stricken people. But a few years later, in 1909, the massacre of Adana made 30.000 victims of his faithful. 10 Five years later, the First World War broke out and the darkest times came back upon the Armenian people. During the war, 1915-1918, two million Armenians were massacred by the Turks. The rest were deported and dispersed in various parts of the world. The war ended, the Armenians of Cilicia returned to their country to rebuild their homes and reorganize their ecclesiastical and national life. But in 1921, when the French Forces evacuated Cilicia and a second wave of massacres ordered by the authorities of Kemalist Turkey took the lives of another 300.000 Armenians, it was no longer possible to live in Turkey without protection, and there was none who would give that protection to the Armenian people. So again they left their homeland in 1921 and found refuge mostly in Syria and Lebanon, which were under French Mandate. The Catholicosal See in Sis was confiscated and ruined by the Turks. Catholicos Sahak II followed his flock. The hospitality shown towards the Armenian refugees by the Arab people was more than comforting. The friendship of the Armenian and the Arab people was even more firmly confirmed and strengthened.

THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA IN ANTELIAS

Catholicos Sahak had no permanent residence. In order to look after the spiritual and national needs of his people stricken at heart by their deportation and dispersion, he was forced to wander to and from in Syria and Lebanon. Under these circumstances, the Catholicosate was looking for a new site in Lebanon for establishing there her headquarters.

In 1930, after nine years of incertitude and moving between different parts of Lebanon and Syria, the Catholicosate was finally settled in Antelias.

Thus, a new era was opened in her history with the establishment of the full Diocesan administrative organization, the founding of the Theological Seminary and the Community House for the training of the members of the Religious Order and the parish priests. The Armenian people spread all over the world looked at the Catholicosate with new hopes and expectations.

The Seminary was going to be a center of theological and armenological learning, from where new servants of God would come forth to take upon themselves the sacred mission of those servants who fell under the recent mortal blow of the Turkish massacres. Only a young generation of fully committed clergymen could introduce new forces of vitality among the afflicted and dispersed children of the Armenian Church.

THE ROLE OF THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA

As it is clearly outlined above, the role of the Cilician Catholicosate has incorporated various dimensions and spheres of the life of the Armenian people. It is important to identify some of the major ones:

a) National - Armenian:

During all its history and especially in difficult times, the Catholicosate of Cilicia has always been actively present in the life of the Armenian nation. It has played a leading and significant role particularly in the educational, cultural and social spheres. But it is mainly after the Genocide and the formation of the Armenian Diaspora that the Catholicosate, which had to follow its exiled faithful, found itself at the very center of Armenian life in the Diaspora.

During the last eighty years, it led and organized the life of the different Communities in the Diaspora, practically on all levels, but essentially in the preparation and training of community leaders, both religious and lay.

1. The Armenian Cause . The Catholicosate, itself a victim of the Armenian Genocide, played a key role in the presentation of the Armenian Cause and its defense in international circles.

First of all, this See has helped in the awareness building of its own people concerning this crime against humanity through numerous publications, debates and conferences. It also took this Cause to international decision-making bodies.

Secondly, within the framework of its relations with States and churches, the Catholicosate never hesitated to stress the urgency of the recognition of this crime committed by Turkey as well as recognizing the human rights of the Armenian people.

2. Social involvement The Catholicosate has played a leading role in social affairs, not only encouraging social projects at the diocesan level, but itself initiating important social action, mainly in Lebanon, Syria and Greece. To cite just a few examples, the Orphanage in Jbeil (Bird's Nest), the Sanatorium in Azounieh, the popular housing project in Fanar, the Old People's Home in Bourj Hammoud, which are directly administered by the Catholicosate.

3. Cultural life. The contribution of this Catholicosate to the cultural life of the Diaspora is significant indeed. The Publishing House of the Catholicosate has published and publishes hundreds of titles each year. An important number of funds for literary production have been established, book exhibits and fairs organized annually, and a great number of conferences, debates, seminars, as well as educational funds, cultural meetings and concerts animated by the Choir of the Catholicosate, the construction of an imposing Museum to preserve objects of armenological and ecclesiastical value and the establishment of an important Library, all illustrate the importance given by this Catholicosate to the cultural enrichment of the people.

4. The Theological Seminary Within the framework of its services to the people, the Catholicosate and its Theological Seminary have played an important role. Established in Antelias in 1930, the same year as the Catholicosate itself, the Seminary has produced hundreds of religious and lay people to serve the Community and contribute to its cultural and national revival in the whole Diaspora. During the past 65 years nearly 1.600 young people have benefited from this institution, which has yielded to the nation more than 200 teachers, over 120 married priests, 70 Vardapets, 25 bishops and archbishops, and the last three Catholicoi of the Throne of Cilicia.

The Students come from all parts of the Diaspora, but mainly from Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The Seminary has two sections: the Junior Seminary (Jarankavorats), with a curriculum of 4 years of primary studies, and the Noviciate (Endzayaran ), with 3 years of philosophical and theological studies. Together with the teaching of both classical and modern Armenian, Arabic, French and English languages are taught, as well as religious and armenological subjects.

b) Ecumenical involvement:

The Ecumenical movement remains one of the main fields of interest and action of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

Since the Sixties, its representatives, both clergy and lay people, have taken an active part in meetings, consultations and conferences organized by the World Council of Churches. Its role became more active particularly after 1962, when it became a member of this world family of Churches. During the General Assembly held in Nairobi in 1975, the representative of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, Bishop Karekin Sarkissian (the actual Catholicos of Etchmiadzin) was elected a Vice-Moderator of the Council (a position he held until 1983). At the last General Assembly (Canberra, 1991), another member of the Catholicosate, Archbishop Aram Keshishian, was elected Moderator of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches (term ending in 1998), thus becoming the first Orthodox, the first Middle-Easterner and the youngest in age to reach that high position.

Representatives of the Catholicosate of Cilicia were observers at the Second Vatican Council. The visits of the Catholicoi to Popes, as well as joint declarations, meetings and consultations with representatives of the Catholic Church contributed to the development of brotherly relations and theological dialogue between the two Churches on international, regional and local levels.

The relations of the Catholicosate with the Churches of the Middle-East have always been very cordial and fraternal. As one of the initiators of the ecumenical movement in the region, it took an active part in the foundation, in 1974, of the Middle East Council of Churches. The Catholicosate continues to actively contribute to the witness of the Council in all domains and at all levels.

On the other hand, the dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Churches has been ongoing. The Catholicosate played a key role in promoting the theological dialogue between the two families of the Orthodox Church: Eastern and Oriental.

It has had a fundamental role in the development of the relations and a more organized collaboration between the Oriental Orthodox Churches; this movement started in 1965, with the meeting of the Heads of these Churches in Addis Abeba.

The Catholicosate of Cilicia continues to develop ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church and the other Churches of the Protestant tradition as well as various ecumenical organizations.

c) Regional politics:

Having its headquarters in the Arab world, the Catholicosate of Cilicia had, and still has, its role in the major events of this part of the world.

It took part in the struggle for independence of the Arab countries, mainly in Lebanon and Syria. It assumed its role in the framework of the Cause of the Palestinian people, explaining and demonstrating its justness and supporting it within the Arab World as well as at the highest levels of international and inter-church relations. At various instances, and mainly within the framework of the World and Middle East Councils of Churches, the Catholicosate has defended this just Cause. It has also adopted a clear attitude concerning the Arab Israeli conflict, demanding the respect of the dignity and of the rights of the Arab nation as well as a just, comprehensive and permanent solution to this problem.

Being a firm believer and defender of co-existence and Moslem-Christian dialogue, the Catholicosate takes part in all efforts aiming at strengthening a shared and common life between religions in the Middle East.

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