KAREKIN I: THE ALL ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS OF BLESSED MEMORY
by Ashot Vavyan
Tuesday August 30, 2011
Karekin I.
The prophets are persons sent by God, transmitting His words, called
to certain mission by the Almighty. They are the men of future, whose
tellings and actions are not accessible for their circumstances and
to understand them a certain period of time is needed. This is the
reason for which they are not accepted in their own surrounding,
and even are subjected to persecutions.
“A Prophet is without honor only in his hometown, among his relatives,
and in his own home,” says Jesus Christ in the Gospel. The prophets
or persons with prophetic gift may be nowdays, too, but they are
hardly noticed “in our own home”. But we must try to discover them,
in order to be led by them, because as our Lord has warned. “If one
blind person leads another blind person, both will fall into a ditch.”
In the opinion of Italian writer, historian and scholar Giovanni
Guaita His Holliness Karekin I was a person playing prophetic role
in the contemporary history and in the history of the Armenian Church.
The words of praise about Vehapar were not so abundant in his homeland,
while his merit was greatly appreciated in abroad.
The greatness of the Catholicos of all Armenians was noted by the
“poetess of all Armenians” Silva Kaputikyan, who mourned thus when
he left us. “It’s a great pity that the 131st Catholicos left us so
early, and so tragically was interrupted his speech, that sounded so
beautifully from his lips demonstrating the most valuable abilities
of the Armenian mind and language. Fortunately remained his deeds
beneficial for the nation, numerous and various works which are written
testimonies of his extraordinary talent and his heart filled with
Armenian soul. They had much to accomplish in our money-worshiping
times that challenge our identity and spirit.”
Son of Hagop and Ovsanna Sarkissian, the Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin I, of Blessed Memory, was born in a Syrian town of Kessab
populated with Armenians. He studied theology in Oxford, where defended
in English a graduation thesis on “The Council of Chalcedon and the
Armenian Church”.
As the dean of Antilias seminary, as the Prelate of Iranian-Indian or
the Eastern Prelacy of North America, everywhere under his leadership
was recorded succes in the national-ecclesiastical life. Thanks to
his efforts the Catholicosate joined The World Council of Churches,
where he took leadership positions.
15 of his 18 years as the Catholicos of The Great House of Cilicia
were the hardest years of the Lebanese civil war, when Vehapar
due to his wisdom managed to keep the Armenian community away from
destructive challenges. During those years under bombing attacks much
was accomplished in the religious, national, educational, cultural
and construction spheres of the community of the country of cedars,
the same was done in other dioceses belonging to Antilias.
In communities everywhere he found warm reception and in Antilias
people in inspiration were laying flowers on his way. He was enjoying
great reputation, sympathy and respect also among the religious
and political figures of other nations, which was beneficial for
the church and the nation. As a famous figure of the ecumenical and
interreligious movements his exhortation to his people was to “keep
pace with the world without going astray from our road.”
His Holiness was a man of faith, idea and action, he never sought to
obtain an office or a special position.
“I always hated the ambitious passion of getting a success. I think
that it’s even the death of being called a human. It’s impossible
to serve with joy, if the propulsives and motives of your deeds are
to achieve an authoritative position or power, and not the internal
mental need”, he said.
Foreign to this idea Armenia’s political leadership pursuing its own
political goals sought the nomination of the Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia Karekin II in the position of the Catholicos of All
Armenians. But there was much to be done, and unfinished works were
left, too. Gracious Vehapar was assured that the people of Armenia
needed him and were waiting for him.
But Vehapar’s coming to Armenia was the Lord’s project, which was
testified in the Mother Cathedral in the sermon devoted to the
tenth anniversary of his passing, when His Eminence Archbishop
Khajag Barsamian as if under the Heaven’s influence said: “In
historically hard times His Holiness answered to the God’s call, came
to shepherd his flock, he came to serve his people as a Patriarch of
All Armenians. The yoke was heavy, but remembering Moses’s commandment
to J?shua saying him “be courageous, because the Spirit of God is with
you”, he came to be a Brave Shepherd. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he
continued to guide his flock and lead to the Source of the Light. His
Holiness Karekin I is outstanding personality, a person of global
recognition and influence, who became a stimulating power for the
belivers of different churches”.
It was not easy for Vehapar to act among the people, actually who were
Christian only outwardly, where still the soviet atheism dominated,
where almost the whole society took into account the unwritten norms
of the “goghakan (thieves’) ideology”. He had to feel, that only a
few from the people meeting him were frank and that everybody sought
only personal interests. He had to see the day by day developing
mercenary and inhuman greediness. And with pain he would confess,
that “it is much easier to build where nothing exists, rather than
to restore an atrophied heritage, such as Armenia.”
But despite these unfavorable conditions Vehapar managed to carry the
cross which, in his own words, had become heavier and did a great
work in the short period of his being a Catholicos: he undertook
the formation of national-christian consciousness of the population,
established promotional and educational institutions, prepared young
clerics, formed the organizational structure of the Holy See, opened
Church Dioceses, reconstructed and built dozens of churches, published
numerous books, presented the ambitious program for the 1700th
anniversary of Christianity, shepherded entrusted worldwide flock.
Thanks to his efforts and his theological, scientific valuable works
the whole family of the world Christian Churches recognized the
apostolic origin and nature of the Armenian Church. The isolating
disagreements were resolved, the authority of our Church and its
people increased significantly. Many undertakings of Vehapar were
directed towards those goals faced the resistance of local clergy
with limited burial-ritual outlook, though such will later enjoy the
already built bridges.
The abilities of the great intellectual were God-given, the speech
pronounced by the great orator in different languages was inspiring
even for the first figures of churches and countries.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church would consider
fortunate the nation who has a son like him. It was a luck to be his
interlocutor, who was the author of these words: “Think for a while,
that your uttered words will be like a thing, that will return to
you with the joy of happiness caused to another.”
Many were attracted by his extraordinary personality: the European
foreign minister during his business trip to Tbilisi undoubtedly
would visit Vehapar in Echmiadzin, because some years ago once he
had an occasion to communicate with him.
The mind was so mighty, that his mother tongue was not enough to
verbelise them and new words were born on spot. It’s noteworthy to
mention the existence of the dictionary comprised of nearly 1700 words
which enriched the Armenian language. To the incredible intellectual
potential of Vehapar was added the surprising industriousness, power
of faith, love toward armenianity and humanity, his sacred mode of
life and inimitable kindness. And the collectiveness of all these
features conditioned his extraordinary individuality.
The beloved epigraph of Vehapar was: ‘The men is to work the ground’,
which is also written on his grave stone. God created the human
and entrusted him the earth to carry out their activity. But only,
within the framework of His intention, by moving along the road
shown by Christ, can really make us happy, …lead to the Kingdom of
God. It’s obvious the involvement of Armenians in the procedure of
spreading Christianity, i.e. the key to the happiness of humanity:
the first Christian state, lasting presence in the world capital
Jerusalem, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, centuries of participation
in the reign of Byzantium. God has chosen our nation just for the
mission of spreading and conservation of this Abrahamic religion and
Vehapar was exhorting to continue that mission.
“The church is called apostolic not only for the works done by
Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew: the spirit of Apostles must live
inside ourselves and we must demonstrate it today”, taught he. But
Christianity is vital especially for Armenian people, whose face
features has been created by it, and by loosing the second, but
of primary meaningful element of the nation named hay-qrisdonea
(Armenian-Christian) our people will just turn into a faceless crowd.
And this is what continually goes on… . Vehapar disclosed for
us a unique, important peculiarity of our nation, that without the
Christian value system growing weaker it will merely disappear and, on
the contrary, will become mighty comming closer to him. By pronouncing
the prayer “Save us from the visible and invisible enemies” he was
warning us from the traps of the invisible inner enemy: “You can see
the visible enemy with your eyes, you can protect yourself and avoid
the evil that the external enemy can cause. I am not much afraid of
the visible enemies… . What is the invisible enemy? And it is a very
profound ward. The enemy that is acting among us, the enemy that is
weakening us in our Christian faith-that enemy is the most dangerous.
Because that enemy resembles a worm acting inside the tree, that is
eating the lymph and making the tree dry.”
The man with a baptized name Nishan Sarkissian’s entry to Armenia
which has not yet recovered from the years of cold and darkness
and also of war was like a peculiar nishan (sign) from the Heaven
that God is with us. By coincidence or maybe-not, this period marks
the turning point: in the country discerns business and liveliness,
emerges hope, and were moments when some thought that the ground has
appeared for sowing God’s justice and law.
But alas, the health of Vehapar became worse. Incomprehensible are
the Lord’s deeds: why He took away His Holiness from us so soon and
raised to Him. And still the followers must come to build the Armenian
House on the unshakeable foundation laid by Vehapar.
His Holiness’s farewell to this world was also characteristic for
only the prophets: the torments were hard, but he bore them with
Christian steadfastness: The deceased Vehapar was a personality of
an extraordinary will. While others suffering with his disease are
in bad mood and are often subjected to psychic collapse, during his
stay in New York Catholics Karekin was never depressed and never lost
his mental peace, even when he was in terrible pains.
Before his second surgery every day he was coming to the Prelacy where
he stayed for hours and with the pain inside he was having appointments
with Armenian or foreign important figures, was writing kondaks
(orders) and letters or was busy with literary activity. The same
was doing in his apartment trying to overcome his pains, relying on
his pen”, tells the Archbishop who was next to Vehapar in those days.
August 27 is the day of birth of His Holiness: one more occasion to
utter kind words, to remember and revalue his fertile words and works.
And next year is the 80th anniversary of the Great Armenian.
Let us pay tribute to the praiseworthies in order to worth our lives,
too, and may the progress be recorded.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2011-08-30-karekin-i-the-all-armenian-catholicos-of-blessed-memory