St. Thomas Magazine
WINTER 2008 : VOLUME 24 : NUMBER 1
The Armenian Anomaly
by Annemarie Iddins ’08
ARMENIA-The stone spire of the oldest church in Yerevan sits in a tiny
courtyard almost entirely obscured by encroaching sidewalk cafes and
construction barriers. Walking along a back alley to enter through the
gate, visitors are greeted by street dogs and old women sweeping up
and selling candles.
The scene is typically Armenian in that things old and poor sit a
little forgotten among gaudy new cafes. But what I learned in my
August trip to the tiny republic is that, while the world seems to
have overlooked Armenia, its people have perseverance and faith that
are ultimately unforgettable.
"Armenians as a whole are very hospitable and we have so much
history," said Ani Movsisyan, a 22-year-old Armenian. "We have a lot
to offer the world."
Keeping the ancient alive
One of the Armenians’ greatest gifts is the ability to persevere in
the face of incalculable odds. From 1915 to 1918, more than one
million Armenians died in the century’s first genocide, carried out by
Ottoman Turks. A multitude fled to other areas around the globe. In
1922, Armenia joined the Soviet Union in a bid for protection and
endured 70 years of Soviet oppression. In 1988 an earthquake flattened
Armenia’s industrial capital city, Gyumri. Today, as a capitalist
Christian democracy, Armenia struggles to emerge into the modern
world. The Cafesjian Family Foundation in Minneapolis is one
organization dedicated to helping Armenians do just that while
promoting Armenian interests worldwide. Gerard L. Cafesjian, an
Armenian-American and a former executive of West Law in Eagan, Minn.,
created the foundation in 1996. Father Dennis Dease, president of the
University of St. Thomas, has been a friend of Cafesjian and his wife,
Cleo, for more than two decades. Dease serves on the foundation’s
board of directors, a relationship that has led to collaboration
between the university and Cafesjian on several projects.
As a writer for The Armenian Reporter, a weekly newspaper the
foundation has acquired, I had the opportunity to travel to Armenia
last summer, where I worked with journalism professors Wendy Wyatt,
Mark Neuzil and Michael O’Donnell on several media projects. Before
the trip I knew nothing about Armenia, yet in exploring the country I
developed an intense appreciation for the place and its people – an
appreciation I hope to share with more Tommies as the collaboration
among St. Thomas, the Cafesjian Foundation and Armenia continues.
"There will be opportunities for students and faculty to visit the
Republic of Armenia," Dease said, "and engage in project collaboration
to bolster print and broadcast journalism, to support the development
of an independent judiciary and the rule of law, to assist in the
development of such alternative sources of energy as wind, solar and
hydrogen power, to facilitate the publication of ancient Christian
theological and liturgical writings, and to aid in the development of
entrepreneurship and commerce."
Surviving the Soviet demise
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Armenians had a homeland for
the first time since 1395 (with the exception of a brief period
between 1918 and 1922 after the Ottoman Empire fell and before Armenia
became part of the Soviet Union). But the country faced myriad
problems. For two years the nation was without regular energy
supplies, resulting in vast deforestation as people cut down trees for
fuel.
"When there was a nationwide power outage from 1991 to 1993, my father
used to attach the TV to the car battery so everyone could watch TV in
the garage," said Movsisyan, who works for the Cafesjian Museum
Foundation and also studies marketing economics at a university in
Yerevan. She lives in Etchmiadzin and rides the bus to Yerevan each
day, where she does human relations work for the foundation. During
our visit, her work included translating and giving tours to the
St. Thomas contingent.
Stories like hers are common among young Armenians. Movsisyan’s
colleague, Lilit Matevosyan, 21, said her grandfather used to take her
to government protests on his shoulders. As a recent university
graduate in economics, Matevosyan said if she could change one thing
about Armenia, it would be the political corruption.
"There are a lot of people here without jobs because the oligarchs
give important jobs to their unqualified friends," Matevosyan
said. "We have an unemployment rate of almost 30 percent, and even
though the economy is growing, it’s only a few people who are
benefiting."
Beyond belief
Dealing with such inequalities each day takes a lot of faith,
something most Armenians seem to have in abundance. InA.D. 301,
Armenia became the first country to declare Christianity as its state
religion. Just across the Turkish border looms Mount Ararat, where the
Bible says Noah’s Ark came to rest. Armenia’s current boundary
comprises only a small percentage of the nation’s ancient area. It is
a landlocked, mountainous region roughly the size of Maryland, with a
population of about3 million.
Yerevan is a living experiment in rebuilding a political economy. The
beautiful stone museum of legendary artist and film director Sergei
Parajanov looks out over the debris-strewn Hrazdan River canyon and
Hrazdan Stadium, the nation’s largest football (soccer) venue. On the
opposite hillside stands a statue of Mother Armenia that in 1967
replaced a statue of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. On the
street below, an old Soviet-era truck chugs along next to a new BMW, a
blunt juxtaposition of poverty and luxury.
Within this complex social structure, religion is a unifying factor,
with 94.7 percent of Armenians professing faith in the Armenian
Apostolic Church.
"The Church plays an important role in my life and the lives of most
Armenians," Movsisyan said. "Sundays are about church and family, and
if they can’t go to church, lots of Armenians have areas in their
houses where they pray."
While many Armenians assert the importance of the Church to their
culture, they acknowledge that its influence was limited during the
Soviet era, when there were 10 clergy for all Armenians and baptisms
took place in secret.
Elyssa Karanian, 22, is an Armenian-American journalist and researcher
living and working in Yerevan. Karanian’s experiences in Armenia and
the United States lead her to believe that the Church plays a larger
role in diasporan communities (groups that have been dispersed outside
of their traditional homeland) than it does in Armenia itself. "I
think the years of Soviet rule did quite a bit to diminish the
Church’s role in Armenia," Karanian said.
The face of faith
Whatever the role of faith in Armenia might be, it is impossible to
deny its presence. Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to
adopt Christianity as the national religion. Legend says that in the
third century, St. Gregory the Illuminator refused to renounce his
faith and was tortured by the Armenian KingTrdat IV. The king
eventually threw Gregory into a deep pit reserved for criminals, where
Gregory was expected to die. The official history of the Armenian
Church says that Gregory survived in the pit for 13 years, until he
healed King Trdat from a distance. The king then brought Gregory out
of exile and converted the nation to Christianity in A.D 301.
Today people can visit the pit at the 17th century monastery of Khor
Virap. Armenians lovingly refer to it as the "Holy Hole," but
claustrophobics beware: A chapel was built above the pit, and visitors
have to enter the room through a tiny crawlspace. Above ground, the
views from Khor Virap are more impressive. It sits in the shadow of
Mount Ararat, and although the border with Turkey is closed to
Armenians, the mountain is a national symbol and is on Armenia’s coat
of arms.
"The Church seems to be embedded in our culture," Movsisyan
said. "Anywhere you travel in Armenia, you will come across the
splendid testaments to this in churches, monasteries, temples and
khachkars [traditional stone crosses] that are all carved with great
masterfulness and endless faith."
Khor Virap is just one example of the faith incarnate in Armenia
today. Another is the 13th century Haghartsin monastic complex. It
sits near the town of Dilijan in the northeast province of Tavush,
where stunning views of the forested mountains prompt Armenians to
refer to the region as "little Switzerland."
In a courtyard at the monastery, women bake loaves of a
doughnut-shaped sweet bread called katnahunc. A woman uses a wooden
paddle to pull 60 loaves a day out of a wood-fired brick oven, while
her granddaughter hides behind mountainous bowls of dough. The loaves
are sold to tourists and pilgrims. Behind the main chapel, a twisted
700-year-old tree specific to the region scrapes the sky with its
scraggly branches.
Tapping potential
In the courtyard of the ancient little church in Yerevan, where
skeletons of old Soviet buildings are surrounded by construction
cranes, Mount Ararat looms in the distance, I have to believe
Movsisyan is right about Armenia having much to offer. America is
enduring nothing today that Armenia hasn’t experienced, and in
collaboration among students, citizens and believers we have the
potential to achieve the sort of economic and political renewal that
will force people to remember from whence they came.
"[Our faith] has always played a vital role in preserving our nation
and our state," Movsisyan said. "In times of foreign invasions, in
times when we had no state, our religion and strong belief kept us
alive and united."
Original format with photo:
r/Armenian.html
About
St. Thomas magazine is published three times a year (January, May and
September) by University Relations. The magazine aspires to be a
credible reflection of the educational mission of the university, and
serves as a primary resource for communicating to both our alumni and
the larger community with emphasis on cultural awareness and
intellectual curiosity.
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