18 January 1891 A.D. 1st Armenian Church in the US
The first Armenian church consecrated in the United
States was at Worcester, Massachusetts, on this day, January
18, 1891. It is surprising that this ancient branch of Christianity was so long in developing an independent
organization on American shores. After all, Armenians were the first separate
"denomination" to split from the universal church; individual
Armenians came to America as early as the 17th-century. Today there are one
million Armenians in North America. Behind these facts is an inspiring but
tragic story.
According to tradition, the
apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew first brought the gospel to Armenia (a region
in modern Turkey). However, Christianity did not really take hold until Gregory
the Illuminator (enlightener) came up from Caesarea, converting and baptizing
King Tiridates III. The king made Christianity the official state religion of
Armenia around the turn of the fourth century. As early 303, Gregory built the
mother church at Etchmiadzin and a distinctive Christian culture arose.
Fiercely independent, the
Armenian church renounced its ties with the church in Caesarea in 374. However,
Armenians still used the Greek and Syriac languages in worship because Armenia
had no system of writing. Early in the fifth century a monk named Mesrob gave
his nation an alphabet of 36 characters. After the Bible was translated into
the local language, Armenian literature flourished.
Persia conquered Armenia and
decreed in 450 that all Christians must convert to
Zoroastrianism. For thirty years the Armenians battled heroically to preserve
their faith and finally a weary Persian government agreed to peace.
Thereafter, Armenia experienced
many ups and downs. At times, it flourished as an independent nation. At other
times it was under the heel of foreign oppressors. Islam and Communism both
persecuted its people fiercely.
In the 1880s and '1890s, many
Armenians fled to the New World to escape massacres by the Ottoman Turks. For
the most part, the Armenians made arrangements with local churches (especially
with Episcopalians) to use their facilities. Finally, in 1898 they officially
organized the Armenian church.
The Armenian population in the
United States and Canada swelled between 1915 and 1923, when Young Turks
massacred, tortured, starved or exiled virtually the entire remaining Christian
population of Turkey. Although a million and a half Christians were affected,
Turkey denies that these atrocities ever took place.
Resources:
"Armenians in America." The Armenian
Church. http://www.armenianchurch.org/heritage/history/america.html
"Armenia, Christianity in." The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F. L. Cross and E. A.
Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
Azadian, Libarid and Donoyan, Armen. The Armenian
Massacre. Glendale, California: Navasart, 1987.
Mead, Frank S. "Armenian churches." Handbook of
Denominations in the United States. Nashville: Abingdon, 1980.
Niepage, Martin. The Horrors of Aleppo. London: T.
Fisher Unwin, 1917.
Toynbee, Arnold J. Arminian Atrocities; the murder
of a nation. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915.
Wells, Amos R. A Treasure of Hymns; Brief biographies of 120 leading
hymn- writers and Their best hymns. Boston: W. A. Wilde company,
1945.
Various other encyclopedia and internet articles.
Last updated May,
2007.
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