Armenian Quarter (Jerusalem)

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  THE KING (guest)

  The Armenians are an ancient people who have inhabited parts of Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus for more than three thousand years. The first known instance of an Armenian to come anywhere near Jerusalem arrived in the 95 BC under King Tigranes II of Armenia. The Armenian armies traveled to several cities in Judea before leaving the Holy Land. It was at this time that Jews may have come to trade with Armenia and settle in that far away land when likewise some Armenians came to know of the lands around Jerusalem and may have traded with the Herodian Jewish state. Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D the Romans imported "Armenian traders, artisans, Legionaries and government administrators". At precisely this time Thaddeus and Bartholomew, both Christian apostles, arrived in Armenia to preach to the Armenians and the small Jewish community there. Subsequently Christianity spread to the higher echelons of Armenian royalty. In 301 A.D Armenia was proclaimed a "Christian state" under its King Terdat III(Father. Norayr). During this period it is believed Armenian pilgrims were already making their way to and from Jerusalem on pilgrimages. Armenian folk history also tells that already a small "upper room" of a house on Mount Zion was being used as a church, thus the later Armenian claim to a quarter near Mount Zion where the St. James Cathedral would later be built. The Edict of Milan in 313 AD made Christianity an acceptable religion in the Roman Empire. From this time forward it became easier for Armenian Christians to settle and build homes in Jerusalem. Empress Helena came to the Holy land in 326 AD and began to excavate holy sites, including Golgotha, The Nativity in Bethlehem and the birthplace of Mary. At this time the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built. Between the fourth and eighth centuries Armenians built as many as seventy monasteries throughout the Holy Land, although how many of them might have been in Jerusalem is open to debate. By the 6th century A.D Armenian Bishops were located in Jerusalem around what they called "Mt. Zion", indicating that a substantial Armenian community existed in the city and that the community was settling continuously in a particular area. The invention of an Armenian alphabet in 405 certainly helped the Armenian community by allowing them to keep records in their native language. This alphabet has helped spawn the more than four thousand ancient manuscripts kept by the Armenians in the St. Toros Church next to the St. James Cathedral. In the 19th century when breaking ground for the Russian Monastery on the Mount of Olives, six mosaic floors were uncovered to reveal Armenian writing, once again testifying to the presence of Armenians in and around Jerusalem from that period. A similar mosaic was uncovered in the Musrara neighborhood (200 meters from the Damascus Gate) and was purchased by the Armenian patriarchate in 1912. One of the central reasons for the existence of an Armenian quarter is the religion and ethnicity of the Armenians. Armenians, unlike the majority of Christians in Israel, are not Arab, rather they are ethnically and religiously Armenian. The reason for their ethnicity does not need to be elaborated on except to say that they have remained a homogeneous group, intermarrying over the years and keeping their culture intact. The reason for the development of a separate Armenian Church is slightly more complicated. At the time Armenia converted to Christianity there was only one church. However in 431 AD the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus split the church between Nestorians (today’s Assyrian and Chaldean Christians) and the rest of Christianity. Then in 451 the Fourth Ecumenical Council split Christianity again into Monophysites and Dyophysite. The Armenians thereby joined the Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian churches in the Monophysite movement, whereas the Byzantine/Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox etc) became Diophysite. It would take until 1054 for the Latin (Catholic) Church to break from the Orthodox Church and then until the Reformation in the 16th century to split the Christian Church into the factions one sees today in the old city. Byzantine emperor Justinian (527–565) persecuted the Monophysite churches and the Armenians found themselves speaking on behalf of the Ethiopian, Syrian and Coptic Churches, a leadership role the Patriarchate still assumes. Thus from 451 AD the Armenian church became separate from the other Christian churches in Jerusalem, a fact that would have major ramifications in the ensuing struggle with fellow Christians during the Crusader and Ottoman periods.

  14 years ago | reply | hide comment