Let us remember our Armenian Martyrs on April 24th
A Christian Understanding
of the Armenian Genocide...
---In 1915, the Turkish government began the final phase of a campaign which
culminated in the destruction of over two million Armenians.
Most ignored their plight.

---In 1972 the United States of America legalized abortion of pre-born babies
which led to the destruction of the same amount of its unborn children every year.
Most today ignore their plight as well.

  What is the Christian understanding of, and response to such gross injustices and
atrocities against human life?  For the true Christian there is only one answer:  We
must support and defend the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural
death.
 If slavery were still legal in the U.S.A., would you vote for a politician who
supports its legality?  If the U.S.A., like the former Ottoman Turkey, was
conducting a campaign of genocide to murder millions of innocent Armenians,
would you vote for a politician who supported this policy?
 Most Armenians would not.  Yet many Armenians today vote for pro-abortion
politicians who support and defend the legality of the killing of millions of innocent,
pre-born human beings every year.  One cannot be both against genocide and for
abortion, just as one cannot be Christian and "pro-choice" -if that "choice" means
allowing the killing of innocent human life.  Such indifference is reprehensible.
Christian Links on the Armenian Genocide

1.  How Shall We Remember? The moving essay by Dr. Guroian regarding our genocide
commemorations
2.  My Letter to Dr. Guroian regarding the need and importance of his essay in our Church today
3.  To Canonize the Armenian Martyrs:  A fascinating proposal by Rev. Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian
4.  The Vatican's Historic Plea on behalf of Armenians:  The history of the Latin Church's support
for suffering Armenians
5.  Common Declaration on the Armenian Martyrs and Confessors By Pope John Paul II and
Catholicos-Patriarch Karekin II
6.  Prayer of Pope John Paul II for the victims of the Armenian Genocide
7.  In Memory Of The 50 Million Victims Of The Orthodox Christian Holocaust
8.  Baby Doom:  The Epidemic of Selective Abortions in Armenian  By Nanore Barsoumian

Political Links on the Armenian Genocide

1.  A Case Study   A presentation of the history behind the Armenian Genocide
2.  Ambassador Morganthoau's Story   The account by the American Ambassador to Turkey
3.  ABC News Special   with startling photos by a German Soldier in Turkey
4.  Cilicia.com Genocide Page Excellent resource for background information
5.  Despite promises ...and acknowledgements U.S. Presidents have failed to officially recognize
Genocide

Books on the Armenocide

1.  The Slaughterhouse Province by Leslie A. Davis  The eyewitness account of an American
Consulate in Turkey who witnessed the attrocities and risked his life trying to stop them.  This
book greatly impacted me.
2.  Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau  "His account was written with the
authority of a first hand observer and remains one of the classic accounts of World War I."
3.  More Information on the Armenian Genocide
"For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the
whole day; we were counted as sheep for the slaughter."
-St. Paul to the Romans 8:36
Return to home-page:
Looys Kreesdosee

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings,
so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  -2 Cor. 1:5

...We suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us. -Rom. 8:18

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. -Phil. 1:21

...That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. -Phil. 3:10-11

For one is approved if, mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly.
 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.

He committed no sin; no guile was found on His lips.
When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered,
He did not threaten; but He trusted Him who judges justly.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree,
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By His wounds you have been healed. -1 St. Peter 2:19-24
Armenian Church Icon of
the Crucifixion of our Lord

What is the CHRISTIAN understanding and approach to the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide?  Most of our yearly memorials,
with there angered calls for "justice," are seriously devoid of an orthodox Christian perspective.  Indeed atheists and modern-day pagans
could have identical memorials.
Where is Christ and His message in such commemorations?  When we remember liturgically the "Holy Innocents of Bethlehem," do we
couple this with demands for justice?  Do we call on the modern Israeli government to admit its ancestor's injustice through King Herod?
In his book "Faith, Church, Mission," Dr. Vigen Guroian (in the article "How Shall We Remember?") addresses these questions in a clear,
reasonable manner.  Until Armenians understand this message, they will never begin to allow Christ to heal them of their own collective,
perpetual despair.
The Orthodox Christian answer to all human suffering, as Dr. Guroian writes, is our Lord Jesus Christ's own example.  His voluntary
Passion and Crucifixion gives meaning to our suffering if we unite it to His.  The ultimate victory over suffering and death, which He gained
for us and promised to those who trust Him, is derived through the power of His Resurrection.
13th Century
St. Ignatius Maloyan
An Armenian Catholic Martyr
of the 1915 Armenian Genocide