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Khrimian Hayrik

Among all the names associated with the awakening of the Armenian nation, one name dominates, that of a true believer who was divested with an equal fortitude in practicality: Mgerditch Khrimian, a man who later became Catholicos Khrimian Hayrik and received the title of father of the Armenians. 171

This indefatigable apostle for patriotism, who Sarkissian describes as a mixture of a number of great personalities such as Bousset 172, Pope Pius IV and Garibaldi, was born in 1820, in the city of Van. His first journey to Etchmiadzin, the national institute of the Armenians, made a deep impression on his soul and mind. He educated himself first as a teacher and then to as a priest. He lived in different Armenian communities, including Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cilicia and the monastery in Sis, and published stories about his journeys to Etchmiadzin and Jerusalem. At his return home to Van, in 1854, he brought a printing machine and in 1856 began to publish a magazine, "The Eagle of Vaspourakan", in which he revived the history of Armenia. When he reached the office of heading Ter Varag, he devoted himself to the struggle against ignorance and arrogance amongst the leaders of the church. Soon he received the responsibility for yet another monastery, Ter Sourp Karapet in the vicinity of Moush, where he established a new paper, "The Eagle of Taron".

As Vardanian points out, Khrimian was akin to Alishan, although Khrimian was in his homeland and thereby in contact with the sad situation there. His writings they shed tears over the destruction of the fatherland, exhorted the new generation to struggle for freedom.

When, in 1869, Khrimian was appointed bishop in Constantinople, he constantly devoted his time to defending the rights of Armenians in the eastern provinces, who lived under oppression and insecurity. Soon he was forced to leave this office in Constantinople due to the hostility of the Ottoman Empire, whilst Armenian noblemen on the Mediterranean coast and in Constantinople, being puppets of the Ottoman establishment, sabotaged his work. 173 In 1878 he was elected as the head of the Armenian delegation to the Congress of Berlin. At his return home to Western Armenia he settled down in his birthplace, Van. In year 1889, the Ottoman regime exiled him to Jerusalem, and in 1892 he was elected Catholicos of all Armenians and led the Armenian nation during the horrible events of 1895-1896 and later the reaction of the Russian tsarist regime during 1900-1905.



Khrimian Hayrik, through his work and writings, has been the symbol for the feelings of the Armenian nation. H. Lynch talks of him thus: "When the priest of Ter Varag, threw his stone in the, at that time, immovable water of the Armenians, he at first only received a ripple amongst the Armenians outside the borders of their fatherland. But the rings set in motion in this land have never been still since then and no one knows whether they will reach the shore of hope or despair. If there has been only one rightful path, it is without doubt the path that he followed, which brought him the status of a hero, and there have been no purer nor nobler feelings than his. His goal was to raise the Armenians and prepare them for the transition into a new era which he had prophesied. This era was, indisputably, to begin with the awakening of national feelings among the oppressed nations through proximity to the influence of new ideas from the western world. He saw the miserable and hopeless situation in the Ottoman Empire and knew also that the harsh policy of the Russian tsarist government was not suited to the soul and mind of a hardy individual thinking people such as the Armenians, who were in direct contact with the western world. He knew that in order to create permanent progress and development, the Armenians, who had a long history, would have to establish their national consciousness upon their old knowledge." 174