The Contribution of Armenian Jerusalem to Armenians in America

by Dennis R. Papazian

The object of this conference is to discuss the Armenian presence in Jerusalem in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Armenian studies program at Hebrew University. When I was invited to attend, I realized I knew next to nothing of the Armenian presence in Jerusalem in comparison to the learned scholars who make up most of the program. I have visited here only twice in the past. The last occasion was the opening of the new seminary building in June of 1975, when I was in the company of H.H. Vazken I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the two Armenian Patriarchs; and other dignitaries including Mr. Alex Manoogian, Edward Mardigian, and Mr. Dadour Dadourian. I claim no expertise on Jerusalem. My associations have been mostly with Armenians from Jerusalem, not Armenians in Jerusalem.

In discussing my plight with Michael Stone, from whom I received an invitation to attend, I suggested that I rather write a paper on the contributions of the Armenians of Jerusalem, specifically of the Armenian Patriarchate, to the Armenians in America, particularly the Armenian Church in America, which I believed to be significant and yet unrecorded in any unified way. Prof. Stone, however, said that he would be more interested in Armenian Jerusalemites in the U.S. Being an cooperative type of person, I decided to write a bit on both topics, beginning with the relations between the Armenian Church in America and Armenian Jerusalem, and then on the Jerusalemites in America to the extent my resources allowed.

I immediately asked my Assistant, Mr. Gerald Ottenbreit, to put together a bibliography for me. Mr. Ottenbreit is something of a bibliographical wizard, a walking encyclopedia, and master of the electronic search. He came up with a list of 83 items, but much to my consternation, nothing about Armenians from Jerusalem now in the United States or about the contributions of Armenians in or from Jerusalem to the Armenians of America. Dr. Levon Avdoyan, of the Library of Congress, who is also a master of bibliography, was kind enough to send me a bibliography of fourteen items, of which nine were duplicated in the Ottenbreit list and one of which was a reference to a major collection in the British Foreign Office. Once more none of these sources, unfortunately, dealt with my topic. I have attached the combined bibliography.

Since there was no systematic record to my knowledge of the contribution of the Armenians of Jerusalem to America, and also no systematic record of Armenians from Jerusalem in America, I had to create one. This meant turning to oral history or personal testimony on Armenians from Jerusalem in essay form. One of my first sources was Fr. Arten Ashjian who went through a great deal of material in his extensive personal library to help me put the story in context. Another valuable source was Fr. Diran Papazian, who also had studied in Jerusalem.

The first Armenian clergyman to set foot on American soil, sent by Patriarch Khoren Ashekian of Constantinople in 1889, was Fr. Hovsep Sarajian, who came to serve the Armenian flock in Worcester, MA. ⁽¹⁾ The first Armenian clergyman to have been educated at the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem to come to serve in America was Fr. Malachia Derounian who arrived five years later in 1894. He came to replace Fr. Sarajian as the pastor of the Armenian flock in Worcester. Indeed, Fr. Malachia was not only educated in Jerusalem, he was a member of the Brotherhood of St. James. His stay in America, however, was to last only three years, and Fr. Malachia left in 1897, never to return.

Fr. Malachia Derounian was, apparently, one of a group of younger dissatisfied members of the St. James monastic brotherhood of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem who had left the monastery in the 1870s to seek greater opportunities elsewhere. Little is known about them from the American side, but Derounian finally returned to Jerusalem as a bishop where he lived many years before going to Consantinople where he lived out his life. ⁽²⁾

Thirty years were to pass before the next member of the St. James Brotherhood came to serve in America. The genocide carried out against the Ottoman Armenians in historic Armenia, beginning in 1915, closed the doors of the various Armenian seminaries in Turkey and ended the role of Constantinople as a source for Armenian priests for the diaspora. The Communist regime in Soviet Russia likewise overcame the Armenian Republic in 1920 and made it impossible to train priests in Etchmiadzin for the diaspora. In theory this left two possible sources for the training of Armenian priests for the diaspora; the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Lebanon. While most of the Armenian priests of the Etchmiadzin related dioceses in America came from, or studied in, Jerusalem, a traditional source, a significant group also came from, or studied in, Antelias. Our study, however, will concentrate on Jerusalem.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was to fall on hard times during World War I. Bishop Papken Guleserian, during this difficult time, undertook, under the supervision of Yegheshe Tourian, the task of educating an entire class of seminarians called "the Gulbenkian Class," since the Gulbenkian family had provided the funds.⁽³⁾ Among the first ordained from this class were Fr. Sion Manoogian, later to be Archbishop and to serve in America, South America, the Middle East, and Etchmiadzin; Fr. Serovpe Manoogian, later to be Archbishop and Primate of Europe in Paris; Fr. Haigazoun Aprahamian, later to be Archbishop and who spent his final years in Holy Etchmiadzin as Grand Sacrist; Fr. Barkev Vertanesian, later to be Bishop and to serve out his life in Jerusalem; Fr. Zgon Der Hagopian, later to be Bishop and who passed away in New York; Fr. Aris Shirvanian, later to be Bishop and who served a term as Primate of California (1957-1962), and Fr. Shavarsh Koumyoumjian, later to be Bishop and to serve in Damascus.

Of the rejuvenated seminary by Patriarch Tourian, earlier classes had included the renown Archbishop Norayr Bogharian, an expert on Armenian manuscripts, who kept a photograph of his mentor Bishop Papken Guleserian on the wall of his room, and the pivotal Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan who, apparently, was not one of Guleserian's students.⁽⁴⁾

Among Bishop Papken's younger students in Jerusalem were Fr. Yeghishe Derderian, later to be Archbishop and to serve as Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Fr. Shnork Kaloustian, who later became Archbishop and Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, and many others.

The young Fr. Mampre Calfayan left Jerusalem in 1927 to come to America to serve as the pastor of Holy Cross Church in Union City, New Jersey. That was the year that the Western Diocese was formed to minister to the growing Armenian population of California. Fr. Calfayan was to be consecrated a bishop in 1935. From 1939-1941, he served as locum tenens of the Western Diocese, then called the Diocese of California, and then served as Primate from 1942-1946. In 1955, he was elected to serve a term as Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (1955-1958), popularly called the Eastern Diocese, at which time I first met him when I served as a member of the Central Council of the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA). Archbishop Mampre passed away in 1961, having served with distinction both the Eastern as well as the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church in America.⁽⁵⁾

In the 1930s, two young men educated as a part of the so-called "Gulbenkian Class" in the Jerusalem seminary and who were ordained as members of the St. James Brotherhood, Fr. Zgon Der Hagopian and Fr. Sion Manoogian, came to America to serve as parish priests. Eventually both were to be consecrated bishops and serve in high administrative posts in America and abroad. Archbishop Sion, my own spiritual father, succeeded Archbishop Mampre Calfayan in the post of Primate of the eastern Diocese, and served two terms (1958-1966). In 1948, Archbishop Sion produced a nostalgic book written in Armenian entitled Hay Yerusaghem (Armenian Jerusalem), which was the first serious attempt by an Armenian clergyman to acquaint the reader with the historic significance and the potential of the Jerusalem Patriarchate.⁽⁶⁾ After serving honorably in America, Archbishop Sion was sent by His Holiness Vasken I as pontifical legate first to South America and then to Egypt. Archbishop Sion finally emigrated to Etchmiadzin where he served out his life as a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council which was advisory to the Catholicos in questions of church governance.⁽⁷⁾

The venerable Karekin Hovsepiants served as Primate of the American Diocese from 1939 to 1944. When he was elected Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in 1943, Fr. Tiran Nersoyan, a brilliant young priest from Jerusalem serving in London, was elected to take his place as Primate in America. In 1944, during World War II, Fr. Tiran (who was elected in the fall of 1943) finally was able to come to America and was installed as Primate, in which position he was to serve ten remarkable years.

In 1945 word came to America that Etchmiadzin had received permission to elect a new Catholicos of All Armenians. The See had been vacant since 1938, when His Holiness Khoren I (Mouradbekian) had died under suspicious circumstances. Archbishop Kevork Cheorekjian, the locum tenens of the Catholicosate, called a world wide national assembly of clerical and lay delegates to elect a new Catholicos. The conclave was presided over by His Holiness Karekin Hovsepian, whose own consecration as Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in Lebanon had taken place a mere eleven weeks earlier. The American delegation consisted of Fr. Tiran Nersoyan, the Primate, Fr. Sion Manoogian, James Chankalian and Haik Kavookjian plus another clergyman and layman who could not make the arduous journey. Archbishop Kevork (George) Cheorekjian was elected Catholicos of All Armenians and consecrated by the Catholicos of Cilicia, the Patriarch of Jerusalem (there was none at the time in Istanbul), the archbishops and the bishops present. One of his first official acts was to consecrate ten priests, among them Fr. Tiran and Fr. Sion, as bishops.

My first oral history interview was of Fr. Diran Papazian, a graduate of the St. James Seminary, who was among a group of men recruited by Archbishop Tiran for the diocese of the Armenian Church of America. (DP=Dennis Papazian, FD=Father Papazian)

DP: I understand, Fr. Diran, that you are a product of the Jerusalem Seminary.

FD: Yes that's right, I studied there more than 50 years ago.

DP: Who was the Armenian patriarch then and who was the dean of the seminary?

FD: The patriarch was one of the most illustrious patriarchs of Jerusalem, Archbishop Torkom Koushakian [1931-1939]. He is considered one of the church statesmen in the Armenian Church.

DP: Archbishop Torkom Koushakian trained a lot of students, did he not?

FD: Yes, he taught first in Armash, which was a town outside Constantinople, where prior to the Genocide the Armenians had an important seminary. Most of our great and illustrious churchmen of an earlier era were educated in that seminary, and Koushakian himself was educated there. Afterwards he became the head of the seminary, but unfortunately, it was all destroyed during the 1915 genocide. Yet, thank God, he was one of the survivors from that seminary. Many others from that seminary who were already bishops at the helm of different dioceses in Asia Minor, where Armenians had lived for many centuries, were massacred. Eventually he was elected as Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, following his predecessor who was also his teacher, Patriarch Eghishe Tourian [1921-1930].

DP: Now did Eghishe Tourian teach in Armash or in Jerusalem?

FD: First in Armash. Then he became patriarch of Constantinople [1909-1910]. After the genocide, he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem [1921]. During the First World War almost everything in Jerusalem had come to ruin. Everything, the Patriarchate, the Brotherhood, and the school, were disrupted by the war in the Middle East and the Armenian genocide which was taking place in Anatolia and Syria. Very little of the organization was left. The Patriarchate was on hard times. Most of the monks were old men.

He was the one that began the renovation and rejuvenation. He reopened the seminary and brought students from different places. He renovated the printing press, which was first established in 1833, and built a high school and also a new library building which became the depository of a large collection of important books. The precious manuscripts were housed in the church of St. Toros then.

And, fortunately, his student Torkom Koushakian was elected Patriarch shortly thereafter. (Archbishop Mesrob Neshanian served as Locum Tenens from 1930-1931.) Patriarch Koushakian continued the same good works in Jerusalem. This was in my estimation, and many others agree with me, the Golden Age of Jerusalem, that time when Tourian and Koushakian were Patriarch.

DP: Where did the students came from?

FD: The students were mostly gathered from different areas of the Middle East--from Aleppo, where there was a big Armenian community of survivors, from Beirut, where another big Armenian community was located, and also from Egypt, another country were there was a large Armenian community, and from Iraq, Cyprus, Constantinople and Turkey. The students were gathered from all over the Middle East, many of them orphans.

DP: Now when did Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan come upon the scene?

FD: Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan was from the first cohort of students that Archbishop Elishe Tourian brought to the seminary during his tenure as patriarch. Tiran Nersoyan's generation was the first fruit of the revitalized seminary after the First World War.

DP: I see. And what was his rank and function during the patriarchate of Torkom Koushakian?

FD: When I was student there, between 1935 and 1940 [from 1939-1944 there was a locum tenens], Archbishop Nersoyan was still a vartabed, a monk, but he was also the dean or director of the seminary.

At this time, under the direction of Tiran Nersoyan, the seminary prospered further with many new students and new illustrious teachers. The Patriarch also brought to the seminary many outstanding persons like Hagop Oshagan, who is considered by many to be one of the giants of the Armenian literature, and Shahan Berberian, who is considered one of the great philosophers of the Armenian people. We also had many more teachers of high quality.

Shahan Berberian had first directed the Berberian School in Cario, which had first been founded by his father Retheos Berberian. Hagop Oshagan taught in one of the Armenian schools in Cairo, Egypt, during the 1920s, when he and the future Patriarch, Torkom Koushakian, had become good friends.⁽⁸⁾

It was during the patriarchate of Torkom Koushakian that all these great teachers were brought to the seminary and ensured the continued rejuvenation of the Armenian seminary which began after Patriarch Tourian.

DP: And so Tiran Nersoyan, later to be archbishop, was at that time a vartabed and the head of the school.

FD: Yes, and the school was very prosperous at the time, but after he spent several years as dean of the school, he was invited to Europe to give leadership first to the Armenian community in Paris and then in London. So he left his work as dean of the seminary and moved to Europe.

DP: Now, eventually, during World War II, he came to the United States and became Primate of our Diocese 1944. He brought many of the graduates of the seminary to America to serve, for example you, Fr. Arnak Kasparian, Fr. Arten Ashjian and others, both kahanas and vartabeds.

FD: During the Second World War Archbishop Tiran served in London as the head of the Armenian Church there and doing advanced studies. It was then, I suppose, that he developed his British accent. During that time he met many young Armenian-Americans who were in the armed services, serving their country, and became interested in America.

In 1943, he was elected as the Primate of the Armenian Church in North America. The venerable Karekin Hovsepiants was the Diocesan Primate [1939-1944] at the time. Archbishop Karekin, who was a great and learned man, was elected Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias, a suburb of Beirut in Lebanon.

Tiran Nersoyan was still a vartabed at the time of his election as Primate of the American Diocese of the Armenian Church. Soon after, there was to be an election to fill the vacant chair of the Catholicos of All Armenians in Etchmiadzin. Tiran Nersoyan went to Etchmiadzin to participate in the elections, where George VI (Kevork Cheorekjian) was elected Catholicos of All Armenians.

It was there in Etchmiadzin that Tiran Srpazan was consecrated as bishop to be the head of the American Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern). Fr. Sion Manoogian was also consecrated a bishop.

There were few priests in America at that time, and more were needed to meet the demands of an expanding church. Tiran Srpazan went around like a missionary appealing to the youth as well as to the elders, establishing new parishes and church organizations.

In order to meet the need for clergy, he brought to America some ordained priests from Jerusalem as well as some of his former students who were still deacons and sent them to seminaries and graduate schools. I was sent to Harvard Divinity School, for example, to earn a Master's of Sacred Theology degree.

Yes, he brought over some of his own students and put them in schools and seminaries in the United States to get a higher education, improve their knowledge of English, and to become accustomed to Western ways. Then he himself ordained them as priests. He also brought over some already ordained priests, vartabeds, from Jerusalem so that they could also come over and serve as parish priests or otherwise serve the diocese.

[Herein we add some oral history provided by Fr. Arten Ashjian. AA=Arten Ashjian.]

DP: Where the priest Tiran Srpazan brought over in the 1940s his own students?

AA: 1946 he brought over Fr. Torkom Manoogian, [later to be Archbishop and Primate of America and still later Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem]; Fr. Isahag Ghazarian [who died prematurely]; Fr. Hmayak Intoyan [later to be Bishop]; and Fr. Papken Varzhabedian [also later to be Bishop]. It is safe to say that all of them were Tiran Nersoyan's students.

DP: Fr. Diran, give me as many names as you can remember of those whom Tiran Srpazan brought over from Jerusalem.

FD: First, there were Fr. Arnak Kasparian, Fr. Arten Ashjian, [both students of Tiran Srpazan] and Fr. Garen Gdanian [who was younger and studied in Jerusalem after them]. These three, [who were ordained in 1948], recently celebrated 50 years of service in the priesthood.

AA: There was also Fr. Shahe Altounian and Fr. Vartan Meugerian, who were Tiran Srpazan's students.

Those who came before their ordination to study--including the five mentioned above--were Fr. Levon Arakelian and Fr. Diran Papazian, both of whom were Tiran Srpazan's students, and Fr. Artoon Smpadian, who was not because he was from a younger group. There was also a Fr. Alan Potukian, deceased, who was educated in Antelias and ordained in 1950 in the U.S. as celibate priest.

Then there was Fr. Vartan Meguerian and Fr. Isahag Ghazerian, both of who died prematurely after years of faithful service. There was also Yeghishe Gizirian, who is now Primate of England, who was originally a member of the Brotherhood of the Cilician Catholicate in Antelias, Lebanon.

Some of the priests who came here to serve the eastern Diocese later went to California to serve the Western Diocese. Among these were Fr. Shahe Altoonian, Fr. Artoon Smpadian, and Fr. Levon Arakelian, who was recently deceased.

AA: Others from Jerusalem who served in California are Fr. Sipan Der Mekhsian, who serves at the Diocesan office, Fr. Moushegh Tashjian who also served in the Eastern Diocese and Canada, and he is now serving in Paris, France; Fr. Vartan Tatevossian, Fr. Arshag Khatchadourian, and Bishop Aris Shirvanian.

FD: And others in the east include Fr. Shnork Kaloustian from London, Tiran Srpazan's successor there, who came to America late in 1949 and who later became Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople [1963-1990].

I, myself, am one of these who Tiran Srpazan called to service. After graduating from the seminary, I got a job in Beirut. On one of his visits to the Middle East, Archbishop Tiran saw me. And, my being one of his students, he recognized me and invited me to come to America and serve the church. He said that he would find a benefactor for me and make all the arrangements for my studies. The benefactor, Dicran Missirlian, made it possible for me to study at several seminaries in America.

FD: And of course Archbishop Sion Manoogian was a product of the seminary of Jerusalem, one of the earliest students after Tourian Patriarch started to reinvigorate the Jerusalem patriarchate and the seminary. Bishop Sion came as vartabed here to serve in the Diocese.

Therefore, you can see that this Diocese and all of America owe a lot to Jerusalem for all the fine priests that came here, all the students that came and were ordained here and served the Diocese and the ones born here who went to study in Jerusalem.

***

The year 1948 was not a peaceful year for Jerusalem and its Armenian inhabitants. With the creation of the State of Israel and the resulting Arab-Jewish fighting, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was caught between the warring sides and suffered casualties, physical damage, and economic hardship. Once again, as in the closing months of World War I, the monastery of St. James became a shelter for numerous Armenian refugees. In addition, the See was vacant between 1948 and 1960; there was no Patriarch.

In 1957 an election was held to fill the See of the Armenian Patriarchate which, as I said, had been vacant since 1948. The Brotherhood of St. James elected Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan as Patriarch of Jerusalem. Since the Old City and the Armenian Quarter were at that time under the Kingdom of Jordan, the King of Jordan was obliged to issue the traditional edict, or firman, of recognition to the duly elected Archbishop Nersoyan before he could take office. The King, however, apparently influenced by outside forces and some dissident monks, rather deported Archbishop Tiran and his supporters--Bishop Shnork Kaloustian, Fr. Torkom Manoogian, and Fr. Vasken Kebreslian--from Jordan. The See, accordingly, was taken by Archbishop Yeghshe Derderian (1960-1990) who sat on the patriarchal throne for for thirty years. In 1993, four years after his death and burial in New York, Archbishop Tiran's body was transferred to Jerusalem and with proper solemnity was interred in the Patriarchal Section of the cemetery in the Sourp Purgich Monastery on Mt. Zion. It is ironic that Archbishop Tiran's grave is next to the grave of Archbishop Yeghishe, who died five months after Archbishop Tiran.⁽⁹⁾

It is well known that His Beatitude Torkom Manoogian, who was from Jerusalem and who for almost thirty years served with great distinction as Primate of the American Diocese (1966-1990), is now the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem.

There were still refugees living in the vank or dependent on the Patriarchate for sustenance during this period. The time was at hand for the Armenians of America to reciprocate and to help the Armenians of Jerusalem. Although the American Diocese itself was burdened with many needs and replete with various fund raising projects, it agreed to raise funds to help feed and assist the Armenians who were under the care of the Patriarchate.

The first legate sent from Jerusalem to raise funds was Fr. Serovpe Manoogian, who spent a year and a half touring the major Armenian centers in America. To aid in this undertaking, Fr. Serovpe obtained the help of the publicist Avedis Derounian to produce a beautiful bilingual album on Armenian Jerusalem.⁽¹⁰⁾ The second legate was Fr. Guregh Kapikian who was sent in the mid 1950s to acquire more funds. Both of these missions were relatively successful in providing for the refugees.

In the early 1960s, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as one of the protectors of the Holy Places, was called upon to share the cost of the renovation of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem. His Holiness Vasken I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, issued a worldwide appeal for help. The American Diocese, by then one of the largest and most wealthy in the world, was expected to do its share. Catholicos Vasken, through the then Primate Archbishop Sion, appointed Mr. Haig Kavookjian, who had participated in the election of Kevork V, to head the fund raising committee in America. The committee did its work successfully, thus again repaying in some small measure the contributions of the Patriarchate to America.

After the Six Days War in 1967, Archbishop Yeghishe Derderian, who had taken the patriarchal throne in 1960, convinced Mr. Alex Manoogian, international president of the AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union) with whom he was still on good terms, to undertake the expenses of a new seminary building which was to be built just outside the monastery walls and was to be named the Alex and Marie Manoogian Seminary Building. Mr. Dadour Dadourian was to undertake the cost of furnishing the building and paid for the transportation and education of the seminarians who were brought from the interior of Turkey. They were called the Dadourian sanotzner.

His Holiness Vasken Catholicos officiated at the opening of the new building in June 1975 in the company of the two Patriarchs, archbishops and bishops as well as many dignitaries from all over the world. I personally attended, as I said earlier, as a part of Alex Manoogian's entourage, which also included Prof. Avedis Sanjian, and became personally acquainted with Patriarch Yeghishe who treated me with great courtesy. But let us return to our story in America.

***

DP: Now Father Diran, regarding clergymen in the Diocese who have served here in recent times or who are currently serving here, would you give me their names. Here is the diocesan list of clergy for you to work from.

FD: Yes. Some of these are attached only to this Diocese and others are on loan, so to speak, from Jerusalem. They are members of the Brotherhood who were given permission to serve in America.

There are Fr. Samuel Aghoyan; Fr. Arshen Aivazian; Fr. Arakel Aljalian; Fr. Papken Anoushian; Fr. Arten Ashjian; our Primate Archbishop Khajag Barsamian; Fr. Arsen Barsamian and Fr. Michael Buttero, both of whom were born here in America and went to Jerusalem to study Armenian language and liturgy (Fr. Buttero passed away at an early age); Fr. Martiros Chevian, who studied in Jerusalem after he competed his work at the St. Nersess Seminary; Fr. Suren Chinchinian; Fr. Carnig Hallajian; Fr. Nersess Jebejian (nephew of Tiran Srpazan) was another one who went to Jerusalem to complete his studies; Fr. Varoujan Kabaradjian, Fr. Vertanes Kalayjian; Fr. Vazken Karayan; Fr. Nourhan Manougian, who is now in Jerusalem as Grand Sacrist; Fr. Haigzoun Melkonian who was from Detroit, Michigan, and who went to Jerusalem for several years for his full training and was ordained there as a vartabed and returned to America to serve; Fr. Paree Metjian; Fr. Oshagan Minassian; myself Fr. Diran Papazian; Fr. Ghevont Samourian who was from America and went to Jerusalem for his full studies, was ordained a celibate priest, and returned to serve this Diocese; Fr. Mesrob Semerjian (who is the oldest among the priests) who was brought to America at age four and who went to Jerusalem in 1935 to study and to be ordained a celibate priest; Fr. Aved Terzian; Bishop Papken Varjabedian, who for one term was Primate of the Western Diocese [1957-1962]; Fr. Baret Yeretzian; and Fr. Kegham Zakarian. The clergy from Jerusalem who served in the California Diocese from Jerusalem included Fr. Dirayr Dervishian and Fr. Haigaser Donikian, members of the St. James Brotherhood, as well as Fr. Bedros Kassardjian, a classmate of Fr. Torkom Manoogian.

DP: This makes twenty-six in all. That is a very high percentage, well over half of the clergy serving in America.

Now in a sense we can say that St. Nersess Seminary, which serves the three dioceses of North America, is a continuation of Jerusalem, because the seed brought by Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan was planted here, first in Evanston, Illinois (1962), and then transfered to New Rochelle, New York (ca. 1965). After young men study here in America, many have gone back to Jerusalem to perfect their knowledge of the church offices and Armenology. Fr. Yeprem Kelegian, Fr. Diran Bohajian, Fr. Haroutiun Dagley, Fr. Tavit Boyajian, and Fr. Simeon Odabashian come to mind.

FD: There were others who went overseas, like Fr. Dajad Davidian and Fr. Vasken Tatoian (now deceased), who wanted to study before there was a seminary in America and before the split in 1957, who were sent to Antelias to study. These men went to a larger Armenian community than Jerusalem, but a community which because of its size was more secular.

And then there were still others of higher rank who served here at one time or another, including Archbishop Sion Manoogian (deceased), who served as Primate [1958-1966]; Bishop Papken Varjabedian, who served one term as Primate of the Western Diocese [1957-1962] and then as the Primate's Legate in Washington, D.C. for the eastern Diocese; Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian who also served as Primate of the Western Diocese [1953-1956] and was then elected and served as Patriarch of Constantinople (deceased) [1963-1990]; Archbishop Karekin Kazanjian, who was elected the successor of Archbishop Shnork as Patriarch of Constantinople [1990-1998]; Archbishop Zgon Der Hagopian; Bishop Aris Shirvanian; Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who first served as Primate of California [1962-1966] and then for almost thirty years as Primate of this Diocese [1966-1990], who was then elected Patriarch of Jerusalem [1990]; and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, presently Primate of our Diocese [1990-].

DP: Now what about the priests who went from America to study in Jerusalem?

FD: After the establishment of the St. Nersess Seminary in the U.S. by two Jerusalemites, Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan backed by the then Primate Archbishop Sion Manoogian, to ensure the supply of suitable priests for our Diocese, we have young men who first studied at St. Nersess Seminary and upon graduation were sent to Jerusalem to perfect their Armenian language and to master the ecclesiastical offices of the Armenian Church. Before 1957, some went to Antelias. In more recent times after the independence of Armenia in 1991, some young men are also sent to Jerusalem and then to Etchmiadzin in Armenia to perfect their study.

DP: Yes, Jerusalem has the advantage of having an Armenian speaking Armenian community as well as a school, a seminary, and responsibility for the Holy Places. The church offices and hours are constantly recited. As a consequence of these advantages, a very high percentage of our priest are related to Jerusalem in one way or another. Are there others?

FD: Yes. Now the ones I can think of who went from America to study in Jerusalem, including some I have already mentioned (and there may be others), are Fr. Michael Buttero and Fr. Sahag Kaishian. Fr. Mardiros Chevian who serves as Canon Sacrist of the St. Vartan Cathedral as well as pastor of St. Gregory Church was from Antelias. Both Fr. Nersess Jebejian and Fr. Shnork Kasparian were sent back to Jerusalem to serve at the seminary. Fr. Krikor Maksoudian went to Jerusalem after the death of his wife and joined the Brotherhood as a celibate priest. Presently he serves the diocese as the head of the Zohrab Center and sometime Locum Tenenss of the Diocese.

DP: Kegham Tcholakian, who is from Jerusalem and now living in New York, told me that what characterized the graduates of the Jerusalem seminary was a mastery of the church rituals and a dedication to religion. The monastic compound is large enough to be a world in itself, and so there are fewer secular influences. Furthermore, the life of the Armenian community revolves around the church, which makes it a more religious community. There are fewer secular organizations to distract the community.

If we included the new names, well over thirty out of the fifty-four priests serving the eastern Diocese, clearly a majority, are related to Jerusalem in one way or another. That's an impressive list. It indicates that a very high percentage of the number of clergymen serving in this diocese are from or have studied in Jerusalem. California, on the other hand, has a minority of its priests from Jerusalem.

Now if you were to included the students who study at St. Nersess Seminary here in America, which is itself a product of Jerusalem inasmuch as Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan of Jerusalem founded the seminary and many of its teachers are from Jerusalem, we can say that in some sense they, too, are the products of Jerusalem. That is particularly so if these students will go to Jerusalem to perfect their studies in liturgics and Armenology.

Now this is a very powerful thing of course, to have the power of human lives, of people who have studied in or come from Jerusalem to serve in America. That forms a living chain, such as the chain of ordination, from spiritual father to spiritual son, from the Old World to the New World.

***

For many years, Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan served as the Dean of St. Nersess. When he retired, Fr. Arakel Aljalian, who studied in Jerusalem, served as Rector and then Dean. Now, Dr. Abraham Terian is Academic Dean at St. Nersess as well as Professor of Armenian Patristics. Dr. Terian, of course, was a product of Jerusalem. I was for over 20 years the secretary of the board of trustees of St. Nersess Seminary, and it was the realization of a life long dream when a scholar of the calibre of Dr. Terian came to lead St. Nersess.

Abraham Terian

Dr. Terian grew up in the Armenian compound of St. James in Jerusalem, where he received his early education. For six years he was a professional tour-guide throughout the Holy Land. In additional to a Bachelor's degree in history and ancient languages, and a Master's degree in archaeology and history of antiquity, he holds a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland, having specialized in Early Christianity and its Jewish and Hellenistic roots.

Before coming to St. Nersess in 1997, he was Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literature for twenty years at various universities in the U.S. and abroad, and for four years a recurring Visiting Professor for both Classical Armenian and Hellenistic Judaism at the University of Chicago. Dr. Terian is an internationally recognized scholar in these fields. He has published four book-length works and over fifty articles in historical, philological, and literary periodicals and monographs.

Certainly Dr. Terian can be considered an important gift of Jerusalem to the Armenian Church in America.

Publications

The realm of ecclesiastical publications is another way that Armenian Jerusalem has served the diaspora, including America. The monastery of St. James, a large enterprise, has different establishments, one of them being the printing press which was established in 1833 and periodically renewed. The printing press of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem throughout the centuries has published many books. Most of them have been liturgical books, ritual books, and the works of ancient authors which have been printed, as well as Armenological books and journals.

With the closing of the Armenian church printing presses in Turkey after the Genocide of the Armenians, and the conquest of Armenia by the Communists in 1920, Jerusalem was one of the few places in the world which could provide Armenians ecclesiastical books.

One of the annual publications of Jerusalem, of course, is the Oratsuits (Liturgical Calendar), on which so many of our priests depend. Fr. Krikor Maksoudian also states that,

To this day the missals used in the majority of our churches are from Jerusalem. Those printed in Vagharshapat are very rare. This is also true of the two-volume lectionary, of which an offset printing was made in Beirut and which became available to us only in the 1970s, and a number of other liturgical books such as the Tagharan, "The Book of Odes," and so on. During Archbishop Torkom's and Archbishop Khajag's tenure as Primate, the larger and the smaller hymnal, the large and small size Book of Hours, and the Book of Rituals were reprinted here in the United States. These printings were offprints, exact replicas of the originals from Jerusalem, and still bear the same title page and the imprimatur of the Patriarch or the Executive Council of the Patriarchate. Several years ago, Antelias reproduced the small-size Book of Hours in an even smaller size. But here again, it was an exact duplicate only reduced further in size.⁽¹¹⁾

Non-Clerical Contributions

There seems to have been around 20,000 Armenians in Jerusalem after the First World War and there are perhaps only 2,000 today. Some of these people emigrated to America where they now live, while others dispersed throughout the Middle East. Many came to America and are distributed among most of the established Armenian communities, but perhaps are concentrated chiefly in California.

There are at least two important Armenian organizations in America directly relating to Jerusalem. The first is the Armenian Friends of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, of which, interestingly, only two members, Kegham Tcholakian and Artin Aslanian, are directly from Jerusalem. I interviewed Kegham Tcholakian who reported:

"In 1968, a number of farsighted Armenian business men in America thought that it would be appropriate to found a tax-exempt organization through which they could fund important projects in Jerusalem. They were particularly concerned with the Patriarchate, itself, and also the Armenian educational system, especially the seminary.

"As I said, The Friends of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was created in 1968, some of the founders being the late Alex Manoogian and the late Dadour Dadourian. Suren Fesjian is the current president. I am the treasurer. Misak Haigentz is the recently appointed part-time Executive Director. Also members are Mr. Alex Dadourian, who replaced his father, Dr. Pergouhe Svajian, and Mr. Artin Aslanian. Newly coopted members are Leon Nigoghosian, Gregory Manuelian, Hamo Darmanian, Arpine Aslanian, and Michael Haroutunian. That makes about 10-11 of us. Artin Aslanian and I are the only real Jerusalemites."

The second organization in America of Jerusalemites is the Jerusalem Holy Translators School Alumni, under the chairmanship of Azniv Yagoubian, with its headquarters in Los Angeles. I have phoned Ms. Yagoubian several times, inquiring about membership numbers, but with no results. I was told by others that it had a broad membership base, distributed mostly in California, but with members all over the country. It raises fund through periodic events, chiefly banquets, to aid the Sourp Tarkmanchatz school in Jerusalem.

I understand that there is a third organization, newly formed in 1997, which is the Friends of the Calouste Gulbenkian Library. His Beatitude himself is its patron.

***

In terms of famous Jerusalemites in America, I have already mentioned Prof. Abraham Terian, Academic Dean at St. Nersess Seminary. Another scholar of note was Prof. Avedis Sanjian.

Avedis Sanjian

Many non-clerical individuals have made significant contributions to Armenians in America. One such was the late Avedis Sanjian who received his early education in Jerusalem. He was born in Marash, Cilicia, in 1921, from where his family fled the next year to Syria. In 1929, they found refuge in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, where Avedis first studied at the Holy Translators' elementary school of the Armenian Patriarchate and then at the Bishop Gobat British High School, from which he was graduated in 1939.

He studied English Literature at the American University of Beirut, from which he was graduated in 1949. He pursued graduate work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned a doctorate in Near Eastern studies. His dissertation, The Sanjak of Alexandretta: A Study in Franco-Turo-Syrian Relations, is the classic in its field. He was at Harvard from 1957-1965, where he was appointed to the faculty as the first full-time professor of Armenian studies in America. In 1965, he was called to UCLA, where he spent the rest of his active career, as professor of Armenian language and literature. Over the years, he was responsible for the publication of ten (the tenth published posthumously) academic books and has published over forty articles in English and Armenian academic journals. Prof. Sanjian always maintained his academic ties with Jerusalem, where he did a great deal of his research, and was close friends with the former Patriarch, Archbishop Yeghishe Derderian.

Arthur Tcholakian

Another Jerusalemite of note, was Arthur Tcholakian (brother of Kegham Tcholakian) who in his time was famous for his photographic books. I first met Arthur in the 1970s when he came to Washington, D.C. to photograph me when I was Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America. His most famous books among the Armenians was Armenia: State, People, Life (1975) which was the first, and to my knowledge the only, first class artistic study of Soviet Armenia and its leaders. In that year he also published a book of poetry, The Walking Tree.

His most famous book, however, was Israel, Land of Promise(1973), on the state of Israel. As his brother Kegham recently described it,

Arthur showed Ben Gurion standing in front of the YMCA with Jerusalem as a background. It was a great photo. In fact, he became friends with all the leadership of Israel at that time, people whom he portrayed in his book, including Moshe Dyan. The fact that he was raised in Jerusalem attracted him to Israel and to do that photographic study. The book was a best seller and made him a wealthy man.

Arthur Tcholakian also did a photographic study entitled The Majesty of the Black Woman: Words and Pictures [1975], in which he was the first person to popularize the expression "black is beautiful." It was a also great book like the first one. I, personally, can still picture it in my mind. I bought it before I knew Arthur. I especially remember one caption, "She was a tower of strength to them." There was this tall, thin black woman, obviously poor, with two young children clinging to her tattered skirt. She was a tower of strength to her children even though in the wide world she was a frail reed, not a powerful but perhaps a pitiful object. To her children, however, she was powerful, their protector, a tower of strength, as indeed she was for them.

After he did the book on Armenia in 1975, in 1978 he did a book on Antelias on the occasion of the consecration of Karekin II as coadjutor Catholicos of Cilicia. The text was in Armenian and it was entitled, New Voice, New Echo. Then he also wrote a book on the 100th anniversary of Vahan Tekeyan, which he also illustrated. In fact what made Arthur Tcholakian so great was the fact that he wrote as well as illustrated his books with his own strong and memorable photographs. He had the soul of a poet, which gave his works great distinction.

John Zakarian

Another Jerusalemite who has great visibility in America is Mr. John Zakarian, the editor of The Hartford Current, the largest circulation and most important newspaper in Connecticut. Mr. Zakarian, who was born in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, tells his own story:

"I was born in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, as were my mother and father, their parents and their grandparents. We are known as "old-line" Armenians in the Holy Land. Perhaps you have heard of the term "kaghakatsi," city dwellers or refined people. It was applied to us.

"In the context of Jerusalem, the kaghakatsis settled in and around Jerusalem as early as the fifth century. They have acted as "protectors" of the Armenian holy places. Most kaghakatsis have historically been well off (relative to Jerusalem's overall population) and work in the professions (teachers, doctors, bureaucrats) and trades (photography, jewelry, tailoring, shoe making, etc).

"At most, the kaghakatsis numbered 1,000. Today there are only a few hundred left, most having migrated since the Arab-Israeli wars. Until the 1960s, the kaghakatsis married only among themselves, and probably everyone in the community was related to each another.

"Other Armenians found refuge in Jerusalem during the genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. Tens of thousands made their way to Jerusalem and became known as the "Zuwar" (Arabic for visitors), as opposed to the kaghakatses. There were some cultural and linguistic clashes (most refugees spoke Turkish and/or Armenian while the old-liners spoke Armenian and/or Arabic/English). The kaghakatsis spoke Armenian that was accented because of the Arab influence, much as Armenian Americans can be easily spotted by their vocabulary and accent when they speak the mother tongue.

"My father was an electrical contractor in Palestine and built the first electric generating plant in what was then Transjordan (later Jordan). He was shot by an Israeli sniper during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war while he was on his way to work in East Jerusalem during a lull in the fighting when the U.N. declared a cease-fire. My mother was a school teacher, one of the first Armenian women in Jerusalem to work outside the home, as she had to do when she was widowed.

"I went to Armenian kindergarten and one grade of elementary school before transferring to St. George's School, a private Anglican school in Jerusalem that taught the sons and daughters of the elite in Palestine. I have two sisters (both live in Holland, having been educated there and married Dutchmen) and one brother who was educated in the United States and lived here for

twenty-five years before deciding to marry an Armenian woman from Jerusalem and to return home. He now teaches at the Armenian high school in Jerusalem and also works as the civilian superintendent of the Armenian Seminary. If you go there, just ask for Mike.

"On graduation from high school, I taught English and geography for two years at a U.N. refugee camp for Palestinians in Jericho. I came to the United States in 1957 as a student on scholarship at Southern Illinois University. The scholarship paid only part of my expenses. I had to work for the rest, first as a janitor, then as an usher at a movie theater, and for the last two years of school as assistant manager of the two movie houses in Carbondale, Ill. My mother could not afford to give me financial help.

"I graduated in journalism in 1961 and went to work for the Associated Press in the Chicago bureau as a reporter. My next job was as a city hall and court reporter at the Galesburg [Ill.] Register-Mail. Galesburg was the home town of Carl Sandburg and a favorite place of Abraham Lincoln! After two years in Galesburg, I enrolled in the graduate journalism program at the University of Iowa and was graduated in 1964 with an MA in mass communication.

"I next worked for a chain of six medium-sized Illinois dailies called the Lindsay-Schaub Newspapers, headquartered in Decatur, Ill. I started as an editorial writer, became their state capitol correspondent and then editorial page editor of all six newspapers.

"While in Decatur, I was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious awards in our business. I spent a year at Harvard sampling anything and everything but concentrating on the economics of oil.

"After the Nieman year, I worked for the old (and now merged) Boston Herald Traveler as associate editor. From Boston, I accepted a position as a member of the editorial board of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, where I worked for seven years until 1978. I came to Hartford as editorial page editor of The Hartford Courant, the biggest daily newspaper in Connecticut and the oldest in continuous publication in the United States. I have been here twenty-one years, in charge of a staff of sixteen people. I am now a corporate vice president as well as editorial page editor.

"I have won numerous journalism awards, local, regional and national, including an Overseas Press Club award for a series I did on the Middle East and the InterAmerican Press Award for a series on Central America and the Scripps Howard Walker Stone national award for an editorial campaign to improve Connecticut's judicial system. I was also named as Journalism Alumnus of the Year at Southern Illinois University in the 1970s. I am married to a fellow Southern Illinois University alumna, the former Kay Holder and have two sons, Paul and David. David is a hotshot computer programmer in Kansas City, married to a television (CBS) weather forecaster in that city. Paul manages community group homes for mentally ill young people in Connecticut."

Mr. Zakarian is interested in Armenian issues and is well-respected in the Armenian community.

Dr. Raffy Hovanessian

Dr. Raffy Hovanessian is a noted physician from Jerusalem who now lives in Chicago. He represented the American Diocese of the Armenian Church, as I did, at the election in Etchmiadzin of Karekin I as Catholicos of All Armenians. In fact, he was nominated, but not elected, to chair the conclave. Dr. Hovanessian is a close friend of His Holiness and acts as his personal physician. I did an oral history interview of Dr. Hovanessian which follows in part. (RH=Dr. Raffy Hovanessian)

RH: I was born in Jerusalem in 1938, and I lived there until the Arab-Israeli war in 1946, at which time the Haganah came and forced us out of our home. We went across the street to the YMCA for one week, waiting to get our house back. But the time seemed unending, and so our parents took us to Aleppo, where my father's cousins were, and that is where I grew up.

My next trip to Jerusalem was in 1953, and I crossed from Damascus through Jordan, and since then I have been there many times.

DP: Where did you get your education?

RH: My education was basically in Aleppo. I went to the American Protestant School and then to Aleppo College for my secondary education. I then went to Beirut for my medical education.

DP: How many Jerusalemites went to Aleppo?

RH: I would say five or six families. Most of the time the families went where they had relatives to help them get settled. For example, my wife's family left Jerusalem during the war and went to Beirut. My wife was not born in Jerusalem, but her mother and all her aunts were born there. They had to run away. My mother-in-law was married in Beirut, and so the whole family came and stayed with them until they could strike out on their own. My wife's maiden name was Shoghag Deirmenjian.

DP: Did she study at all in Jerusalem?

RH: Oh, yes. In the Tarkmanchatz school. Yes, all her aunts and her uncles studied in the Tarkmanchatz school, and one of their teachers was the present Patriarch, Torkom Srpazan, who was a priest at that time.

DP: How may Jerusalemites do you know in this country? How many families?

RH: At least 150 or 200 [families].

DP: Of these, how many do you personally know. 50-60?

RH: At least 60-70.

DP: Is there an organization of Jerusalemites in America?

RH: Yes, the Tarkmanchatz graduates have such an organization. They are mostly from California. They meet annually for a function to raise money for the school. But I am not aware of any other Jerusalem or Palestine Armenian organization in America. One sources, if you want to know more, is Hasmig Hovnanian, who is a graduate of the Tarkmanchatz school. My mother-in-law would know since she went to the reunion, and my wife's uncle would know, he is Hagop Deirmenjian who lives in Orange county California. They would be glad to help you.

DP: A final question, what would you say are the major occupations of the Jerusalemites in America. Are they in the professions?

RH: They are in the professions, in business, in medicine, and many of them are photographers, engravers, jewelers, and shoe repair in the old days.

DP: Have any of them become great industrialists?

RH: Off hand, I cannot think of any. Your best source would be Kegham Tcholakian.

Kegham Tcholakian

As it turned out, Kegham Tcholakian became my most knowledgeable informant. (KT=Kegham Tcholakian)

Kegham Tcholakian
April 15, 1999

DP: I am speaking to Kegham Tcholakian, an accountant, who is an Armenian from Jerusalem living in America. Kegham, you are a member of the Friends of Jerusalem Committee. Can you tell me when it was founded, what is its purpose, who is the president, who are the officers, the members and the like?

KT: [In 1968, a number of farsighted Armenian business men in America thought that it would be appropriate to found a tax-exempt organization through which they could fund important projects in Jerusalem. They were particularly concerned with the Patriarchate, itself, and also the Armenian educational system, especially the seminary.

As I said, The Friends of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was created in 1968, some of the founders being the late Alex Manoogian, the late Dadour Dadourian, and Suren Fesjian who is the current president. I am the treasurer. Misak Haigentz is the recently appointed part-time Executive Director. Members are Alex Dadourian, Dr. Pergouhe Svajian, and Artin Aslanian. Newly newly appointed are Leon Nigoghosian, Gregory Manuelian, Hamo Darmanian, Arpine Aslanian, and Michael Haroutunian. That makes about 10-11 of us.] Quoted above.

DP: How many of the members are actually from Jerusalem?

KT: Until recently, I was the only one. Now a fine young lady, Arpine Aslanian, joined, whose family is from Jerusalem. Artin Aslanian, who was also from Jerusalem, was a friend of Dadour Dadourian. Currently they live in New Jersey.

DP: How many people from Jerusalem do you personally know from this area?

KT: I would say at least 60-70 individuals, about 20-30 families.

DP: What distinguishes Armenians from Jerusalem. There are Armenians from Istanbul, from Beirut, from Cairo, from Persia. What are the special characteristics of the Armenians from Jerusalem? What distinguishes them from the others?

KT: That is an interesting question. The Armenians from Jerusalem have been brought up with the understanding that the church is the center of the universe. The church is very important in our lives. The Armenians from Lebanon, from Egypt, from Turkey, they have an affection for the church, but the Armenians from Jerusalem see the church as their protector.

We mingle. We join. But we rarely take top leadership positions. Why is it so? In Jerusalem it is not political, there is no strong differences in political positions as you have it here. The clergy in Jerusalem were responsible for the spiritual, mental, and physical well being of the community which was under their guardianship. We joined organizations here, but very few of us have been active members in leadership positions of Armenian organizations in the United States. Most of us are passive. We see the churchmen as the natural leaders and have no aspiration to run for office.

DP: Now you were the Avak Sbarabed (Grand Commander) of the Knights of Vartan, a major Armenian organization in America. On your Avak Tivan (Grand Council), did you have any Armenians from Jerusalem?

KT: We had a number of Jerusalemites in high positions. For example, Hovsep Hovsepian was my District Representative for the Mid Atlantic Region. There were others on my Tivan. And, of course, you were also my District Representative for the Mid West, but you are not from Jerusalem. Yet I must say, I had a large number of high calibre individuals associated with my administration and history will tell our accomplishments.

DP: In this New York-New Jersey area, do you know any Armenians from Jerusalem?

KT: Yes, and there are a number of them in California. I am particularly proud of Hampar Karagouzian, who is a Ph.D. from MIT. In fact we are going to his sons wedding May 8. Hampartsoom is doing work on AIDS, and we hope he can find a cure. A lot of them--Jerusalem Armenians--are doctors, pharmacist, business men, jewelers, photographers, in different walks of life.

Although we don't see each other often, when we do see each other we feel at home. Our memory goes back to Tarkmanchatz, the vank, and St. James. That keeps us close and also keeps us warm.

DP: Are you personally from Jerusalem.

KT: Yes, I was born in Jerusalem in 1940. I got my education, as did my wife Ashkhen, from the Tarkmanchatz school. Then some of us stayed for our secondary education in the Tarkmanchatz school. I personally went to the Freres's College, a French school. It is a well known school there. In fact the principal is an Armenian, Sarkis Melidosian, a dear friend, a fine gentleman.

After being away since 1959, the first time I went back was in 1976, then in 1979 when the Mardigian museum was opened, then in 1981, and in 1990. One of the most memorable days in my life was the enthronement of the Patriarch Torkom Manoogian when I represented the Board of Directors of the Friends of Jerusalem. I love Jerusalem.

DP: How many Armenian families were in Jerusalem when you were very young?

KT: At one time, due to its climate, Jerusalem was one of the centers of Armenian culture. Today, after Holy Etchmiadzin the most respected See is that of St. James, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. And we had in the '20s, '30s, and '40s very, very fine intellectuals, good teachers, good thinkers, such as Hagop Oshagan, whose 100th anniversary we commemorated recently. At that time, in 1948 there were about 20,000 Armenian families. Many repatriated to Armenia in 1948 after World War II, but still in Stalin's time, and later on, of the families who stayed, their children went to London, Paris, Europe, but always they went back. Once a Jerusalemite always a Jerusalemite.

DP: How many are there today.

KT: Maybe two, three thousand people. Many emigrated for economic opportunity and personal security, but their hearts are always in Jerusalem.

DP: Have any Jerusalemites, to your knowledge, enjoyed outstanding success in this country?

KT: Yes, Dr. Raffy Hovanissian, who takes care of the Catholicos, he has an outstanding reputation in his field. His uncle was Siraganian, who stayed in Jerusalem when Raffy's family moved to Syria. His sister Aida is here, whose husband is in real estate in New Jersey; Hasmik Hovnanian, whose husband is also in real estate and very charitable, is from Jerusalem. In fact Vahakn, her husband, and she are the co-chairman of the Pilgrimage 2000 program to Jerusalem, of which I also am a member. We hope to take 2,000 pilgrims with us from January 13-January 22, 2000 to have Christmas (January 6) in Jerusalem. The Patriarch has sent out invitations to everyone.

There is also Ara Kalayjian, former editor of Sion [Zion], the Armenological monthly of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and later for a while of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, an English language Armenian weekly published out of Watertown, MA.

DP: What you have said about the Jerusalemites, is that they are good, hard working people, who have excelled in the professions, like photography, medicine, jewelry, real estate, and the like. But very few, it seems, are in industry.

KT: Well there are the very famous Asadourian brothers who make chips for computers. They are low key, they do not show themselves, just like the Aslanian brothers. In California there is a Shahan Boyajian, who is an engineer, and is building hospitals. He said that he would volunteer his services for the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem and all they had to do was to ask. Jack Dgerajian has a group of pharmacies, Western Pharmacies, in California and had the wealth to purchase for six million dollars the house of Walt Disney's brother. There is also Sebo [or Sebouh] Tashjian, who was the Armenian minister of energy when Armenia became independent in 1991. We are also proud of professors Abraham Terian and Avedis Sanjian, who have excelled in their profession. Dr. Terian is now dean at St. Nersess, and I am told by knowledgeable people that his learning gives class to the Seminary. He is well recognized in the academic world and is outstanding in his knowledge of Armenian scholarship. So, Terian is one of those sons of Jerusalem who have contributed greatly to Armenians in America. Avedis [Sanjian] was a classmate of my bother Arthur and his younger brother

DP: Arthur was a famous photographer in his right.

KT: Yes, when my nephew Dr. Edward Sanosian wanted to do a paper for class at Fordham University, he used Arthur's Armenia: State, Life, People (1975) as his source. He got an A+ on the paper.

[Arthur's most famous book was Israel: Land of Promise (1973), on the state of Israel. He showed Ben Gurion standing in front of the YMCA with Jerusalem as a background. He was a friend of all the leadership of Israel. In that book is portrayed Moshe Dyan and all the leaders of that time. The fact that he was raised in Jerusalem attracted him to Israel and to do that photographic study. The book was a best seller

Then he did a book on The Majesty of the Black Woman [1975], and he was the first person to popularize the phrase that "black is beautiful."

DP: Oh, I remember it well. It was a great book. I can still picture it in my mind. I bought it before I knew Arthur. I especially remember one caption, "She was a tower of strength to them." There was this tall, thin black woman, obviously not wealthy, with two young children clinging to her skirt. She was a tower of strength to her children even though in the wide world the mother was not powerful but perhaps a pitiful object. To her children she was powerful, as indeed for them she was.] This material used above.

KT: Then he did the book on Armenia in 1975. And then in 1978 he did a book on Antelias on the occasion when Karekin was consecrated a coadjutor Catholicos of Cilicia. The text was in Armenian, New Voice, New Echo. Then he wrote a book on the 100th anniversary of Vahan Tekeyan. Not only did he photograph the books, he also wrote the text that accompanied the photographs.

The advantage of being born in Jerusalem in the old days was that each family had five or six children, usually born two years apart, so that each child has his own cohort in school which was then bound to the family through that child, so each family had strong ties with many other families and kids, very close ties. Everyone knew everyone, there were no secrets, they all used the same school, the same grocers, the same butcher, the same bread man, the same church.

The sense of amout (shame) was very important to us. We were constantly told, "Shame, what will the neighbors say." We stayed in line, disciplined, proper, and almost everyone turned out to be proper and law abiding. Very few went off the path. We don't gamble, we don't drink to excess, we are not licentious, and don't do unusual things. God fearing, hard working, and we love the clergy. Personally I love them all.

These are some of the backbones of Armenian society in Jerusalem: Mardo Nalbandian, a photographer. Sarkis Melidosian, who is the principal of the Frere's College. Hagop Antreasian, who is the editor of the Ho Yech Men publication. Saro Nakashian, who is the chairman of a department of business administration at one of the universities there. Anush Nakashian, the poet; Berj Gejegoushian all of whom are my cousins. Vahan Ohanesian, who is married to my wife's sister, Marie; Baron Takvor Ohanesian who lives in Ramallah; and Nairi Lepetjian, who makes those ceramic plates; Hagop Shohmelian, a benefactor of the Armenian Community. Fr. Aljalian's brother is a priest there. Everyone will welcome you. Everyone is nice. But Fr. Nourhan is our best friend.

DP: What was life like in Jerusalem when you were small?

KT: Ah, a good question. I can remember back when I was two years old. We, of course, were naughty as all children and got into mischief. Once my sisters and I caught a snake in the back yard. We learned only later that it was poisonous. Once I drank kerosene which I thought was water.

Every Armenian child owes a great deal to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who were not only our spiritual caretakers, but they did their best to help us in all ways.

I can remember the day I started the Sourb Tarkmanchatz School which is in the enclave of the convent. They had over 1,500 graduates. The prominent individuals I have named are graduates of the Sourb Tarkmanchatz school. At that time we were taught Armenian, French, Arabic, Hebrew and English. Where else would you find a school that taught five languages as well as history, geography, mathematics, science, and all, as well as gronk, which is religious studies. Every child in that school had equal privileges, and I thank the American and European benefactors who gave the money and supported the school for so many years.

As a matter of fact, both my wife, Ashkhen, and I are graduates of the school. We finished the elementary school in 1955 and they prepared us to sit in 1959 for the general certificate of education which qualifies you to attend British universities. I was accepted to go to Oxford, but rather I chose to come to America with my father and mother and all my siblings. So many of the graduates have attended outstanding universities in America, Harvard, Yale, MIT, the University of Michigan and UCLA. And where did we get our education free of charge to prepare us for these fine colleges and universities? Thanks to the Patriarchate.

Guregh Srpazan was our principal.

DP: Who were the faculty members?

KT: The faculty members were Bedros Lepedjian, Movses Janoian, and all the clergy. I was taught by Archbishop Chinchinian, who is now arachnort of Egypt. I was taught by Fr. Varoujan Kabaradjian, who serves in Evanston. A very important person, who taught us English, was Yeghia Dicranian, who is the vice principle.

When you go to Jerusalem, within the circumference of a mile, you have the matenadaran, the Gulbenkian Library, which has a wealth of books and manuscripts in Armenian and most other languages. Then there is the museum, the Tarkmanchatz school, where students start at three years of age, in the nursery, and continue until they are nineteen years old in the high school. In other words under one roof, your child can get an education in a protected and religious environment thanks to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. ....

I told Suren Fesjian, when he gave a $100,000 donation to the Knights of Vartan for the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, that we were grateful to him not only for his philanthropies in America, but that we had also benefited from his munificence in Jerusalem. Most of my friends are graduates of the school, such as Hovsep Hovsepian, my sisters Anush and Anahid, my brothers Varouj, Arthur, and Zaven, in fact the whole Tcholakian family. Also the Stephanians, lets talk about Jack Stephanian who was the chairman of the Parish Council in Toronto when the church of the Holy Trinity was built, Ashkhen's brother, who is the recipient of the St. Nersess Shnorhali Medal, is the vice president of a large bank in Toronto. Many quality people have come from Jerusalem. When I see clergy, I bow and kiss their hand, which is not new to me here, I learned it in Jerusalem. The clergy are looked up with respect, they are the administrators, and as I mentioned before, our spiritual fathers.

DP: Do the seminarians start off in the Sourp Tarkmanchatz school, too?

KT: Some like Fr. Baret [Yeretzian] and Zaven Chinchinian, who were born in Jerusalem, Tavit Srpazan, who I think is in Paris, did. There is Hayrig Vartabed there who was born in Jerusalem, but most of them came from other countries as young boys and went directly to the Seminary school, which is separate from Sourp Tarkmanchatz, and it is an excellent school, itself.

Most of our spiritual fathers here in America are graduates of the Jerusalem seminary, including our Primate Khajag Srpazan, and the present Grand Sacrist of the Patriarch, Fr. Nourhan Manoogian, who was called back and left here.

DP: Where did Archbishop Tiran's family come from?

KT: From the interior of Turkey. When he was 12-13, he was taken to Jerusalem, my own father was in his class, including Hairig Srpazan, Haigazoon Srpazan, Yeghishe Patriarch, they were all seminarians together. They were in the orphanage first, Ararat Vorpanotz, and some went on to become clergy, and others became professionals--some became photographers, some became barbers, jewelers, or whatever.

So, Jerusalem is dear to us. We join with the Jews who say, "Next year in Jerusalem." And no matter where we go, Jerusalem is a part of us.

DP: Jerusalem never leaves a Jerusalemite.

KT: It never does.

DP: Thank you very much.

KT: When you go to Jerusalem, remember that Tzolag Momjian is the consul of Armenia, and he is a very good friend of mine. Be sure to see him, and may God be with you on your journey.

Ashkhen Tcholakian

Ashkhen Tcholakian, present wife of Kegham Tcholakian, was also a valuable informant. (AT=Ashkhen Tcholarkian)

Ashkhen Tcholakian
New York City
April 15, 1999

AT: I was born Ashkhen Stepanian, in Jerusalem, and I am the daughter of refuges from the massacres. They came and settled in Jerusalem. My mother's maiden name was Vartuhi Bastoyan. And my father's name was Levon Stepanian.

I married a Mnatzaganian whose family was in Jerusalem for some 400 years. They have a long history in Jerusalem. They came from Nor Jugha (New Julfa).

I was born in Jerusalem, which was then Palestine, and I have a birth certificate written in three languages--English, Arabic and French. I became a Jordanian citizen after 1948 of the Hashemite Kingdom, which controlled the Old City.

I was born in the Armenian quarter. My father was a jeweler. We were a family of ten, seven children and my father and mother and my grandmother, who was also a survivor of the massacres. My mother was born in Sasun and my father in Aintab.

I left Jerusalem in 1970, after the 1967 war between the Arabs and the Israelis. We thought this part of the world would never be peaceful and decided to leave. So we made up our minds and prepared ourselves to emigrate to Canada, and went to Toronto. By then my brother was there and he sponsored us. One of my brothers is a jeweler, the second is a banker, and I have five sisters--one in Jerusalem, one in Ramallah, one in San Francisco, and two in Toronto.

I was widowed in 1978 and I met Kegham Tcholakian of New York in 1982, and we were married in 1984.

DP: How many people from Jerusalem do you know who live in the United States?

AT: Jerusalem Armenians started to leave Jerusalem since 1948-1949. We were about a 15,000 family Armenian community there, in Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, all that area. But most have emigrated all over the world, many to the United States. The young for education, the adults for work--economic reasons--and they took their families too. United States, Australia, Canada, all over. Maybe a thousand or fifteen hundred families are left.

In our day the Sourb Tarkmanchatz school had 400-500 students. Now there are maybe 140.

DP: What education do you have?

AT: I studied at the St. Tarkmanchatz school and finished high school there and got the DCE. Then when we went to Canada after my son Ivan was born. I went to college for three years where I received a certificate in medical technology. Recently my son Ivan married July Haroutounian, of California. Ivan graduated from law school and now they have a baby, Sofia.

DP: How many families from Jerusalem settled in Toronto? Ten or fifteen?

AT: No, more. Maybe fifty or over.

DP: How many families from Jerusalem do you think are in the New York area?

AT: Maybe two or three hundred in the New York-New Jersey area. Most of them went to California, to the greater Los Angeles area.

DP: And what do the Jerusalemites do? Are any conspicuous in any way or in any of the professions?

AT: Jerusalemites have that innate feeling of cooperating with the community. They want to help the community. We gained the feeling of cooperation in Jerusalem. Although we were living among Arabs, we were a community unto ourselves, so we tried to stay as pure Armenian as we could. We are also doing the same thing in the United States.

DP: Is the church the center of all activities in Jerusalem?

AT: The church, yes the Patriarchate. And there are the political parties. The AGBU was under the umbrella of the Ramgavars. And there is the Dashnak party. But they all work together on issues. We have one church there. There are no two churches. We all belong to Etchmiadzin. The Jerusalemites are all well-educated and classy people. They all went overseas for their higher education, only for education.

DP: You say your first husband's family goes back 400 years in Jerusalem. In your own best judgment, what percentage of the Armenian Jerusalemites were from the old families and what percentage survivors of the Genocide?

AT: Oh, maybe 70% were newcomers, survivors. The old families never intermarried with the Arabs and often not with the newcomer. They kept to themselves, had their own community. They were generally highly educated people. Many had positions in the government, whereas the survivors of the Genocide, the newcomers, were trades people and businessmen. They were refugees, but they did well enough. Once they settled they started their own businesses and they were really conscientious people.

DP: Can you name a few families from the New York-New Jersey area.

AT: Yes, we have the several branches of the Tcholakian family. Most of them are in the photographic business, and my husband is in accounting, taxes. I can't remember right now, but there are lots of them.

DP: Any doctors, dentists, jewelers, businessmen?

AT: Oh yes, businessmen in New Jersey. For example, Sarkis Bedevian. And now their children are highly educated, and they are in banking, the stock market, teaching, and so forth.

DP: Are there any who stand out as particularly rich, or famous, or a community leaders.

AT: My husband is a community leader. Dr. Raffy Hovanessian of Chicago is a community leader. Hasmig Hovnanian is a Jerusalemite, and her husband, Vahakn, is rich and prominent. He is from Iraq. They are a charitable family. Also the Aslanians, who use to be active.

Conclusion

After the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-1922, the Armenian seminaries and monasteries of Constantinople and historic Armenia were closed and could no longer serve as centers of learning and the dissemination of knowledge through printing for the diaspora. Likewise, when the Armenian Republic was overcome by the Communist in 1920, Armenia itself could no longer serve either as a center of learning or for the dissemination of knowledge through printing. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was able to fill that vacuum thought the dedicated services of the patriarchs, the Brotherhood of St. James, and the Armenian intellectual community. Most of the liturgical books used by the Armenian Church in America, for example, were printed in Jerusalem or are local offprints of books first printed in Jerusalem.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, consequently, has made and continues to make important contributions to the Armenian community of America, particularly to the American Diocese of the Armenian Church. One of the major elements of the Patriarchate's contribution has been to provide the overwhelming majority of the priests of the eastern Diocese, either by sending ordained clergymen to serve the eastern Diocese or providing training for theological students sent from America to study in Jerusalem. The eastern Diocese has a larger number of priests associated with Jerusalem than either the Western Diocese or the Canadian Diocese. Many of the clergy associated with Jerusalem come to America or return to Jerusalem according to the needs of the church and the progress of their own careers. The fraternal relations are strong and have been long lasting. For example, the present Patriarch, His Beatitude Torkom Manoogian, was diocesan Primate in America for over thirty years, having given leadership to both the eastern and the western dioceses. And the Grand Sacrist of the Patriarchate, Fr. Nourhan Manoogian, served with distinction in America until his recent return. Even non-Jerusalemites think of Jerusalem as a home away from home.

Clergy from Jerusalem have also founded and staffed the St. Nersess Armenian Theological Seminary in New Rochelle, NY, which serves the three Armenian dioceses of North America--the eastern and western and the Canadian. The seminary in Jerusalem and the St. James Brotherhood also provide a learning experience for students and graduates of St. Nersess in liturgics and Armenology. The fact that the Armenian Patriarchate is responsible for the Holy Places, and continuously provides church services, makes it a particularly valuable place for church studies.

Beside the clergy, Jerusalem has provided America with outstanding scholars and community activists. For just a few examples, Dr. Abraham Terian, a scholar of great learning, is presently the Academic Dean of St. Nersess Armenian Theological Seminary. Dr. Avedis Sanjian for many years held, until his death, the Krikor Naregatsi chair of Armenian language and literature at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Mr. John Zakarian is the editor of an important newspaper in the New York area. Arthur Tcholakian was a photographer and writer of note. There are many others, including the community leaders Dr. Raffy Hovanessian from Chicago, who is the personal physician of the Catholicos, Karekin I, and Mr. Kegham Tcholakian, who was the Grand Commander of the Knights of Vartan for two terms.

There are at least two organizations in America dedicated to Jerusalem. The Armenian Friends of Jerusalem, which was founded in 1968, is dedicated to helping the Patriarchate and, through the Patriarch, the Armenian community of Jerusalem. There is also an organization of the alumni of the Sourp Tarkmanchatz school run by the Patriarchate for the local Jerusalem Armenian community, an organization which has periodic reunions and sponsors an annual banquet to raise money for the school. Recently formed in 1997, I understand, is the Friends of the Calouste Gulbenkian Library.

Finally, there are many Armenian families which have emigrated from Jerusalem to America, who now live in all the Armenian communities of the United States and Canada, but particularly in southern California. These families are characterized by close familiar ties. Most of them have a good educations, are occupied in the trades or the professions, are exemplary citizens, have great respect for the Armenian Church, and look back on life in Jerusalem with nostalgia. As Kegham Tcholakian put it, "A Jerusalemite never really leaves Jerusalem."

There is always a temptation to see the past as prologue and to attempt thereby to divine the future. To my mind, the Armenian Patriarchate is secure and should continue its good work for centuries to come. Regarding its relationship with the Armenian Church in America, there will always be a need for the American branch of the church to be associated with a large Armenian monastic order, particularly one in the Holy Land with so many valuable traditions and important responsibilities. The synergism possible between the two are too striking to be ignored, now or in the future.

Endnotes

1. Fr. Hovsep Sarajian did not study in Jerusalem, contrary to the statement in The Torch was Passed: The Centennial History of the Armenian Church of America, Chris Zakian, ed., New York, Diocese of Armenian Church of America, 1998, p. 3. Fr. Ashjian researched this issue further and discovered the error.

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2. Manuscript of Fr. Arten Ashjian.

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3. Manuscript of Fr. Krikor Maksoudian.

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4. Manuscript of Fr. Krikor Maksoudian.

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5. Manuscript of Fr. Arten Ashjian. The Torch was Passed.

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6. Manuscript of Fr. Arten Ashjian.

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7. The Torch was Passed. Manuscript of Arten Ashjian.

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8. Manuscript of Fr. Krikor Maksoudian.

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9. Manuscript of Fr. Arten Ashjian.

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10. Manuscript of Fr. Arten Ashjian.

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11. Manuscript of Fr. Krikor Maksoudian.

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Return to Selected writings

Armenians and Jerusalem: A Bibliography

Ottenbreit/Avdoyan/Papazian

"Amongst the Armenians in Jerusalem" Church Quarterly 3 (Jan 1939).

Armenian Section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (Jerusalem, 1962).

Catalogue of Books of St. James Printing Press (Jerusalem: St. James Printing Press, 1991).

"Cyril II, late Patriarch of Jerusalem" Armenian Affairs 1, no. 2 (Spring 1950).

Hamarot Patmutiwn gam Ughetsoyts Srbazan Tegheats (Jerusalem: I Tparani Arakelakan S. Atoroys Srbots Hakovbeants, 1888).

Hayots Erusaghemi Patriarkutiwne (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1957)

The Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem: np, 1962).

"Letter Regarding the New Jerusalem Plan" Armenian Affairs 1, No. 2 (Spring 1950).

Mshakn u Vardzke: hobelinakan hratarakutiwn; i hishatak Amen. Durean T. Eghishe S. Patriarkin Erusaghemi hisnameay kahanayutean hobeleanin, 1879-1929. (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1931).

Sion (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1993 onwards + some back issues).

Tertereani anorenutiwnnere: knnakan motetsum Erusaghemi Patriarkakan Atori tagnapin. (Pariz: [s.n.], Imprimerie Araxes, 1961).

Tetrak govasanats i veray hamoren tnorinakan Surb Ukhtategheats ork en hastuatsahrash kaghakn Surb Erusaghem: i khndroy terunakan ew jermerand ukhtaworats. (Erusaghem: Tparan Arak. Atoroy S. Hakobeants, 1914). (Poems on Jerusalem)

Achemean, Shahe (ed). Girk Saghmosats Dawti: est 1868-in Erusaghemi mej tpagruats bnagirin (Dziteneats Ler, Erusaghem: Surb Grots Usumnasirutean Kedron, 1989).

Aghawnuni, Mkrtich. Miabank ew aytseluk hay Erusaghemi (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1929.

Amatuni, Karapet. Minas Vrd. Amdetsi Patriark Erusaghemi (1630-1704) (Vienna: Mkhitarean Tparan, 1984)

Anel [Garabetian, Garo H.]. Ordi Mardoy [Child of Mankind] (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1975).

Antreassian, Assadour. Jerusalem and the Armenians. (Jerusalem, St. James Press, 1968).

Antreassian, Assador. Jerusalem and the Armenians (Jerusalem: np, 1969). (our record)

Antreassian, Assadour. Jerusalem and the Armenians, 2d ed. (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1969). (LC listing)

Antreassian, Assadour. Jerusalem and the Armenians, 4th ed. (Jerusalem, St. James Press, 1977).

Antreassian, G. Erusaghemi Hayots Mayravanke ew Srbots Hakobeants Mayr Tachare = St. James' Cathedral in Jerusalem = La Cathedrale armenienne de St. Jacques de Jerusalem (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1967)

Armenian Church. Erusaghemi Patriarkutiwn. Kanonagir Erusaghemi Surb Hakobeants Vanuts. ([Erusaghem]: Tpagrutiwn R. Sagaean, 1913).

Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Bardizatagh (Jerusalem: Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 1993).

Artawazd [Siwrmeian]. Mayr tsutsak hayeren dzeragrqts Erusaghemi Srbots Hakobeants vanki (Venetik: S. Ghazar, Mkhitarean tprn, 1948). (It probably should be "dzeragrats" but that is how it is cataloged.)

Artsrunean, Mkrtich. Storagrutiwn srboy kaghakin Erusaghemi: knnuteamb hamaroteal i Hanna ew i Marinos patmagrats end ors ew haweleal bazum bans handerdz karewor tsanotuteamk (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakovbeants, 1859).

Azarya, Victor. The Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem: Urban Life Behind Monastery Walls (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984).

Brooks, E. W. "An Armenian Visitor to Jerusalem in the 7th Century," English Historical Review 9 (1896).

Carlson, John Roy (Derounian, Arthur). Cairo to Damascus (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951).

Carswell, John. Kutahya Tiles and Pottery from the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem (Vol I and II) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
Secondary author(s): Dowsett, C.J.F.

Chair of Armenian Studies. Armenian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of African and Asian Studies, 1995).

Chilinkirean, Eghishe. Nkaragrutiwnk Erusaghemi, Halepi, Damaskosi gaghtakanakan ew vanakan zanazan dipats ew antskeru: 1914-1918 (Agheksandria: Tpagrutiwn A. Stepanosean, 1922). (Reprinted Erusaghem, 1927.)

Cohen, Amnon. Economic Life in Ottoman Jerusalem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Coryat, Thomas. Master Thomas Coryates travels to, and Observations in Constantinople, and other places in the way hither, and his Journey thence to Aleppo Damasco and Jerusalem (Glasgow, by James MacLehose and Sons: Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes, 1905-1907).

Daar, Susan. "An Armenian Art In Jerusalem" New York Times (Aug 11, 1985).

Dalrymple, William. From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1998).

Dannenfeldt, Karl H. Leonhard Rauwolf: Sixteenth Century Physician, Botanist, and Travelor (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968).

Durean, Eghishe. Entatsk I Grots Barbar, B. Tari (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1928).

Feron, James. "Armenians Unveil Jerusalem Riches," New York Times (Jul 28, 1969).

Feron, James. "Armenians to Show Jerusalem Treasure," New York Times.

Fosdick, Harry Emerson. A Pilgrimage to Palestine (New York, NY: The Macmillan Company, 1927).

Garnik, T. Erusaghem (Pariz: [ s.n.], 1956).

Gushakean, Torgom Patriark. Hndkahayk: tpaworutiwnner ew teghekutiwnner (Patkerazard) (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1941).

Hagopian, Arthur. Armenians ([Jerusalem?]: Hagopian, 1986).

Hashadoor, Aram H. Album of Armenian Holy Sites in Jerusalem (Jerusalem: n.p., 1931).

Hilliard, Alison. Living Stones Pilgrimage: With the Christians in the Holy Land: A Guide (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999).
Secondary author(s): Bailey, Betty Jane.

Kaplan, Kenneth. "Armenian Quake Victims Coming to Israel for Treatment," Jerusalem Post (June 26, 1989).

Kaplan, Kenneth. "Quake Victims Pray for an Israeli Medical Miracle," Jerusalem Post (June 28, 1989).

Khachatryan, O. M. (Ofelya Musheghi). Vardan Patmich, Patmutiwn Tatarats, Erusaghem, 1870--bnagrayin Erevan: HSSH GA Informatsion Sektori Hratarakchutyun, 1979).

Kiwleserean, Babgen. Kensagrutiwn Norin amenapatuutiwn T. Eghishe S. Arkep. Durean, Patriark Arakelakan Atoroy Erusaghemi (Niw Eork: [s.n.], 1929)

Lagerlof, Selma. Erusaghem--talkarlii mej, trans. Ruben Zardarean (Boston, Mass.: Hrat. "Hayrenik," 1914).

Makar, II, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Tught Makaray B. Erusaghemi Hayrapeti ar Vrtanes Episkoposapet Siwneats haghags kargats ekeghetswoy: bnagir ew knnutiwn (Vienna: Mkhitarean tparan, 1930).

Manoogian, Arch. Torgom. Girk tghtots [The Book of Correspondence] (Jerusalem: St. Hagopiants Publishing House, 1994).

Manoogian, Archbishop Torkom. An Interim Report (Jerusalem: Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, March 1993).

Manoukian, Serovpe Vardapet. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (illustrated supplement) (New York: Armenian Affairs, 1,2, Spring 1950).

Manukean, Sion Episkopos. Hay Erusaghem [Armenian Jerusalem] (Boston: Tparan Paykar, 1948).

Mekhitarian, Arpag. Treasures of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Armenian Patriarchate, 1969).

Melkon Rose, John H. Armenians of Jerusalem: Memories of Life in Palestine (London: The Radcliffe Press, 1993).

Miabanutiwn Srbots Hakobeants. Boghok erkrord ar Azgayin endhanur zhoghovn zor khonarhabar matutsane amboghj miabanutiwnn surb Erusaghemi (Erusaghem: S. Hakob, 1861).

Minasean, Martiros. Hatkatsutsich-Hatkatseal Kapaktsutiune Grabarum [The Group of Compliments of Noun In Ancient Armenian] (Jerusalem: Alek Manukian Mshakutayin Himnadram, 1974).

Nardowni, Shawarsh. Erusaghem! Erusaghem!: vipergutiwn (Pariz: [Hratarakutiwn Hay Mshakutayin Miutean], 1938). (A novel, but could you work in a section on how the Diaspora views Jerusalem?)

Narduni, Shawarsh. Erusaghem, Erusaghem: vipergutiwn (Gahire: Tparan Husaber, 1954). (A novel, but could you work in a section on how the Diaspora views Jerusalem--especially since it apparently was so popular that it was reprinted 16 years later?)

Narkiss, Bezalel (ed.). Armenian Art Treasures of Jerusalem (New Rochelle, New York: Caratzas Brothers, 1979).
Secondary author(s): Stone, Michael E. (ed.) and Sanjian, Avedis K. (ed.)

Narkiss, Bezalel (ed.). Armenian Art Treasures of Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Massada, 1979).
Secondary author(s): Stone, Michael E. (ed.) and Sanjian, Avedis K. (ed.)

Narkiss, Bezalel (ed?). Armenische Kunst: die faszinierende Sammlung des Armenischen Patriarchats in Jerusalem (Stuttgart: Belser, 1980). This is probably the German edition of the two above.
OTHER: Stone, Michael E., Sanjian, Avedis Krikor.

National Advertising System (ed). Tourist and Hotel Guide for Lebanon, Special Edition (Beirut: Catholic Press, 1962).

Nshanean, Mesrop Episkopos. Patmutiwn Erusaghemi, Erkrord Hator (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1931). (Which may be the same as the entry under Sawalaneants, but our copy doesn't mention Sawalaneants at all)

Nshanean, Mesrop Vardapet (ed). Zhamanakagrutiwn Grigor Vardapeti Kamakhetswoy gam Daranaghtswoy (Jerusalem: Tparan Arak. Atoroy S. Hakobeants, 1915).

O'Mahony, Anthony (ed). The Christian Heritage in the Holy Land (London: Scorpion Cavendish Ltd, 1995).
Secondary author(s): Gunner, Goran (ed) and Hintlian, Kevork (ed). (Two articles on Armenians and Jerusalem.)

Orfali, Jacob (Hagop Khatcherian). An Armenian From Jerusalem (Berkeley, CA: Ronin Publishing, Inc., 1987).

Ormanean, Maghakia. Haykakan Erusaghem: nkaragir Atoroy Srbots Hakobeants (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1931). (His Azgapatum might be of use also.)

Oshakan, H. Hay Grakanutiwn (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1942).

Papas, William. People of Old Jerusalem (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehard and Winston, 1980).

Pasmachean, Garik. Shtakarer (Banasteghtsutiwnner Ew Gtsankarner [Poems and Drawings] (Jerusalem: Tparan S. Hakobeants, 1973).

Pogharean, Norayr. Hay ekeghetsiots havatots hanganaknere [Gifts of Believers to the Armenian Church] (Jerusalem: St. Hakobiants Publishing House, 1993).

Prescott, H.F.M. Friar Felix at Large: A Fifteenth-Century Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960).

Sahakay, S., Hayrapeti. Zhamagirk [The Book of Hours] (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1947). Secondary author(s): Mesropay, Vardapeti.

Samoorian, Very Reverend Ghevont. Jerusalem (Chelmsford, MA: n.p., March 1990).

Sanjian, Avedis K. "Anastas Vardapet's List of Armenian Monasteries in Seventh-Century Jerusalem: A Critical Examination," Le Museon (1969).

Sanjian, Avedis K. The Armenian Communities of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, Israel: Massada Press, 1979).

Sanjian, Avedis K. "The Armenians and the Holy Places in Jerusalem," Bazmavep (1981).

Sanjian, Avedis K. The Armenian Communities in Syria Under Ottoman Dominion (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965).

Sanjian, Avedis K. "An Important Fifteenth-Sixteenth Century Armenian Manuscript in the UCLA Library," Sion (1969).

Sanjian, Avedis K. "The Story of Vardapet Khachadour of Karabagh: An Unpublished Text," Sion (1974).

Sarkisian, Vartan. Namakani Erazhicht Vardan Sargseani: End Tiran Ark. Nersoyeani ev Torgom Vrd. Manukeani [Letters of the Musician Vartan Sarkisian: To Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan and Vartabed Torkom Manoogian] (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1995).

Sawalaneants, Tigran H. T. Patmutiwn Erusaghemi (Erusaghem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1931).
Additional author: Nshanean, Mesrop.

Schrag, Carl. "Armenian Artifacts," Detroit Jewish News (May 6, 1988).

Speakman, Harold. Hilltops in Galillee (New York, Cincinnati: The Abingdon Press, 1925).

Stone, Michael E. (ed). Concordance and Texts of the Armenian Version of IV Ezra (Jerusalem: The Israel Oriental Society, 1971).

Stone, Michael E. (ed). Armenian and biblical studies (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1976).

Stone, Michael E. Armenian Apocrypha: Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1982).

Surmeian, Artavazd. Catalogue of Armenian Manuscripts in St. James Monastery of Jerusalem (Venice, Italy: St. Lazzaro, 1948).

Susser, Leslie. "Joy and Sadness as Armenian Quake Victims Go Home," Jerusalem Post (Aug 16, 1989).

Synod of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Album of the Armenian Monastery of Jerusalem (New York, NY: The Delphic Press, 1950).

Tasso, Torquato, Azatumn Erusaghemi, trans. Atanas Tiroyian (Venetik: Tparan Surb Ghazaru, 1912). (16th century poem on Jerusalem and the first crusade)

Taylor, J.L. A Gyre Thro' the Orient (Princeton, NJ: Republican Book and Job Printing Office, 1869).

T. Hovhanneseants, Astuatsatur. Zhamanakagrakan patmutiwn S. Erusaghemi (HErusaghem: I Tparani Arakelakan Atoroy Srbots Hakovbeants, 1890)

Tully, Richard. Letters Written During a Ten Year's Residence at the Court of Tripoli; Published from Originals in Possession of the Family of the Late Richard Tully, Esq. the British Consul: Comprising Authenic Memoirs.. (London: Henry Colburn, 1819).

Tzovakan, Norair. Vanatur [Vanatur] (Jerusalem: St. Hakobiants Publishing House, 1993).

Warner, Charles Dudley. In the Levant (Boston, MA: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877).

Whittingham, G.N. The Home of Fadeless Splendour or Palestine of Today (London: Hutchinson Co., 1917).

Williams, Maynard Owen. "Home to the Holy Land," National Geographic XCVIII, No. 6 (December 1950).

Yerousaghem, Alelouia. A Description of Jerusalem By a Pilgrim (Constantinople: n.p., 1903).

Zeevy, Rechavam (ed). The Armenian Pottery of Jerusalem (Tel Aviv: Haaretz Museum, 1986).

Zuckerman, Constantine. A Repertory of Published Armenian Translations of Classical Texts, with an Appendix by Abraham Terian (Jerusalem: Institute of African and Asian Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1995).
Secondary author(s): Stone, Michael E. (ed).

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