Armenian churches of Mosul destroyed by Islamic State

January 30, 2018 By administrator

Armenian Church Mosul

Armenians have been settling in Mosul (the second largest city of Iraq) since ancient times. There are facts to support this, including the manuscript Book of Sermons (1352) entitled “Book about the City of Mosul by Priest Manuel” (Karin List, 2206). Consequently, it is safe to conclude that Armenians had settled in Mosul in the 14^th century, had a spiritual pastor and might have even had a church.

As pastor of Zakho, Priest Mambre Hmaiagian told Hayern Aysor, today there are 2 Armenian churches in Mosul that have been destroyed by Islamic State

The oldest of the churches is the Holy Etchmiadzin Church, construction of which ended on June 7, 1857. It was one of the most beautiful churches of the Armenian Diocese of Iraq, but was destroyed by ISIS due to the events that took place over the past couple of years. According to information provided by the Muslim families living in the vicinity of the church, the church was used as a court, and the Prelacy located in the churchyard – as a prison (if you look closely in the photos, you will see that the windows are closed with metal bars).

Currently, the city is liberated from terrorists, but the road leading to the church has been completely bombarded, and it is impossible to reach the church by car or foot. Recently, Chairman of the District Council of Mosul, Mr. Antranig Kulizian managed to reach the church. Accompanied by soldiers, he reached the church through holes in homes that the terrorists had dug to move freely and without any harm. According to Kulizian, there were bodies of ISIS terrorists in the churchyard.

Newly built church

The other church is a newly built church. The church hadn’t even been consecrated and named when the attacks began. It is also destroyed. Whereas the area near the Holy Etchmiadzin Church was used, as a result of which the walls remain standing, terrorists have tried to destroy the newly built church several times with the use of explosives, but since the church was newly built and had a strong foundation, the terrorists couldn’t achieve their goal.

Currently, there are 3 Armenian families (10 people) living in Mosul.

US senator introduces bill urging Turkey to restore properties to Armenian church

March 21, 2017 By administrator

Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge), Chair of the Senate Select Committee on California, Armenia and Artsakh Mutual Trade, Art and Cultural Exchange, introduced Senate Resolution 29 on Monday designating the month of April for commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

The Resolution also calls on the Republic of Turkey to return confiscated church properties to their rightful congregations, Asbarez reports.
April 2017 will mark the 102nd commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, which began in 1915. More than 1.5 million Armenians were persecuted and massacred by the Ottoman Turks in the first genocide of the 20th century. California has long and proudly recognized the Armenian Genocide. This is the first legislative resolution to declare April as a month of Armenian Genocide commemoration and also call for the immediate restoration of church properties under Turkey’s control.
In addition to genocide denial, religious discrimination and intolerance remain serious issues in the current Republic of Turkey. Discriminatory laws are still used to justify the confiscation of church property and prevent free worship. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom noted in its 2011 report that the Turkish government continues to impose serious limitations on freedom of religion or belief, thereby threatening the continued vitality and survival of minority religious communities in Turkey.

The Armenian Christmas Eve Candlelight Divine Liturgy to be served in all churches

January 5, 2017 By administrator

On January 6, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The celebration of the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ starts on the evening of January 5 as the church day changes at 17:00 p.m., after the evening service. So the celebration of the feast starts in the evening of January 5 and is continued on January 6.

In the evening of January 5 people take to their homes candles lit in the church symbolizing the divine light and the blessing of the Church. Lighting candles symbolizes also the light of Bethlehem star leading the magi from the east to the Baby Jesus.

Greece: historic appointment of orthodoxy, without the Russian patriarch

June 21, 2016 By administrator

arthodoxy churches The large Orthodox Council, an unprecedented meeting since a millennium supposed to seal the unity of Orthodox Christian churches around the world, opened on Sunday in Crete, but weakened by several absences, including that of the booming Russian Patriarch Kirill.

Sunday, the day of the Orthodox Pentecost kick the council was given by a “divine liturgy” (Mass) celebrated town in Heraklion, the capital of the island, ten primates, including the Ecumenical Patriarch Constantinople Bartholomew, who has an honorary primacy of his peers. Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos attended the Mass, broadcast live by state television ERT.

Prepared for over fifty years, and without precedent since the historic 1054 schism between Rome and Constantinople, the great Council aims to strengthen the Orthodox ranks. But the family picture remains incomplete, and the work that must continue until June 27 in Chania (northwest of Crete) will be marked by four absences.

Besides Patriarch Kirill with the Russian Church weighs demographically for half the Orthodox communion with nearly 130 million members, will also be absent Primates of Antioch, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The blow is hard for the instigators of appointment, chief among them Patriarch Bartholomew, whose influence is challenged for years by the Russian Church.

Absentee expressed at the last moment, citing essentially procedural issues, despite the green light they had first given to holding the appointment. “The unity of Orthodoxy is good for us all. These are the missing who will lose, “said Nikos Kotzias, the Foreign Minister of Greece, where Orthodoxy is qualified by the formation of” dominant religion “.

Pope Francis, in his prayer on Sunday afternoon on the Place Saint-Pierre, prayed for the great Orthodox council. “Let us join our Orthodox brethren, invoking the Holy Spirit to assist with his gifts patriarchs, archbishops and bishops assembled in council,” he said before reciting a crowd with a ” Hail Mary “in Italian. “This great and holy council will carry the message of unity,” said for his part Patriarch Bartholomew from Crete, quoted by the media.

Estimated at about 250 million followers, the “Orthodox communion” consists of 14 autocephalous churches, shaken by the upheavals in the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East, and frequently plagued by national and political strife.

The participants, hundreds of bishops and advisers must validate six documents rather consensual supposed to update the Orthodox witness, make it audible and managing relations with the rest of the Christian world. A “final message” must also be issued after the work.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Armenian church and school to be renovated in Syria’s Homs

March 22, 2016 By administrator

St. Mersrob Church and Sahakyan National College in Syria’s Homs will be renovated this summer, Primate of the Diocese of Damascus, Bishop Armash Nalbandian said at a meeting with Armenian families in Homs, Arevelk reports.

Pacing around the church that had been damaged in shelling, the cleric and the community members discussed issues concerning the full restoration of the church and the school.

Since November 2011, St. Mesrob Church and the Sahakyan College have gone under terrorists’ control. The militants have been using the Armenian institutions as gathering places; the basement hall was turned into a hospital, the teachers’ lounge into a mosque, and the church into a dormitory, the newspaper says.

Аrevelk.am: Հոմսի Սբ. Մեսրոպ եկեղեցին պիտի վերակառուցուի

Iran currently has 600 churches of which 480 are Armenian – scientific conference

February 29, 2016 By administrator

Iran currently has 600 churches of which 480 are Armenian, an Iranian-Armenian researcher said today, calling for active efforts towards renovating the Armenian Christian monuments in the country.
In a report delivered at the scientific conference “New Jugha”, Shahen Hovsepyan said that only 80 operate today, with many others being in a forlorn condition. In his words, the churches were built by ethnic Armenian migrants or natives.
“They built them on two conditions: that the churches should have neither a belfry nor a cross, and they should never externally look like an Armenian church. An Armenian master had to build the kind of church that would differ from those being built in Armenia,” he added.
Hovsepyan said he knows that New Jugha alone has 25 Armenian churches.
The thematic reports, “Place Names in Epitaphs in New Jugha”, “Merchant Palaces’ Architectural Decorations” and “The Historic” were delivered on the sidelines of the event.
The conference aimed to introduce New Jugha’s architectural riches (including houses, churches, population), Hovsepyan added.
Speaking to reporters, Ahmat Montazeri, an art professor from the University of Isfahan (Iran), elaborated on the differences between the Armenian and Iranian houses in New Jugha. The expert, who has studied the Armenian monuments in Isfahan’s Armenian district, said he has noticed that the land properties owned by the Armenians start with the house yard, with the Persian houses being divided into two parts: guest rooms and a space for the family which was detached from the rest of the premises. “Due to the climate in New Jugha, where the stone store is not in abundance, they built houses of bricks, without ever using stones. The same applies to churches, which were built of bricks and clay,” he added.
The professor noted that out of the 300 Armenian houses in 1985, only 70 were preserved as of 2015. But he denied any state role in pulling down houses. “Very often, old residents who were from Old Jugha sold the house to someone who didn’t much care about preserving an ancient value and renovated the entire premises,” he said.
Montazeri added that the state has now imposed certain restrictions in an effort to preserve the cultural heritage of New Jugha.
“Ten houses have been purchased to be rebuilt as cultural centers. One of the houses now operates as a university dealing with the culture of New Jugha,” he added.
For his contribution towards promoting a research of, and preserving, the Armenian monuments in New Jugha and the neighboring regions, Montazeri was earlier today honored with an acknowledgement award by Armenia’s minister of urban development.

Three Armenian Churches in Syria Destroyed by ISIS

December 15, 2015 By administrator

Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor collapsed (Source: Public Radio of Armenia)

YEREVAN (Public Radio of Armenia)—The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) has released the list of Christian churches and monasteries in Syria that have been destroyed by ISIS and other Muslim groups, including a total of three Armenian Churches.

Attacks on Christians in Syria began almost immediately after the Syrian civil war began. The attacks have targeted villages, churches monasteries and the clergy, and have been perpetrated by Al-Qaeda, the Al-Nusra Front, ISIS and other Muslim groups.

On February 23 ISIS attacked the 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur River in Hasaka, Syria, capturing 253 Assyrians. In the subsequent months it destroyed 11 churches and villages, rendering some villages uninhabitable.

According to the agency, three Armenian Churches have also been destroyed by terrorists. The St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo was bombed by ISIS on April 28. The Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor was destroyed by ISIS in September, 2014. The Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs was torched by ISIS and its cross atop its clock tower removed.

German Gangs Rob Churches to Fund Islamic State Terrorists

October 21, 2015 By administrator

Eight men appeared before the court in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday, after allegedly stealing from a number of churches and schools in order to fund the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group.

In 2013, a church in Cologne was burglarized. Robbers stole a number of religious valuables, including liturgical vessels, collection boxes, and crosses. Last November, authorities arrested ten men believed to be involved, and on Tuesday, eight of those individuals appeared before a German court.
They are believed to have stolen the property with the intent of securing funds for various terrorist groups, including the Islamic State.
The robberies occurred between 2011 and 2014. In addition to the church break-ins, the men also allegedly robbed a number of schools in the area, stealing money, laptops, and a cash card.
While it remains unclear if any of the money obtained from those robberies actually made its way to militants in Syria, the men are believed to have stolen roughly 19,000 euros worth of goods.
The properties were also heavily vandalized.
Prosecutors allege that a 26-year-old Moroccan is the group’s ringleader. That individual has also uploaded a YouTube video in the past, encouraging Muslims to join IS. Prosecutors also claim that the 26-year-old was trained by the Islamic State in Syria.
Germany enacted a law last year which bans support for IS.
“The terror organization Islamic State is a threat to public safety in Germany as well. We are absolutely confronting this threat today,” Defense Minister Thomas De Mazier said, according to International Business Times.
“Today’s ban is directed solely against terrorists who abuse religion for their criminal goals. Germany is a well-fortified democracy, there’s no place here for a terrorist organization which opposes the constitutional order as well as the notion of international understanding.”
On Wednesday, reports also surfaced about the inner workings of the terrorist group’s intelligence service. Those claims on based on the testimony of Nils D., a German member of IS who said he spent eight months working for the group’s “Stormtroopers”

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Source: sputniknews.com

Turkey: Tens of thousands of mosques in Turkey, many of Armenian churches transformed into a mosque

October 18, 2015 By administrator

With churches-including many churches transformed into mosques arméniennes- and -including some mosques built by architects Arméniens- Turkey identifies several tens of thousands of mosques. Ankara has just released the list of cities that host the largest number of mosques. Istanbul naturally tops -in relation to its population of over 12 million inhabitants- but curiously, Konya came second to the capital Ankara. Below is the list of cities with the largest number of mosques:

Istanbul 3269
Konya 3115
Ankara 2955
Samsun 2674
Kastamonou 2601
Antalya 2161
Ordu 2079
Trabzon 1994
Diyarbakir 1968
Izmir 1864
Urfa 1849
Erzurum 1572
Adana 1417
Van 1347
Marash 1305
Ayntab 970
Kharpert 966
940 Malatia
Bitlis 692
Artvin 690
Mush 588
Erzincan 575
Kars 504
Ardahan 275
Igdir 243
Dersim 92

Krikor Amirzayan

Turkey: Churches in Karaman aired

May 26, 2015 By administrator

Değle ongoing excavations at the site in Karaman was removed from the church in the face three days. In the region, it is expected to open by the end of November, three more visits to the church. Report AGOS

According to the Anatolia news agency reported, 4th and 9th century in the diocese center 45 kilometers from the center of Karaman in Montenegro, has nearly 30 churches in Değle.

Karaman Museum Director Abdulbari Stars, excavations with his statement to relevant journalists, emphasized the metropolitan of its kind in the region, “Our total close to 30 churches, two episcopal our palace, there are ancient cemeteries. We have the interests of the episcopal palace with three churches under study attachments section face the day . We started excavation work in 2015. We will continue to work until 30 November. 3 churches with this study, the mausoleum, we will remove ancient period cemetery of the face the day. in the year 2016 will continue the excavations. Regional religious tourism will be brought to the Karaman tourism in terms of ” he said.