Seliger Ignatius Maloyan, Martyrer (+1915)
Bienheureux Ignace
Maloyan
Évêque de Mardine en
Turquie et martyr (+ 1915)
Choukrallah Maloyan est né à Mardine en Turquie, le 19 avril 1869 - Biographie
"Mgr Ignace Maloyan, mort martyr à l'âge de 46 ans, nous rappelle le combat spirituel de tout chrétien, dont la foi est exposée aux attaques du mal. C'est dans l'Eucharistie qu'il puisait, jour après jour, la force nécessaire pour accomplir avec générosité et passion son ministère de prêtre, se consacrant à la prédication, à la pastorale des sacrements et au service des plus pauvres. Tout au long de son existence, il a pleinement vécu la parole de saint Paul: 'Ce n'est pas un esprit de peur que Dieu nous a donné, mais un esprit de force, d'amour et de raison' (2 Tm 1, 14.7). Devant les dangers de la persécution, le bienheureux Ignace n'accepta aucun compromis, déclarant à ceux qui faisaient pression sur lui: 'A Dieu ne plaise que je renie Jésus mon Sauveur. Verser mon sang en faveur de ma foi est le plus vif désir de mon cœur!'. Que son exemple éclaire aujourd'hui tous ceux qui veulent être de vrais témoins de l'Évangile, pour la gloire de Dieu et pour le salut de leurs frères!"
Béatifié le 7 octobre 2001 - homélie de Jean-Paul II
À Karo-Kenpruc, près d'Amida en Turquie, l'an 1915, la passion du bienheureux
Ignace Maloyan, évêque de Mardin et martyr. Au cours du génocide des chrétiens
arméniens de cette région, il refusa d'embrasser l'islam et, après avoir
consacré du pain pour la réfection spirituelle des chrétiens captifs avec lui,
il fut fusillé avec d'innombrables fidèles.
Martyrologe romain
«Nous n'avons jamais été
infidèles à l'État... mais si vous voulez nous demander d'être infidèles à
notre religion, cela jamais, au grand jamais»
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11811/Bienheureux-Ignace-Maloyan.html
Choukrallah
Maloyan, fils de Melkon et Faridé, est né à Mardine en Turquie, le 19 avril
1869. Le R.P. Joseph Tchérian, discernant en lui des signes de vocation,
l'envoya à l'âge de quatorze ans au couvent de Bzommar, au Liban. Là, il
termina ses études supérieures et en la fête du Sacré-Cœur de 1896 il fut
ordonné prêtre Bzommariste sous le nom d'Ignace, en souvenir du grand Saint
Martyr d'Antioche.
En
1897, le R.P. Ignace est envoyé en mission à Alexandrie, puis au Caire où il
acquit la renommée d'un prêtre exemplaire. En ses heures libres, il étudia le
français, l'anglais et l'hébreu, pour mieux comprendre les Saintes Écritures.
Sa Béatitude le Patriarche Boghos Bedros XII Sabbaghian, remarquant ses
qualités exceptionnelles, le nomma son secrétaire privé en 1904.
Entre
temps, le diocèse de Mardine avait besoin d'un organisateur pour seconder le
vieil archevêque Houssig Gulian. Sa Béatitude Sabbaghian ne trouva pas de meilleur
choix que le R.P. Maloyan. Le 22 octobre 1911, lors du Synode des évêques
arméniens réunis à Rome, il fut élu archevêque de Mardine et sacré par Sa
Béatitude Boghos Bedros XIII Terzian. À Mardine, il s'intéressa de près aux
problèmes de ses ouailles sur le plan matériel, social et spirituel. Il diffusa
dans toutes les paroisses la dévotion au Sacré- Cœur et à la Mère de Dieu.
Mgr
Maloyan entretenait de bonnes relations avec les hauts dignitaires du pays.
Estimé et apprécié, il fut décoré par un firman du Sultan. Malheureusement,
alors qu'éclatait la première guerre mondiale, les Arméniens résidant en
Turquie (rangée aux côtés de l'Allemagne) commencèrent à connaître des épreuves
indicibles. Le 24 avril 1915 marque en effet le début d'une véritable opération
d'extermination. Le 30 avril 1915, des soldats turcs encerclèrent l'Église
Arménienne et l'Archevêché de Mardine, sous prétexte qu'ils recelaient des
dépôts d'armes. N'y ayant rien trouvé, ils s'acharnèrent à détruire les
archives et les dossiers.
Au
début de mai, le zélé pasteur réunit ses prêtres et à la lumière des tristes
nouvelles, les tint au courant des menaces fomentées contre les arméniens. Il
les exhorta à prier et à rester fermes dans la foi. Puis il leur lut son
dernier testament où il les encourageait, considérant comme un grand honneur de
mêler leur sang à celui des martyrs. Il les confiait à la sollicitude de Mgr
Ignace Tapouni, archevêque des syriens catholiques.
Le
3 juin 1915, des officiers turcs traînèrent Mgr Maloyan devant le tribunal avec
27 membres de la communauté. Là, Mamdouh Bey, chef de la gendarmerie, demanda à
l'évêque de lui remettre les armes cachés chez lui. Le prélat lui répondit
qu'il fut toujours un citoyen fidèle au gouvernement et que le Sultan, en guise
de mérite, lui avait décerné une haute distinction honorifique. Mamdouh Bey lui
proposa alors d'embrasser l'Islam pour avoir la vie sauve. Le prélat lui
répondit avec véhémence qu'il n'allait jamais renier Jésus ni trahir l'Église
et que c'était un bonheur pour lui de subir pour le Christ tous les sévices,
même la mort. Alors, un des soldats le gifla brutalement. Mamdouh Bey, lui
asséna des coups violents à la tête avec la crosse de son revolver. À chaque
coup, il disait: «Seigneur, prends pitié, Seigneur fortifie-moi». Croyant sa
mort imminente, il cria d'une voix forte: «Qui d'entre vous, mes chers Pères,
m'entend, qu'il me donne l'absolution». Après cela, les soldats lui arrachèrent
les ongles des orteils et le forcèrent à marcher.
À
Chikhane, Mamdouh Bey lut à haute voix la sentence suivante: «L'État vous a
accordé beaucoup de bienfaits...; en retour, vous avez trahi le pays. C'est
pourquoi vous êtes condamnés à mort. Cependant, si quelqu'un devient musulman
il sera libéré et rentrera à Mardine. Sinon, la sentence sera exécutée. Soyez
prêts à exprimer votre dernière volonté».
Mgr
Maloyan, au nom de tous, répondit: «Nous n'avons jamais été infidèles à
l'État... mais si vous voulez nous demander d'être infidèles à notre religion,
cela jamais, au grand jamais». Et tous les présents répondirent: «Cela jamais».
«Nous mourrons, ajouta Maloyan, mais nous mourrons pour le Christ». Un fidèle
s'approcha des soldats et leur lança: «Tuez-moi, et vous allez voir comment
meurt un Chrétien pour sa foi».
Le
Confesseur inébranlable se mit à genoux, tous firent de même. Il pria le
Seigneur de leur accorder la force et le courage pour être dignes de la palme
du martyre. Les prêtres accordèrent à tous l'absolution. Ce qui provoqua
l'étonnement des soldats turcs ce fut la paix et le bonheur qui jaillissaient
de leurs visages. Ils étaient heureux de mourir pour le Christ.
Mamdouh
s'approcha de Mgr Maloyan et, pour une dernière fois, lui proposa l'Islam.
Celui-ci lui répondit: «Ta demande m'étonne. Je t'avais dit précédemment que je
vis et meurs pour ma véritable foi. Je me glorifie en la Croix de mon Seigneur
et Dieu». Mamdouh furieux dégaîna son revolver et fit feu. La balle lui
traversa la nuque. Il tomba par terre et, avant de rendre l'âme, il s'exclama:
«Seigneur, prends pitié de moi, entre tes mains je remets mon esprit».
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20011007_beat-maloyan_fr.html
CHAPELLE PAPALE POUR LA
BÉATIFICATION DE 7 SERVITEURS DE DIEU
HOMÉLIE DU PAPE JEAN PAUL
II
Dimanche 7 octobre 2001
1. "Le juste vivra par sa fidélité" (Ha 2, 4): c'est
avec ces paroles pleines de confiance et d'espérance que le prophète Habaquq
s'adresse au peuple d'Israël à un moment particulièrement tourmenté de son
existence. Relues par l'Apôtre Paul à la lumière du mystère du Christ, ces
mêmes paroles sont utilisées afin d'exprimer un principe universel: c'est
à travers la foi que l'homme s'ouvre au salut qui lui vient de Dieu.
Nous avons aujourd'hui la joie de contempler ce grand mystère de salut rendu
actuel avec les nouveaux bienheureux. Ce sont eux les justes qui, en raison de
leur foi, vivent aux côtés de Dieu pour l'éternité: Ignazio Maloyan,
Evêque et martyr; Nikolaus Gross, père de famille et martyr; Alfonso Maria
Fusco, prêtre; Tommaso Maria Fusco, prêtre; Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin,
religieuse; Eugenia Picco, vierge; Maria Euthymia Uffing, vierge.
Ces frères illustres, à présent élevés à la gloire des autels, ont su traduire
leur indomptable foi dans le Christ en une extraordinaire expérience d'amour
envers Dieu et de service envers leur prochain.
Mgr Ignace Maloyan
2. Mgr Ignace Maloyan, mort martyr à l'âge de 46 ans, nous rappelle le combat spirituel de tout chrétien, dont la foi est exposée aux attaques du mal. C'est dans l'Eucharistie qu'il puisait, jour après jour, la force nécessaire pour accomplir avec générosité et passion son ministère de prêtre, se consacrant à la prédication, à la pastorale des sacrements et au service des plus pauvres. Tout au long de son existence, il a pleinement vécu la parole de saint Paul: "Ce n'est pas un esprit de peur que Dieu nous a donné, mais un esprit de force, d'amour et de raison" (2 Tm 1, 14.7). Devant les dangers de la persécution, le bienheureux Ignace n'accepta aucun compromis, déclarant à ceux qui faisaient pression sur lui: "A Dieu ne plaise que je renie Jésus mon Sauveur. Verser mon sang en faveur de ma foi est le plus vif désir de mon coeur!". Que son exemple éclaire aujourd'hui tous ceux qui veulent être de vrais témoins de l'Evangile, pour la gloire de Dieu et pour le salut de leurs frères!
Soeur Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin
3. Dans sa vie de mère de famille et de religieuse fondatrice des Soeurs
de la Providence, Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin a été le modèle d'un courageux
abandon à la Providence. Son attention aux personnes et aux situations la
conduisit à inventer des formes nouvelles de charité. Elle avait un coeur
ouvert à toute détresse, servant spécialement les pauvres et les petits,
qu'elle désirait traiter comme des rois. Considérant qu'elle avait tout reçu du
Seigneur, elle donnait sans compter. Tel était le secret de sa joie profonde,
même dans l'adversité. Dans un esprit de totale confiance en Dieu et avec un
sens aiguisé de l'obéissance, tel le "serviteur quelconque" de
l'Evangile, elle accomplit son devoir d'état comme un commandement divin,
voulant faire en tout la volonté du Seigneur. Que la nouvelle bienheureuse soit
un modèle de contemplation et d'action pour les Soeurs de son Institut et pour
les personnes qui travaillent avec elles!
Nikolaus Gross
4. Les deux nouveaux bienheureux allemands nous ramènent à une période
sombre du XXème siècle. Tournons le regard vers le bienheureux Nikolaus Gross,
journaliste et père de famille. Il comprit avec sagacité que l'idéologie
national-socialiste ne pouvait pas s'accorder avec la foi chrétienne. Il prit
courageusement la plume pour défendre la dignité des personnes. Nikolaus Gross
aimait beaucoup sa femme et ses enfants. Toutefois, à aucun moment le lien qui
l'unissait à sa famille ne lui fit abandonner le Christ et son Eglise. Il
savait bien que "si aujourd'hui nous n'engageons pas notre vie, comment
pourrons-nous ensuite prétendre nous trouver aux côtés de Dieu et de notre
peuple".
C'est en raison de cette conviction qu'il fut conduit à l'échafaud, mais les
portes du ciel s'ouvrirent à lui. Dans le bienheureux martyr Nikolaus Gross se
réalisa ce qu'avait prédit le prophète:
"Le juste vivra par sa fidélité" (Ha 2, 4).
Soeur Euthymia Uffing
5. Soeur Euthymia a rendu un témoignage d'un tout autre genre. Cette soeur
clémentine s'est consacrée au soin des malades, en particulier des prisonniers
de guerre et des immigrés. Elle fut même appelée "Maman Euthymia".
Après la guerre, elle dut s'occuper d'une blanchisserie au lieu de prendre soin
des malades. Elle aurait certainement préféré servir les personnes plutôt que
les machines. Malgré tout, elle demeura une soeur pleine de compassion, ayant
un sourire amical et une bonne parole pour tous. Elle exprimait ainsi son
désir: "Le Seigneur doit m'utiliser comme un rayon de soleil qui
illumine chaque jour". Elle vécut selon la devise suivante: quoi que
nous fassions, nous ne sommes toujours que "des serviteurs inutiles; nous
avons fait ce que nous devions faire" (Lc 17, 10). Sa grandeur se
trouve dans la foi dans les petites choses.
Dom Alfonso Maria Fusco
6. "Si vous aviez de la foi comme un grain de sénevé...",
s'exclame Jésus en conversant avec ses disciples (Lc 17, 6).
Ce fut une foi ferme et authentique qui guida l'oeuvre et la vie du bienheureux
dom Alfonso Maria Fusco, fondateur des Soeurs de Saint Jean-Baptiste. Dès sa
jeunesse, le Seigneur avait placé dans son coeur le désir passionné de
consacrer sa vie au service des plus pauvres, en particulier des enfants et des
jeunes, qu'il rencontrait en grand nombre dans sa ville natale d'Angri, en
Campanie. C'est pour cette raison qu'il entreprit le chemin du sacerdoce et
devint, dans un certain sens, "le Don Bosco du Sud". Dès le début, il
souhaita engager dans son oeuvre plusieurs jeunes qui partageaient son idéal,
en leur proposant comme devise les paroles de saint Jean Baptiste:
"Parate viam Domini", "Préparez le chemin du Seigneur" (Lc 3,
4). Confiants dans la divine Providence, le bienheureux Alfonso Maria et les
Soeurs baptistines ont accompli une oeuvre bien supérieure à leurs propres
attentes. D'une simple maison d'accueil est né un Institut, qui est aujourd'hui
présent dans seize pays et dans quatre continents, aux côtés des
"humbles" et des "derniers".
Dom Tommaso Maria Fusco
7. La singulière vitalité de la foi, attestée par l'Evangile
d'aujourd'hui, apparaît également dans la vie et dans l'activité de dom Tommaso
Maria Fusco, fondateur de l'Institut des Filles de la Charité du Très Précieux
Sang. En vertu de la foi il sut vivre, dans le monde, la réalité du Royaume de
Dieu d'une façon toute particulière. Parmi ses prières, l'une d'entre elles lui
était particulièrement chère: "Je crois en toi, mon Dieu; fais
croître ma foi". Telle est précisément la requête que les Apôtres
adressent à Jésus dans l'Evangile d'aujourd'hui (cf. Lc 17, 6). Le
bienheureux Tommaso Maria avait en effet compris que la foi est avant tout un
don, une grâce. Personne ne peut la conquérir ou la gagner tout seul. On peut
seulement la demander, l'implorer d'En-haut. C'est pourquoi, illuminés par le
précieux enseignement du nouveau bienheureux, ne nous lassons jamais d'invoquer
le don de la foi, car "le juste vivra par sa fidélité" (Ha 2,
4).
Eugenia Picco
8. La synthèse vitale entre contemplation et action, assimilée à partir de
la participation quotidienne à l'Eucharistie, fut le fondement de l'expérience
spirituelle et de l'élan de charité d'Eugenia Picco. Au cours de sa vie, elle
s'efforça toujours de se mettre à l'écoute de la voix du Seigneur, selon
l'invitation de la liturgie dominicale d'aujourd'hui (cf. Refrain
du Psaume responsorial), en ne se soustrayant jamais aux tâches que
l'amour envers le prochain lui demandait. A Parme, elle s'occupa des personnes
pauvres, répondant aux besoins des jeunes et des familles indigentes et assistant
les victimes de la guerre qui, en cette période, ensanglantait l'Europe. Même
face à la souffrance, avec les inévitables moments de difficulté et d'égarement
que celle-ci comporte, la bienheureuse Eugenia Picco sut transformer
l'expérience de la douleur en occasion de purification et de croissance
intérieure. La nouvelle bienheureuse, nous apprend l'art d'écouter la voix du
Seigneur, afin d'être des témoins crédibles de l'Evangile de la charité en
cette première partie du millénaire.
La vocation à la sainteté
9. "Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis!". Avec les Communautés dans
lesquelles les nouveaux bienheureux ont vécu et pour lesquelles ils ont
prodigué leurs meilleures énergies humaines et spirituelles, nous voulons
rendre grâce à Dieu, "admirable dans ses saints". Dans le même temps,
nous lui demandons, par leur intercession, de nous aider à répondre avec une
ardeur renouvelée à la vocation universelle à la sainteté.
Amen!
A l'issue de la Messe de béatification, et après la prière de l'Angelus, le
Saint-Père a salué les pèlerins de langue française:
Je vous salue, chers pèlerins venus de différents pays pour les béatifications
de ce jour. Puissent ces nouvelles figures de sainteté, en particulier Mgr
Maloyan et Soeur Emilie Gamelin, vous aider à devenir vous-mêmes des saints,
dans la vie qui est la vôtre, en donnant un éloquent témoignage quotidien de
votre amour pour le Christ et pour vos frères et soeurs, notamment les plus
pauvres!
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Bienheureux Ignace
MALOYAN
Nom: MALOYAN
Prénom: Ignace
(Choukrallah)
Pays: Turquie
Naissance:
19.04.1869 à Mardine (Turquie)
Mort:
03.06.1915 à Chikhane
Etat: Évêque
arménien-catholique - Martyr
Note: Choukrallah est son
nom de baptême, Ignazio (Ignace) à son ordination en 1896. Ministère en Egypte.
En 1911 archevêque de Mardine. Victime de la persécution contre les arméniens
résidant en Turquie.
Béatification:
07.10.2001 à Rome par Jean Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 3 juin
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 2001 n.41 p.1-2 n.42 p.2
Réf. dans la
Documentation Catholique:
Notice
Mgr Ignace Mayolan est né
à Mardine en Turquie le 19 avril 1869. Son nom de baptême est Choukrallah.
Discernant en lui des signes de vocation, un prêtre l'envoie à 14 ans au
couvent de Bzommar, un village de la montagne libanaise qui est aussi le siège
du patriarcat arménien-catholique. Là, il est ordonné prêtre
"Bzommariste", en 1896, sous le nom d'Ignace en souvenir du grand
saint martyr Ignace d'Antioche. En 1897 le Père Ignace est envoyé en mission à
Alexandrie puis au Caire. En ses heures libres, il étudie le français,
l'anglais et l'hébreu, en vue d'approfondir l'étude de la Bible. Sa Béatitude
le Patriarche Boghos Bedros XII Sabbaghian, remarquant ses qualités
exceptionnelles, le nomme son secrétaire privé en 1904. Entre-temps, le diocèse
de Mardine a besoin d'un organisateur pour seconder le vieil archevêque du lieu
qui n'arrive plus à contenir les intrigues politiques et les troubles liés à la
situation économique désastreuse. Le 22 octobre 1911, lors du synode des
évêques arméniens réuni à Rome, le Père Ignace est élu archevêque de Mardine.
Il s'intéresse aux problèmes de ses ouailles sur le plan matériel, social et
spirituel (écoles, séminaire). Il cherche à soulager ceux qui sont déjà
persécutés par les Turcs. Lui-même est de santé défaillante; mais il brille par
son courage et jamais il n'acceptera de compromission. Il entretient de bonnes
relations avec les autorités du pays. Estimé et apprécié, il est décoré par un
"firman" (édit) du Sultan. Lorsqu'éclate la première guerre mondiale,
la Turquie se range aux côtés de l'Allemagne et les Arméniens commencent à
connaître des épreuves indicibles. Le 24 avril 1915 marque le début d'une
véritable opération d'extermination. Le 30 avril des soldats turcs encerclent
l'église arménienne et l'Archevêché de Mardine, sous prétexte qu'il recèle des
dépôts d'armes. N'y ayant rien trouvé, ils s'acharnent à détruire les archives
et les dossiers. Au début de mai, le pasteur réunit ses prêtres. Il les exhorte
à prier et à rester fermes dans la foi. Le 3 juin, des officiers turcs traînent
Mgr Maloyan devant le tribunal avec 27 membres de la communauté. Là, Mamdouh
Bey, chef de la gendarmerie, demande à l'évêque de lui remettre les armes
cachées chez lui. Le prélat lui répond qu'il a toujours été un citoyen fidèle
au gouvernement. Mamdouh Bey lui propose alors d'embrasser l'Islam pour avoir
la vie sauve. Le prélat lui répond: "A Dieu ne plaise que je renie Jésus
mon Sauveur. Verser mon sang en faveur de ma foi est le plus vif désir de mon
cœur!" Alors un des soldats le gifle brutalement. Mamdouh Bey lui assène
des coups à la tête avec la crosse de son revolver. A chaque coup l'évêque dit:
"Seigneur prends pitié, Seigneur fortifie-moi." Croyant sa mort
imminente, il crie d'une voix forte: «Qui d'entre vous, mes chers Pères,
m'entend, qu'il me donne l'absolution». Après cela, les soldats le torturent
encore. À Chikhane, Mamdouh Bey lit à haute voix la sentence suivante: «L'État
vous a accordé beaucoup de bienfaits...; en retour, vous avez trahi le pays.
C'est pourquoi vous êtes condamnés à mort. Cependant, si quelqu'un devient
musulman il sera libéré et rentrera à Mardine. Sinon, la sentence sera
exécutée. Soyez prêts à exprimer votre dernière volonté». Mgr Maloyan, au nom
de tous, répond: «Nous n'avons jamais été infidèles à l'État... mais si vous
voulez nous demander d'être infidèles à notre religion, cela jamais, au grand
jamais». Et tous les présents répondirent: «Cela jamais». «Nous mourrons,
ajouta Maloyan, mais nous mourrons pour le Christ». Un fidèle s'approche des soldats
et leur lance: «Tuez-moi, et vous allez voir comment meurt un Chrétien pour sa
foi». Le Confesseur, inébranlable, se met à genoux, tous font de même. Il prie
le Seigneur de leur accorder la force et le courage pour être dignes de la
palme du martyre. Les prêtres accordent à tous l'absolution. Ce qui provoque
l'étonnement des soldats turcs c'est la paix et le bonheur qui émane de leurs
visages. Ils sont heureux de mourir pour le Christ. Mamdouh s'approche de Mgr
Maloyan et, pour une dernière fois, lui proposa l'Islam. Celui-ci lui répond:
«Ta demande m'étonne. Je t'avais dit précédemment que je vis et meurs pour ma
véritable foi. Je me glorifie en la Croix de mon Seigneur et Dieu». Mamdouh
furieux dégaine son revolver et fait feu. La balle lui traverse la nuque. Il
tombe à terre et, avant de rendre l'âme, il s'exclame: «Seigneur, prends pitié
de moi, entre tes mains je remets mon esprit».
Mgr Maloyan est béatifié
au cours du Synode ayant pour thème: L'évêque. Ainsi est exaucé le vœu du
patriarche des Arméniens catholiques qui avait déclaré: "Je souhaite que
cette béatification puisse avoir lieu au cours du synode des évêques, pour
concrétiser le thème du synode sur le rôle et la mission de l'évêque dans son
diocèse."
RELIGION - Il sera
béatifié le 7 octobre par Jean-Paul II - Le bienheureux Ignace Maloyan, évêque
au Liban, martyr à Mardine
le 03 octobre 2001 à
00h00
Le pape Jean-Paul II
béatifiera dimanche 7 octobre, au cours d’une cérémonie publique, place
Saint-Pierre, l’évêque arménien-catholique Ignace Maloyan, l’une des victimes
de la politique de déportation pratiquée par l’empire ottoman, qui a culminé en
1915 par le génocide du peuple arménien. Le Pr Jihad Naaman, de l’Université
libanaise, nous fait parvenir un texte dans lequel il dégage le sens de la
sainteté et du martyre, vécu par l’évêque, qui est passé, comme la plupart des
prêtres arméniens-catholiques, par le couvent de Notre-Dame de Bzommar . «Par
ses prières, par ses actions, par sa vie, voire même par sa mort, Mgr Ignace
Maloyan prolonge, dans l’unité de l’Église, la prière, l’action, la vie et la
mort du Christ. Comme un nouveau saint Paul prenant pour modèle le Christ, “il
achève dans sa chair ce qui manque aux souffrances du Christ, au bénéfice de
son corps qui est l’Église”. Mgr Maloyan trouve aussi le Christ dans les
autres; et, par là encore, se manifeste l’unité de l’Église. Jésus l’a dit
lui-même: “Ce que vous ferez au plus petit d’entre mes frères, c’est à moi-même
que vous l’aurez fait”. Et sur le chemin de Damas, il affirmait avec force à
Paul qui persécutait les chrétiens de Jérusalem: “C’est moi que tu persécutes”.
L’Église est un corps vivant. Mgr Maloyan était persuadé que, dans notre
organisme mortel, lorsqu’un membre souffre, tous les autres souffrent avec lui,
et que de même dans l’Église, chaque membre ne vit pas pour lui, mais tous
s’aident réciproquement, pour leur mutuelle consolation et pour un meilleur
développement de tout le corps. La charité – loin de toute rancune – est pour
Mgr Maloyan le moyen d’expression de l’unité vécue au Liban, en Égypte, en
Turquie et ailleurs, et reflétée dans ses homélies de prêtre ou d’évêque,
jusqu’à son martyre à Mardine. C’est ce que répéteront sans cesse les Apôtres
et ce que nous redit l’Église : “Par-dessus tout, au-delà de tout, ayez la
charité”. Notre prélat a relu la prière sacerdotale de Jésus et a ainsi mesuré
la force de l’unité de l’Église: “Que tous soient un, comme Vous, Père, êtes en
Moi et Moi en Vous… Qu’ils soient un comme Nous sommes un”. C’est l’unité même
de la Sainte Trinité que Mgr Maloyan a reconstituée voire même incarnée. C’est
la communion de nature et d’action qui unit le Père et le Fils “dans l’unité du
Saint-Esprit”. Aucune réalité humaine, si haute soit-elle, ne pouvait convenir
comme modèle d’unité pour l’Église : la comparaison du corps elle-même est
encore imparfaite. Jésus nous a laissé en exemple l’unité la plus profonde qui
soit : celle-là même qui le fait un avec son Père. Avec le Christ et dans le
Christ, nous formons un seul corps, un seul esprit, une seule vie : “Je suis la
vigne et vous êtes les sarments…”». *** «Ô pasteur, resté si vivant dans le
cœur de ceux qui l’ont connu. Aucune prestance extérieure, rien de populaire,
jamais de pose pour la galerie, ni dans ses paroles ni dans ses sorties. Mais
quelle flamme couvait au fond de lui et en faisait un foyer de lumière et de
chaleur, quand il s’agissait de guider ses militants et ses prêtres, de secouer
ses chrétiens, de défendre son peuple et sa cité sans négliger le pardon et
l’esprit de tolérance ! Quel évêque ! C’est l’exemple du Bon Pasteur qui
connaissait ses brebis. Il militait, à travers les quartiers ouvriers, les
réunions de gens éreintées, pour réaliser les idées du Vrai, du Beau et du
Bien. L’éminent évêque n’est pas mort, mais son départ a contribué à ouvrir la
porte d’où se répandent les sacrements de l’Église, par qui nous avons la vie
véritable. Sollicitons donc son intercession auprès du Très Haut. Maloyan a été
un évêque modèle. Les saints nous montrent tous, chacun suivant sa vocation, la
splendeur du même Maître. Réussites de la grâce, les saints sont aussi des
réussites de l’Église. Ils se sacrifient pour tous les hommes, afin qu’ils
soient sanctifiés dans la vérité. Les saints sont ainsi des exemples et des
patrons. C’est l’Église qui nous les montre ainsi. Ils ne sont pas seulement
des intercesseurs, mais aussi des témoins authentiques et des modèles à suivre.
Prions pour que la sainteté de l’Église, comme le levain, lève la pâte du monde
comme par une contagion d’amour et transforme les hommes et les femmes en
témoins et modèles, à l’image du bienheureux Maloyan».
5 Mars 2009
Rome. Basilique San
Bartolomeo. Remise d’un autographe du Bienheureux Ignazio Maloyan, évêque
arménien, à la Communauté de Sant'Egidio.
Le 5 mars 2009, le
patriarche arménien catholique, Sa Béatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, a
remis à la Communauté de Sant’Egidio une lettre autographe du Bienheureux
Ignazio Maloyan, archevêque de Mardin, victime des massacres survenus en
Turquie en 1915, afin de la conserver avec la mémoire des martyrs et témoins de
la foi du XXe siècle, dont la basilique est le lieu mémoriel.
La « relique »
a été portée en procession au cours d’une liturgie de la Parole présidée par le
patriarche et déposée sur l’autel dédié aux martyrs et témoins de l’Asie, Moyen
Orient et Océanie.
Omelia di S. B. Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarca di
Cilicia degli armeni
Passion et mort du
bienheureux Ignazio Mayolan et de ses fidèles
Le 1er mai 1915, après la
perquisition infructueuse de l’église par les troupes de l’armée à la recherche
d’armes, Monseigneur Maloyan réunit le clergé et fait connaître son testament
spirituel :
"Je vous exhorte avant tout à fortifier votre foi sur le roc de Pierre et
à renforcer votre espérance dans la Sainte Croix... D’où provient le désir de
voir notre sang de pécheurs mêlé au sang des hommes justes et purs ? Que les
desseins du Très-Haut se réalisent en nous, quelle qu’en soit la manière, même
la déportation ou le martyre. Mon souhait le plus grand est de voir mon
troupeau suivre mon exemple et rester docile aux ordres du Siège Apostolique.
Je vous confie à Dieu, mes enfants bien aimés, et je vous demande de Le prier
afin qu’Il me donne la force et le courage de vivre cette vie dans Sa grâce et
dans Son amour jusqu’à l'effusion de sang ."
Le 3 juin, solennité de la Fête-Dieu, les premières nouvelles de la déportation
des Arméniens de Dijarbekir dans la direction de Mossoul arrivent en ville.
Monseigneur Maloyan célèbre la Sainte Messe, quand à l’issue de la procession,
Mardin est encerclée par la cavalerie et par les troupes armées. Les gendarmes
parcourent le quartier arménien et arrêtent les notables (peu de temps après
trois autres groupes de déportés les suivirent ; le second est composé de
femmes, d’enfants et de vieillards).
Mgr. Maloyan reçoit la notification de son arrestation en même temps que six
prêtres du diocèse. Il est accusé de détention d’armes. Conduit au quartier
général de la police, Mgr. Maloyan est interrogé ainsi que 27 membres de sa
communauté.
Vendredi 11 juin, jour de la solennité du Sacré Cœur de Jésus, une heure est
accordée aux prisonniers pour se préparer à la mort. Monseigneur Maloyan
demande la permission de parler aux siens. Après avoir prié le Seigneur de lui
donner la force et la persévérance de supporter le martyre, il leur accorde
l’absolution. Puis il consacre du pain que les déportés avaient avec eux, le
rompt et le distribue aux prêtres et aux laïcs présents.
Monsignor Maloyan est ensuite conduit seul et à cheval à Kara-keupru, à trois
heures de Dijarbekir. C’est là qu’à l’âge de 46 ans, il est tué d’un coup de
fusil dans la nuque. En tout, 415 personnes furent tuées au cours du premier
massacre des chrétiens de Mardin.
11 juin :
Bienheureux Ignace Maloyan
11 juin 2024
Né le 19 avril 1869
à Mardin, dans l’Empire ottoman, au sud-est de la Turquie actuelle, baptisé
Choukrallah Maloyan, il eut très tôt la vocation religieuse, et fut envoyé à
14 ans au couvent de Bzommar, au Liban. Il y fut ordonné prêtre, sous le
nom d’Ignace le 6 août 1896.
Curé à Alexandrie à
partir de 1897, puis à Constantinople en 1904, il fut élu archevêque arménien
catholique de Mardin le 22 octobre 1911. Très proche des fidèles de son
diocèse, il diffusa la dévotion au Sacré-Cœur de Jésus et à la Vierge Marie, Mère de
Dieu.
Ignace Maloyan entretint
au départ de bonnes relations avec les autorités civiles. Mais, en 1915, commença
la persécution et le génocide des catholiques arméniens en Turquie. En mai de
cette même année, l’archevêque exhorta le clergé à rester ferme dans la foi. Il
fut arrêté le 3 juin 1915 par des officiers turcs.
Traduit devant un
tribunal, il lui fut proposé de se convertir à l’islam pour avoir la vie sauve,
ce qu’il refusa. Après avoir subi plusieurs sévices, la même proposition lui
fut faite ; il répondit : « Ta demande m’étonne. Je t’avais dit
précédemment que je vis et meurs pour ma véritable foi. Je me glorifie en la
Croix de mon Seigneur et Dieu. »
Ignace Maloyan fut
assassiné d’une balle dans la nuque le 11 juin 1915. Ses derniers mots
furent : « Seigneur, prenez pitié de moi, entre vos mains je remets
mon esprit. » Il fut béatifié par Jean-Paul II le 7 octobre 2001 :
« Devant les dangers de la persécution, le bienheureux Ignace n’accepta
aucun compromis, déclarant à ceux qui faisaient pression sur lui : “A Dieu
ne plaise que je renie Jésus mon Sauveur. Verser mon sang en faveur de ma foi
est le plus vif désir de mon cœur !” Que son exemple éclaire aujourd’hui
tous ceux qui veulent être de vrais témoins de l’Evangile, pour la gloire de
Dieu et pour le salut de leurs frères ! »
SOURCE : https://reinformation.tv/11-juin-ignace-maloyan-calendrier/
Blessed
Ignatius Maloyan, Vatican City’s stamp, painting of the Artist Raffi Yedalian,
2015
Also
known as
Choukrallah Maloyan
Ignadios Maloyan
Ignatios Maloyan
Ignatius Maloyan
Shoukrallah Maloyan
Shukrallah Maloyan
Profile
Son of Melkon and Faridé
Maloyan. Studied at
the convent of
Bzommar-Lebanon where
he was ordained on 6 August 1896.
Member of the Bzommar Institute. Took the name of Ignatius in
remembrance of Saint Ignatius
of Antioch. Parish priest in Alexandria and
Cairo, Egypt from 1897 to 1910.
Assistant to Patriarch Boghos Bedros XII in 1904,
but respiratory health problems forced his return to Egypt.
Dispatched to the diocese of
Mardin to restore order and discipline. Archbishop of
Mardin on 22
October 1911,
working with the Armenian Catholic minority.
Encouraged the devotion to the Sacred
Heart.
At the outbreak of World
War I, Armenians in
Turkey, especially Christians,
became the target of persecutions.
On 30
April 1915 a
group of Turkish soldiers surrounded
the Armenian Catholic Bishopric and
church in Mardin, claiming it was used to hide weapons. On 3 June 1915,
Turkish soldiers arrested Bishop Maloyan
along with many other Armenian Catholic priests and laymen.
In court, chief of the police Mamdooh
Bek ordered bishop Maloyan
to convert to Islam; the bishop declined,
and was beaten, tortured, chained,
and imprisoned.
On 10
June 1915,
Ignazio and over 400 other Christians,
including fourteen priests,
were force marched into the desert. When they stopped, bishop Ignazio
celebrated an impromptu liturgy with scraps of bread; the group was then murdered.
The bishop was
the last to die.
At the last minute, Mamdooh Bek again demanded that Ignazio convert to Islam;
when the bishop refused,
Bek shot him.
Born
18 April 1869 at
Mardin, Turkey
Died
shot
to death on 11 June 1915 by
Mamdooh Bek at Zerzevan Castle, Çinar, Diyarbakir, Turkey
his body is reported to
have radiated light for three days after his death
24 April 2001 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
7 October 2001 by Pope John
Paul II
Additional
Information
other
sites in english
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
I shall live and die for
the sake of my faith and religion. I take pride in the Cross of my God and
Lord. – Blessed Ignatio
to the final demand that he abandon Christianity
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Ignazio
Maloyan“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 July 2023. Web. 10 June 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ignazio-maloyan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ignazio-maloyan/
Ignatius Maloyan
Ignatius Maloyan
(Shoukrallah), son of Melkon and Faridé, was born in 1869, in Mardin, Turkey.
His parish priest,
noticed in him signs of a priestly vocation, so he sent him to the convent of
Bzommar-Lebanon; he was fourteen years old.
After finishing his superior
studies in 1896, the day dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was
ordained priest in the Church of Bzommar convent, became a member of the
Bzommar Institute and adopted the name of Ignatius in remembrance of the famous
martyr of Antioch. During the years 1897-1910, Father Ignatius was appointed as
parish priest in Alexandria and Cairo, where his good reputation was
wide-spread.
His Beatitude Patriarch
Boghos Bedros XII appointed him as his assistant in 1904. Because of a disease
that hit his eyes and suffocating difficulty in breathing, he returned to Egypt
and stayed there till 1910.
The Diocese of Mardin was
in a state of anarchy, so Patriarch Sabbaghian sent Father Ignatius Maloyan to
restore order.
On October 22, 1911, the
Bishops' Synod assembled in Rome elected Father Ignatius Archbishop of Mardin.
He took over his new assignment and planned on renewing the wrecked Diocese,
encouraging especially the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Unfortunately, at the
outbreak of the First World War, the Armenians resident in Turkey (which was
allied with Germany) began to endure unspeakable sufferings. In fact, 24 April
1915 marked the beginning of a veritable campaign of extermination. On April
30, 1915, the Turkish soldiers surrounded the Armenian Catholic Bishopric and
church in Mardin on the basis that they were hide-outs for arms.
At the beginning of May,
the Bishop gathered his priests and informed them of the dangerous situation.
On June 3, 1915, Turkish soldiers dragged Bishop Maloyan in chains to court
with twenty seven other Armenian Catholic personalities. The next day, twenty
five priests and eight hundred and sixty two believers were held in chains.
During trial, the chief of the police, Mamdooh Bek, asked the Bishop to convert
to Islam. The bishop answered that he would never betray Christ and His Church.
The good shepherd told him that he was ready to suffer all kinds of
ill-treatments and even death and in this will be his happiness.
Mamdooh Bek hit him on
the head with the rear of his pistol and ordered to put him in jail. The
soldiers chained his feet and hands, threw him on the ground and hit him
mercilessly. With each blow, the Bishop was heard saying "Oh Lord, have
mercy on me, oh Lord, give me strength", and asked the priests present for
absolution. With that, the soldiers went back to hitting him and they extracted
his toe nails.
On June 9, his mother
visited him and cried for his state. But the valiant Bishop encouraged her. On
the next day, the soldiers gathered four hundred and forty seven Armenians. The
soldiers along with the convoys took the desert route.
The bishop encouraged his
parishioners to remain firm in their faith. Then all knelt with him. He prayed
to God that they accept martyrdom with patience and courage. The priests granted
the believers absolution. The Bishop took out a piece of bread, blessed it,
recited the words of the Eucharist and gave it to his priests to distribute
among the people.
One of the soldiers, an
eye witness, recounted this scene: "That hour, I saw a cloud covering the
prisoners and from all emitted a perfumed scent. There was a look of joy and
serenity on their faces". As they were all going to die out of love for
Jesus. After a two-hour walk, hungry, naked and chained, the soldiers attacked
the prisoners and killed them before the Bishop's eyes. After the massacre of
the two convoys came the turn of Bishop Maloyan.
Mamdooh Bek then asked
Maloyan again to convert to Islam. The soldier of Christ answered: "I've
told you I shall live and die for the sake of my faith and religion. I take
pride in the Cross of my God and Lord". Mamdooh got very angry, he drew
his pistol and shot Maloyan. Before he breathed his last breath he cried out
loud: "My God, have mercy on me; into your hands I commend my spirit".
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20011007_beat-maloyan_en.html
BEATIFICATION OF 7
SERVANTS OF GOD
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II
Sunday 7 October 2001
1. "The just man
shall live by faith" (Hb 2,4): with these words full of confidence
and hope the prophet Habakkuk spoke to the people of Israel at a particularly
troubled moment of its history. Reread in the light of the mystery of Christ by
the Apostle Paul, the Church can use the same words to express a universal
principle: it is by faith that man is open to the salvation that comes to
him from God.
Today we have the joy of
contemplating this great mystery of salvation actualized in the new Blesseds. They
are the just who by their faith live close to God in eternity: Ignatius
Maloyan, bishop and martyr; Nikolaus
Gross, father of a family and martyr; Alfonso
Maria Fusco, priest; Tommaso
Maria Fusco, priest; Emilie
Tavernier Gamelin, religious woman; Eugenia
Picco, virgin; Maria
Euthymia Üffing, virgin. These illustrious brothers and sisters, now
elevated to the glory of the altars, knew how to translate their invincible
faith in Christ into an extraordinary experience of love for God and service to
their neighbour.
2. Archbishop Ignatius Maloyan, who died a martyr when he was 46, reminds
us of every Christian's spiritual combat, whose faith is exposed to the attacks
of evil. It is in the Eucharist that he drew, day by day, the force necessary
to accomplish his priestly ministry with generosity and passion, dedicating
himself to preaching, to a pastoral life connected with the celebration of the
sacraments and to the service of the neediest. Throughout his existence, he
fully lived the words of St Paul: "God has not given us a spirit of
fear but a spirit of courage, of love and self control" (II Tim 1,14. 7).
Before the dangers of persecution, Bl. Ignatius did not accept any compromise,
declaring to those who were putting pressure on him, "It does not please
God that I should deny Jesus my Saviour. To shed my blood for my faith is the
strongest desire of my heart". May his example enlighten all those who
today wish to be witnesses of the Gospel for the glory of God and for the salvation
of their neighbour.
3. In her life as mother of a family and religious foundress of the Sisters of
Providence, Emilie Tavernier Gamelin was the model of a courageous
abandonment to divine Providence. Her attention to persons and to situations
led her to invent new forms of charity. She had a heart open to every kind of
trouble, and she was especially the servant of the poor and the little ones,
whom she wished to treat like kings. She remembered that she had received
everything from the Lord and she wanted to give without counting the cost. This
was the secret of her deep joy, even in adversity.
In a spirit of total
confidence in God and with an acute sense of obedience, like the anonymous
servant in the Gospel of today, she accomplished her duty which she considered
a divine commandment, wishing above all to do the will of God in everything.
May the new Blessed be a model of contemplation and action for the sisters of
her institute and for the persons who work with them.
4. Both of the new Blesseds from Germany lead us into the dark time of the
twentieth century. Let us focus on Bl. Nikolaus Gross, journalist and
father of a family. With the clear insight that the Nazi ideology was
incompatible with Christian faith, he courageously took up his pen to plead for
the dignity of human beings. Nikolaus loved his wife and children very much.
However, the inner bond with his own family never allowed him to pull back from
confessing Christ and his Church. It was clear to him, "If we do not risk
our life today, how then do we want to justify ourselves one day before God and
our people?". For this conviction he submitted to being hanged so that
heaven itself might be opened to him. In the Blessed Martyr Nikolaus Gross was
accomplished what the prophet foretold "The just man will live on account
of his faith" (Hb 1,4).
5. The Blessed Sr Euthymia offered another kind of witness. The
Clemens Sister dedicated herself tirelessly to the care of the sick,
particularly, of the prisoners of war and of foreign workers. For this reason
she was nicknamed "Mamma Euthymia". After the war, she was put in
charge of the laundry room rather than of the sick. She would have preferred to
serve human beings rather than machines. However, she remained a dedicated
sister who had a friendly smile and a kind word for everyone. She had a way of
describing her mission: "The Lord can use me like a ray of sun to
brighten the day". This Sister lived the word of the Gospel:
whatever we do, we are only unworthy servants. We have only done our duty"
(Lk 17,10). In her faith in small things lies her greatness.
6. "If you had faith
like a mustard seed", Jesus exclaimed speaking with his disciples (Lk
17,6). It was a genuine and tenacious faith that guided the work and life
of Bl. Alfonso Maria Fusco, founder of the Sisters of St John the Baptist.
From when he was a young man, the Lord put into his heart the passionate desire
to dedicate his life to the service of the neediest, especially of children and
young people, who were plentiful in his native city of Angri in Campania. For
this he undertook the path of the priesthood and, in a certain way, become the
"Don Bosco of Southern Italy". From the beginning he wanted to
involve in his work some young women who shared his ideal and he offered them the
words of St John the Baptist, "Prepare the way of the Lord" (Lk 3,4).
Trusting in divine Providence, Bl. Alfonso and the Sisters of John the Baptist
set up a work that was superior to their own expectations. From a simple house
for the welcome of the young, there arose a whole Congregation which today is
present in 16 countries and on 4 continents working alongside those who are
"little" ones and "last".
7. The outstanding vitality of faith, extolled in the Gospel for today, emerges
in the life and activity of Tommaso Maria Fusco, founder of the Institute
of the Daughters of Charity of the Precious Blood. By virtue of the faith he
knew how to live in the world the reality of the Kingdom of God in a very
special way. Among his aspirations, there was one which was his
favourite: "I believe in you, my God, increase my faith". It is
this prayer that the Apostles direct to the Lord in the Gospel reading today
(cf. Lk 17,6). Bl. Tommaso understood that faith is first of all a gift and a
grace. No one can conquer it or obtain it by himself. One can only ask for it,
implore it from on high. For that reason, enlightened by the teaching of the
new Blessed, we never tire of asking the gift of faith, because "the just
man will live by faith" (Hb 1,4).
8. The vital synthesis between contemplation and action, assimilated in the
daily participation in the Eucharist, was the foundation of the spiritual
experience and the burning charity of Bl. Eugenia Picco. In her life she
made every effort to listen to the word of the Lord following the invitation of
the Liturgy today (refrain for the responsorial psalm), never drawing back from
the service which love of neighbour required. At Parma she took upon herself the
poverty of the people responding to the needs of the young and of needy
families and assisting the victims of the war that in this period made Europe
suffer. Even in the face of suffering, with the inevitable moments of
difficulty and bewilderment that it entails, Bl. Eugenia Picco knew how to
transform the experience of suffering into an occasion of purification and
inner growth. From Bl. Eugenia we can learn the art of listening to the voice
of the Lord in order to be credible witnesses of the Gospel of charity in the
opening years of the millennium.
9. "God is wonderful
in his saints!". With the communities in which the Blessed lived and for
which they spent their best human and spiritual energies, we want to thank God,
who is "wonderful in his saints". At the same time, we ask Him
through their intercession, to help us respond with renewed eagerness to the
universal call to holiness. Amen.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Bl. Ignazio Maloyan
Birth: 1869
Death: 1915
Beatified: 7 October 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Choukrallah Maloyan had
been ordained in Lebanon (then part of the Ottoman Empire) but served as a
parish priest in Egypt. He took the name Ignazio in remembrance of the great saint
from Antioch. He was sent to Mardin, Turkey in 1911 to be the archbishop to the
Armenian Catholics there.
In 1915, claiming that
the Catholic church was being used to hide weapons, the Turks arrested Ignazio
and around 400 other Christians. The chief of the court police, Mamdooh Bek,
ordered them to convert to Islam; they declined. They were chained together and
marched into the desert. When they rested, Ignazio celebrated Mass with some
bread scraps. That went over poorly with Mr. Bek, who ordered the group
executed. Ignazio was the last to die, following one last opportunity from Mr.
Bek for conversion.
His body was reported to
have radiated light after he was shot, but since there were no Christian
survivors, I'm not sure who reported that. It seems unlikely that the Turk
would have said it, having just murdered him. I hate to be a skeptic, but I
think that may be embellishment on an otherwise historical account.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=7246
Ignatius Maloyan
(1869-1915 AD)
Ignatius Maloyan (Shoukrallah), son of Melkon and Farid, was born in 1869, in Mardin, Turkey.
His parish priest, noticed in him signs of a priestly vocation, so he sent him to the convent of Bzommar-Lebanon; he was fourteen years old.
After finishing his superior studies in 1896, the day dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was ordained priest in the Church of Bzommar convent, became a member of the Bzommar Institute and adopted the name of Ignatius in remembrance of the famous martyr of Antioch. During the years 1897-1910, Father Ignatius was appointed as parish priest in Alexandria and Cairo, where his good reputation was wide-spread.
His Beatitude Patriarch Boghos Bedros XII appointed him as his assistant in
1904. Because of a disease that hit his eyes and suffocating difficulty in
breathing, he returned to Egypt and stayed there till 1910.
The Diocese of Mardin was in a state of anarchy, so Patriarch Sabbaghian sent
Father Ignatius Maloyan to restore order.
On October 22, 1911, the Bishops' Synod assembled in Rome elected Father
Ignatius Archbishop of Mardin. He took over his new assignment and planned on
renewing the wrecked Diocese, encouraging especially the devotion to the Sacred
Heart.
Unfortunately, at the outbreak of the First World War, the Armenians resident
in Turkey (which was allied with Germany) began to endure unspeakable
sufferings. In fact, 24 April 1915 marked the beginning of a veritable campaign
of extermination. On April 30, 1915, the Turkish soldiers surrounded the
Armenian Catholic Bishopric and church in Mardin on the basis that they were
hide-outs for arms.
At the beginning of May, the Bishop gathered his priests and informed them of
the dangerous situation. On June 3, 1915, Turkish soldiers dragged Bishop
Maloyan in chains to court with twenty seven other Armenian Catholic
personalities. The next day, twenty five priests and eight hundred and sixty
two believers were held in chains. During trial, the chief of the police,
Mamdooh Bek, asked the Bishop to convert to Islam. The bishop answered that he
would never betray Christ and His Church. The good shepherd told him that he
was ready to suffer all kinds of ill-treatments and even death and in this will
be his happiness.
Mamdooh Bek hit him on the head with the rear of his pistol and ordered to put him in jail. The soldiers chained his feet and hands, threw him on the ground and hit him mercilessly. With each blow, the Bishop was heard saying "Oh Lord, have mercy on me, oh Lord, give me strength", and asked the priests present for absolution. With that, the soldiers went back to hitting him and they extracted his toe nails.
On June 9, his mother visited him and cried for his state. But the valiant
Bishop encouraged her. On the next day, the soldiers gathered four hundred and
forty seven Armenians. The soldiers along with the convoys took the desert
route.
The bishop encouraged his parishioners to remain firm in their faith. Then all
knelt with him. He prayed to God that they accept martyrdom with patience and
courage. The priests granted the believers absolution. The Bishop took out a
piece of bread, blessed it, recited the words of the Eucharist and gave it to
his priests to distribute among the people.
One of the soldiers, an eye witness, recounted this scene: "That hour, I
saw a cloud covering the prisoners and from all emitted a perfumed scent. There
was a look of joy and serenity on their faces". As they were all going to
die out of love for Jesus. After a two-hour walk, hungry, naked and chained,
the soldiers attacked the prisoners and killed them before the Bishop's eyes.
After the massacre of the two convoys came the turn of Bishop Maloyan.
Mamdooh Bek then asked Maloyan again to convert to Islam. The soldier of Christ
answered: "I've told you I shall live and die for the sake of my faith and
religion. I take pride in the Cross of my God and Lord". Mamdooh got very
angry, he drew his pistol and shot Maloyan. Before he breathed his last breath
he cried out loud: "My God, have mercy on me; into your hands I commend my
spirit".
SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20110707162317/http://armcatholicchurch.com/saints/1001AD.aspx
100 Years Ago, Martyrs of
the Armenian Genocide Marched Straight to Heaven
The prisoners in Mardin Castle knew that to die for the One who died for us all is the greatest honor.
Zubair Simonson BlogsJune 10, 2023
The prisoners in Mardin
Castle were rounded up at nightfall. Soldiers called out their names, one by
one, and tied them with ropes. Rings were pressed around the necks, and chains
put around the wrists, of those thought to be Armenian. All of them stood like
that, for several hours, until the soldiers had finished arranging them into
columns and rows. They were marched out through the prison gate.
The prisoners were young
and old. No distinction had been made by the authorities as to whether they
were Catholic or Orthodox or Protestant. Those belonging to the Latin or
Chaldean or Syriac Rites had been bound all the same. They were all Christians,
and thus deemed enemies of the state.
Mamdooh Bek, the chief of
police of Mardin, led the caravan at the front. He considered himself to be a
hero, a warrior for his faith, for this. His desire to lead this march had been
rendered feasible only after Hilmi Bey, the district governor just a few days
prior, had been deposed for energetically protesting the treatment that the
Christians of Mardin had been dealt — the former governor being transferred to
a new post, over in Mosul.
Ignatius Maloyan, the
Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin, was in chains at the back of the
caravan. The bruises on his body, from beatings he’d endured over the last
week, were still sore. The bruise on his face from the pistol-whipping dealt to
him by Mamdooh Bek was a fading bluish-purple. His toenails were extracted. The
recent thrashings he’d taken on the soles of his feet made him walk with a
limp.
The archbishop had been
loyal to his country. He’d urged his fellow Catholics to remain loyal as well.
But the lot of Christians in the Ottoman Empire had taken a turn since the
outbreak of the Great War. While young men still were dug in the trenches and
dying yonder in Gallipoli, weapons had been planted in the cathedral here in
Mardin to serve as “evidence” of a planned insurrection. The archbishop had
been arrested, dragged into court in chains, and given the choice to convert to
Islam or to die. The beatings had begun when he’d refused to convert.
The prisoners continued
marching onward.
“The Christian residents
who leave their houses,” shouted a familiar voice, that of the town crier,
“will be amputated and put together with their co-religionists.”
The prisoners, more than
400 in all, many priests among them, exited that castle which, much like the
empire, had long been in disrepair. They trudged along the main street. The
fingers and feet of those who’d had their nails extracted bled. Some of the men
had broken bones, and gashes on their heads.
They passed through the
Muslim quarters of Mardin. Women came out from their homes and mocked them and
laughed at them. Children giggled and threw stones at them. They kept on
marching.
They passed through the
Christian quarter. The streets were silent and clear. Residents wept and prayed
behind closed doors, and by the railings of their roofs, as the prisoners
passed by their houses. Mourning had made it so easy to forget that these men
were being marched straight to Heaven.
They approached the
western gate. The monks and missionaries, those in Mardin who still were free,
went up to the roofs to see their friends for one last time and say farewell.
They wondered whether they themselves would soon share a similar destiny as
their chained brethren, of imitating the Lord even in his Passion.
The monks and
missionaries on that roof looked down upon the prisoners, recognizing the
battered faces of some, and recognizing the face of Christ in all. There among
those prisoners was Brother Léonard Melki, a Lebanese Capuchin friar, who’d
been falsely accused of conspiring with the French government. He’d been a
great promoter of the Third Order of St. Francis during his time in Mardin. He
likewise had been offered the choice to convert or die. His torture began when
he’d declined to convert. Blood was trickling from his toes and fingers.
Brother Léonard wondered
as he left the city whether his old friend, Brother Thomas Saleh, a Maronite
Catholic, and fellow Capuchin friar, was elsewhere suffering for the Lord’s
sake in such a manner. The time for Brother Thomas’ martyrdom would come soon
enough.
Those men up on the roof
continued watching on until the backs of their brethren faded into the darkness
of night.
The desert night was
turning cold. The lights of Mardin faded behind them, until it looked as though
a match had been lit behind them, and then disappeared altogether. The waning
crescent moon hovered above them on this night of June 10, 1915. The stars, as
many as the children of Abraham, surrounded sister moon in the firmament.
The shivering prisoners
continued to march barefoot in the desert for several hours. Blood stained the
sands beneath the wounded. The pain of it was near to blinding for some. Some
of them stumbled and fell. Those who could no longer walk were supported by
those who could. They reached Adercheck, a Kurdish village, in the early
morning hours of Friday, June 11, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
Some of the villagers got
out of their homes to see what all of the commotion was about. The bulk of the
prisoners were escorted by the soldiers onward from there, followed by curious
villagers, to nearby caves.
They stopped. Mamdooh Bek
stood there before the prisoners. He read to them what he’d insisted was an
imperial decree saying that all Christians were considered traitors and were to
be sentenced to death. He assured them that amnesty would be granted to those
who converted to Islam and that they’d be returned to Mardin. Those unwilling
to convert would be executed within the hour.
The archbishop replied
that he would prefer to die as a Christian than to live as a Muslim. He knelt
and prayed that the men along with him would accept their martyrdom
courageously.
The vast majority of the
prisoners knelt with the archbishop.
A few of the men remained
standing, nodding their heads, agreeing to convert. Soldiers made gestures with
their hands for them to go along with some of the Kurdish villagers who were
present, to immediately be brought before the local sheik, that they may say
the words: “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah.”
The soldiers made their
preparations.
The archbishop ordered
his priests to circulate among the other prisoners. They heard the confessions
of those who soon would die, absolving them, using their chained hands to make
the sign of the cross.
The archbishop took what
bread he could find. He said the words of consecration and had his priests
distribute the Body of Christ. This one last feast had become an occasion for
joy. The prisoners knew then what all the holy martyrs before them had taught:
that to die for the One who died for us all is the greatest honor.
Some of the soldiers
marveled at the faith of the prisoners as they watched on.
Rage swelled up from the
heart of Mamdooh Bek until it felt as though his head would burst. He was a man
who preferred to be feared, never defied. He stood next to the archbishop at
the designated site and then gave the order.
The blasting sounds of
gunfire erupted and echoed. Clouds of smoke filled the air. The stench of
gunpowder filled the nostrils of the violent men like an unholy incense. Blood
splattered from the bodies of the lined-up prisoners as they fell limp onto the
earth below. Soon enough, all of the prisoners were dead, save for one.
The archbishop had been
allowed to watch all of this.
Mamdooh Bek looked at the
archbishop. He said that it was his religious duty to offer one last chance to
say the words of the Shahadah and convert.
“I've told you I shall
live and die for the sake of my faith and religion,” the archbishop replied. “I
take pride in the Cross of my God and Lord.”
Mamdooh Bek coldly drew
out his pistol and fired a shot at the archbishop.
“My God!” the archbishop
cried with his last breath, “have mercy on me; into your hands I commend my
spirit.” He collapsed onto the ground and died.
As their bodies were
being disposed of, the newest dwellers of Paradise were welcomed to their
eternal home.
Christians throughout the
Muslim World face severe persecution today. Little to no distinction ever gets
made between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians by those who
persecute them.
In May of this year the
Holy See added the 21 Coptic Christian men who’d been executed for their faith
by the Islamic State on Feb. 15, 2015, to the Roman
Martyrology.
Blessed Ignatius Maloyan,
the Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin, was beatified Oct. 7, 2001, by Pope
John Paul II. He’d spent much energy encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart,
and was martyred on the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1915. His feast day is on
11.
Blessed Léonard Melki,
along with Blessed Thomas Saleh (a Maronite Catholic martyred in 1917), both of
whom were Capuchin Friars, were beatified by Pope Francis on June 4, 2022.
Their feast day is June 10.
All of you Holy Martyrs,
pray for us!
Keywords:
Zubair Simonson Zubair
Simonson, O.F.S., is a convert who was raised Muslim. He grew up in Raleigh,
North Carolina, and has also lived in New York. He received his B.A. at the
University of Michigan, majoring in Political Science. He is a professed member
of the Secular Franciscan Order. He is a contributing author for the website
the Catholic Gentleman. The story of his conversion was included in the
book My Name is Lazarus, published by the American Chesterton Society. He
has several books available on Kindle, including The Rose: A Meditation, a
narrative guide through the mysteries of the Rosary, and Stars and
Stooges: A Christmas Tale, a humorous take on the three wise men. His website
is zubairsimonson.com. Follow on
Twitter at @ZubairSimonson.
SOURCE : https://www.ncregister.com/blog/melki-saleh-maloyan
Misunderstanding the
Armenian Martyrs
Bishop Maloyan’s refusal
to become a Muslim made him a traitor to the new Turkish state, just as so many
early Church martyrs were seen as dangers to the Roman Empire for their failure
to conform to the pagan religion of the state.
It’s a safe bet that the
martyrdom of Blessed Ignazio
Maloyan will not be publicly remembered in Turkey this year. After
all, on April 24, 2021, when President Joe Biden dared to use the word “genocide”—a
word that US presidents have carefully avoided using for over a century—to
describe the deaths that occurred in Turkey in 1915, the Turkish government
angrily rejected the very idea that a genocide had occurred.
But the evidence
is easy to find. Almost two million men, women, and children were killed in
Turkey in just the spring and summer of 1915. A dictionary definition of
genocide is “the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial,
political, or cultural group,” and that is clearly what was intended by Turkish
leaders when they ordered the murder of Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek
Christians in that fateful year. How could anyone refuse to acknowledge the
photographic and physical evidence of two million dead men, women, and children?
Perhaps the problem is
not that Turkish leaders do not understand certain words (such as “genocide”)
the same way we do, but the fact that they see the same events in a different
way. To better understand those differences, we can examine a different
genocide, one that occurred in the early fourth century in the Roman Empire.
Fourth-century Rome and
the Christians
In general, the emperors
of Rome during the first to fourth centuries did not persecute Christians
because they were easily offended by other religions. Part of the success of
the Roman Empire lay in its relative tolerance of the customs of the people
that it conquered; after all, Romans wanted their massive empire to run
smoothly, for the sake of peace and a healthy economy.
The Roman emperor
Diocletian did not begin his reign during the late third century by persecuting
Christians. The empire was too close to invasion and economic collapse for him
to focus on anything else. But Diocletian’s military successes, administrative
reorganizations, and tax reforms resulted in many improvements over the years.
However, the empire was still unstable in the early fourth century, and for
multiple reasons he became convinced that he needed to purify his court—and
then the empire itself—of any group that opposed the longstanding religious
traditions of Rome. Christians were the primacy focus of his purging.
In Diocletian’s mind, the
good of the empire required the favor of the gods, and Christians—particularly
Christian soldiers in his army—were harming the entire empire by not offering
sacrifices to those gods. Didn’t they realize how important this was to protect
the stability of the empire? That it would only cost them a little time, money,
and incense?
From 303 to 312,
Diocletian unleashed one of the worst persecutions that the Church has ever
known. The well-known saints Agnes, Benignus, Christina, Chrysogonus, Cosmas
and Damian, Dorothy, Irenaeus, Januarius, Lucy, Marcellinus and Peter, and
Sebastian—and many more—were all brutally killed during these bloody years.
Twentieth-century Turkey
and the Christians
In the early twentieth
century, many Turkish leaders recognized that the autocratic monarchy of the
Ottoman Empire was a thing of the past. They wanted to replace it with a
constitutional, democratic government, just like those of many other successful
nations, a goal with which we Americans can sympathize.
However, the Turkish
leaders who led this movement—commonly called the Young Turks—did not sound
like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Instead, these Turkish leaders
were secular intellectuals and revolutionaries who favored violence over
reasoned arguments. Also, as Muslims, they saw the Armenian, Assyrian, and
Greek Christians living in Turkey as threats to the country’s safety from foreign
powers, as “fifth columnists” who would betray Turkey if given a chance. So
they gave the Christians no chance.
They deported close to
two million of these Christians into remote areas over several months. Many
died of disease, hunger, and exposure. Others died of torture, rape, and
outright murder.
The Bishop and his flock
Blessed Ignazio Maloyan
was born in Turkey, but he was a priest of the Armenian Catholic Church and
later archbishop of Mardin, Turkey. On June 3, 1915, he was arrested, and more
than eight hundred Catholics had been arrested by the following day. While in
court, the judge told Bishop Maloyan to convert to Islam. When the bishop
refused, he was returned to jail and tortured mercilessly.
Soon afterward, more than
four hundred Armenian Christians were gathered together and led by soldiers
into the desert. The bishop, who was among them, encouraged his people and
celebrated his final Mass with them using scraps of bread. On June 10, 1915,
soldiers slaughtered these Christians in front of him.
A leader of the soldiers
approached Bishop Maloyan again and insisted that he convert to Islam. When he
refused, he was shot. The reports of eyewitnesses who saw Bishop Maloyan’s
steadfastness in court, his prayers while being tortured, and even his prayers
for God’s mercy after he had been shot were cited during his beatification
process.
Bishop Maloyan’s refusal
to become a Muslim made him a traitor to the new Turkish state, just as so many
early Church martyrs were seen as dangers to the Roman Empire for their failure
to conform to the pagan religion of the state. But unlike the Christians killed
by Al Qaeda and ISIS, neither group was executed primarily out of religious
fundamentalism.
For both the ancient
Roman authorities and the followers of the Young Turks Movement, Christians
needed to be eliminated because they were a danger to the almighty state.
Didn’t those foolish Christians realize that the god or God or gods you
worshiped were less important than ensuring the success of the state? That the
loss of hundreds or thousands or even millions of lives is less important than
achieving the utopian dreams of the ruling party?
On June 11, we can honor
the holiness of Blessed Ignazio, who died with his people and for his God. We
can mourn the deaths of millions of unknown Christians whose only crime was
their faith. And we can remember that love for one’s country is a virtue—which
comes after love for the God who died for us all.
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About Dawn Beutner 102 Articles
Dawn Beutner is the
author of The
Leaven of the Saints: Bringing Christ into a Fallen World (Ignatius
Press, 2023), and Saints:
Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year also from Ignatius
Press. She blogs at dawnbeutner.com.
SOURCE : https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/06/11/misunderstanding-the-armenian-martyrs/
Blessed Ignatius Maloyan,
the Armenian Genocide, and Divine Mercy
On Sunday, April 12, Pope
Francis will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday by offering a Mass in remembrance of
the 1.5 million Armenians murdered in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and
1918, in what has become known as the "Armenian
Genocide."
Among those killed in what has been called the "first genocide of the
20th century," was a bishop of the Armenian
Catholic Church: Blessed Ignatius Maloyan.
Born in 1869 in Mardin,
Turkey, Shokr Allah Maloyan was baptized into the Armenian Catholic Church as
an infant. A good student and gifted linguist, he was sent by the local bishop
to a nearby convent to begin studies for the priesthood. Ordained in 1896, he
took the name Ignatius in honor of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. In November of
that year, he was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to serve as an aid to the Armenian
Patriarch. Distinguishing himself for his learning and rhetorical skills, he
became a popular speaker and was actively involved in dialogues with the Coptic
Church. He was later appointed to serve as secretary to the Patriarch of
Constantinople.
In 1911, he was consecrated archbishop of Mardin. He faced
a shortage of priests, lack of financial resources, increasing political
pressure from the Turkish government, and the realities of his own ill-health.
With the outbreak of World War I, the Turkish government increased its pressure
on the Christian community. By 1915, planning for the extermination of
“internal enemies” had begun and Bishop Maloyan urged his people to be prepared
for the worst while he himself made arrangements for the administration of the
diocese in the event of his own disappearance. Aware of what was beginning to
transpire, Pope Benedict XV tried to intervene but his appeals for peace were
ignored; the vast majority of the Armenians who were killed were also
Christians and included women, men, and children from every walk of life.
Arrested on June 3, 1915,
he was taken with 1,600 other Christians on a forced march during which
Ignatius was able to give absolution and improvise a last Mass. On June 10,
those Christians who had managed to remain alive were murdered. Bishop Maloyan
was taken into the desert where, after refusing to accept Islam, he was shot
before being stabbed to death. His final words were: "I've told you I
shall live and die for the sake of my faith and religion. I take pride in the
Cross of my God and Lord." Bishop Ignatius Maloyan was beatified in 2001. His commemoration is
celebrated on June 11.
Sadly, the Armenian
Genocide is a point of controversy. It is illegal to talk or write about it in
Turkey and many of the countries with strong diplomatic ties to that country
(including the United States) have consistently chosen to ignore the realities
of history. The present-day politics of diplomatic relations has trumped the
truths of history and the value of human lives lost in acts of aggression.
As we think about the
experiences of so many Christians in the Middle East today, it is important
that we also remember the lives and witnesses of Bl. Ignatius and the millions
who suffered in the massacre that began 100 years ago.
It isn't by chance that
the Pope has chosen Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday in the Octave of Easter) as
the time to remember the Armenian Genocide. In recent remarks made to the
Armenian Catholic bishops and faithful who have come to Rome for tomorrow's
celebration, Pope Francis shared his hope that the Divine Mercy
"might help us all, in love for truth and justice, to heal every wound and
to hasten concrete gestures of reconciliation and peace among the nations that
have not yet reached a consensus on the reading of such sorrowful events.”
(During the celebration, Pope Francis will also officially declare the
Armenian monk St. Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church, an act
which honors the significant theological and spiritual contributions of
Armenian Christians to the broader Church.)
A fundamental aspect of
mercy is our willingness to ask for and offer mercy to those who have hurt us.
In her book, God's Tender Mercy, Sister Joan Chittister,
O.S.B., reflects:
Strange, isn't it? We
expect that God will show us mercy; but, too often, we show so little ourselves.
We believe fiercely in capital punishment; we tolerate the thought of nuclear
war; we suspect whatever is unlike ourselves. If heaven is based on the same
punitive, violent, and segregating principles, we are all in trouble.
The strangest of all human
phenomena, perhaps, is that we take God's mercy for granted for ourselves but
find it so hard to be merciful ourselves. If there were any proof needed that
God is completely "Other," this is surely it...
"It is often
the most wicked who know the nearest path to the shrine," the
Japanese proverb reminds us. Don't let anybody fool you: Goodness is as
goodness does. Be careful who you call bad simply because the "good"
people have named them so. God, it seems, is far less quick to judge.
The point of all of this
is that we have to be willing to forgive and move forward in reconciliation and
peace, regardless of the cost. Even as we courageously name injustice and
persecution for the evils they are, we also have to be willing
to recognize that we are all made of the same "stuff," victims
and aggressors alike. So, while we continue to pray for and support our
brothers and sisters today - who are facing the same threat of
extermination as Blessed Ignatius and the victims of the Armenian Genocide
- we also have to have hope that justice will prevail and that hate can
and will be turned into love. Christians don't have the right to ever write
anyone off or believe that anyone is beyond God's mercy. In his Bull declaring
the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (released today [April
11] in Rome), Pope Francis reminds us: "The Church’s first truth is
the love of Christ. The Church makes herself a servant of this love and
mediates it to all people: a love that forgives and expresses itself in the gift
of one’s self. Consequently, wherever the Church is present, the mercy of the
Father must be evident. In our parishes, communities, associations and
movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an
oasis of mercy" (Misericordiae Vultus, 12).
As we remember those who have gone before and celebrate the Feast of Mercy,
pray for the persecuted and the persecutor. Ask for forgiveness of your own
sins and failings and for the grace to forgive others. Renew your own
commitment to be a person of peace and justice.
A Prayer for Our Oppressors +
O God, who have laid down by your precept of charity
that we should sincerely love those who afflict us,
grant that we may follow the commands of the New Law,
striving to return good for evil
and bearing one another's burdens.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
(from the Roman Missal, Mass for Our Oppressors)
SOURCE : https://fromseason2season.blogspot.com/2015/04/blessed-ignatius-maloyan-armenian.html
The View from the Roofs
of Mardin: What Everyone Saw in the ‘Year of the Sword’
January 7, 2015 David Gaunt Special Reports
Because of this building
pattern, Mardin was also an open-air theater that provided residents with an
outstanding view of major events that ripped through the small city in World
War I. Although Mardin was far from the frontline, large elements of its
population were harassed, deported, imprisoned, tortured, paraded through the
streets, and massacred. Residents could also see the caravans of deportees
coming from the northern provinces, who were marched past the city on their way
to Der Zor. The horrors that took place were observed by many. Some perhaps
enjoyed them like the spectators of Roman gladiator fights; others saw it as
the wrath of God punishing His people for some collective sin; still others saw
it as the murdering of innocent citizens falsely accused of treason and of
plotting revolt. A great number of observers saw the terror as a historical
moment that forever shattered the traditional, subtle and balanced
multi-religious, multiethnic pattern of life that had evolved in Mardin. Some
called it nakabat, the Arabic word for catastrophe; some called it firman,
believing it was decreed by the sultan; and some called it qafle, the
Syriac word for massacre. But generally it is now known as seyfo, a
general term used in many Middle Eastern languages for sword, as in “1915 the
year of the sword.”1
We know of the
chronicles, diaries, and annotations of various people who were residing in
Mardin in 1914-15 and who described the reign of terror that was instigated
by mutasarrif (local governor) Bedri Bey, police chief Memduh, and
others beginning in June 1915.2 Some of the writers are only known by their
initials, such as A.H.B., A.Y.B., and P.V.M.; others published their books
anonymously, like Ishaq Armale, who had fled to Lebanon. In some cases, the
writings lay unpublished for decades after they were first written down, like
those of the French Dominican monks Jacques Rhétoré (whose manuscript was
discovered in Mosul after the first Gulf War), Hyacinthe Simone, and Marie-Dominque
Berré. A few, like the diary of the American Alpheus Andrus, are still known
only in manuscript form.3 These writings are likely just the tip of the
iceberg; many other chronicles were probably written, but have disappeared or
remain undiscovered. One person that we know wrote a manuscript that has been
lost is the Catholic priest Joseph Tfinkji. His manuscript presumably contained
a great deal of information about the Armenians and Syriacs who escaped from
Mardin and were given asylum by the Yezidis in the Sinjar Mountains, as he
served as the priest there. At any rate, Mardin is the one place in the Ottoman
Empire that provides us with a relatively complete day-by-day description of
the persecution of the Armenians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs.
I shall now analyze a few
observations from the many eye-witness accounts available. Most are taken from
the very detailed descriptions by Armele and Rhétoré. Their usual point of
observation was from the terrace of the building that now houses the Mardin
museum, but was then the Syriac Catholic patriarchy. But on the morning of July
4, 1915, Armale was outside the city walls taking a walk on the small hills
just beyond the western gate. He is broken off from admiring the trees bearing
wonderful fruit by a terrible scene:
“What is that I see over
at Ömer Agha’s water spring? A great caravan advances like a herd of sheep
or cows. I must take up my telescope and look! An enormous army of close to
10,000 people! Most of them are women and children. There are some elderly too.
I see soldiers who escort them, but beat them and kick them. They try to flee.
Above them rifle barrels appear. My ears hear shots. I see a group that is
surrounded by some soldiers. I see them brutally drive them toward a fort. Oh
God! Where to? To the water well, just like during the latest weeks! They take
off their clothes, pull out knives, and attack them, stabbing them and throwing
them down headfirst into the well. And so they go back [to the caravan]. What
an atrocity! …
“They come nearer in groups
like grasshoppers and they must be about 8,000. How strange! A short while
before they looked like 10,000. Where are the others? Can these murderers have
killed 2,000 in 3 hours? How many were they when they left their homes? They
must have been many more. I heard a few days ago that they amounted to 50,000.
They come from Erzurum, Lice, Harput, and other Armenian cities…
“The leaders of Mardin
with their graying hair have arrived [to where I stand]. They sit on horseback
and watch how women and children rush about in panic. Their faces show
amusement. In their heads are greed and immoral thoughts. They spur on their
horses and ride towards the water spring. Some get there first in order to
steal and plunder. I watch out so they don’t attack me. I better hide under a
tree. …
“I see wealthy Muslims
with their wives pushing their way through the weeping and sorrowful
Christians. They are out to get people. They choose and select among the women
and children, especially among the girls. And they demand that they renounce
their religion. … The wealthy Mardin women manage to get a hold of a large
number of boys and girls, and the soldiers don’t object; rather, they invite
it. I see some persons return with their catch. Some lead boys from their
horses, others have caught girls whom they veil so that the kidnapper’s friends
cannot see them and begin to quarrel. One man has filled his pockets with gold
and silver and returns laughing. … Others converse happily on their way back
and cannot hide their joy over the goods they have gotten in such a short time.
… The soldiers have resumed their harassment of the Armenians, and hit and kick
them badly. They force their prisoners forward in the heat of the afternoon.”4
What Armale witnessed was
the total brutalization of the Muslim civilian population following weeks of
human caravans being sent through their neighborhood. He saw how the local
people were invited by the escort to steal and kidnap. He saw how many
participated in the plunder. The deportations and massacres had by this point
been going on for a month, and had clearly made the locals nearly immune to the
fate of the Christians. This was a far cry from the good neighborliness that
was a part of traditional Mardin life. Many of Mardin’s Armenians and Syriacs would
never have imagined that their neighbors could turn on them. They expected
instead to be protected, as had happened in 1895 when local urban Muslim clans,
the Mishkeviye and Mandalkaniye, beat off an external attack.
Armale recounts the
Armenians’ reaction to the first reliable information on plans to eliminate
them. “Some leading Muslims employed Christian servants, who by hiding listened
to what was said and told of the secrets. We did not believe them and said,
‘Our friendship with the Muslims is purer than the eye of a rooster and
stronger than iron. It would be impossible to turn such a friendship into
hostility and mildness into harshness, because we have no conflicts with each
other.’ We added that in our area, there were no hundred percent Armenians or
opponents to the government. No, we are, praise God, Catholics and loyal to the
state and follow its decisions to the letter of the law. Therefore, it has no
reason to harass us and claim that we are hostile and plot treason. … But we
were disappointed. The truest friend and the dearest comrade became the worst
and most distrustful enemy. The sheep became wolves and the doves became
snakes.” Here, we can see a remarkable aspect of most genocides—namely, that
people who are normally peaceful and trustworthy can change into violent and
brutal people. They participate in actions they would otherwise—before, and
even later—consider as immoral and impossible.
An absolutely essential
step in creating a climate that permits immoral acts has to do with the activities
of the leading personalities in the community. Some aspects have to do with
dehumanizing the victims, describing them as creatures no longer human.
The vali (provincial governor) in Diyarbakir did this by viewing the
Armenians as bacteria. But other aspects have to do with preparing the
population through propaganda and disinformation; and for this, the propaganda
must come from a level of authority. In Mardin, we can see a total shift among
the leadership. Up until early June, the mutasarrif of Mardin was a
humane official by the name of Hilmi Bey. Hilmi went out of his way to maintain
balance among the Muslim and Christian communities. He showed great kindness
towards the Armenian archbishop Ignace Maloyan and managed to persuade the
sultan to grant Maloyan a gold medal in April 1915. Even Hilmi’s predecessor,
Shefik Bey, took honor in treating the Christians as full Ottoman citizens.
Hilmi refused to follow vali Reshid Bey’s orders to arrest the
leading Christians. He is reported to have said, “I see no reason to need to
arrest Mardin’s Christians. So I cannot agree to your demand.” Shefik sent the
following message to the Syrian Catholic archbishop Gabriel Tappuni: “I have
some papers with an order to deport and kill you. But I know they are falsified
and have no grounds. As proof of my friendship to you, I have written to
the vali and sworn my oath of your upright loyalty to the state.”
Several other Ottoman officials also refused. For this, Hilmi was demoted and
transferred to Iraq; some of the lesser officials were assassinated on the
orders of the vali. In their place came new persons from the outside ready
to organize the murders and deportations. Most important was the previously
named Bedri Bey, the vice vali; Memduh, the provincial police chief;
Tevfik, the adjutant of the vali; and Harun, the commander of the
provincial gendarmerie. They found a few Mardin residents who were willing to
collaborate with the criminal court judge Halil Adib, and together collected a
volunteer militia that the locals called Al Khamsin (the fiftymen).
There was one very big
problem that the organizers of the genocide had to confront: Mardin’s Muslim
leaders had a long-standing tradition of protecting the Christians. In the
Hamidiye massacres of 1895, the Mandalkiye and Mishkiye tribes had banded
together to protect the city from a well-organized assembly of enemies who
sought to massacre the Armenians. The Milli Kurdish confederation under Ibrahim
Pasha was also famous for its protection of Christians at that time. Therefore,
the provincial government officials had to make every effort to get the Milli,
the Mandalkiye, the Miskiye, and other tribes to break with their pro-Christian
past and join the government’s plans. This was done in May 1915, prior to the
major arrests by night time meetings with fanatic anti-Christian propagandists,
like Zeki Licevi and his brother Said. On the political level the Ittihadist
National Assembly member Feyzi arrived from Diyarbakir and according to Armale
said, “Let no Christian remain! He who does not do this duty is no longer a
Muslim.” On May 15, a large meeting was held under Feyzi’s leadership with
local members of the Ittihad ve Terraki party, some of the leading
administrators, a doctor, a mufti, three shayks, as well as aghas from the
Dashkiye, Mandalkiye, and Miskiye tribes. Feyzi, according to Rhétoré, provoked
those who expressed a lack of interest in killing the Christians. “You surprise
me. What is holding you back? Is it the fear of one day having to pay for this?
But what happened to those who killed Armenians in Abdul Hamid’s time? Today
Germany is with us and our enemies are its enemies. This will surely give us
victory in this war, and we won’t have to answer to anyone. Let us get rid of
the Christians so we can be masters in our own house. This is what the
government wants.” The men at the meeting were required to sign a petition that
the Christians were traitors and had to be disposed of. Even those who were not
enthusiastic signed the petition, so as not to be different from the others. In
this way, they became the core of the planning for the elimination of Mardin’s
Christian residents and met repeatedly to make plans. The involvement in the
genocide of the Christians’ once-traditional protectors was thus secured.
All of these preparations
were necessary for the swift elimination of the Armenians and of those Syriacs
who were Catholic or Protestant. It seems that there was a local agreement that
Mardin’s Syrian Orthodox Christians (the “orphans of Muhammad”) would be spared.
According to Rhétoré, the city of Mardin in this period had a Christian
population of 6,500 Armenians; 1,100 Chaldeans; 1,750 Catholic Syriacs; 7,000
Syriac Orthodox; and 125 Protestants. In the entire Mardin sanjak, there
were nearly 75,000 Christians of all denominations. During the massacres nearly
48,000—or 64 percent—disappeared, and this includes the rural Syriac Orthodox
population that was not part of the agreed exclusion.
Perhaps the most
horrifying scene witnessed by the Mardin residents was the sending away of the
first transport of Christian prisoners on June 10, 1915. Mardin’s Christian
elite, which amounted to more than 400 adult men, had been imprisoned during
the past week on trumped-up charges of planning a revolt, and hiding weapons
and bombs. Many had been tortured into giving false confessions. But on the
night of June 10, a ghastly spectacle was arranged, intended to terrify the
population and break the possibility of any resistance.
“At the fall of darkness,
Mardin residents could see soldiers going up to the fort and then returning to
the prison. They carried iron rings, chains, and thick ropes. They called out
the names of the prisoners one by one, and they tied them with ropes so that
they could not flee… Then those who were thought to be Armenians were taken
from the others. Rings were pressed around their necks and chains around their
wrists. In this way they were bound, drawn, and chained for several hours…
After having arranged the men in rows, they forced them out through the prison
gates. Above them weapons and swords shined. The prisoners were kept totally
silent. And a town crier cried out, ‘The Christian residents who leave their
houses will be amputated and put together with their co-religionists.’ Then
they trudged along the main street 417 priests and other men. Young and old,
Armenians, [Catholic] Syricas, Chaldeans, and Protestants.
“When they passed the
Muslim quarter, the women came out and joked. They insulted the prisoners.
Children threw stones. When the prisoners came to the Christian quarter, the
residents could not go out to talk or say farewell. Many stood by the railings
on their roofs and wept, praying to God. … The Christians shuffled in silence
like pupils on their way to school. They made no sound. … When they came to the
western city gate, those monks that were still free and the American
missionaries went out on the roofs to see their friends for the last time and
say farewell. They found them in a tragic state, so that blood could clot in
their veins and terror hold them in its grip. There could not have been
anything more difficult for the eye to see or more painful for the heart than
standing there and looking down on the many chained co-religionists. Every time
anyone cast a glance at that street, he would be reminded of the noble
archbishop, the venerable priests, and the march of the dear Christians.”
In the front marched the
police chief Memduh. Many of the 400 prisoners bore the signs of torture and
were very weak. Some had bleeding feet and fingers from nails that had been
pulled off; broken bones; cuts about the head. Some had to be supported by
others to walk at all. Beards had been torn. The chains rattled accentuating
the ghostly silence. And at the end of the procession came the Archbishop Maloyan,
who was handcuffed, barefoot, and limping after bastinado (foot whipping). All
of the men in this first deportation from Mardin were killed in the night
between June 10 and 11—some at Omar Agha’s water spring, some at Sheykhan, some
at the ruins of the Zarzavan fort. Their families in Mardin were told that they
had arrived safely at their destination. No one believed this.
There were few that did
not lose a family member that night. This death march through the center of
town was an effective announcement of the start of a reign of terror. The
silent march in clanking chains through the Muslim and then Christian quarters
polarized the population along religious lines. To all it was obvious that the
government—through the police chief and the soldiers—had targeted the
Armenians; in the case of Mardin, this meant that even the Syriac Catholics and
Protestants were considered to be Armenian by the local authorities, for they
too had been handcuffed and chained like ordinary criminals. The escorts allowed
the Muslim residents to approach the prisoners and abuse them verbally and
physically. Thus, the local mob came to be an active participant in the scene
orchestrated by the authorities. And it created alliances among the mob, as
they would in the future need to rationalize their actions and judge them as
being moral. They were no longer just bystanders, but participants, although
not of the worst kind.
The Christians that night
were confined to their houses and could do nothing but wave and weep. The
procession became a show of the absolute power of some, and the absolute
weakness of the targeted victims. Knowledge of this death march spread quickly
throughout the Ottoman provinces. In Mosul, the German consul Walter Holstein
heard of it either from Hilmi or Shefik. He informed his ambassador in Istanbul
of the ongoing “general massacre,” who in turn wrote to Berlin; the German
government protested strongly to Talat Pasha, who was then forced to send a
reprimand to the vali of Diyarbakir (who ignored it).
Witnesses interpreted
this targeting of Mardin’s Armenians as an anti-Christian act, and viewed the
victims as martyrs of the Christian faith. There were several local reasons
behind this conclusion. Foremost was that the group of 400 leaders included not
just Armenians of the Catholic Church but also all other Catholics—the Syriacs
and the Chaldeans—and even Protestants. As all groups spoke the local Arabic
dialect and many had Arabic names, the distinguishing feature of the Armenian
language was lacking. The various Catholic groups had very close relationships;
the priests, particularly, met often across religious lines. Thus, the target
group was seen as being constructed on the grounds of religion, not on Armenian
background alone. Second, the first wave of imprisonments and the death march
that followed included many of the leading religious figures in the city. And
they sustained particularly brutal treatment. Third, almost all of the witness
testimonies came from those who had received religious education and saw the
genocide of 1915 as a repeat of the martyrdom of the early Christian church in
Roman times. They highlighted the choice given to the prisoners to either
convert to Islam or die, and praised those who chose to die rather than
convert. These scenes are told in great detail. They also emphasized that it
was the wrath of God that struck the army with the typhus epidemic in 1916. The
biblical analogies go back to visions of the Apocalypse, the end of the world,
and the coming of the Last Judgment.
This interpretation,
however, makes it difficult to find alternative motivations behind the
genocide. Material, social, and economic causes play very little role in theses
testimonies—with one exception, that is: Hyacinthe Simon’s report. Simon gives
a very long list of the vast sums of money that police chief Memduh and mutasarrif Bedri
extorted or stole from the wealthy Christian families. That he could put
together this long list indicates that the stolen money, jewelry, and property
were common knowledge in Mardin and were discussed widely. The clergymen who
were left in Mardin collected and spent large sums of money to get their fellow
Christians released from prisoners, or to buy back kidnapped children who were
being sold in the marketplace.
Witnesses in Mardin
described the step-by-step process of harassment that led from occasional
maltreatment to individual acts of murder, and finally to full-scale genocide.
This process began with the declaration of mobilization in August 1914. But
with the passing of each month, the feeling of a coming catastrophe grew.
Archbishop Maloyan predicted his murder weeks in advance. In a letter to his
congregation, written on May 1, 1915, he spoke of the decisions made by the
government that would lead either to “extermination or martyrdom.” Others
probably shared the same fears. The evidence available shows that there was
little—arguably infinitesimal—political agitation that could be used by the
government as a pretext for exterminating the Christian groups. On the contrary,
local officials attested to their loyalty. As has been shown, new officials
from the outside had to be handpicked for their brutality and groomed for the
task of initiating the genocide. After the first death march, more deportations
followed until September 1915, when there were very few “Armenians” left in
place. The instigators and perpetrators had become very wealthy from the bribes
and confiscated property of the victims. None of the perpetrators were ever put
on trial. And there is still no monument to those officials who tried to save
the Armenians.
Let us finish with the
words of Jacques Rhétoré, on why he wrote in such detail of the persecutions of
1915: “The most important thing is not to let these memories be forgotten. I
have written down as well as I could. I hope the reader will find what I wished
to convey, that is first of all the horror of the terrible crimes that were
committed, with an appeal to God’s and people’s judgment over those who so
turned against their humanity by ordering and perpetrating them. After that
comes my admiration for the victims, who in such high degree honored humanity.”
David Gaunt is professor
of history at Södertörn University College, Stockholm, Sweden. He is a social
historian who has written widely on the history of minorities and everyday
life. He is the author of Massacres, Resistance, Protectors:
Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, a seminal
work on the Assyrian Genocide.
Notes
1 Shabo Thalay, “Sayfo,
Firman, Qafle—Der erste Weltkrieg aus der Sicht der syrischen Christen,” in
Akten des 5. Symposiums zur Sprache, Geshichte, Theologie und Gegenwartslage
der Syriaschen Kirchen, Rainer Voigt, ed. Berlin 2006, 235-249.
2 Ishaq Armale, Al Qusara
fi nakabat al-nasara (Lebanon 1919); Jacques Rhétoré, “Les Chrétiens aux bêtes:
Souvenirs de la guerre sainte proclamée par les Turcs contre les chrétiens en
1915” (Paris: Cerf 2005); Hyacinthe Simon, “Mardine la ville heroique: Autel et
tombeau de l’Arménie durant les massacres de 1915” (Jounieh, Lebanon: 1991);
Marie-Dominque Berré, “Massacres de Mardin,” in Haigazian Armenological Journal
17 (1997) 81-106; A. H. B., “Mémoires sur Mardine 1915,” in Studia Orientalia
Christiana Collectanea (Cairo) 29-30 (1998) 59-189; Vincent Mistrih, “Mémoires
de A. Y. B. sur les massacres de Mardine,” in Armenian Perspectives: 10th
Anniversary Conference of the Association International des Etudes Arméniennes,
Ed. Nicholas Awde (London 1997) 287-292; P. V. M., “Autre documents sur les
événements de Mardine,” Studia Orientalia Christiana Collectanea 29 (1998)
33-77; Ara Sarafian, Ed., “The Disasters of Mardin during the Persecutions of
the Christians, Especially the Armenians, 1915” in Haigazian Armenological
Review 18 (1998) 261-271; Abed Mschiho Na’man Qarabash, “Vergossenes Blut:
Geschichten der Gruel, die an den Christen in Tűrkei verűbt, und der Leiden,
die ihnen 1895 und 1914-1918 zugefűgt wurden” (Glane, Holland 1997).
3 Houghton Library,
Harvard University.
4 Armale, 255.
SOURCE : https://armenianweekly.com/2015/01/07/mardin/
Monument
of “Blessed Ignatius Maloyan”
Under
the presidency of His Beatitude Krikor Bedros XX Catholicos Patriarch of
Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics and the presence of numerous religious,
political and social figures, notably the Maronite Patriarch, Béchara Raï, the
monument of Blessed Ignatius Maloyan was unveiled to the public during the
ceremony of the opening of the amphitheater on August 7, 2016 at the Convent of
Our Lady of Bzommar.
The
Monument in bronze of “Blessed Ignatius Maloyan” (Armenian Catholic Archbishop
of Mardin, Martyr 1869-1915, beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 7, 2001)
work of the Artist Raffi Yedalian.
During
the ceremony the Patriarchal Vicar of the Catholic clerical Congregation and
the Superior of the Convent of our Lady of Bzommar Mgr. Kapriel (Patrick)
Mouradian honored the Artist Raffi Yedalian.
Details of the monument : “Blessed Ignatius Maloyan” Height 280 cm – depth 140 cm – width 140 cm. Bronze, 2016. Convent of Our Lady of Bzommar, Lebanon. SOURCE : https://raffiyedalian.com/?page_id=623
Blessed
Ignatius Maloyan, Bronze, 2016, Bzommar, Lebanon
Beato Ignazio
(Choukrallah) Maloyan Vescovo e martire
Festa: 11 giugno
Mardine, Turchia, 19
aprile 1869 - Kara-Kenpru, Turchia, 11 giugno 1915
Eroica la testimonianza
del vescovo Ignazio Maloyan torturato e ucciso dai turchi all'inizio
dell'olocausto armeno. Nato a Mardine, in Turchia, Maloyan, di etnia armena, si
recherà in Egitto dove si conquisterà la fama di sacerdote esemplare. Il 22
ottobre del 1911, Maloyan viene eletto arcivescovo proprio della diocesi di
Mardine. Quattro anni dopo, il 24 aprile del 1915, ha inizio l'operazione di
sterminio contro gli armeni residenti in Turchia. E a giugno alcuni ufficiali
turchi trascinano il vescovo davanti al tribunale insieme ad altre 27 persone
della comunità. Il capo della polizia, Mamdouh Bey, gli propone una via
d'uscita: convertirsi all'Islam. Ma monsignor Ignazio Maloyann rifiuta,
procurandosi torture "esemplari".
Martirologio
Romano: Nel villaggio di Kara-Kenpru vicino a Diyarbakir in Turchia, beato
Ignazio Maloyan, vescovo di Mardin degli Armeni e martire durante il genocidio
dei cristiani perpetrato in questa regione dai persecutori della fede;
essendosi rifiutato di abbracciare un’altra religione, consacrò in carcere il
pane per il ristoro spirituale dei compagni di prigionia; fucilato poi insieme
a molti altri cristiani, versando il suo sangue ottenne il premio della pace
eterna.
Cent’anni fa la Chiesa Armena in Turchia vive giorni drammatici e gloriosi: l’entrata in guerra della Turchia al fianco della Germania e dell’Austria contro Russia, Francia e Inghilterra, ha determinato l’arruolamento di tutti gli uomini validi. Solo gli Armeni si dimostrano renitenti e si danno alla macchia, e i nazionalisti islamici li accusano di connivenza con la Russia.
Il vescovo Ignazio Maloyan non ama la politica, è contrario ad ogni commistione tra la fede cristiana e la politica degli insurrezionalisti e si è sempre comportato come un suddito fedele dell’Impero Ottomano, tanto che il Sultano gli ha perfino conferito due alte onorificenze. Di fatto, però, il governo è ormai scavalcato ed esautorato dalla polizia locale, capeggiata dagli integralisti islamici chiamati “Giovani Turchi”, che ha già deciso lo sterminio degli Armeni. Il giovane vescovo, lucido, razionale, lungimirante, è il primo ad accorgersi con largo anticipo della situazione che sta precipitando e dei pericoli che incombono sui cristiani. Perde il sonno, ma non lascia trasparire la sua preoccupazione; non vuole allarmare i suoi preti e i suoi cristiani, ma li prepara al peggio raccomandando: "Fortificate la vostra fede fondata sulla Roccia di Pietro".
Il 30 aprile 1915 la polizia fa irruzione in vescovado: rovista, distrugge, sequestra documenti. Contro il vescovo si sta montando l’accusa di ricettazione di armi e si cerca materiale compromettente per poterlo incastrare. Il vescovo Ignazio rompe così gli indugi: indirizza al suo popolo un accorato appello a mantenere salda la fede in mezzo alla persecuzione e diffonde il suo testamento spirituale, che è una professione di fede nella chiesa di Roma e un atto di fedeltà al governo legalmente costituito. Lo arrestano il 3 giugno, festa del Corpus Domini, e in cella con lui finiscono 662 cristiani e una quindicina di preti.. La sua chiesa è sventrata, gli altari distrutti , le tombe dei vescovi aperte, ma non si trova nulla che possa giustificare la condanna a morte già decretata nei confronti del vescovo. Per tre volte a lui ed agli altri viene chiesto di rinnegare la fede e abbracciare l’Islam, con la promessa della libertà immediata, ma la risposta di Ignazio è ferma e coraggiosa: “Non vi resta che farmi a pezzi, ma io non rinnegherò mai la religione”.
Nella notte del 9 giugno avviene in cella il commovente incontro con l’anziana madre, riceve l’assoluzione da un altro prete incarcerato con lui, e due giorni dopo è incolonnato insieme ad altri 1600 cristiani per essere avviato ai lavori forzati. Nessuno arriverà a destinazione, perché a piccoli gruppetti verranno uccisi tutti. Al vescovo Ignazio, dopo l’ennesima offerta di libertà in cambio della conversione all’Islam, sparano un colpo alla nuca, che poi cercheranno di mascherare come “embolia coronarica”: è l’11 giugno, festa del sacro Cuore, e lui ha appena 46 anni Il calvario degli Armeni continua e un mese dopo anche sua mamma e un fratello verranno massacrati per la fede.
Giovannei Paolo II ha riconosciuto come autentico martirio la morte del vescovo
Ignazio e lo ha solennemente beatificato il 7 ottobre 2001.
Autore: Gianpiero Pettiti
Beati voi quando vi insulteranno, vi perseguiteranno e, mentendo, diranno ogni sorta di male contro di voi per causa mia. Rallegratevi ed esultate, perchè grande è la vostra ricompensa nei cieli! (Matt. 5, 11-12). Quest'ultima beatitudine, proposta da Nostro Signore con una particolare insistenza, è sempre d'attualità, in ogni epoca della storia. Così Papa san Pio X poteva dire, nel 1911: «La Chiesa è una Chiesa perseguitata. In realtà, se la Chiesa non fosse vittima della persecuzione, cesserebbe d'essere la Chiesa di Gesù Cristo, e perderebbe una prova della sua autenticità». Tali parole rivolte ad un sinodo della Chiesa cattolica armena, tenutosi a Roma, si sono rivelate profetiche: qualche anno più tardi, la Chiesa armena subisce un vero genocidio. Fra le vittime, c'era Monsignor Ignazio Maloyan, presente al sinodo di cui sopra. Quando fu martirizzato, il vescovo dichiarò ai suoi persecutori: «Dio non voglia che io rinneghi Gesù, il mio Salvatore. Versare il mio sangue a favore della mia fede è il più vivo desiderio del mio cuore!»
Shoukr Allah (o Chukrallah) Maloyan è nato, quarto di otto figli, nell'aprile del 1869 a Mardine, in Armenia, provincia del sud-est della Turchia. L'Armenia, evangelizzata dagli apostoli san Giuda e san Bartolomeo, diventò una nazione cristiana nel 305, quando san Gregorio l'Illuminatore, primo patriarca dell'Armenia, battezzò il re Tiridate. A partire dall'XI secolo, il paese cadde in mano ai Turchi; tuttavia, durante i successivi nove secoli il popolo resisté al fine di conservare la propria lingua e la religione cristiana. Gli Armeni sono divisi in due confessioni: «la Chiesa apostolica», che non ha nessun legame con la Santa Sede, e la Chiesa cattolica armena, cui appartiene la famiglia Maloyan. Nel XIX secolo, una rinascita della cultura armena si ispirò alla fede cristiana, e si manifestò in modo particolare nelle famiglie.
Molto presto, il giovane Shoukr Allah presenta i segni di una vocazione religiosa. A quattordici anni, il parroco lo manda in un istituto per la formazione del clero di rito armeno, a Bzommar, nel Libano. Là, per cinque anni, si dedica allo studio delle lingue armena, turca, araba, francese ed italiana. Malgrado delle difficoltà dovute al suo stato di salute, difficoltà che lo obbligano a sospendere gli studi per tre anni, viene ordinato sacerdote il 6 agosto 1896, e sarà chiamato da allora Padre Ignazio.
Inviato, nel 1897, in missione ad Alessandria, poi al Cairo, egli acquisisce la
fama di sacerdote esemplare. All'epoca, scrive lui stesso: «Dalla sera alla
mattina, visito gli ammalati, i poveri, i bisognosi. La sera, quando vado a
letto, sono assolutamente esausto. Non c'è nessuno che si occupi di questi
sventurati, visto che tutti seguono i propri interessi ed i propri profitti
personali. Quanto a me, sono pieno di gioia, sapendo di compiere la volontà di
Dio». La fama di Padre Ignazio quale predicatore di ritiri spirituali e
conferenziere, fa sì che gli vengano spesso richieste prediche, tanto in arabo
quanto in turco. Pieno di zelo per la causa dell'unità dei Cristiani, allaccia
contatti con i Cristiani Copti d'Egitto, Chiesa separata da Roma, e si sforza
di rispondere caritatevolmente alle loro domande relative alla Chiesa cattolica.
Nei momenti di libertà, si applica allo studio della Sacra Scrittura e delle
lingue. Il Patriarca degli Armeni cattolici, che risiede a Costantinopoli
(Istanbul), avendo notato le sue qualità eccezionali, lo nomina segretario nel
1904. Tuttavia, motivi di salute lo obbligano, poco tempo dopo, a tornare in
Egitto, dove rimarrà fino al 1910.
In preda alle difficoltà
Ma la diocesi di Mardine si trova in una situazione delicata; il vescovo
locale, molto anziano, non è più in grado di far fronte ai gravi problemi che
si manifestano: mancanza di sacerdoti formati convenientemente, situazione
economica difficile. Egli si ritira, spossato, ed il Patriarca affida
l'amministrazione della diocesi a Padre Ignazio. Accolto con entusiasmo nella
sua città natale, si trova ben presto confrontato alle medesime difficoltà.
«Sono sconsolato per questa diocesi, scrive. Vivere qui è una tortura; e
tuttavia è proprio per questo che ci siamo fatti sacerdoti». Il 21 ottobre
1911, in occasione del sinodo dei vescovi armeni riuniti a Roma, Padre Ignazio
viene eletto e consacrato arcivescovo di Mardine. Fin dal suo ritorno in
patria, apre scuole in cui le tradizioni e la letteratura armena assumono il
primo posto; egli esamina altresì tutte le difficoltà dei suoi fedeli; in
particolare, si sforza di portar sollievo a coloro che sono perseguitati in
ragione della loro fede in Cristo. Infatti, a partire dalla fine del XIX
secolo, il sultano Abdul-Hamid cerca di soffocare la rinascita di una coscienza
nazionale armena, che ritiene costituire una minaccia per l'unità dell'impero
ottomano. Nel 1895, centinaia di chiese e conventi cristiani sono stati
distrutti, e centinaia di migliaia di fedeli massacrati; altri, non meno
numerosi, hanno lasciato la patria. Quando Monsignor Maloyan s'insedia a
Mardine, la persecuzione non è ancora totalmente finita.
Malgrado una salute fragile, il vescovo dimostra un grande coraggio. La sua
prima preoccupazione è quella di aiutare i sacerdoti e di formare i
seminaristi. È questa una preoccupazione che deve essere nel cuore di tutti i
fedeli, ciascuno secondo il posto che occupa: «È più che mai urgente,
soprattutto oggi, che si diffonda e si radichi la convinzione che sono tutti i
membri della Chiesa, senza alcuna esclusione, che detengono la grazia e la responsabilità
della preoccupazione delle vocazioni... Una responsabilità affatto speciale è
affidata alla famiglia cristiana, che, in virtù del sacramento del matrimonio,
partecipa in modo particolare alla missione educatrice della Chiesa maestra e
madre» (Giovanni Paolo II, Esortazione apostolica Pastores dabo vobis, 25 marzo
1992, n. 41).
«Dio si cura di coloro che soffrono»
Poco dopo la nomina ad arcivescovo, Monsignor Maloyan scrive, in un rapporto
alla Santa Sede: «Il popolo è colpito da disastri: se non si tratta della
siccità, si tratta delle cavallette; e l'avarizia del governo senza cuore è
sempre presente». Chiede alle autorità civili, ma invano, l'autorizzazione di
recarsi in Europa o in America, per ottenere fondi. Di fronte ad una tale
situazione, chiede di esser rimosso dalla sua carica. «Ovunque la povertà. Il
governo, senza posa, in modo insidioso, ci assilla, me ed il mio popolo.
Nessuno ci compiange, nessuno prova a modificare questa situazione disperata.
Che posso fare da solo, abbandonato da tutti?» Ma il Patriarca rifiuta le sue
dimissioni. Tuttavia, Dio non lo abbandona; gli accorda la grazia di mantenersi
fedelmente al suo posto, e gli fa sperimentare la verità delle parole
dell'Apostolo san Paolo: Sia benedetto Dio, Padre del Signore nostro Gesù
Cristo, Padre misericordioso e Dio di ogni consolazione, il quale ci consola in
ogni nostra tribolazione perchè possiamo anche noi consolare quelli che si
trovano in qualsiasi genere di afflizione con la consolazione con cui siamo
consolati noi stessi da Dio (2 Cor. 1, 3-4). Monsignor Maloyan scrive al
Superiore di Bzommar: «Sia forte, Padre. Sia certo che Dio le darà tutte le
grazie di cui ha bisogno. Non abbia paura! Dio si cura di coloro che soffrono;
vedrà che il suo paterno conforto sarà rassicurante in tutte le sue lotte.
Pertanto, non badi all'ingratitudine e all'egoismo degli altri. Come lei ben
sa, ho bevuto in quel calice amaro. Calice amaro che può esser molto dolce,
soprattutto se lo mescoliamo con il calice di Cristo stesso».
La sera del 3 agosto 1914, i partecipanti ad un ritiro spirituale sacerdotale
nella chiesa dei Cappuccini di Mardine apprendono che la Turchia si è alleata
con la Germania e l'Austria contro la Russia, la Francia e l'Inghilterra. Molti
ignorano chi sia in guerra contro chi e perchè. In ottobre, il governatore
turco dà l'ordine ai capi religiosi armeni di assicurare la preparazione dei
pasti dei soldati. Monsignor Maloyan ed un altro vescovo, Monsignor Tappuni,
accettano. Con il pretesto di ricercare i Cristiani disertori, la polizia
comincia a sorvegliare le chiese, ad introdursi nelle case e nei conventi,
maltrattando le donne e confiscando gli oggetti di valore. La persecuzione
contro gli Armeni riprende vigore. Per dissimulare le sue vere intenzioni, il
governo turco attribuisce l'Ordine Imperiale a Monsignor Maloyan. Ma questi non
si illude. Infatti, il governatore di Diarbekir rivela il suo piano a certi
militanti musulmani: «È giunta l'ora di liberare la Turchia dei suoi nemici
dell'interno, voglio parlare dei Cristiani. Abbiamo la certezza che le nazioni
europee non avranno nulla da eccepire e non ci imporranno sanzioni, visto che
la Germania è dalla nostra parte; essa ci sosterrà e ci aiuterà». Inviati
governativi diffondono la consegna: «Non risparmiate la vita di nessun
Cristiano». Dai confratelli vescovi, Monsignor Maloyan apprende altre notizie
inquietanti: le case dei Cristiani e le chiese vengono saccheggiate; la
menzione «Cristiano» deve apparire sui documenti d'identità dei soldati; i
crimini contro i Cristiani non sono puniti, ecc. Nel gennaio del 1915, tutti i
poliziotti ed i soldati cristiani vengono disarmati; i Cristiani impiegati
statali vengono licenziati; una milizia armata viene creata con il compito di
arrestare i Cristiani e di ammazzarli; quanto alle donne, esse saranno vendute
come schiave.
«Il mio più ardente desiderio»
Il 24 aprile 1915, il ministro turco degli interni, Talaat Bacha, annuncia
l'eliminazione degli Armeni, con il pretesto di tradimento contro la Turchia.
Il 30 aprile, soldati turchi accerchiano la chiesa armena e l'arcivescovado di
Mardine, accusando la Chiesa di ricettare depositi d'armi. Non trovando nulla,
si accaniscono a distruggere archivi e fascicoli. All'inizio di maggio,
Monsignor Maloyan riunisce i sacerdoti e li mette al corrente delle minacce
fomentate contro gli Armeni: «Vi incoraggio vivamente a fortificarvi nella
fede, dice loro. Mettete ogni speranza nella Santa Croce fondata sulla roccia
di san Pietro. Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo ha edificato la sua Chiesa su quella
pietra e sul sangue dei martiri. Quanto a noi, poveri peccatori, che il nostro
proprio sangue sia mescolato a quello dei puri e santi martiri... È nostro
desiderio che mettiate la vostra speranza nello Spirito Santo... Sono sempre
stato perfettamente fedele al capo della Chiesa di Dio, al santo Pontefice
romano. Il mio più ardente desiderio è quello che il mio clero e il mio gregge
seguano il mio esempio e rimangano sempre obbedienti alla Santa Sede... Ed ora,
figli miei amatissimi, vi affido a Dio. Vi domando di pregare il Signore di
darmi la forza e il coraggio di attraversare questo mondo perituro con la sua
grazia e nel suo amore, e, se necessario, di versare il mio sangue per Lui».
Con queste parole, il prelato manifesta la sua stima per il dono tanto prezioso
della fede ed il suo desiderio di testimoniare in favore della stessa, fino in
fondo. Il Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica ci offre a questo proposito un
insegnamento molto illuminante: «Credere in Gesù Cristo e in Colui che l'ha
mandato per la nostra salvezza è necessario per essere salvati. Poichè senza la
fede... è impossibile essere graditi a Dio (Eb. 11, 6) e condividere le
condizioni di suoi figli, nessuno può essere mai giustificato senza di essa e
nessuno conseguirà la vita eterna, se non persevererà in essa sino alla fine.
La fede è un dono che Dio fa all'uomo gratuitamente. Noi possiamo perdere
questo dono inestimabile. San Paolo, a questo proposito mette in guardia
Timoteo: Combatti la buona battaglia con fede e buona coscienza, poichè alcuni
che l'hanno ripudiata hanno fatto naufragio nella fede (1 Tim. 1, 18-19). Per
vivere, crescere e perseverare nella fede sino alla fine, dobbiamo nutrirla con
la Parola di Dio; dobbiamo chiedere al Signore di accrescerla; essa deve
operare per mezzo della carità, essere sostenuta dalla speranza ed essere
radicata nella fede della Chiesa» (CCC 161-162).
Gli eventi si precipitano: il 15 maggio, parecchi Armeni vengono arrestati e
imprigionati; il 26, una famiglia armena di Diarbekir viene massacrata. Quando
gli si offre la possibilità di fuggire, Monsignor Maloyan dichiara: «Abbiamo
abbracciato la vocazione di pastore del gregge, ovunque esso si trovi. Siamo
determinati ad assolvere i nostri doveri verso Nostro Signore e verso il nostro
gregge, anche sino alla morte». Il 3 giugno, festa del Corpus Domini, Monsignor
Maloyan commenta, nell'omelia, le seguenti parole di Gesù: Chi vorrà salvare la
propria vita la perderà, ma chi perderà la propria vita per causa mia, la
troverà (Matt. 16, 25). La sera di quello stesso giorno, viene arrestato e
condotto in prigione assieme ad una cinquantina di membri della comunità. Nei
giorni seguenti, vengono arrestate parecchie centinaia di Cristiani di riti
diversi, con una quindicina di sacerdoti.
«Non rinnegherò mai la mia fede!»
Costretto a comparire davanti al tribunale, Monsignor Maloyan, in piedi, viene
assillato con domande relative alle armi che avrebbe nascosto; risponde che si
tratta di un'invenzione pura e semplice. Accusato di cospirare contro il
governo, replica: «La vostra accusa è pura invenzione. Non mi sono mai opposto
al governo. Al contrario, ho difeso i suoi diritti tanto in privato quanto in
pubblico, e faccio del mio meglio per salvaguardare i suoi interessi, perchè
sono un suo cittadino ed ho ricevuto un'onorificenza imperiale ed un titolo
turco». Allora, il commissario di polizia, rimboccandosi le maniche, colpisce
il vescovo con la sua cintura. Alle proteste di quest'ultimo, risponde: «Oggi,
la spada sostituisce il governo». Invitato a farsi Musulmano, il vescovo fa una
mirabile professione di fede: «Dovrete picchiarmi, lacerarmi con coltelli, con
spade, con fucili, tagliarmi a pezzettini, perchè non rinnegherò mai la mia
fede. Questa è la mia risposta definitiva». Dopo esser stato picchiato, il confessore
della fede sospira: «Il corpo soffre il dolore dei colpi, ma l'anima è piena di
gioia». Il Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica ci insegna: «Devono tutti essere
pronti a confessare Cristo davanti agli uomini, e a seguirlo sulla via della
Croce attraverso le persecuzioni che non mancano mai alla Chiesa. Il servizio e
la testimonianza della fede sono indispensabili per la Salvezza: Chi mi
riconoscerà davanti agli uomini, anch'io lo riconoscerò davanti al Padre mio
che è nei cieli; chi invece mi rinnegherà davanti agli uomini, anch'io lo
rinnegherò davanti al Padre mio che è nei cieli (Matt. 10, 32-33)» (CCC 1816).
Sul far della notte, al vescovo vengono legati i piedi ed egli è colpito a
bastonate. Esclama: «Che colui che mi sente, mi dia l'ultima assoluzione!» Un
sacerdote, anch'egli prigioniero, pronuncia allora le parole del perdono. Poi,
vengono strappate al coraggioso vescovo le unghie dei piedi e gli si sputa in
faccia. Riportato nella sua cella, passa il tempo a pregare, con le braccia e
gli occhi alzati al cielo: «Dio mio, Tu hai permesso tutto ciò. Tutto dipende
da Te. Fa' conoscere la Tua potenza, poichè ne abbiamo bisogno. Aiutaci in
questi tempi tanto difficili, perchè noi siamo deboli e manchiamo di coraggio.
Facci la grazia di continuare ad essere testimoni della nostra religione e di
perseverare nella lotta per i suoi diritti».
«Pongo la mia gloria nella Croce»
Nei primi giorni di giugno, circa 1600 Cristiani di Mardine vengono deportati.
Costretti a camminare gli uni legati agli altri con delle corde, con le braccia
strette da catene, i Cristiani giungono a un villaggio curdo, situato a sei ore
di marcia da Mardine. Viene allora letto loro il decreto imperiale che li
condanna a morte per tradimento. Tuttavia, quelli che si faranno Musulmani,
potranno tornare sani e salvi nel loro paese. A nome di tutti, Monsignor
Maloyan risponde: «Siamo nelle vostre mani, ma moriremo per Gesù Cristo», poi
incoraggia tutti i Cristiani a confessarsi ai sacerdoti che fanno parte del
gruppo e fa distribuire loro la santa Comunione. I testimoni narrano che
durante questo lasso di tempo, una nuvola luminosa copriva i prigionieri. Poi,
certi vengono condotti in località Grotte di Sheikhan, altri a Kalaa Zarzawan.
Essi vengono lì massacrati selvaggiamente, ed i loro corpi vengono gettati nei
pozzi. Sappiamo questi fatti grazie alla testimonianza di Musulmani che, nella
loro rettitudine, non hanno approvato il massacro. Il giorno seguente, gli
altri Cristiani, dopo esser stati spogliati dei vestiti, sono costretti a camminare
a digiuno e a piedi nudi sulle pietre delle strade e sulle spine dei campi.
L'11 giugno, festa del Sacro Cuore di Gesù, essi vengono uccisi a quattro ore
di marcia da Diarbekir. A Monsignor Maloyan viene riservata un'altra
sofferenza: dopo aver visto morire le sue pecorelle, morirà solo. Il
commissario di polizia gli chiede un'ultima volta dove nasconda le armi e se
rifiuti di dichiararsi Musulmano. Il vescovo risponde: «Mi sorprende sentirla
ripetere la domanda. Le ho già detto parecchie volte che vivo e muoio per la
mia fede, la vera fede, e che pongo la mia gloria soltanto nella Croce del mio
dolce Salvatore». Allora il comissario gli spara un colpo al collo. Monsignor
Maloyan mormora le seguenti ultime parole: «Dio mio, abbi pietà di me. Nelle tue
mani, consegno il mio spirito».
«Cerco Lui!»
«La Chiesa avanza nel suo pellegrinaggio attraverso le persecuzioni del mondo e
le consolazioni di Dio», scriveva sant'Agostino nella Città di Dio. Se la fede
può esser messa alla prova da un mondo che si rivela troppo spesso nemico di
Dio, noi abbiamo la consolazione di sapere che camminiamo seguendo il
Salvatore: Se il mondo vi odia, sappiate che prima di voi ha odiato me. Se
foste del mondo, il mondo amerebbe ciò che è suo. Poichè invece non siete del mondo,
ma io vi ho scelti dal mondo, per questo il mondo vi odia (Giov. 15, 18-19). I
martiri che hanno imitato Gesù fino alla morte ce lo ricordano. «Nulla mi
gioverebbe tutto il mondo e tutti i regni di quaggiù, scriveva sant'Ignazio
d'Antiochia. Per me è meglio morire per unirmi a Gesù Cristo, che essere re
sino ai confini della terra. Io cerco Colui che morì per noi; io voglio Colui
che per noi risuscitò».
La popolazione cristiana dell'Armenia turca è stata in gran parte massacrata nel corso di questa persecuzione del 1915, che ha fatto, secondo gli storici, fra un milione e un milione e mezzo di vittime. Tuttavia, numerosi fedeli della Chiesa cattolica armena vivono oggi nella Repubblica armena e in varie parti del mondo. Nel corso del XX secolo, sono stati eretti vicariati patriarcali per gli Armeni a Gerusalemme, a Damasco e in Grecia, ed anche tre esarcati, nell'America del Nord, nell'America latina e in Francia. Ancora una volta, il sangue dei martiri è diventato seme di Cristiani.
Il 7 ottobre 2001, il santo vescovo è stato beatificato da Papa Giovanni Paolo II, che così lo elogiava: «Monsignor Ignazio Maloyan, morto martire a 46 anni, ci ricorda la lotta spirituale di ogni Cristiano, la cui fede è esposta agli assalti del male. Egli attingeva all'Eucaristia, un giorno dopo l'altro, la forza necessaria per compiere con generosità e passione il suo ministero di sacerdote». Illuminati dall'esempio del beato, richiamiamo alla memoria le raccomandazioni del Papa all'inizio dell'anno dell'Eucaristia, il 7 ottobre 2004: «Bisogna che la Messa sia situata al centro della vita cristiana... La presenza di Gesù nel tabernacolo deve costituire come un polo di attrazione per un sempre più gran numero di anime piene d'amore per Lui e capaci di rimanere a lungo ad ascoltare la sua voce ed a sentire quasi i battiti del suo cuore, Gustate e vedete quanto è buono il Signore (Sal. 33, 9)... Rimaniamo prosternati a lungo davanti a Gesù presente nell'Eucaristia, riparando così con la fede e l'amore, le negligenze, le dimenticanze e addirittura le offese che il Salvatore deve subire in molte parti del mondo. Che ci sia dato di approfondire nell'adorazione la contemplazione personale e comunitaria» (Mane nobiscum, Domine, 17-18).
Autore: Dom Antoine Marie osb
Fonte : Lettera
mensile dell'abbazia Saint-Joseph, F. 21150 Flavigny- Francia - www.clairval.com
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90336
CAPPELLA PAPALE PER LA BEATIFICAZIONE
DI 7 SERVI DI DIO
OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE
Domenica, 7 ottobre 2001
1. "Il giusto vivrà
per la sua fede" (Ab 2, 4): con queste parole piene di fiducia e di
speranza il profeta Abacuc si rivolge al popolo d'Israele in un momento
particolarmente travagliato della sua storia. Rilette dall'apostolo Paolo alla
luce del mistero di Cristo, queste stesse parole sono utilizzate per esprimere
un principio universale: è con la fede che l'uomo si apre alla salvezza che gli
viene da Dio.
Oggi abbiamo la gioia di
contemplare questo grande mistero di salvezza attualizzato nei nuovi Beati.
Sono essi i giusti che per la loro fede vivono accanto a Dio in eterno: Ignazio
Maloyan, Vescovo e martire; Nikolaus
Gross, padre di famiglia e martire; Alfonso
Maria Fusco, presbitero; Tommaso
Maria Fusco, presbitero; Émilie
Tavernier Gamelin, religiosa; Eugenia
Picco, vergine; Maria
Euthymia Üffing, vergine.
Questi nostri illustri
fratelli, ora elevati alla gloria degli altari, hanno saputo tradurre la loro
indomita fede in Cristo in una straordinaria esperienza di amore verso Dio e di
servizio verso il prossimo.
2. Monsignor Ignace
Maloyan, morto martire all'età di 46 anni, ci ricorda la battaglia spirituale
di ogni cristiano, la cui fede è esposta agli attacchi del male. È
nell'Eucaristia che attingeva, giorno dopo giorno, la forza necessaria per
compiere con generosità e passione il suo ministero di sacerdote, dedicando
alla predicazione, alla pastorale dei sacramenti e al servizio dei più poveri.
Nel corso della sua
esistenza visse pienamente le parole di san Paolo: "Dio infatti non
ci ha dato uno spirito di timidezza, ma di forza, di amore e di saggezza"
(2 Tm 7). Di fronte ai pericoli della persecuzione, il Beato Ignace non
accettò alcun compromesso, dichiarando a quanti facevano pressione su di
lui: "A Dio non piace che io rinneghi Gesù mio Salvatore. Versare il
mio sangue a favore della mia fede è il più vivo desiderio del mio cuore!".
Che il suo esempio illumini oggi tutti coloro che vogliono essere testimoni del
Vangelo, per la gloria di Dio e per la salvezza dei fratelli!
3. Nella sua vita di
madre di famiglia e di religiosa fondatrice delle Suore della Provvidenza,
Émilie Tavernier Gamelin è stata il modello di un coraggioso abbandono alla
Provvidenza. La sua attenzione per le persone e le situazioni la portò a
inventare forme nuove di carità. Aveva un cuore aperto a ogni sofferenza,
servendo soprattutto i poveri e i piccoli, che desiderava trattare come re.
Ritenendo di aver
ricevuto tutto dal Signore, donava senza limiti. Tale era il segreto della sua
gioia profonda, persino nelle avversità. In uno spirito di totale fiducia in
Dio e con un senso acuto dell'obbedienza, come il "servo" del Vangelo,
compì il suo dovere come un comandamento divino, volendo fare in tutto la
volontà del Signore. Che la nuova Beata sia un modello di contemplazione e di
azione per le Suore del suo Istituto e per le persone che lavorano con loro!
4. Entrambi i nuovi beati
tedeschi ci riportano a un momento buio del XX secolo. Rivolgiamo lo sguardo al
beato Nikolaus Gross, giornalista e padre di famiglia. Con acume comprese che
l'ideologia nazionalsocialista non poteva accordarsi con la fede cristiana.
Coraggiosamente prese la penna per difendere la dignità delle persone. Nikolaus
Gross amò molto amato sua moglie e i suoi figli. Tuttavia, nemmeno per un
momento il vincolo che lo univa alla famiglia fece sì che abbandonasse Cristo e
la sua Chiesa. Egli sapeva bene che "Se oggi non impegniamo la nostra
vita, come pretenderemo poi di stare al cospetto di Dio e del nostro
popolo?".
Per questa sua
convinzione fu condotto al patibolo, ma gli si spalancarono le porte del cielo.
Nel beato martire Nikolaus Gross si realizza ciò che aveva predetto il
profeta: "Il giusto vivrà per la sua fede" (Ab, 2,
4).
5. Suor Euthymia ha
recato una testimonianza di tutt'altro tipo. La suora clementina si è dedicata
alla cura dei malati, in particolare dei prigionieri di guerra e degli
immigrati. Fu detta anche "mamma Euthymia". Dopo la guerra dovette
occuparsi di una lavanderia invece che della cura dei malati. Avrebbe certo
preferito servire le persone piuttosto che le macchine. Ciononostante rimase
una suora piena di empatia che aveva per tutti un sorriso amichevole e una
buona parola. Esprimeva così il suo desiderio: "Il Signore deve
usarmi come un raggio di sole che illumina tutti i giorni". Visse secondo
il motto: qualunque cosa facciamo, siamo sempre solo "servi inutili.
Abbiamo fatto quanto dovevamo fare" (Lc 17, 10). La sua grandezza sta
nella fede nelle piccole cose.
6. "Se aveste fede
quanto un granellino di senapa...", esclama Gesù conversando con i
discepoli (Lc 17,6).
Fu una fede genuina e
tenace a guidare la vita e l'opera del beato don Alfonso Maria Fusco, fondatore
delle Suore di San Giovanni Battista. Da quando era ragazzo, il Signore gli
aveva posto nel cuore il desiderio appassionato di dedicare la vita al servizio
dei più poveri, specialmente dei bambini e dei giovani, che incontrava numerosi
nella sua città natale di Angri, in Campania. Per questo intraprese il cammino
del Sacerdozio e divenne, in un certo senso, "il Don Bosco del Sud".
Fin dall'inizio volle
coinvolgere nella sua opera alcune giovani che ne condividevano l'ideale,
proponendo loro come motto le parole di san Giovanni Battista: "Parate
viam Domini", "Preparate la via del Signore" (Lc 3,4).
Confidando nella divina Provvidenza, il beato Alfonso Maria e le Suore
Battistine hanno realizzato un'opera ben superiore alle loro stesse
aspettative. Da una semplice casa di accoglienza è sorto un Istituto che oggi è
presente in sedici Paesi e quattro continenti, accanto ai "piccoli" e
agli "ultimi".
7. La singolare vitalità
della fede, attestata dal Vangelo odierno, emerge anche nella vita e
nell'attività di don Tommaso Maria Fusco, fondatore dell'Istituto delle Figlie
della Carità del Preziosissimo Sangue. In virtù della fede egli seppe vivere,
nel mondo, la realtà del Regno di Dio in modo del tutto speciale. Tra le sue
giaculatorie, una ve n'era a lui particolarmente cara: "Credo in te, mio
Dio; aumenta la mia fede". E' proprio questa la domanda che gli Apostoli
rivolgono a Gesù nel Vangelo di oggi (cfr Lc 17,6). Il beato Tommaso
Maria aveva infatti capito che la fede è prima di tutto un dono, una grazia.
Nessuno può conquistarla o guadagnarla da solo. Si può soltanto chiederla,
implorarla dall'Alto. Perciò, illuminati dal prezioso insegnamento del nuovo
Beato, non stanchiamoci mai di invocare il dono della fede, perché "il
giusto vivrà per la sua fede" (Ab 1,4).
8. La sintesi vitale tra
contemplazione e azione, assimilata a partire dalla quotidiana partecipazione
all'Eucaristia, fu il fondamento dell'esperienza spirituale e dello slancio di
carità di Eugenia Picco.
Nella sua vita si sforzò
sempre di porsi in ascolto della voce del Signore, secondo l'invito
dell'odierna liturgia domenicale (cfr Rit. al Sal. Resp.), mai
sottraendosi ai servizi che l'amore verso il prossimo le richiedeva. A Parma
ella si fece carico delle povertà della gente, rispondendo ai bisogni dei
giovani e delle famiglie indigenti ed assistendo le vittime della guerra che in
quel periodo insanguinava l'Europa. Anche di fronte alla sofferenza, con gli
inevitabili momenti di difficoltà e di smarrimento che questa comporta, la
beata Eugenia Picco seppe trasformare l'esperienza del dolore in occasione di
purificazione e di crescita interiore. Dalla nuova Beata impariamo l'arte di
ascoltare la voce del Signore, per essere testimoni credibili del Vangelo della
carità in questo primo scorcio di millennio.
9. "Mirabilis Deus
in sanctis suis!". Con le Comunità nelle quali i nuovi Beati hanno vissuto
e per le quali hanno speso le loro migliori energie umane e spirituali,
vogliamo ringraziare Dio, "mirabile nei suoi santi". Al tempo stesso,
Gli chiediamo, per loro intercessione, di aiutarci a rispondere con rinnovato
ardore all'universale vocazione alla santità.
Amen!
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Ignazio Maloyan
(1869-1915)
BEATIFICAZIONE:
- 07 ottobre 2001
- Papa Giovanni
Paolo II
RICORRENZA:
- 11 giugno
Vescovo di Mardin degli
Armeni e martire durante il genocidio dei cristiani perpetrato in questa
regione dai persecutori della fede; essendosi rifiutato di abbracciare
un’altra religione, consacrò in carcere il pane per il ristoro spirituale dei
compagni di prigionia; fucilato poi insieme a molti altri cristiani, versando
il suo sangue ottenne il premio della pace eterna
"Non siamo mai stati infedeli verso lo Stato... ma se ci chiedete di essere infedeli verso la nostra religione, questo mai, mai e poi mai"
Choukrallah Maloyan,
figlio di Melkon e Faridé, nacque a Mardine, in Turchia, il 19 aprile 1869. Il
padre Joseph Tchérian, scorgendo in lui i segni della vocazione, lo inviò
all'età di 14 anni nel convento di Bzommar, in Libano. Lì, terminò gli studi
superiori e nella festa del Sacro Cuore del 1896 fu ordinato sacerdote
Bzommarista con il nome di Ignazio, in ricordo del grande Santo Martire di
Antiochia.
Nel 1897, padre Ignazio è
inviato in missione ad Alessandria, poi al Cairo, dove si acquistò la fama di
sacerdote esemplare. Nelle sue ore libere, studiava il francese, l'inglese e
l'ebraico per comprendere meglio la Sacra Scrittura. Nel 1904 Sua Beatitudine
il Patriarca Boghos Bedros XII Sabbaghian, notando le sue qualità eccezionali,
lo nominò suo segretario privato.
Frattanto, la diocesi di
Mardine aveva bisogno di un buon organizzatore per assistere l'anziano
Arcivescovo Houssig Gulia. Sua Beatitudine Sabbaghian non trovò scelta migliore
che il padre Maloyan. Il 22 ottobre 1911, durante il Sinodo dei Vescovi armeni
riunito a Roma, fu eletto Arcivescovo di Mardine e consacrato da Sua
Beatitudine Boghos Bedros XIII Terzian. A Mardine, si interessò da vicino ai
problemi del suo gregge sul piano materiale, sociale e spirituale. Diffuse in
tutte le parrocchie la devozione al Sacro Cuore e alla Madre di Dio.
Mons. Maloyan
intratteneva buone relazioni con gli alti dignitari del paese. Stimato e
apprezzato, fu decorato con un decreto del Sultano. Purtroppo allo scoppio
della prima guerra mondiale, gli Armeni residenti in Turchia (allora alleata
con la Germania), cominciarono a subire prove indicibili. Il 24 aprile 1915,
infatti, segnava l'inizio di una vera operazione di sterminio. Il 30 aprile
1915, i soldati turchi circondarono la chiesa armena e l'arcivescovado di
Mardine, con il pretesto che vi fossero nascosti depositi di armi. Non avendovi
trovato alcunché, si accanirono a distruggere gli archivi e i documenti.
All'inizio di maggio, lo
zelante Pastore riunì i suoi sacerdoti e, alla luce delle tristi notizie, li
mise al corrente delle minacce fomentate contro gli armeni. Li esortò a pregare
e a restare saldi nella fede. Poi lesse loro il suo testamento, in cui li
incoraggiava, considerando un grande onore mescolare il proprio sangue a quello
dei martiri. Li affidò alla sollecitudine di mons. Ignazio Tapouni, Arcivescovo
dei siriani cattolici.
Il 13 giugno 1915,
ufficiali turchi trascinarono mons. Maloyan davanti al tribunale con 27
componenti della comunità. Lì, Mamdouh Bey, capo della polizia, chiese al
Vescovo di consegnargli le armi nascoste nelle sua casa. Il Presule gli rispose
che era sempre stato un cittadino fedele al governo e che il Sultano, in segno
di merito, gli aveva conferito un alto riconoscimento onorifico. Mamdouh Bey
gli propose allora di abbracciare l'Islam, per avere salva la vita. Il Presule
replicò con vigore che mai avrebbe rinnegato Gesù né tradito la Chiesa e che
era una gioia per lui subire per Cristo qualunque supplizio, anche la morte.
Allora, un soldato lo schiaffeggiò brutalmente. Mamdouh Bey lo colpì
violentemente alla testa più volte con il calcio della pistola. Ad ogni colpo,
lui diceva: «Signore, pietà di me; Signore, dammi forza». Credendo che la sua
morte fosse imminente, gridò a gran voce: «Chi di voi, miei cari padri, mi
ascolta, mi dia l'assoluzione». Poi i soldati gli strapparono le unghie dei
piedi e lo costrinsero a camminare.
A Chikhane, Mamdouh Bey
lesse ad alta voce la seguente sentenza: «Lo Stato vi ha concesso molti
favori...; in cambio, voi avete tradito il paese. Per questo siete condannati a
morte. Tuttavia, se qualcuno diventa musulmano sarà liberato e ritornerà a
Mardine. In caso contrario, la sentenza sarà eseguita. Preparatevi ad esprimere
la vostra ultima volontà».
Mons. Maloyan, a nome di
tutti, rispose: «Non siamo mai stati infedeli verso lo Stato... ma se ci
chiedete di essere infedeli verso la nostra religione, questo mai, mai e poi
mai». Tutti i presenti confermarono: «Questo mai». «Noi moriremo — aggiunse
Maloyan — ma moriremo per il Cristo». Un fedele si avvicinò ai soldati e gridò:
«Uccidetemi pure e vedrete come muore un cristiano per la sua fede».
Il Confessore
incrollabile si mise in ginocchio, e tutti fecero altrettanto. Pregò il Signore
di concedere loro la forza e il coraggio per essere degni della palma del
martirio. I sacerdoti impartirono a tutti l'assoluzione. Ciò che provocò lo
stupore dei soldati turchi fu la pace e la serenità che risplendeva sui loro
volti. Erano felici di morire per Cristo.
Mamdouh si avvicinò a
mons. Maloyan e per la seconda volta gli propose l'Islam. Il Presule rispose:
«La tua richiesta mi sorprende. Ti ho già detto che io vivo e muoio per la mia
vera fede. Mi glorifico nella Croce del mio Signore e mio Dio». Mamdouh infuriato
estrasse la pistola e fece fuoco. La pallottola gli trapassò la nuca. Lui
crollò a terra e, prima di spirare, esclamò: «Signore, abbi pietà di me; nelle
tue mani affido il mio spirito».
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/ignazio-maloyan.html
«ԱԶԳ» ՕՐԱԹԵՐԹ #189,
18-10-2001
Տեղադրվել է` 2008-11-09
14:05:11 (GMT +04:00)
ՄԵԾ ԵՂԵՌՆԻ ՆԱՀԱՏԱԿ ԻԳՆԱՏԻՈՍ
ԱՐՔ. ՄԱԼՈՅԱՆ
ԼՈՒՍԻՆԵ ԽԱՉԱՏՐՅԱՆ, Հայոց ցեղասպանության
թանգարան-ինստիտուտի գիտական աշխատող
Վերջերս մամուլը հրատարակեց
հաղորդագրություն, որ ս. թ. հոկտեմբերի 8-ին Վատիկանի Սուրբ Պետրոս հրապարակում Հռոմի
պապ Հովհաննես Պողոս 2-րդը հանդիսավոր արարողությամբ Երանելիների շարքն է դասել Մարտինի
հայոց կաթոլիկ առաջնորդ, 1915 թ. ցեղասպանության զոհ դարձած Իգնատիոս արքեպիսկոպոս
Մալոյանին: Կարծում ենքՙ ընթերցողներին կհետաքրքրի, թե ով էր Իգնատիոս Մալոյանը:
Հայ եկեղեցին դարեր շարունակ
եղել է ազգապահպանման կարեւոր գործոններից մեկը: Հայ հոգեւորականությունը մեր ժողովրդի
համար օրհասական պահերին միշտ նեցուկ է եղել նրան եւ կրել առաջին հարվածը: Բացառություն
չէին նաեւ 1915-23 թթ. Հայոց մեծ եղեռնի տարիները, երբ ամենադաժան եւ սարսափելի տանջանքներով
սպանում էին հատկապես հայ հոգեւորականներին, որոնք, հավատարիմ մնալով իրենց երդմանը,
տաժանակիր մահը գերադասում էին հավատուրացությունից: Կարելի է նման բազում օրինակներ
բերել, սակայն մենք կխոսենք Մարտինի արք. Իգնատիոս Մալոյանի մասին:
Մարտինը, Դիարբեքիրի (Տիգրանակերտ)
նահանգում, Հայ կաթոլիկ նվիրապետության թեմերից ամենահինն էր, որի գրեթե ողջ հայ բնակչությունը
(շուրջ 22000 հոգի) կաթոլիկ էր: 1915 թ. Մարտինի կաթոլիկ հայերի առաջնորդն էր Իգնատիոս
արք. Մալոյանը: Նա ծնվել է 1869 թ. ապրիլի 8-ին, Մարտին քաղաքում: Նախնական կրթությունը
ծննդավայրում ստանալուց հետոՙ 1883 թ. մտել է Զմմառի պատրիարքական կղերանոցը, որտեղ
1896 թ. քահանա է ձեռնադրվել, ապա վերադարձել ծննդավայր: Որոշ ժամանակ այնտեղ պաշտոնավարելուց
հետո անցել է Կ. Պոլիս եւ կարգվել կաթոլիկ պատրիարքարանի քարտուղար, ապա մեկնել Եգիպտոսՙ
որպես Ալեքսանդրիայի փոխանորդ: Տարիներ հետո Կ. Պոլիս կանչվելովՙ 1911 թ. հոկտեմբերի
22-ին ընտրվել է Մարտինի արքեպիսկոպոսՙ լիովին նվիրվելով իր թեմի մշակութային եւ կրոնական
առաջադիմության գործին:
1915 թ. թուրք ոճրագործները
սկսեցին իրականացնել հայերի բնաջնջման իրենց եղերական ծրագիրը. անմասն չմնաց եւ Մարտինի
շրջանը: 1915 թ. մայիսի 1-ին Իգնատիոս արք. Մալոյանըՙ այդ տարաբախտ գերապայծառը, կանխատեսելով
իր եւ իր հոտի գլխին գալիքը, Մարտինի ասորի կաթոլիկների առաջնորդարանում հավաքում է
թեմի տասնհինգ հոգեւորականների, հորդորում նրանց վերակենդանացնել հավատքը, պատրաստ
լինել վատթարագույնին: Իսկ հունիսի 2-ին շրջաբերականով դիմում է Մարտինի ասորի կաթոլիկների
եպիսկոպոս Գաբրիել Թափունիինՙ հանձնելով նրան իր հոտի խնամքը: Նա գրում էր. «Ես, որչափ
որ տկարութիւնս ներեց, ջանացի խոնարհաբար եւ կատարելապէս հնազանդիլ Աստուծոյ Եկեղեցւոյն
Գլխուն, Հռոմայ Սուրբ Քահանայապետին, եւ իմ փափաքս է տեսնել, որ եկեղեցականներս եւ
ցանկալի հօտս ալ ինձ հետեւին միեւնոյն կատարեալ հպատակութեամբ Առաքելական Սուրբ Աթոռին.»:1
Հունիսի 3-ին քաղաքում սկսվեցին
ձերբակալությունները: Գերապայծառը իր տասներկու քահանաների հետ ձերբակալվեց կեսօրից
հետո: Երբ նրան շղթայակապ բերում են ոստիկանատուն, Մարտինի դահիճըՙ ոստիկանապետ Մեմտուհ
բեյը սկսում է հարցաքննել նրան, ապա, չգոհանալով նրա պատասխաններից, ուժգին ապտակով
գետին է գլորում գերապայծառին, իսկ մի այլ գազան էլ սկսում է անխնա գանակոծել: Ապա
առաջարկում են հանուն փրկության իսլամանալ: Սրբազանը բարձրաձայն պատասխանում է. «Ո՚չ,
ո՚չ, ես երբեք չեմ ուրանար իմ փրկիչս Յիսուս-Քրիստոսը, եւ պատրաստ եմ արիւնս թափել
հաւատքիս համար. Հարուածեցէ՚ք, կտոր-կտոր ըրէ՚ք զիս, ես չեմ ուրանար իմ քրիստոնեայ
հաւատքս»:2
Սրբազանին առաջնորդում են բանտ,
որտեղ նա ենթարկվում է քստմնելի անարգանքների, ամեն տեսակի տանջանքների. գազանաբար
գանակոծելուց հետո աքցանով նրա եղունգներն են քաշում. Այդ ամենը գերապայծառը անմռունչ
տանում է: Հունիսի 9-ին նրա մորն արտոնվում է տեսակցել զավակին, սրբազանն իր հարազատին
չտխրեցնելու համար մի ակնարկ անգամ չի անում իրեն բաժին հասած տանջանքների մասին:
Հունիսի 10-ին, հինգշաբթի օրը,
առավոտյան 417 հոգուց եւ 12 վարդապետներից բաղկացած շղթայակապ քարավանը լուռ եւ դանդաղ
առաջ էր ընթանում Մարտին քաղաքի մեծ պողոտայով: Քարավանը շրջապատված էր հարյուր քաղաքապահ
զինվորներովՙ ոստիկանապետ Մեմտուհ բեյի գլխավորությամբ: Գերապայծառ Մալոյանը, գլխաբաց
ու բոկոտն, շղթայակապ, երկաթյա օղակները պարանոցին, կաղնիկաղ, շրջապատված երկու ոստիկաններով,
քայլում էր քարավանի հետեւից: Չնայած իր ձեռնակապերինՙ նա կարողացավ իր վերջին օրհնությունը
հղել իրենց հովվին ի մահ ճանապարհող հավատացյալ ժողովրդին, իր եպիսկոպոսական քաղաքին:
Մահվան քարավանը, դուրս գալով
քաղաքից, աստիճանաբար հալվելով, շարժվում էր դեպի Տիգրանակերտ: Մեմտուհ բեյիՙ իսլամանալու
առաջարկը 400-ի կողմից միաբերան մերժվեց. «Պիտի մեռնինք, բայց պիտի մեռնինք Յիսուս
Քրիստոսի համար»:3
Երբ եղերաշուք թափորը մոտեցավ
Զարզավան բերդին, Այն-Ամարո կոչվող աղբյուրի մոտ Մալոյան սրբազանը, վերջին խոսքի թույլտվություն
ստանալով, իր քահանաների հետ շրջեց քարավանի շարքերով, վերջին արձակումը տվեց, գերագույն
մխիթարանքներով խրախուսեց մահապարտներին: Հետո արքեպիսկոպոսը մի հաց սրբագործեց, եւ
քահանաները սուրբ մասունքը բաժանեցին հավատացյալներինՙ հաղորդելով նրանց: Պատմում են,4
որ սուրբ խորհրդի պահին մի թանձր ամպ է շրջապատել հավատացյալներինՙ նրանց բոլորովին
անտեսանելի դարձնելով մահմեդականների աչքին: Աստված հանկարծ հյուսել էր այդ քողը սրբազան
իրերը հեթանոսների աչքից ծածկելու համար: Հետագայում, ներկա գտնվող թուրքերը պետք է
վկայեն, որ այդ պահին մի զմայլելի բուրմունք են զգացել:
Այս սուրբ արարողությունից
հետո Մեմտուհ բեյը քարավանից զատեց երկու խումբ, որոնք առանձին-առանձին դեպի մահ ճանապարհվեցին:
Մնացածը (204 հոգի) գերապայծառի հետ շարունակեցին իրենց ճանապարհը: Երկու ժամ քայլելուց
հետո նրանք հասան Տիգրանակերտից չորս ժամ հեռու գտնվող խորահատակ մի ձոր, որտեղ Սրբազանին
զատեցին, իսկ մնացած բոլորն անխտիր բնաջնջվեցին: Նրանց կրոնական հաստատակամությունը
եւ մահը հիացրել էին անգամ այդ ամենին ականատես ավարառու քրդերին:
Գերապայծառին ստիպում են ձի
հեծնել եւ գնալ առջեւից: Երբ հասնում են Տիգրանակերտից երեք ժամվա հեռավորության Գարա-Քեուիրյու
վայրը, Մեմտուհ բեյը մի անգամ եւս խոստանում է խնայել Սրբազանի կյանքը, եթե նա հավատափոխ
լինի:
Ի պատասխան սառը մերժում ստանալով,
այդ դահիճը հարձակվում է գերապայծառի վրա, վայրագորեն փորում նրա աչքերը, ապա մորուքից
բռնելով գլխատում նրան: Եվ արքեպիսկոպոսն ընկնում է արյան լճի մեջ: Նա մահացած էր.
Մարտինի սիրելի եւ քաջ առաջնորդը 46 տարեկան էր եւ 4 տարվա եպիսկոպոս. Ոճրագործները
շտապում են Տիգրանակերտՙ բժիշկներին ստորագրել տալու, թե իբր գերապայծառ Իգնատիոս Մալոյանիՙ
ճամփորդության ընթացքում վրա հասած մահը սրտի կաթվածի հետեւանք էր.
Սա ընդամենը մեկ օրինակ էր.
մի հայ քրիստոնյայի դաժան ճակատագիր: Իսկ Մեծ եղեռնի զոհ հայ հոգեւորականների թիվը
հասնում է շուրջ երկու հազարի: Նրանք բոլորն էլ նահատակվել են հանուն հավատի, հանուն
ազգի: Այս արժանավոր հայ քրիստոնյա վարդապետին Երանելիների շարքը դասելը Հռոմի պապի
կողմից եւս մեկ քայլ էր Հայոց ցեղասպանության դատապարտման գործում:
1. Թէոդիկ, Գողգոթա հայ հոգեւորականութեան,
Նիւ Եորք, 1985, էջ 277
2. Նազլեան Հովհաննէս արք.,
Յուշերը Մերձաւոր Արեւելքի 1914-1928 շրջանի քաղաքական-կրօնական դէպքերուն մասին, Պէյրութ,
1960, էջ 368
3. Նազլեան Հովհաննէս արք,
«Յուշերը.», էջ 371:
4. Նույն տեղում:
SOURCE : https://archive.ph/20130114200721/http://www.azg.am/AM/2001101815#selection-895.0-1005.16
Voir aussi : https://www.radio-silence.org/Sons/2015/LSM/pdf/lsm20150611.pdf
https://archive.santegidio.org/downloads/20090305_omelia_nerses_bedros.pdf
