In 301 A.D. Gregory the Illuminator healed the one-time Pagan King Tiridates the Great and christened the Armenian people, thus making Armenia the first Christian nation in the world. This is the story about a woman who changed the faith of her nation forever. ArmenFilm Studios and Symphony Studios proudly presents "The Priestess," the first Armenian American co-production, conceived by internationally acclaimed Armenian director, Vigen Chaldranian. This epic masterpiece filmed on 35mm in Armenia stars Rouzan Vit Mesropyan (of "Vodka Lemon") and Chaldranian amongst a 100 plus Armenian cast of actors and extras. "The Priestess," written by Chaldranian and Anahit Aghasarian draws inspiration from "an anonymous woman" mentioned once in the mysterious Fourth Century manuscript 'The History Armenian" by historian Agatangeghos. This anonymous, yet crucial woman, becomes the keystone to Armenia's history as the first nation to accept Christianity. In 301 A.D. Gregory the Illuminator healed the one-time Pagan King Tiridates the Great and christened the Armenian people, thus making Armenia the first Christian nation in the world. One woman's destiny will change a nation forever. After a near fatal accident in present day Armenia, a woman suffering with amnesia begins to remember a life that occurred many centuries ago. The childhood spent in an enchanted solitude. The father she adores. The husband she worships. The son she would sacrifice everything for...
It was truly like a
contemporary Golgotha many times over
The ancient kingdom of Armenia was the first nation to embrace
Christianity — in AD 301. Modern
Armenia, formerly a Soviet republic, declared autonomy in September 1991 and
today exists as a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. There you
find many of the oldest churches in the world, and a people who have upheld the
faith for nearly 1,700 years, often at great cost.
Nowhere has the cost been greater than in the little piece of
ancient Armenia called Nagorno-Karabakh, cruelly cut off from the rest of
Armenia by Stalin in 1921, and isolated today as a Christian enclave within
Islamic Azerbaijan. Only 100 miles north to south, 50 miles east to west, there
are mountains, forests, fertile valleys, and an abundance of ancient churches,
monasteries, and beautifully carved stone crosses dating from the fourth
century.
This paradise became hell in 1991. Vying with Armenia for
control of this enclave, Azerbaijan began a policy of ethnic cleansing of the
Armenians of Karabakh, and 150,000 Armenians were forced to fight for the right
to live in their historic homeland. It was a war against impossible odds: 7
million-strong Azerbaijan, helped by Turkey and, at one stage, several thousand
mujahideen mercenaries.
On April 10, 1992, forces from Azerbaijan attacked the Armenian
village of Maraghar in northeastern Karabakh. The villagers awoke at 7 a.m. to
the sound of heavy shelling; then tanks rolled in, followed by infantry,
followed by civilians with pick-up trucks to take home the pickings of the
looting they knew would follow the eviction of the villagers.
Azeri soldiers sawed off the heads of 45 villagers, burnt
others, took 100 women and children away as hostages, looted and set fire to all
the homes, and left with all the pickings from the looting.
I, along with my team from Christian Solidarity Worldwide,
arrived within hours to find homes still smoldering, decapitated corpses,
charred human remains, and survivors in shock. This was truly like a
contemporary Golgotha many times over.
I visited the nearby hospital and met the chief nurse. Hours
before, she had seen her son's head sawn off, and she had lost 14 members of her
extended family. I wept with her: there could be no words.
With the fragile cease-fire that began in May 1994, we have
been able to visit survivors of the massacre at Maraghar. Unable to return to
their village, which is still in Azeri hands, they are building "New Maraghar"
in the devastated ruins of another village. Their "homes" are empty shells with
no roofs, doors, or windows, but their priority was the building of a memorial
to those who died in the massacre.
We were greeted with the traditional Armenian ceremony of gifts
of bread and salt. Then a dignified elderly lady made a speech of gracious
welcome, with no hint of reference to personal suffering. She seemed so serene
that I thought she had been away on that terrible day of the massacre. She
replied: "As you have asked, I will tell you that my four sons were killed that
morning, trying to defend us — but what could they do with hunting rifles
against tanks? And then we saw things no human should ever have to see: heads
that were too far from their bodies; people hacked into quarters like pigs. I
also lost my daughter and her husband—we only found his bloodstained cap. We
still don't know what happened to them. I now bring up their children. But they
have forgotten the taste of milk, as the Azeris took all our cows."
How can one respond to such suffering and such dignity? Since
the cease-fire, we have undertaken a program to supply cows. On our last visit,
we met this grandmother, and, smiling, she said: "Thank you. Our children now
know the taste of milk."
Nagorno-Karabakh is a place where we have found miracles of
grace. The day of the massacre I asked the chief nurse, whose son had been
beheaded, if she would like me to take a message to the rest of the world. She
nodded, and I took out my notebook.
With great dignity, she said: "I want to say, 'Thank you.' I am
a nurse. I have seen how the medicines you have brought have saved many lives
and eased much suffering. I just want to say, 'Thank you,' to all those who have
not forgotten us in these dark days."
Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait (a city located a half an hour drive away from Baku) took place in broad daylight, witnessed by numerous gapers and passers by. The peak of the atrocities committed by Azeri perpetrators occurred on 27 – 29 February 1988. The events were preceded by a wave of anti-Armenian statements and rallies that swept over Azerbaijan in February 1988.
According to deputy chief prosecutor of the Soviet Union Katusev (Izvestia Daily, 20 August 1988), almost the entire area of a city with population of 250 thousand became an site of unhindered mass pogroms. The perpetrators who broke in Armenian households followed lists containing names of those who lived there. They were armed with iron rods (pieces of armature), stones, axes, knives, bottles and canisters full of benzene. As for the quantity of the perpetrators, according to witnesses, some apartments were raided by groups of 50 – 80 persons. Similar crowds (up to 100 people) stormed the streets.
There were dozens of casualties (according to final but still incomplete data, the number of murdered Armenians amounted at least 53 persons), mostly burnt alive after assaults and torture. Hundreds of innocent people wounded and disabled. Many women, including adolescent girls, raped. Over 200 apartments raided, dozens of cars burnt, numerous shops and workshops looted. Thousands of refugees. This is the story of Sumgait that marked the first entry in a long list of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansings of the end of the 20th century.
Armenian Pogroms Were Organised at the State Level Various political parties, human rights organisations, social and political celebrities, even parliaments of some countries severely criticised this disgraceful incident and spoke up for protection of Armenians.
European Parliament resolution adopted on 7 July 1988 states:
- Considering, that Nagorno Karabagh was historically a part of Armenia, that currently over 80% of its population are Armenians, that this region was annexed by Azerbaijan in 1923 and that in February 1988 Armenians suffered from a massacre in an Azeri city of Sumgait, - Considering that aggravation of political situation, having caused mass killings of Armenians in Sumgait and atrocities in Baku, is dangerous for Armenians living in Azerbaijan, - Condemns brutality and pressure used against Armenian protesters in Azerbaijan.
The pogroms in Sumgait at the end of February 1988 never received an adequate political and legal consideration by the then USSR leadership, and its organisers and key perpetrators evaded punishment and their names never became known to the international community. During the court hearings it turned out, that investigation was subjective and biased. The very fact that the case was broken up into separate independent cases confirmed such bias and aimed to conceal the true organisers and perpetrators. Mass assassination of Armenians was qualified by the court as hooliganism resulting in murder. The materials of the case contain no reference to indolence of the local party and government bodies.
While everything possible was done to conceal and distort the circumstances of the crimes committed in Sumgait, documentary evidence, witness testimonies and other facts collected to date call for a quite straightforward conclusion: the pogrom was organised and carried out by the authorities of the then Soviet Azerbaijan and closely linked mafia and nationalist groups.
George Soros spoke about this in Moscow Znamya Journal (Issue #6, 1989). He actually confirmed that first Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan were instigated by the local mafia managed by the then first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the future President of Azerbaijan Geidar Aliev.
Between 18 October and 18 November 1988, USSR Supreme Court heard one of nineteen cases on crimes in Sumgait in which, according to the verdict, "corroborated hundreds of Azeri nationals." In the course of investigation, numerous witnesses were heard to confirm the extraordinary cruelty of the crimes orchestrated in extremely orderly manner.
Furious mobs threw down from balconies and then burnt furniture, fridges, TV sets, beds. People were dragged out from their apartments, and those who tried to escape were hit with iron rods, knives and axes and then thrown into fire. "He was still moving and tried to get out of fire, but five men pushed him back with iron rods" (witness A. Arkhipov). The police did not interfere. Witness S. Guliev described their reaction to the events: "They were beating a man next to the police precinct. The police left the city at the mercy of the mob. They were nowhere to be seen. I did not see any police around." "The police knew everything," confirmed witness D. Zarbaliev, a son of a police mayor.
According to testimony of Arsen Arakelian, he repeatedly tried to call the police from someone else’ phone (all Armenians’ phones were disconnected), begging them to save his mother Asya who miraculously stayed alive after being beaten and thrown in the fire – the bandits left her thinking she was already dead. The police never came. In court, Arsen also told about malice of ambulance doctors who neither came to help the woman suffering from concussion, broken bones, loss of blood and burns, nor let him bring her inside the hospital.
The army arrived in Sumgait on 29 February. However, it limited itself to shielding against the ravaging mob that threw stones at the soldiers and did little to protect Armenians. Patrols plied close to quarter No. 41a, but never came inside – perpetrators were there. "We are not instructed to go inside", answered soldiers to the victims’ numerous pleas for help (witness S. Guliev).
The organised and planned nature of crimes committed in Sumgait is confirmed by concurrent multi-thousand rallies on 26 – 29 February that called for massacre of Armenians, inconspicuous corroboration of Sumgait authorities and the police, and subsequent participation of the local interior and national security officers in sabotaging investigation and concealing the perpetrators. Corroboration included production of cold weapons (rods, knives, etc.) at factories and workshops of Sumgait, supply of stones to the pogrom venues, blocking the exits from the city, lists of Armenian residents prepared in advance, targeted disconnection of phones by employees of the local phone station, power failures in target quarters during the pogrom days, strict discipline and hierarchy of the mobs that do not conform to the allegedly spontaneous nature of the crimes.
Of particular importance is the fact that right after the pogroms, following an instruction issued, specifically, by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan G. Seidov who headed a government commission arriving in Sumgait on 1 March, and a staff of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan Ganifaev, all belongings of Armenian households were quickly removed from the city, entrances of apartment blocks were cleaned, looted apartments and public buildings were hastily refurbished. All material evidence of the crimes was destroyed thus considerably complicating the investigation. Another proof is that bodies of many victims of the pogrom were taken away from Sumgait, to be subsequently discovered in morgues of Baku and other nearby settlements. At a plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan of 21 May 1988, the former secretary of Sumgait Committee of the Party D. Muslim-Zadeh accused the central government of Azerbaijan in organising the pogroms. He further elaborated on his accusation at a session of a Bureau of the Central Committee as the issue of his personal responsibility was discussed.
It is quite obvious that events in Sumgait qualify as a genocide planned and organised by Azeri authorities and aimed to deter the entire Armenian community in Azerbaijan by eliminating the Armenians of Sumgait or, as the parlance of the day goes, by ethnically cleansing the city.
Baku, Kirovabad, Nakhichevan… Genocide Continues The policy of masking the genocide in Sumgait and forgiveness of international community helped the organisers and perpetrators avoid criminal liability and caused accelerated pace of follow-up events all over Azerbaijan culminating in January 1990 in Baku where already hundreds of Armenians fell victim to pathological Armenophobia of Azeri nationalists.
In May 1988 in Shushi, the local Communist Party authorities initiated deportation of Armenians of the city. In September of the same year, several Armenians were killed and wounded in Khojali village (Nagorno Karabagh), and last Armenians were ousted out of Shushi. In November - December 1988, Azerbaijan was swept with a wave of Armenian pogroms. The biggest ones took place in Baku, Kirovabad (Ganja), Shemakh, Shamkhor, Mingechaur, Nakhichevan. In Kirovabad, perpetrators broke in a hospice for the elderly, captured and subsequently killed twelve helpless old Armenian men and women, including several disabled ones (Soviet media covered this case). In winter 1988, dozens of Armenian villages in Azerbaijan were deported. The same fate befell more than 40 Armenian settlements of the northern part of Nagorno Karabagh (a territory not included within the borders when the autonomous Republic was formed) in mountainous regions of Khanlar, Dashkesan, Shamkhor and Kedabek provinces including 40-thousand Armenian population of Kirovabad (Ganja). After all these events, with the exception of Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Oblast, Shahumyan province and 4 villages of Khanlar province (Getashen, Martunashen, Azat and Kamo), Azerbaijan was left with very few Armenians, mostly (50 thousand people) concentrated in Baku. There were about 215 thousand Armenians in Baku in the beginning of 1988.
Throughout 1989, sporadic attacks, beating, massacres and robbery of Armenians in Baku never stopped. No accurate statistics is available and criminal cases were ‘let go’, but it is known for a fact that dozens of Armenians were killed. An outbreak of mass attacks happened in August – September and December 1989. People continued leaving the city and by January 1990, according to some estimates there were only 30 – 35 thousand Armenians, mostly elderly people who could not or did not want to leave, left in Baku.
By 12 – 13 January 1990, Armenian pogroms in Baku intensified and became more organised. On 13 January, after 5 p.m., a crowd of about 50 thousand people leaving a rally at Lenin Square broke into groups and started methodically, house by house, ‘cleaning’ the city from Armenians. Pogroms continued till 15 January. The total number of casualties during the first three days amounted 33 people. However, this figure is by no means final since not all apartments visited by perpetrators were checked (ref. Izvestia Daily, 16 January 1990). On 16 January, 64 cases of attacks on Armenian households were registered. In Leninski district of Baku, 4 unidentified burnt bodies were discovered. (ref. Izvestia Daily, 18 January 1990). On 17 January, 45 attacks were made on Armenian households (ref. Izvestia Daily, 18 January 1990). On one of the central streets – Hagani, hooligans raped a mother and a daughter, 90 and 70 years old, and beat them.
There are numerous testimonies about atrocities and murders committed with extreme cruelty (dissecting bodies, ripping abdomens of pregnant women, burning people alive). One man was literally torn apart, and his remains thrown in a garbage container (ref. Soyuz magazine, 19 May 1990). "They were cutting him in pieces, an Azeri woman told about her Armenian husband, and he shouted "kill me", and I also shouted "Kill him fast", to spare him an agonising death."
The exact number of casualties is not known to date. According to different sources, between 150 and 300 people were killed. The majority of Armenians remaining in Baku were elderly people, and many refugees died shortly after deportation, both because of wounds and not surviving the shock. Pogroms continued till 20 January when army troops were brought to Baku. During the week of 13 – 20 January, the city was fully ‘liberated’ from ‘Armenian elements’ except a couple of hundreds of Armenians from mixed families. After the commencement of military conflict in Nagorno Karabagh, the latter were literally ‘fished out’ for exchange with Azeri POWs.
The sporadic vandalism of the crowd ran parallel with organised logistics of the three life-supporting services of the city, i.e. hospitals, police and utilities. Hospitals never failed to promptly issue death certificates for Armenians who died on those days from ‘hypertension’, ‘diabetes’, ‘cardiovascular failures’. The key lesson of Sumgait events, i.e. availability of too much documentary evidence, was well taken. Such impeccable functioning of healthcare services makes it almost impossible to find out the real number of Armenians killed during Baku pogroms. The police ensured unhindered movement of the crowd, total freedom from responsibility and sympathetic monitoring. According to Armenian witnesses, no case of pogrom took place without involvement of ‘guardians of public order’. Moreover, police vehicles were on the spot to take the most valuable items from abandoned houses, like crystal chandeliers, TV and audio equipment. Shortly after the pogrom, one of the leaders and a board member of Azerbaijan’s Popular Front E. Mamedov told at a press conference: "I personally witnessed murder of two Armenians not far from the railway station. A crowd gathered, they poured fuel on them and burned them. The local police precinct was just 200 meters away, and there were about 400 – 500 privates of the interior forces who drove by the burning bodies. There were no attempts to enclose the area and break the crowd."
The casualties and victims included Russians and representatives of other nationalities. After Armenian pogroms and subsequent clashes between guerrillas of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan and pogrom perpetrators with regular troops, over 100 thousand Russians tens of thousands of Jews, Lezgin and other minority representatives living in Baku left the city for good.
During the days of Baku pogroms, armed groups of the Popular Front and Azeri militia attacked, this time using armoured vehicles, Armenian villages in the north of Nagorno Karabagh - Azat, Kamo, Getashen villages of Khanlar region and Manashid, Erkech and Bouzlukh villages of Shahumyan region. At the same time, the ancient Armenian land of Nakhichevan lost its last Armenian inhabitants.
According to incomplete data of USSR Prosecution, between 1988 and May 1991, 388 Armenians were killed and 302 thousand deported from Nagorno Karabagh and villages on the border with Armenia.
Tragedy of Sumgait and the Azeri State The tragedy of Sumgait and its gory replications that took place in Azerbaijan between 1988 – 1991 and culminated in an armed assault against Armenians of Nagorno – Karabagh in 1992 – 1994 is rooted in psychological and historical phenomena that shape the societal climate in Azerbaijan. While the mechanism of pogroms contained elements of purposeful instigation and targeted effort by an external force, the underpinning cause is about anti-Armenian prejudices, phobias and hostility. An explosion of such magnitude and hundreds and thousands of people who took axes to kill their neighbours would need an appropriate environment where psychosis of murder is in the air.
This opinion is confirmed by memoirs of a well-known Azeri writer Um Al Banin (France) who spent her childhood in Baku. They show how impressions of a massacre (Armenian pogroms of 1905 – 1906) affect a child’s feelings. In her book entitled Caucasus Days she offers a description of games played by children of Baku. "On holidays, we would play a game called Armenian massacre, which we preferred over any other game. Overwhelmed with anti-Armenian passions, we would ‘sacrifice’ a girl named Tamar (her mother was Armenian) for the sake of our atavistic hate. We would accuse her of killing Moslems and would immediately ‘gun her down’, over and over again, to extend the pleasure. Then we would tear her apart, cutting her extremities, head, intestines that we threw to the dogs to show our derision of Armenian flesh." Several generations of Azeris, parents and grandparents of our contemporaries, grew up in such spirit. The roots of reciprocal hatred that sprang out in the critical periods of 1918 – 1921 and 1988 – 1991 go back to those days. During the Soviet era, this hatred was stuffed back to the subconscious, to the historical memory. But the deeply rooted causes that instigated the massacre were still there, implicit, but by no means less blatant.
Azeris never repented any of the massacres and cleansings, including those of Armenians of Karabagh. Moreover, according to Ilias Izmailov who was Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General during Sumgait pogroms, "perpetrators of the pogroms now carry MP mandates and sit in Mili Mejlis" (Zerkalo, 21 February 2003).
Today, like [22] years ago, it is obvious that the architects of Azeri state are least of all concerned with ensuring well being of national minorities. This is confirmed by numerous public statements of senior government officials of Azerbaijan, including former presidents Elchibei and Geidar Aliev. The ruling policy of appropriation of values created by generations of Armenians, territorial claims for the large part of historically Armenian lands are but a logical extension of ‘Sumgait way’ that by no means contributes to peaceful coexistence of Azeris and Armenians in common geopolitical space.
From early days I turned my gaze towards the vast unknown. In heart and mind I soar above the abyss, intent and lone. Yet every time, O country of mine, my heart is torn again When I reflect upon your past and present full of pain, Upon the silent crowds of exiles-your devoted sons, Upon the plight of ruined villages and burned and looted towns.
O Fatherland beloved mine, In age-old sorrow you repine!
I see the ruthless enemy putting you to tortures, I see your face so beautiful, your flowering, fields and orchards Contorted with the agony of villages and towns; I hear the shouts of those whose name I calmly can't pronounce, Who turned our land into a vale of sorrow without bounds. Till now in plaintive songs, my land, that sorrow still resounds.
O hillbound Fatherland of mine, In age-old anguish you repine!
Your wounds are countless, O my land, yet still alive are you. The cherished words we have waited for are already breaking through Your lips compressed with sorrow; we believe that on the way Destined to you by God and Fate-those words you'll find and say. We wait with fervour for your call-anon, Anon we hear it; You will become a promised land, free both, in flesh and spirit,
O lofty, sacred Fatherland, O ever-cherished Fatherland!
We hope, we know the dawn will rise and put an end to dark, And joy will pour like sunshine into every stricken heart. The summits of your mountains from the clouds on us will gaze, And for the first time Ararat will smile at dawn's first rays, And a poet with lips undefiled by rage and condemnation, Will glorify in glowing words your great rejuvenation.
O my reviving Fatherland, Shine with new light, my Fatherland!
Jesus said a little leaven will leaveneth the whole lump, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways and man cannot serve the world (mammon) and God at the same time. This may sound unforgiving or judgmental, but I am merely the messenger and do not judge anyone here. I however do realize Jesus will judge everyone who has ever lived (all 6000 years worth) on their thoughts, words and deeds in relation to His most basic commandments Love Him and Love your neighbor. I am merely a watchman in need of salvation just like everyone else. As best I can, here is my foundation without leaven.
God created the universe just as we see it today about 6000 years ago, and the world is heading toward Chaos, a short Satanic rule, and the end of free will. This will be followed by the 2nd coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amillennialism is the root of religious error (leaven).
Denying Jesus the 1000 year reign on earth is the goal of Zionism. The Six Pointed Star is the Star of Chemosh and Ashteroth; not Jacob. Jacob is not in Israel; Edom, Sepharvaim, Ashkenaz, Cuth are. Biblical prophecy covers 7000 years; fitting all of it (ie Jacob’s Trouble and Gog and Magog) into 6000 is Amillennialism. Daniel’s “70 Weeks” means what it says, 490 days from the order to rebuild the Temple to Antichrist revealed will be 490 days. The Tribulation is not 7 years. There is no pre-Trib Rapture; nobody survives the 2nd Coming who is still on earth. Armageddon and Gog and Magog are 1000 years apart; they are not wars; they are cleansing of Sin from the world. Daniel’s 4th Beast is the 4th Kingdom on earth where humanity chooses the wrong Sovereign King (Flood, Crucifixion, 2nd Coming, New Jerusalem).
There is only one word of God “Bible”. The Authorized Bible aka KJV.
It is complete and error free. All others are based on the work of 2 occultists and cannot be trusted. Small changes of we to they, sin to debt, or Giant to Nephilim, Son of God to a son of the gods, Your election to God’s election can completely change the meaning. The Authorized bible is a living book, revealing deeper meaning the longer one spends with it. It does not change; trying to change the outcome of the world if folly. This is perhaps most important because the bible is the only weapon available to Christians and the weapon Jesus will use to cleanse sin will be the Word of God. This is the sword of God; not a metal weapon. It is God in written form (John 1: 1 John 5:7)
Becoming Born Again is necessary for salvation. (John 3:3)
Jesus will convict you of the inerrancy of the bible and provide you the source of all knowledge through the Holy Ghost, but you must ask Him for it. He never forces anyone or pre-selects anyone to receive it. Becoming Born Again is a great responsibility; falling back into Sin after receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is very dangerous. At that point in your spiritual walk, there is no justification for killing, lying, or bearing false witness of another.
There is no “Church” which came from God.
The Christian “Church” refers to separated believers in Jesus Christ, not to a building or denomination. Holy is the Hebrew word and Ekklesia is the Greek words used for God’s Church; they both mean separate. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Mormons, Cults, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus are all in error in one way or another. Christianity is not a religion. Its only requirements are Love God and Love your neighbor. There is only one Christian leader, Jesus Christ. Jesus will be with “Assemblies” of 2 or more people gathered in His name. Church is not the same as Assembly; bishops and elders have a serious responsibility to teach only the Word of God, not give private interpretation of it. They have no authority to baptize anyone in Jesus’ name. Jesus does this by bestowing the Holy Ghost. Taking Communion with a liberal pastor or in an unrepentant state of mind is partaking of the crucifixion all over again; it is very dangerous.
There are no benevolent spirits or guardian angels Jesus approved of His followers to communicate with. Christians talk to Jesus only. Confession is made to Jesus, not to a Priest.
Jews did not crucify Jesus.
Satanists who look like Jews did. (Mat 23)
Jesus will not use a Temple prior to the 2nd Coming or during the Millennium.
The Temple in Jerusalem will be used by Antichrist. The Temple of God is not made with cut stones; it comes down from Heaven after Gog and Magog (last day of Millennium).
Jesus does not have any Rabbis, Priests, or Masters working for Him.
Elevating the clergy above the laity is Nicolaitan doctrine (Rev 2 and 3) and Jesus said He hated it. There is only 1 Pastor; Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost.
Pray to Jesus only.
Not to Mary. Not directly to God. Confess sins to Jesus, not to a Priest.
There is only one approved Christian holiday, Passover.
Jesus was not born on Christmas; He was born at Feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri) in 5 or 6 BC. Feast of Tabernacles will be a mandatory holiday during the Millennium. Christmas celebrates Jesus’ death and the birth of the sun god, Satan. Easter celebrates a goddess, Ishtar not God, and Lent is the Pagan lament of Tammuz. The Sabbath is not Sunday. Saturday was once the Sabbath but Christians are not asked to keep it Holy. They are asked to keep every day Holy; that means separate from sin.
Grove worship is ritual Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost.
It is going on today; Grove does not mean Asherah.
Jesus was crucified on a tree, not a man-made cross.
The cross is a purely Pagan symbol and an idol representing the Sun (Swastika), Tammuz (Ankh). It’s the symbol of Satan’s attempted murder weapon; it didn’t work either. The tree was the actual crucifixion device because the Pharisees had convinced people Jesus had committed a transgression worth of death by hanging on a tree in accordance with Jewish law. The crime: He declared Himself to be God, which He was. (Deut 21:22)
Original Sin does not exist.
Sins are not passed on to offspring by parents, therefore infant baptism is worthless. Parents are responsible for their Christian education until they reach the age of accountability (perhaps 21), after that, children must accept consequences of their actions and beliefs.
Jesus blood and body are not in the Eucharist Elements.
The communion supper is between you and Jesus. No clergy anywhere has any sort of power to bring body and or blood into the Eucharist. Communion absent a Born Again relationship with Jesus is partaking of the Crucifixion all over again. (1 Cor 11:27)
Tithing
Tithing is a debt to Jewish Law making Jesus of no effect on Salvation; Do not pay Tithing! No clergy has the ordination to accept Tithing.
Water baptism does nothing.
It is an outward display of accepting Jesus Christ only. Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the actual baptism, and that’s between you and Him only. Ephesians 4:5 says there is only 1 baptism; it’s not the one with water. When you receive the Holy Ghost, you will know it. John the Baptist made the way straight; Jesus does the baptizing with the Holy Ghost.
There is no pre-selection to eternal security.
Calvinism is very dangerous. You will strive to maintain good relations with Jesus from the moment you receive the Holy Ghost and sins you commit against the most evil person on earth are merely sins you are committing between yourself and Jesus. No demonic power including Satan himself can separate you from Jesus, but you must be Born Again and walk the walk with Him.
Jesus did not choose some for salvation and others for damnation.
He provides the opportunity for salvation to everyone, and erases people from the Book of Life who reject Him. Knowing the end from the beginning, He pre-destinated His believers for service according to their gifts of the spirit. Killing someone is a good way to get Jesus upset at you, so consider that when the draft is reinstated. The brave will drop their weapons and drop to their knees.
There is no Rapture.
This was made up by occultists. The body translation of believers happens just prior to 2nd coming, at the 7th Trumpet (1 Cor 15:51) because everyone here after that is going to die. Jesus is not bringing peace. He is coming to wipe out sinners from the earth. Nobody on earth survives the 2nd Coming. His followers will be behind Him, not in front of Him. No member of any secret society (Masons, Jesuits, Shriners, Knightly orders, Rosicrucians etc) can ever be right with the Lord. Continued membership will land them in Hell. Salvation is in jeopardy by killing anyone even in times of war. Lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, giving false witness, coveting puts your salvation in jeopardy as well. Worshipping idols, or another god will lead to Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, the only unforgivable sin. Repentance to Jesus is the only remedy for sin because only He can forgive you for sinning.
There was no Big Bang or Black Holes.
There are no Aliens and monkeys are not our ancestors: there were no Cave Men: early humans were smarter than we are. Space is not Aether; it is nothing. The Earth is fixed and not moving. There is no Gravity. Occultists made that up to introduce the Big Bang and Aether.
There are no levels of Heaven (Celestial, Telestial, Purgatory, Sheol, Limbo)
Those were made up by occultists. There is only Heaven or Hell, and they last forever. The stars are not Heaven. There are no pre-existent souls anywhere in the physical universe. Falling stars are not fallen angels.
Demons cannot mate with humans.
There is no demon bloodline. There is Sin corruption of one’s bloodline from listening to demons, but no ½ breeds.
There are no Christian nations
,but Christians are in every country on earth. America cannot be Christian; it was founded by Luciferian Freemasons.
All governments and leaders are ordained by God according to His purpose.
His purpose is to demonstrate man-made leadership and man-made Temples always fail from corruption. Most world leaders are the most debased, morally destitute individuals around (Dan 4:17) Rebellion to them or their laws however is against God, even though leaders often rebel against Him. God will not ever expect us to violate one of His commandments such as killing, or lying. If needs be to survive, going to prison or giving your life instead will be the smartest thing you could do.
There is no acceptable level of violence for Christians.
There are no Christian Crusaders. There are no Christian Inquisitors. All wars and revolutions are instigated and managed by occultists as blood sacrifices to Satan. They reject the atoning blood of Jesus and spill the blood of the innocent.
There won’t be any homosexuals, pederasts, or effeminate in Heaven.
Transgender couples are not married in the eyes of God, they are sinning. Pedophilia and Pederasty will be dealt with severely. Homosexuality is not a genetic trait; it is learned behavior by people God has given over to a reprobate mind. (Rom 1:26) If God had created Adam and Steve, none of us would be here.
No amount of work will ever get you into Heaven
and Peter will not be at the gate. The keys given to Peter were knowledge of the Divinity of Jesus.
The Pope
is not Jesus’ representative on earth.
Jesus never had
sex with Mary Magdalene
There is no
Holy Grail
John the Baptist
was not Jesus’ mentor.
The last prophet of God
was John the Evangelist; all self anointed Prophets since are liars.
Jesus and Lucifer
were not brothers.
Jesus was not related by blood to King Solomon
only King David through his other son Nathan.
Christians who see visions, get visited by angels,
or claim to have seen God are lying or are seriously misled.
Faith healers
claiming some god given power are liars but healers who call on Jesus to heal are Christian.
Most (certainly not all) of our Christian icons were/are wolves in sheep’s clothing,
including Constantine, Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox, CS Lewis, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Robert Schuller, Bill Dobson, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen et al.
Gnostics and Essenes
worshipped Satan.
Monks and Nuns
are not in fellowship with Jesus. Convents and Monasteries are not part of the Christian Church.
Swearing any oath
to anybody including God is a sin; Promise Keepers are being misled.
Focus on the Family, Vineyard Movement, Purpose Driven Churches
are also seriously misleading people.
The Mormon Church
is not Christian in any sense of the word. Mormons are attempting to replace the Levitical Priesthood with the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Dan and they are trying to replace Jesus, the true Melchisedek Priest with themselves.
Islam is the worship of Sin.
The Crescent was worshipped as Sin, Bel and Baal long before Muhammad claimed to see the Angel Gabriel in the cave.
Saying you are a Christian does not make you a Christian.
Going to church will not make you a Christian. Our image of what a “Good Christian” is, an image created by Satan.
Christians are not tasked with paving the way for Jesus’ return.
The 3rd Temple and gathering of Jews in the Promised Land are the work of Satanists posing as Jews and Christians.
The battle of Gog and Magog happens at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.
The gathering of nations matches Ezekiel 38 because occultists need people to believe Gog and Magog is happening.
Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Mizrahi Jews are not Jewish.
The Pharisees were not Jewish. Zionists are not Jewish. Kabbalists are not Jewish. Rabbis are not Jewish. Rebbes are not Jewish. Converts to Old Testament Judaism are converts to a dead religion. Converts to Talmudic Judaism are playing with fire. God fearing Jews and Born Again Christians do not practice Kabbalah.
Palestinians are not Edomites.
Edomites are not dead nor have they been judged yet; they lead Israel. (Oba 15-20)
Petra and Peter are small stones
Jesus is the only rock worthy of putting confidence in.
Freemasons and Hellenes are “People of Hewn Stones”
who will be destroyed at the 2nd Coming along with their Temple.
There is no Temple in the Millennial Kingdom.
Jesus was not born at Christmas; He was born at the Feast of Tabernacles. His birthday will however become a mandatory observance during the Millennium as a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech 14)
No Temple built by the hand of man will ever measure up.
No man will ever become a Temple Man (God Man). This has been the foundational error of Man for 6000 years.
The US is not a democracy or God’s chosen nation
It is a Freemasonic creation made to be a counterfeit Babylon.
Christians are not Orthodox, Celtic, Coptic, Fundamental, Evangelical, or Charismatic
They just realize who created the universe and are trying to do something He would want.
Born Again Christians are not converts to anything
They can just spot liars because God gave them the Holy Ghost. God’s testing of Christians usually results from the world system, not because God actively persecutes them. God’s judgment of sin is usually quick and final as in Sodom & Gomorrah, the 10 plagues of Egypt, and Flood which were all caused to protect the Saviour’s bloodline from corruption. Once all of humanity’s bloodline has been corrupted with a Mark of the Beast, Jesus will return to consummate the marriage to His bride; Born Again Christians both dead and alive. Born Again Christians cannot lie, cut corners or hide their beliefs, and the world usually takes advantage of this. Occultists are confident that Satan is winning, and indeed it looks like he is for now. Just prior to the 2nd Coming, it will appear to be a done deal for Satan and his followers. The final gathering for battle will look like a floor mopping exercise, and nobody but Born Again Christians and protected Jewish followers who recently became converted to Jesus Christ will understand who the guy with the flaming eyes and blood soaked robe is, because His name will be The Word of God.
Armenia is one of the oldest countries in the world with a recorded history of about 3500 years. The oldest known ancestors of modern Armenians, the Hayasa-Azzi tribes, also known as Proto-Armenians, were indigenous to the Armenian Highland in Eastern Anatolia. These tribes formed the Nairi tribal union, which existed until late 13th century BC. The legendary forefather of Armenians, Hayk, famous for his battles with Babylonian ruler Bel, most likely was one of the Hayasa tribal leaders. The words 'Nairi' and 'Nairian' are still used by Armenians as poetic synonyms of the words 'Armenia' and 'Armenian'.
At the end of the second millennium BC, another Indo-European ethnic group, closely related to Thracians and Phrygians and referred to by the Greeks as Armens, migrated to the Armenian Highland from Northern Balkans. According to a Greek myth, which actually reflects this tribal migration, the forefather of Armenians - Armenios - was one of the Argonauts, accompanying Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. In the year 1115 BC, king Tiglath Pileser I of Assyria reports a battle with a force of 20,000 Armens in the Gadmokh province of Assyria.
The mixture of Armens with the indigenous Hayasa eventually produced the Armenian people as it is known today. The existence of two major segments in the Armenian people is best of all illustrated by the fact that Armenians call themselves "Hay" and their country "Hayastan" after Hayasa, while other peoples call them Armenians and their country Armenia after the Armens. The Armenian language is basically the language of Armens, which is the only survivor of the now extinct Thraco-Phrygian group. It incorporated a large number of Hayasa words and grammatical features, as well as a significant number of non-Indo-European words from minor ethnic groups, which also took part in the ethnogenesis of Armenians.
The first significant state of the Armenian Highland was the highly advanced Kingdom of Ararat (with the capital in Tushpa, today's Van), better known under its Assyrian name Urartu (Ararat). This state was formed in the XI century BC and existed until VII century BC. Although populated mostly by Armenians, Urartu was ruled (at least during the first centuries) by a non-Armenian and non-Indo-European dynasty. In 782 BC the Urartian king Argishti I founded the fortified city of Erebuni, which is today's Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Another major city in the Valley of Ararat was Argishti-khinili, also founded by Argishti I in the year 775 BC.
In the late VII century BC Urartu, weakened by Scythian invasions, fell, but after several decades was revived under the Armenian Yervanduni (the Orontides) dynasty with the capital in Armavir, former Argishti-khinili. The revived kingdom was already called Armenia by its neighbours, but in some languages the older name, Urartu, was still in use. In the famous tri-lingual Behistun inscription of Persian king Darius the Great (522-486) the same country is referred to as 'Armenia' in the Persian and Elamite versions, and 'Urartu' in the Akkadian version.
Artashisian dynasty, First Armenian Kingdom
Armenia under the Yervanduni dynasty soon became a satrapy of the mighty Achemenide Persia, and later part of the Seleucid Empire. It restored its full independence in 190 BC under the king Artashes I, founder of the Artashesian dynasty (the Artaxiads).
The kingdom started to expand and reached its peak during the reign of Tigran II, also called Tigran the Great (95-55 BC). Under Tigran, Armenia ascended to a pinnacle of power unique in its history and became the strongest state in Asia Minor. Extensive territories were taken from Parthia, which was compelled to sign a treaty of alliance. Iberia (Georgia), Caucasian Albania, and Atropatene had already accepted Tigran' suzerainty when the Syrians offered him their crown (83 BC). Tigran penetrated as far south as Ptolemais (modern Akko in Israel). As a result, the empire of Tigran II stretched from the Caspian Sea in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in West, and from Mesopotamia in the South to the river Kura in North. Political strengthening and territorial expansion of Armenia was accompanied also by unprecedented cultural development, with rich cultural heritage of Urartu intermixing with Hellenistic features. As a result Armenia during the Artashesian period became one of the most Hellenized and culturally advanced countries of Asia Minor.
After the death of Tigran II, Armenia was reduced back to its ethnic Armenian territory and found itself in the middle of a long war campaign between Rome and Persia, with each superpower trying to have Armenia as its ally, as the military assistance with Armenia was crucial for gaining political superiority in Asia Minor.
Arshakunian dynasty, Second Armenian Kingdom
In the middle of the I century AD a new royal dynasty - the Arshakuni (the Arsacids) - was established in Armenia. This dynasty was related to the royal family of Persia, which bared the same family name. At this period Armenia and Persia enjoyed a long period of peace and cooperation, until in 251 AD the Sassanid dynasty came to power in Persia. Regarding Armenia as the ally of the overthrown dynasty, the Sassanids adopted anti-Armenian policy, trying to eliminate the Armenian state and to assimilate the Armenian nation. Since the Armenian religion of that period bared similarities to both Zoroastrianism and Greco-Roman polytheism, in the realization of their anti-Armenian policy the Sassanids were trying to capitalize on the religious closeness. In order to deprive the Persians of this advantage, the Armenian king Trdat III in 301 AD declared Christianity the state religion of Armenia, thus making Armenia the first Christian state in the world, with Gregory the Illuminator as the first head (Catholicos) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Christianity was officially legalized in the Roman Empire 12 years after Armenia became officially Christian.
Arab invasion and Byzantine Empire
By the end of the IV century the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia officially established their spheres of influence in Armenia. The Arshakuni dynasty was dissolved in the year 428, and eastern part of Armenia was annexed to Persia, while the western part was put under Byzantine rule. The Sassanids were forcing Armenians to convert to Zoroastrianism, causing the Armenian revolt of 451 under the leadership of prince Vartan Mamikonian, commander-in-chief of the Armenian army. Although the Armenian forces, outnumbered by the Persians, actually lost the legendary battle of Avarayr, and Vartan Mamikonian himself was killed, this turned out to be a significant victory for Armenians, as Persians eventually gave up their efforts to convert and assimilate Armenians, and were forced to agree to much higher level of autonomy for Armenia.
The spiritual independence of Armenia was further asserted in 554, when the second Council of Dvin (capital of Armenia of that period) rejected the dyophysite formula of the Council of Chalcedon (451), a decisive step that cut Armenians off from the Roman and Greek churches as surely as they were already ideologically severed from the East.
By the time of Arab invasion in 634 Armenia, ruled by prince Theodore Rshtuni, was virtually independent. After conquering Persia, the Arabs started to concentrate their armies against Armenia, but didn't manage to conquer the country until 654.
Bagratunian dynasty, Third Armenian Kingdom
After more than two centuries of struggle with the Arab Caliphate, Armenia regained its independence in 886, and both the Caliphate and Constantinople recognized prince Ashot Bagratuni as the king of Armenia. During the rule of the Bagratuni dynasty Armenia reached its peak in political, social and cultural development. The capital of Armenia of that period, Ani, was a magnificent city, known as "a city of one thousand and one churches". The Armenian architecture of the Bagratuni period, especially the dome laying techniques, for which Armenian architects were notorious, significantly influenced the Byzantine and European architectural styles.
At the end of the 10th century the Byzantine Empire, although ruled by an imperial dynasty of Armenian origin, adopted a near-sighted policy of weakening Armenia and eventually annexed it in 1045, thus depriving itself of an effective shield against disastrous invasion of Turkic nomads from Central Asia.
Rubinian dynasty, Fourth Armenian Kingdom
Before the fall of the Bagratuni kingdom a number of Armenian princes managed to escape from Armenia and found refuge in Cilicia, a region at the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, where Armenians were the majority of population. In 1080 their leader, prince Ruben, founded in Cilicia a new kingdom, which became known as Cilician Armenia, or Armenia Minor (Little Armenia). The new Armenian state established very close relations with European countries and played a very important role during the Crusades, providing the Christian armies a safe heaven and provision on their way towards Jerusalem. Intermarriage with European crusading families was common, and European religious, political, and cultural influence was strong. The royal court of Cilicia and the kingdom itself were reformed on Western models, and many French terms entered the Armenian language. Cilician Armenia also played an important role in the trade of the Venetians and Genoese with the East.
Enduring constant attacks by the Turks, Mongols, Egyptians and Byzantines, Cilician Armenia survived for three centuries and fell to Egyptian Mameluks in 1375. The last Armenian king of Cilicia, Levon VI Lousinian, emigrated to France, where his grave still can be seen in the St. Denis Cathedral of Paris. The title "King of Armenia" passed to the kings of Cyprus, thence to the Venetians, and was later claimed by the house of Savoy.
Armenia under turkish rule
After the fall of the Cilician Armenia, the historical Armenian homeland, or Greater Armenia, was subject to various Muslim warlords, and eventually was divided between the Ottoman Empire (Western Armenia) and Persia (Eastern Armenia). Several Armenian principalities managed to preserve their independence or autonomy. The most significant among those was the Federation of Khamsa in Artsakh (today's Nagorno-Karabakh), which consisted of five allied principalities. De facto independent Armenian principalities existed also in the regions of Sasun and Zeytun in Western Armenia.
Being for centuries at the edge of physical annihilation, Armenians nevertheless managed to preserve and develop their national, religious and cultural identity. Apart from architecture, Armenians successfully manifested themselves in literature, painting, sculpture and music. Armenians were the 10th nation in the world to put their language in print.
Armenian Question
In 1828 the Russian Empire captured Eastern Armenia from Persia. Contact with liberal thought in Russia and Western Europe was a factor in the Armenian cultural renaissance of the 19th century. In the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians initially benefited with the rest of the population from the measures of reform known as the Tanzimat, and in 1863 a special Armenian constitution was recognized by the Ottoman government. These liberties were however unknown outside Constantinople, and the condition of Armenians in Anatolia was unbearable. A so-called "Armenia Question" emerged in the relations between the Ottoman Empire - "the sick man of Europe" - and European superpowers. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, in which Eastern Armenians had taken part, Russia insisted in the Treaty of San Stefano that reforms be carried out among the sultan's Armenian subjects and that their protection against the Kurds be guaranteed. This demand was softened at the Congress of Berlin, but the "Armenian Question" remained a factor in international politics, with Great Britain taking on the role of Turkey's protector until the end of the century.
Having lost most of its territory in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire was afraid of losing Western Armenia as well, which would mean the end of the Ottoman dream of creating a pan-Turkic empire, stretching from Balkans to the Yellow Sea. A new state policy was formed, aiming at the final resolution of the "Armenian Question" through total annihilation of Armenians in their historic homeland of 3500 years. During the reign of sultan Abdulhamid Armenian massacres became a common phenomenon. In 1895, after Abdulhamid had felt compelled to promise Britain, France, and Russia that he would carry out reforms, large-scale systematic massacres took place in the Armenian provinces. In 1896 more massacres broke out in the capital and in Cilicia.
Armenian Genocide
After coming to power in Constantinople, the Young Turks made the policy of "No Armenians - no Armenian Question" their main priority. Taking advantage of the favourable political conditions created by the World War I, they began the "final resolution of the Armenian question" on April 24th, 1915, by executing hundreds of Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople without trial. In Armenian provinces of Eastern Anatolia all Armenian males aged 15-62 have been conscripted, disarmed and executed. Defenceless Armenian women, children and the elderly were deported to the Syrian desert Der-el-Zor; most of them were brutally murdered on the way by Turkish soldiers or Kurdish nomads, or died of starvation and exhaustion. More than one and half million Armenians, i.e. 80% of the Armenian population of Western Armenia, perished in this first Genocide of the twentieth century. Several hundred thousand survivors of the Genocide found refuge in neighbouring counties, laying the foundation of the worldwide Armenian Diaspora. By the year 1923 Western Armenia was completely de-Armenized, and successfully incorporated into the newly formed Turkish Republic.
Nagorno-Karabakh movement
The 71 years of Soviet rule in Armenia were a period of relative security, of great economic development, and of cultural and educational achievements. But during the same period the government of Soviet Azerbaijan was conducting a systematic policy of removing the Armenians from Nakhidjevan, which today has no Armenian population whatsoever. The same policy was less effective in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenians remained the overwhelming majority. In February 1988 a peaceful, democratic movement for the reunification with Armenia began in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the regional Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region adopted a resolution seeking transfer of Karabakh from Azerbaijan to Armenia, as a realization of the right of the peoples under alien domination to self-determination. The Azeri side responded by Armenian massacres in the Azeri cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku, transforming the peaceful movement into a violent conflict, and lately committing an act of military aggression against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. The newly proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh managed to defeat the invading Azeri forces and to create a security zone around its territory and a humanitarian corridor to Armenia. The negotiations on the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh are being conducted within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, through so-called Minsk Group, co-chaired by USA, Russian Federation and France.
Restoration of Independent Armenia
Armenia restored its full independence on September 21, 1991, and became a member of the United Nations on March 2, 1992. On January 25, 2001, Armenia also became a member of the Council of Europe.
Avedian, Vahagn, The Armenian Genocide 1915: From a Neutral Small State’s Perspective, Uppsala, 2008
The aim of this study is to find out how the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Turkey during World War I were perceived by a neutral small state, namely Sweden, what options did Sweden have to take, what the response was and why. The Swedish reaction should be of special interest since, Sweden, as a neutral state during the entire conflict, had no immediate involvement or interest in the ongoing conflict, thus, any subsequent reaction to the massacres would have been from a humanitarian perspective. The overall issue to be addressed is what a small neutral state such as Sweden was capable of doing when faced with a humanitarian crisis during wartime, how did they choose to react, and how can this reaction be explained. In order to answer this issue one must first chart 1) the amount of information in regard to the Armenian massacres and their nature available to the Swedish governmental and non-governmental actors 2) what kind of a response this information resulted in? 3) how can that reaction be explained and does it correlate with the response needed to cope with similar issues?
However, surveying the full amount of information needed for understanding and analysing the response to the massacres in order to exhaustively answer the central issue is beyond the scope of a master thesis paper and requires a larger study. Thus, this paper attends to the first part, namely charting the information at hand, while the analysis of the response, especially a neutral small state’s during an ongoing global conflict will be left for future studies. Through studying published news articles, books, and brochures authored by Swedish and other missionaries and field workers and reports from the Swedish Diplomatic and Military missions in Ottoman Turkey, this paper has attempted to clarify the amount and the nature of the information about the WWI massacres in the Ottoman Empire. Essential for such study, besides the theory regarding humanitarian intervention, is the theory stipulating that the behaviour of small states, such as Sweden, differs from that of major powers in the international relations. While major powers rely on their financial resources and strength as forcible means, small states tend to advocate a foreign policy which is of brief duration, more local and inclined to support international cooperation organisations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations.
The surveyed information in this study shows that the amount of information about the Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey were replete. Although the studied material does not cover the full scope of the required data needed to complete the study, this paper will show that the Swedish Foreign Ministry and Government was fully aware of the ongoing annihilation of the Armenian Nation and the need of a humanitarian intervention.
“But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands…ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost…” Acts 7:47-48
“…seeing that he is Lord o heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” Acts 17:24
“…be not ye called Rabbi…and call no man your father upon the earth…Neither be ye called masters.” Mat 23:8-10
Religion: The World has 2 Religions: Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil “Gnosticism”. Gnosticism is Salvation through “Knowledge”; the Serpent promises “Freedom” and “Liberty” from God. Science: Scire “To Know” is the most corrupt religion.
Jesus Christ is the only “Reverend” (ref Ps 111:9), only “Priest” (Heb 5:10 “Melchisedek”), only “Father” (Mat 23:9) and only “Rabbi” (Teacher; Mat 23:7) in the New Covenant.
Catholic means “Universal”; Vatican means Vatis=Divine; Can=Serpent Priest; Roman means Romani “Gypsy”. The Vatican is controlled by Jesuits and Hospitaller Knights (SMOM aka Knights of St John of Jerusalem) Mark 16:8 is the last verse in in the Roman Catholic Bible (Vaticinus) “for they were afraid”; the New Covenant based on redemption through the Holy Ghost is described in Mark 16:9-20 “the Lord working with them, and confirming the with signs following. Amen.” Fear is not part of the New Covenant!
Protestant, Orthodox, Roman Catholic religion has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. The Alternative Christ will come in his own name (Mahdi, Buddha, Maitreya, Krishna) and the Great Tribulation will begin.
Judaism is not Kaballah, Talmud or Zohar. Israel and Judah were physically replaced by Foreigners (2 Kings 17:30); the 7 branched candlestick was replaced with the 9 branched Hanukkah (Hanok=Cain’s descendant Enoch) Menorah. God’s ordained Levite priesthood was replaced by Samaritan Kohanim and Old Testament Judaism with Talmudism and Kaballah.
Jesus Christ is the Holy Ghost; ask Him for the Holy Ghost and your your body becomes the New Covenant Temple, something “Templars” and “Zionists” can never understand.
Missionary and Sermon are not in the Word of God. Synagogue is not a word associated with the Old “Jewish” Covenant (Ps 74:8); by Solomon’s Day all of them had been “burned up”. Congregation is not associated with the New Covenant (Acts 13:43); Paul waited for the Congregation to break-up, admonishing members to “continue in the Grace of the Lord”; he was “Stoned” for it.
Salvation is not a team sport; it is individual accountability to the Creator of the Universe. Sorry if this is too blunt, but all Religions are Gnostic. Science (Gnosis), Protestants (Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, Episcopal etc), Catholic (Roman, Liberal, Syrian), Jewish (Rabbis, Talmud, Kaballah are not Jewish in any sense), Orthodox (Russian, Coptic, Greek, Syrian), Muslim (Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabist, Sufi), Bahai, Hindu, Taoism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Unitarianism, New Age etc are merely Gnostic Religions; modern day Towers of Babel, reaching for but never getting through the impassable gulf between Heaven and Earth.
Of these, Science is the most Apostate by far. The Tower of Babel was not a physical tower; rather a vehicle for Gnostic Wisdom (“Slime” does not hold “Bricks” together)disseminated in Secret Societies and their Initiation rituals. After the Flood, God separated Man (Ur “Babylon” was the Sumerian version of the UN URI “United Religion Inititative”) by water in Peleg’s day (Gen 10:25); Science aims to put them back together under Satanic “Dominion”. The United Nations is the modern day Tower of Babel; in the UN Meditation Room (11ft X 18 ft X 33ft with 11 empty chairs in the back) is a 13,000lb “Lodestone” block illuminated by a single shaft of light. Lodestone is one of 2 natural magnets, it’s name means “Leading, Course Stone”; it’s Creation in Earth provides protection from the Sun by the Magnetic Field and also creates a Virtual Prison for Man; yes NASA knows this. Neither Man nor Aliens (Aliens are Gnostic created lies) have ever nor will ever live to transit the Magnetic Field. The Magnetic Field provided the means for Gnostics to Navigate the Oceans “Water” using a Ferro-Magnetic Compass, create the Radio and TV, and today, Gnostics use this Free Energy to control Weather, Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions using Electro-Magnetic Radars (Broadcasting antennas) and the Earth’s “Ionosphere” (worldwide TV screen) to create Virtual Images “Project Blue Beam”. God loving/fearing people will likely lose the Physical War but are guaranteed to win the Spiritual War; the Holy Ghost is our only protection and there is only 1 source; Jesus Christ.
Satan is currently Prince of this World; at Rev 6:14; Dan 9:27 Satan will be given legal “Dominion” by Jesus Christ. Everyone here is exposed to a myriad of his lies mixed with partial truths. It is not Man’s position to judge anyone’s fitness for “Salvation”; that is God’s. Everyone who has ever lived has equal access to salvation through the Holy Ghost and all will be judged at the end of life accordingly. Religions are “Towers of Babel”; once divided as Flood waters rose and now coming back together under the banner of a “One World Religion”. The original Tower of Babel was built of bricks (“Earth Dwellers” in Rev) held together with slime (organic mortar is deceased persons); it is no different today. Cathedrals, Mosques and Churches are those Towers. Babylon’s Priests are everywhere and their goal is to “Divide and Conquer”; this is Nicolaitane Doctrine; Rev 2:6;15 and God (Jesus) hates this elevation of clergy over laity.
The Apostle Paul warned people not to drift away from the simplicity that is in Christ. Christianity is merely believing Jesus is God in the flesh and having a Born Again relationship with Him through the Holy Ghost. This section will illustrate that man-made religion usurps Jesus’ authority, His eternal priesthood as Melchisedek, His divinity, and His 1 baptism with the Holy Ghost. There are 2 Commandments in the Age of Grace (Pentecost to 2nd Coming) Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. Killing another human being or seeking revenge is not Authorized by God or His Word for any reason.
False religion usually falls into 2 errors: Amillennialism; Denying the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth before the Spirit of God returns as it was in the beginning, and Limited Atonement (God shed His blood on the Cross for His elect only). Wars are the usual result and vast sums of money are made equiping both sides. The love of money is the root of all evil, and the perpetrators of evil are as Micah told us “A man’s enemies are the men of his own house” Mic 7:6 and as Jesus said “And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” Mat 10:36
Jewish religion ended at the Crucifixion. Amos 7:2-3;5-6 KJV clearly says God repents but will not raise Israel up; compare this verse in new bible versions and you will find the root of modern day Israel. There is no Salvation absent a Born Again relationship with the LORD through Jesus Christ (God in flesh and the Holy Ghost).
No Man is ever born as a Born Again Christian; you must ask Jesus for that. Religion is big business which makes money reselling knowledge that is free from God; try explaining that one to God when you die!
Loving one’s neighbor does not mean killing him for acts you believe he may have committed. James said pure undefiled religion before God is “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction” Jas 1:27 This is everyone not Married to the Lamb; Jesus Christ. Before trying to justify killing, remember Jesus said “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mat 10:28
¤ In the time of your life, live — so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart. Be the inferior of no man, nor of any man be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of your life, live — so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.
¤ Wars, for us, are either inevitable, or created. Whatever they are, they should not wholly vitiate art. What art needs is greater men, and what politics needs is better men.
¤ The loneliness you feel has come to you because you are no longer a child. But the whole world has always been full of that loneliness. The loneliness does not come from the War. The War did not make it. It was the loneliness that made the War. ¤ You must remember always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even. You must be extravagant. You must give to all who come into your life. Then nothing and no one shall have power to cheat you of anything, for if you give to a thief, he cannot steal from you, and he himself is then no longer a thief. And the more you give, the more you will have to give.
¤ There's a pretty woman for ever lucky man in the world: every man in the world is a lucky man if he only knew it, so why waste time?
¤ Somewhere among every man's ancestors is a prince or a lord, a priest or a saint, and don't forget it. Wake up! Inherit the wealth of your ancestors!.. Stop living like a mouse, live like the rich people do.
¤ Nobody seemed to be interested in anything except making money.
¤ I have always been a Laugher, disturbing people who are not laughers, upsetting whole audiences at theatres... I laugh, that's all. I love to laugh. Laugher to me is being alive. I have had rotten times, and I have laughed through them. Even in the midst of the very worst times I have laughed.
¤ I did my best, and let me urge you to do your best, too. Isn't it the least we can do for one another?
¤ Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.
¤ The child race is fresh, eager, interested, innocent, imaginative, healthy and full of faith, where the adult race, more often than not, is stale, spiritually debauched, unimaginative, unhealthy, and without faith.
¤ It's all over. We can begin to forget Armenia now. Andranik is dead. The nation is lost. I'm no Armenian. I'm an American. Well, the truth is I am both and neither. I love Armenia and I love America and I belong to both, but I am only this: an inhabitant of the earth, and so are you, whoever you are. I tried to forget Armenia but I couldn't do it.
¤ "I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia."
¤ There is a small area of land in Asia Minor that is called Armenia, but it is not so. It is not Armenia. It is a place. There are only Armenians, and they inhabit the earth, not Armenia, since there is no Armenia. There is no America and there is no England, and no France, and no Italy. There is only the earth.
¤ Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good as someone else.
¤ If I have any desire at all, it is to show the brotherhood of man.
¤ It is impossible not to notice that our world is tormented by failure, hate, guilt, and fear.
William Saroyan was an internationally renowned Armenian-American writer, playwright and humanitarian. His fame, and his most enduring achievements as a writer, date from the 1930's. He dazzled, entertained and uplifted millions, with hundreds of short stories, plays, novels, memoirs and essays; they continue to charm and touch us today.
Saroyan's talent was first projected to the world through an Armenian-English newspaper, Hairenik of Boston. In 1934, at the age of 26, with the publication of his first book The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, William Saroyan became an overnight literary sensation. His first successful Broadway play was My Heart's in the Highlands, in 1939, and in the same year, Saroyan was the first American writer to win both The Drama Critic's Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, for his play, The Time of Your Life. He refused to accept the Pulitzer Prize on the grounds that, "Commerce should not patronize art...," and he added, "it is no more great or good than anything else I have written."
Saroyan is unique among writers. He acknowledged the Armenian culture as an important source of literary inspiration, especially notable in the book-of-the-month choice, My Name Is Aram, in 1940. Another book-of-the-month choice, The Human Comedy, published in 1943, was dedicated to his mother and made into an MGM movie which won him an Academy Award Oscar, for Best Writing Original Screen Story.
In February 1943, 35 year old William Saroyan and 18 year old New York debutante, Carol Marcus, married in Dayton, Ohio. They were blessed with two children: Aram, born in 1944, and Lucy, born in 1946. Their first marriage ended after six years. Two years later, in 1951, Saroyan's remarriage to the same wife ended in divorce for the second and final time.
William Saroyan achieved great popularity through the thirties, forties and fifties. During his lifetime, he published over sixty books. His works have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have sold millions. To fully enjoy Saroyan, either in prose or on the stage, you have to be "with" him. This may require effort, but once you are with him, he can take you places you have never been before.
Saroyan writes humanely and powerfully, with restless enthusiasm. His major themes are aspiration, hope and honesty; materialism and success mean nothing. His works show the basic goodness of all people, especially the obscure and naive and the value of life. He once observed that he needed to write, "Because I hate to believe that I'm sick or half dead, because I want to get better; because writing is my therapy." In the last book published during his lifetime, Obituaries, he wrote: "My work is writing, but my real work is being."
Saroyan spoke for Armenians to the world. He gave international recognition to his people at a time when they remained dispersed and continued to meet with prejudice and outright hatred. Through his work, he brought more public understanding to the culture and the quality of the Armenian people, than any other person in Armenian history. By international standards, Saroyan is the most famous literary figure produced by his ancient people.
William Stonehill Saroyan was born in Fresno, California, on Monday, August 31, 1908. He was the 4th child of Armenian immigrants, Armenak Saroyan, preacher and poet, and his wife Takoohie, of Bitlis. On Monday, May 18, 1981, William Saroyan died of prostate cancer at the age of 72, about a mile from where he was born. "Everybody has got to die," he said, "but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?"
William Saroyan died, an artistic era ended. He loved America, but he could not forget Armenia. Saroyan wanted his heart in the Armenian highlands. A year after his death, half of his cremated remains were permanently enshrined in the Pantheon of Greats in Yerevan, Armenia, and the other half was buried later, in the Ararat cemetery in Fresno, California.
On May 22, 1991, William Saroyan was the first and only individual to be jointly honored by the USA/USSR Postal Services, on their Commemorative Stamps, as a symbol of the friendship between the two superpowers. First-day-issue ceremonies took place simultaneously in Fresno, California, and in Yerevan, Armenia.
The number of unpublished manuscripts left by William Saroyan, surpasses the massive bibliography of his published works. Since his death, from 1981 to 2003, 23 books have been published about his life and works.
For two hundred years after the fall of the Arshakuni dynasty of Armeniaº in 428, the country was governed by Marzbans (Governors-general of the boundaries), nominated by the Persian King. Of the thirty-five Marzbans who ruled in succession, six were Armenians. Western or Byzantine Armenia was at that time ruled by Curopalatesº (Governors), almost all Armenians by race, but with limited prerogatives.
The Marzban was invested with supreme power, even to the imposing of death sentences; but he could not interfere with the age-long privileges of the Armenian nakharars. The country as a whole, enjoyed a considerable autonomy. The office of Hazarapet, corresponding to that of a Minister of the Interior and Public Works, was entrusted to an Armenian, as was also the post of military Commander-in‑chief. Each nakharar had his own army, according to the extent of his domain. The "National cavalry" or "Royal force" was under the Commander-in‑chief. The tax collectors were all Armenians. The courts of justice and the schools were directed by the Armenian clergy.
Three times during the Marzbanic period, Persian kings launched persecutions against Christianity in Armenia. The Persians had tolerated the invention of the Armenian alphabet and the founding of schools, thinking those would promote the spiritual severance of Armenia from the Byzantine Greeks; but on the contrary, the new cultural movement among the Armenians actually proved to be conducive to a closer relation with the Greeks.
Intolerance under Yazdegert II
The internal policy of Sassanid Persia had now taken on an intolerant attitude in the matter of religion. All the races living within the Iranian Empire henceforth must, in conformity with Mazdeian tenets, worship the sun and fire. King Yazdegert II (438‑457), was a mixture of contrasting emotions. In the words of Yeghisheh, "One day a ferocious bull" or "an enraged lion" or "a furious tempest," on another day a man of "sweet disposition . . . who would humble himself from a haughty arrogance." He considered himself the first servant of Ormuzd (Ahura-Mazda), through whose grace he would crush the Graeco-Roman power, revive the empire of Cyrus and place all Asia under the influence of Iran. Repudiating the Hundred Years' Treaty of 420, Yazdegert invaded the Byzantine territories of Mesopotamia, destroyed cities, burned churches and seized captives. The Emperor Theodosius II, unable to take the field, concluded a humiliating peace in 441, which, among other terms, stipulated that those Persian Christians who had taken refuge in the Byzantine domain must be surrendered.
The triumphant Iranian then turned his attention to Central Asia, marching against the Kushans or Hephtalites, a hardy people of Medean origin, ruled by Arshakid princes, descendants of Darius the Great. Their country embraced modern Bukhara and Pahl, and they had fought successfully against Persia. After seven years of hostilities (442‑448), Yazdegert, at the head of a formidable army, inflicted a severe defeat on the Kushans, at Marvroud, near the River Murghab, where the Armenian cavalry became noted for its valor.
Derbend Gates
The reconstruction of the Derbend Gates had already been accomplished before the Kushan War. The road is between the Caucasian Mountains and the Caspian Sea, in flat country, which offered an easy way for incursions into northern Persia by the Mazkouts or Black Huns, a nomadic tribe ruled by princes and claimedº Arshakid descent. Acting under the suspicion that the Armenians might, in an attempt to revolt against him, get assistance from the Mazkouts, Yazdegert rebuilt a great wall called the Jora Bahag or Gate of Jor-Derbend by the Armenians.
Yazdegert's persecutions
He then unleashed a religious persecution. In his opinion, a model king, who adhered to the true faith and laws of Zradasht (Zoroaster), must devote his life to the glory of Mazdeism, by abolishing false creeds and bringing their followers into the true path of God. Speaking to the Armenian nakharars, whom he had summoned to Ctesiphon, he said, "I look upon you as herds of animals scattered through a wilderness. It gives me deep grief to think that God may be angered at me and be revengeful on your account." He of course did not admit that he was prompted also by political considerations. His vast empire was inhabited by many peoples with different religions and languages. Some of them were of Aryan stock, others non-Aryan or Touranian. Several of these peoples, such as the Armenians and Caucasians, were looking to the Emperor of Byzantium for aid at the opportune time for revolt.
Mihr-Nerseh advises moderation
In his desire to achieve his political purposes, Yazdegert called in Mihr-Nerseh, an elderly retired official, a military, diplomatic and administrative genius. He advised peaceful means rather than force in the effort to absorb Armenia. "You know," said he to his King, "how extensive and valuable Armenia is. But that country is also a neighbor of the Roman Caesar, whose tenets and worship she has adopted. If we succeed in bringing her people to our own laws, then they will love you and the Aryan world. And when the Armenians come nearer to us, we shall certainly win the Georgians and the Aghouans (Caspio-Albanians), too."
The role of Vassak
The rapprochementº policy seems to have found a supreme Armenian advocate in the person of Vassak, the Marzban, the powerful nakharar of Sewniq, the mountainous province bordering on the Persian frontier. While a youth of fifteen, he had been sent, in accordance with the Oriental custom, to the Persian capital as a hostage. After his coming of age and returning home to inherit his father's realm, he evinced brilliant qualities. The bishop-historian Koriun speaks of him as "the brave Sissakan, sagacious, ingenious and foresighted through God-given grace." This worthy grandson of the fearless nakharar Andok had effectively sponsored Mesrop's educational efforts. But his later conduct marred his early reputation. Upon the downfall of the Arshakuni dynasty, Vassak developed a burning aspiration for royal distinction, through the restoration of the kingdom. In the early stages of the politico-religious crisis, he artfully worked in harmony with the nationalist group; but when the hour of final test arrived, he became the head of the pro-Persian party, in opposition to the pro-Roman element. This party included chiefs of prominent aristocratic families, such as the Mamikonian brothers — Vardan, Hmayak and Hamazasp; Arshavir Kamsarakan, the Lord of the Arsharuni and Shirak districts; Ardak the great Ishkhan (prince) of the province of Moks, Vahan Amatuni; Nershapuh Ardzruni; Tatoul Vanandatsi; Arsen Endzayetsi. Among the motives of the chiefs in league with Vassak — "the renegades," as they are called by the historians, Parbets and Yeghisheh — was their grudge against the clergy who had been preaching the gospel of human brotherhood and the protection of the peasant and laborer against exploitation by the feudal masters of the land.
Restrictions tighten
Den-Shapuh, the Persian High Commissioner, concealed the iron hand in the velvet glove. His lavish entertainment of the aristocratic families and cultivation of social relations between them and the Persian residents, with a view to implanting in the country such alluring customs and ways of life as were prohibited by the Christian church, contrast sharply with his political and economic repression of the people. After completing a census and land registry of the country, he imposed oppressive taxes on property and persons. He then replaced Vahan Amatuni, the "nation's father" and Hazarapet, with a Persian, and conferred upon a Mazdeian magian (priest) the post and dignity of chief justice.
These measures did not bring results quickly enough, so Mihr-Narseh, "Grand Vizier and Commander-in‑Chief of Eran and An-Eran," promulgated an edict, enjoining upon the Armenians the advisability of "giving up the erroneous and foolish ways of the Romans, thus depriving themselves of the benefits of the Persian perfect religion." He exhorted the Armenians to remain no longer astray, deaf and blind, but to study and adopt the doctrines of Zardusht.
Council of Artashat
A general assembly was held in Artashat in 449, to discuss this edict and ponder an answer. The meeting was presided over by the Katholikos Hovsep, and attended by seventeen bishops, eighteen major nakharars of both parties, many noblemen, chor-episcoposes (suffragans), monks of high rank and noblemen priests, whose spokesman was Ghevond Yeretz (Priest).
Courageous answer
The answer of the Council to the Vizier, though respectful in tone, was a categorical refusal. The lengthy missive, as quoted by Yeghisheh, may not be a verbatim copy, but it throws much light on the sentiment and temper of the leaders of the nation at that critical moment. The following lines epitomize their carefully reasoned decision:
"From this belief no one can move us, neither angels nor men; neither fire nor sword, nor water, nor any other horrid tortures. All our goods and our possessions, are in your hands, our bodies are before you; dispose of them as you will.
"If you leave us to our belief, we will here, on earth choose no other lord in your place, and in heaven choose no other God in place of Jesus Christ, for there is no other God but him. But should you require anything beyond this great testimony, here we are; our bodies are in your hands, do with them as you please. Tortures from you, submission from us; the sword is yours, and here are our necks.
"We are no better than our forefathers, who, for the sake of this faith surrendered their goods, their possessions and their bodies. Were we even immortal, it would become us to die for the love of Christ. . . . We should die as mortals, that He may accept our death as that of immortals."
Yazdegert summons Nobles
The King of Kings, when informed of this rejection, flew into a rage and sent an order for the chief dignitaries to appear before him in Ctesiphon. They came, fifteen in number, headed by Vassak Sewny and Vardan Mamikonian. Their arrival was not heralded with military honors, as was the usual custom. Before receiving them in audience, Yazdegert had sworn "by the great Sun God, that if tomorrow morning, at the rise of the magnificent one (the sun), the nakharars would not kneel before it with him, and acknowledge it as god, they would be imprisoned and chained, their wives and children exiled into distant lands, and the imperial troops and herds of elephants would be sent to Armenia to demolish their churches and shrines."
Nakharars' submission
The nakharars, after their dismissal from the awesome presence of the great monarch, spent the whole night in discussing their dilemma, and finally agreed among themselves to make a pretence of yielding, for the sake of their homes and families. So on the next day, escorting the King of Kings, they went to the "House of Ashes" and knelt as in adoration of the rising sun, in accordance with the Mazdean rites. Yazdegert, in great joy, heaped honors and gifts upon them and called them "his beloved ones and friends."
The Magian propagandists
In pompous array, the nakharars were sent off to Armenia accompanied by 700 Magi, who, within twelve months from the Armenian New Year's Day in Navassard (August) were to convert the entire country to Mazdeism. They were required, so Yeghisheh, to lock and seal the doors of the holy churches; to deliver to the imperial treasury all the sacred symbols, vessels and ornaments; to prohibit teaching by Christian priests; to educate in public the wives of nakharars and the sons and daughters of noblemen and people in accordance with the Magian doctrine; to force the monks and nuns to wear lay costume; to suppress marriage laws and establish polygamy, to let daughters marry their fathers, sisters their brothers, grandchildren their grandparents; to have edible animals slaughtered after being sacrificed to the gods; to keep rubbish and cow-dung away from fire; to forbid the killing of certain animals but to destroy reptiles and vermin; to wash their hands with cow's urine, so that water might not be defiled.
Peasants drive off Magians
Fantastic laws and indecent practices such as these above were to be forced upon a people which had inherited and developed a civilization of its own, and for 150 years or more had officially adopted Christianity. But the Persian experiment proved unworkable. Scarcely had the strange cavalcade crossed the frontier at the village of Anghel (Anggh), 120 parasangs east of Douin, in July, 449, when a horde of peasants, armed with clubs and slings and led by a fiery priest, Ghevond, assailed and put the trespassers to feeling — an ominous rumble of a coming storm.
Vardan Mamikonian
The great nakharars, most of them ashamed of their sham apostasy, avoided appearance in public, and stole away to their respective homes. The few among them who, for selfish considerations or in honest conviction, were still in favor of compromise with Persia feared to speak out. Even Vassak was in perplexity. Despite his being the wealthiest man and holding the highest position in Armenia, he was suffering from intense mental agony. His two sons were hostages at the court of Ctesiphon; his son-in‑law, Varazvaghan, an open renegade, ever busy in intrigues against his father-in‑law, had fled to the Persian capital. Moreover, Vassak realized that his promises to the King of Kings were doomed to failure. He had been warned by the chief Magi himselfº that "Though our gods themselves were to come to our assistance, it would still be impossible for Magian doctrines to gain a footing in Armenia. Who can withstand men like these, who are neither afraid of chains, nor frightened by tortures, nor allured by wealth?"
Armenians gird for action
This pronouncement of a foreign functionary of deep learning and eminent position was truth, indeed. The Bible and the works of the Church Fathers, translated into Armenian between 422 and 432, followed by the teachings and preachings of two groups of young men, one hundred strong, almost all graduates from foreign seats of learning, had permeated the soul of the nation with a fervent zeal for Christianity. Men and even women, "armed and helmeted, sword in belt and shield in hand," were ready to accept the challenge, to fight and die for freedom of faith and conscience. The had implicit confidence in Vardan, too, who was destined to be their leader. He was the son of Sparapet (General) Hamazasp Mamikonian, and of Sahakanoush, the daughter of the Katholikos Sahak Partev, a descendant of Gregory the Illuminator. It was the tradition of the House of Mamikonian "to serve the Godly Homeland and to die for it." Theodosius II, the Byzantine Emperor, and Vram, the Persian King, had conferred the rank of General upon Vardan. He had visited Constantinople on diplomatic missions. As a soldier, with a record of service in forty engagements, he had led the Armenian contingents of the Iranian army and won laurels in campaign of Khorassan (modern Turkestan).
Vardan departs
Upon his return from Ctesiphon, the disunity among his countrymen threw him into such deep despair that he set out with the members of his family for Byzantine Armenia, where he hoped to live unmolested by the missionaries of Mazdeism. The Nationalist party, however, hurriedly sent a delegation to entreat him to reconsider his resolve. Even his political opponents, including Vassak, joined in the appeal, and the pressure became so strong that he yielded and returned. At the General Assembly which thereupon convened, he exhorted the leaders to cease dissimulation and stand bravely for Church and Country. All present came under the spell of his personality.
Vassak, who was in friendly contact with Persian headquarters, was now surrounded by a Nationalist force and declared himself on oath as a defender of the Faith. Posthaste, messengers soliciting aid had been dispatched to the great satraps of the border provinces, to the Byzantine Governor-General, and to the new Emperor.
Vardan's early successes
Alarmed by news of these appeals and preparations, the Persian high command had rushed an army to Trans-Caucasia. The Armenian army was thereupon divided into three parts. The first one, under Nershapuh, was sent to oppose the invaders from the North; the second, under Vassak, was stationed in Sewniq for flanking movements, while the third, under Vardan, undertook the defense of Caucasian Albania. The campaign was crowned with brilliant success. After scattering the forces of the common enemy, Vardan hurled his cavalry still farther north and razed Yazdegert's boasted barrier, the Gate of Jor. An alliance between the Armenians and the larger Caucasian tribes was then concluded.
No help from the Empire
But this bright course of victory did not continue long. The Armenian delegation to the Byzantine Court met bitter disappointment in its hope of aid. Attila, King of the Huns, one of the barbaric tribes who overthrew ancient civilizations in the early centuries A.D., then ruled over a conquered territory stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Rhine, and even threatened Constantinople, where the Emperor drained his meager treasury to purchase peace of the barbarian. Not until Attila's sudden death in 453 was the pressure relieved. But as long as "the Scourge of God" menaced the very gates of his Capital, no Byzantine Emperor dared irritate that other great enemy, the King of Persia.
Vassak's treachery
Nor was there any effective aid in sight for Armenia from other quarters. Finding the situation precarious and taking advantage of the absence of two Nationalist armies, Vassak and his followers threw off their pretense of patriotism, and openly stood against the uprising. A state of civil war ensued, in which Vassak seized key positions in the Ararat province and committed many acts of vengeance, including the destruction of churches, imprisonment of priests and arrest of boys from the Mamikonian and Kamsarakan nobility, to be sent to the Persian capital as hostages.
In the autumn of 450 Vardan hurried home, traveling more than 400 miles in thirty days, an almost incredible speed in that era. The renegade armed forces had fled into the well-nigh inaccessible heights of the Sewniq Mountains, which Vardan soon blockaded. Hoping to avoid further bloodshed, however, he sent a last appeal to the Persian King, assuring him of Armenian loyalty, if only religious freedom remained untouched. Yazdegert, who had just returned from a disastrous expedition against the Kushans, responded favorably, declaring a general amnesty for political offenders, and religious freedom for his Armenian subjects. The renegade party was loud in its expressions of joy and gratitude to the King, but the Nationalists still doubted the sincerity of the Crown, the Marzban and his Persian advisers. Hostilities inevitably broke out soon; in the spring of 451 the enemy forces under the Grand Vizier Mihr-Nerseh crossed the Arax River, and pushing northward to the Caucasus defiles, held the gates through which the tribal allies of the Armenians were expected to hasten in aid.
Armenian crisis
Isolated, deprived of any assistance from outside, even divided among themselves, the Armenians now faced the greatest crisis they had yet encountered. The Persian King had been assured of the absolute neutrality of the Byzantine government, while Vassak was not only acting as an adviser to the Persian commander, but was in correspondence with the allied nations of the Caucasus and the powerful princes of border provinces, subtly trying to discredit the Nationalist movement. Vardan and his colleagues fully realized the gravity of the situation; but with the very existence of the Armenian nation at stake, they accepted the challenge for a cause which they held as sacred.
On Easter Day, April 13th, 451, the Persian army arrived in Her and Zarevand (modern Khoy and Salmasd, Persia), and laid out a camp, defended with bastions, moats and towers. After a review of his army in the plain of Ararat, Vardan sent out a detachment of 2,000 cavalrymen to reconnoiter the enemy's position and forces. These scouts fell into a brush with the Persian rear guard, annihilated it and returned exultant to their own camp. Resolved to meet the foe on the frontier, so that the fertile fields and valleys of the country might be saved from devastation, Vardan near the end of April rushed his army 120 miles in five days, to the vicinity of Artaz.
The Armies confront each other
The Armenian forces were camped in a vast plain between Artaz and the districts of Her and Zaravand, known also as Shavarshakan plain (the modern Maku, Persia), near the village of Avarair. The rivulet Deghmoud, a tributary of the Arax, separated the two opposing hosts. The Armenian army, comprising 66,000 cavalry and infantry, recruited from among the standing forces of the nakharars, plus civilian volunteers, was accompanied by a considerable number of the clergy, who conducted services and encouraged the soldiers. The army was divided into four wings. The first, the right, was entrusted to Khoren, Prince of the Khorkhuruni clan, aided by Arsen Endzayetsi and Nerseh Qatchberuni. The center was given to the command of Nershapuh Ardzruni, aided by Mirhshapuh the Mardpet and by Prince Artak of Moks; the left wing was under the Generalissimo himself, aided by his brother-in‑law, Arshavir Kamsarakan, Papak Araveghian, Tatoul Vanandatsi and Tajat Gnduni. A fourth division, the reserves, was under the command of Hamazaspian, brother of Vardan. The army included archers, spearmen and swordsmen, all on foot, but its main strength was in its light and heavy cavalry, all armor-clad. Vardan, who had organized and drilled them, also supplied equipment to all who needed it.
The Persian Army
The Persian army numbered 300,000 men, 40,000 of whom were Armenians — the regiments of Vassak and his followers. In addition to the Persian elements, the enemy force included contingents from various Caucasian, Caspian and central Asian territories. The center was held by the division of the Madyan or "Immortals" — 10,000 horsemen under Mushkan Nusalavurd, the Commander-in‑chief. A herd of trained elephants, each carrying an iron tower full of bowmen, was another menace. The rear guard was reinforced by a column of elephants, on one of which, in a barbed tower, the Commandant sat, viewing the entire battlefield and directing movements.
On May 26th, 451, the Aryan division of Mushkan Nusalavurd and the Armenians of Vardan Mamikonian faced each other in battle array. The Eve of the Feast of Pentecost, according to Yeghisheh, assumed the aspect of the religious rally. On one side of the battle line the Persian Commander-in‑chief reminded the apostate Armenian princes of the precious marks of honor to be given by the King of Kings to all those who would bravely face the errant Armenians, "whose valor they knew." On the other side, Vardan, who from childhood had been well versed in the Holy Scriptures, now read aloud the deeds of the Maccabees, who successfully fought against Antiochus in defense of their faith. Then Ghevond, the priest, delivered a discourse, after which all the catechumens in the army were baptized and received the Holy Eucharist. The whole army rejoiced, crying out, "May God look down in mercy upon our voluntary self-offering, and may he not deliver the church into the hands of the heathens!"
The Battle of Avarair
To quote Yeghisheh,
"Both sides being thus prepared and seized with a mighty rage and burnt with a wild fury, rushed against each other. The loud cry on both sides sounded like the clash of clouds, and the thundering sound of the noises rocked the caverns of the mountains.
"The countless helmets and the shining armor of the warriors glowed like the rays of the sun. The flashing thousands of swords and the swaying of innumerable spears seemed like an awful fire being poured down from heaven.
"But who can describe the tremendous tumult caused by these frightful noises — the clangor of the shields and the snapping of the bow strings — which deafened everyone alike?
"One should have seen the turmoil of the great crisis and the immeasurable confusion on both sides, as they clashed with each other in reckless fury. The dull-minded became frenzied; the cowards deserted the field; the brave dashed forward courageously, and the valiant roared. In a solid mass the great multitude held the river; and the Persian troops sensing the danger, became restless in their places; but the Armenian cavalry crossed the river and fell upon them with a mighty force. They attacked each other fiercely and many on both sides fell wounded on the field, rolling in agony.
"Amid this great confusion the brave Vardan looked around to observe that a group of courageous and select Persian warriors had forced the left wing of the Armenian division to retreat. He immediately attacked with great vehemence, battered the right wing of the Persian army, and pushed the enemy back towards their beasts. Then he surrounded and slaughtered them. Thus he created such a great disorder that the troops of the Madyan Corps were dislodged from their prepared position and were put to flight without actually being defeated."
Vardan's martyrdom
"The Persian general Mushkan," continues Yeghisheh, "observing some scattered Armenians who had remained behind in the mountain vales, shouted encouragement to the soldiers of the Aryan army around him, who were holding a position against Vardan's troops. There on the battlefield consciousness of defeat came to both sides, because the piles of the fallen bodies were so thick that they looked like craggy masses of stone.
"Mushkan, seeing this, ordered Ardashir, who was seated on the wild beasts as if atop a lofty watch-tower or in a fortified city, to incite his troops with the loud sound of huge trumpets and he himself surrounded him (Vardan), with his vanguard. But the valiant Vardan with his brave warriors played no lesser havoc in that place, where he himself was found worthy of martyrdom.
"As the battle continued, the day drew to its close and the fighting ceased towards evening; many were in death's agony; and the bodies of the slain were so thickly heaped together that they looked like fallen trees in the forest. Broken spears and shattered bows were strewn all over and because of that the sacredº bodies of the blessed could not be fully identified; and there was a terrible panic and confusion over those who had fallen on both sides. The survivors were scattered over the hilltops and in more protected valleys; and whenever foe met foe they slew each other. The work of destruction continued without pause until sunset.
"And because the great Sparapet (General) of the Armenians had fallen in the battle there was no longer any chief around whom the remainder of the troops could rally. They became dispersed and threw themselves into strongholds of the country and occupied by force many regions and fortresses which no one could capture.
"And these are the names of the heroes who perished on that battlefield; the brave Vardan, the valiant Khoren Khorkhoruni; the daring Artak Baluni; the amazing Tajat Gntuni; the wise Hmayak Dimaksian; the wonderful Nerseh Qatchberuni; the youthful Vahan Gnuni; the just Arsen Endzayetsi; the progressive Garegin Servantsian.
"These 287 heroes and the nine distinguished nakharars perished there. Besides these 287 warriors, 740 others of the royal house, the house of Ardzruni and other nakharars inscribed their names in Book of Life on the day of that great battle. They numbered 1,036 altogether."
General Amnesty
On the side of the Persians, 3544 died, among whom were nine very distinguished men, by whose loss Mushkan was greatly disturbed. While he was thus sadly meditating, Vassak, who had hidden among the elephants, came to him and showed him stratagems whereby he might take the fortified castles. On the order of the King and on his own testimony and on that of the priests who were with him, Mushkan swore an oath, and sent forth messengers who announced that with the ceasing of the insurrection, the King had granted permission for the building of churches and for establishing all things as they were formerly. But though the King's order was in this instance truly followed, yet the people's confidence was not immediately restored, as the forces of both parties were broken, and the Armenians, through many former deceptions, had long been familiar with the treacherous nature of Vassak.
