The ceremony, which is believed to become the biggest canonisation service in history, came ahead of commemorations expected to see millions of people including heads of state on Friday mark 100 years since the start of the killings.
The service was being held in Armenia's main church, Echmiadzin, an austere fourth-century edifice said to be the Christian world's oldest cathedral, an AFP correspondent reported.
The ceremony outside the Armenian capital Yerevan was set to end at 7:15 pm (1515 GMT) to symbolise the year when the massacres started during World War I.
"Today's canonisation unites all Armenians living around the globe," Huri Avetikian, an ethnic Armenian librarian from Lebanon who arrived in her ancestral homeland to attend the service, told AFP.
"Souls of the victims of the genocide will finally find eternal repose today," said 68-years-old social worker Varduhi Shanakian. "Supreme justice will triumph," he said ahead of the ceremony.
After the ceremony led by Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, bells will chime in Armenian churches across the world and a minute of silence will be observed.
'Collective martyrdom'
In canonising the victims, "the Church only recognises what happened: that is, the genocide", Karekin II said ahead of the event which Christian Today, an online publication covering religious news, said could become "the biggest saint-making service in history".
"The Armenian Church will proclaim the collective martyrdom of those who were killed over their faith and their homeland," church spokesman Father Ter Vahran told AFP.
Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora worldwide have battled for decades to get the World War I massacres at the hands of the Ottoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recognised as a targeted genocide.
But modern Turkey -- the successor to the Ottoman Empire -- has refused to do so, and relations remain frozen to this day.
Ankara says 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil -- rather than religious -- strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.
In a rare interview with Turkish television broadcast Thursday, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian expressed hope that the two countries could mend fences.
"It is obvious that a reconciliation between the two peoples will have to come about through Turkey recognising the genocide," he told CNN-Turk.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands are expected to join a procession to a hilltop memorial in the Armenian capital Yerevan carrying candles and flowers to lay at the eternal flame at the centre of the monument commemorating the mass murder.
In Paris, Los Angeles and other cities, members of the Armenian diaspora that came into existence as a result of the slaughter will also hold commemorations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French counterpart Francois Hollande are expected to be among a handful of world leaders to travel to Armenia for the commemorations, but others are shying away for fear of upsetting Ankara.
"Russia's position was and remains consistent and objective: mass extermination on ethnic grounds cannot be justified," Putin said.
"The international community must do everything to prevent such heinous crimes from ever happening again."
Anger in Turkey
In the run-up to the ceremonies, Turkey kicked up a diplomatic storm, condemning growing "racism" in Europe.
On Wednesday Turkey recalled its ambassador to Vienna in protest at the Austrian parliament's decision to call the massacre "genocide."
Earlier this month Ankara also recalled its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis described the killings as "the first genocide of the 20th century."
More than 20 nations -- including France and Russia -- have so far recognised the Armenian genocide, a definition supported by numerous historians.
But the White House conspicuously avoids using the term.
Turkey on Friday will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Gallipoli, a day earlier than the actual start of fighting.
Sarkisian has accused Ankara of deliberately "trying to divert world attention" from the Yerevan commemorations.
(AFP)
france24.com
23/4/15
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- La chiesa dell'Armenia ha santificato le vittime del Genocidio
N. Lygeros
Traduzione: Lucia Santini
In
una delle più antiche chiese cristiane del mondo, nella città
Etchmiadzin, la Chiesa dell’Armenia ha santificato come martiri le
vittime del Genocidio.
Questo atto di innovazione da parte della Chiesa è un atto senza precedenti a causa della moltitudine dei martiri. La liturgia è stata celebrata dal Catholicos di tutti gli Armeni e dal Catholicos della Grande Casa di Cilicia e adoperarono quattordici cimeli. Parteciparono inoltre i rappresentanti dell’Inghilterra, dell’America e del Canada.
Con questo atto che non è solo un semplice gesto, la Chiesa dell’Armenia prende posizione e integra la questione del Genocidio degli Armeni su un piano religioso, assicurando in questo modo una vittoria contro l’oblio, facendo un passo in più verso la verità. Il messaggio cristiano non lascia nessun dubbio, si basa sullo schema mentale che tutti i genocidiati, non erano semplicemente vittime, ma erano vittime che non hanno cambiato la loro fede religiosa per proteggere la loro vita. Così fino all’ultimo sono rimasti Cristiani contro la barbarie che voleva divorarli.
L’Impero Ottomano, i neo-turchi e Kemal cercarono di annientare un popolo intero. Eppure cosa riuscirono a fare con questo Genocidio? Gli Armeni sono ancora qui e le loro vittime sono Sante. Il Papa aveva riconosciuto San Gregorio come Maestro della Chiesa ed ora la Chiesa dell’Armenia ha santificato le vittime. Questa procedura sul piano religioso apre la strada a tutte le chiese della Cristianità. Ed ora il Patriarcato Ecumenico può prendere una posizione sostanziale per la nostra storia.
http://www.lygeros.org/articles?n=19421&l=it
[Opus]
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Génocide arménien: le président allemand reconnaît la "coresponsabilité" de son pays ...
ReplyDeleteL'Allemagne, par la voix de son président Joachim Gauck, a reconnu jeudi soir pour la première fois le "génocide" arménien, soulignant la "coresponsabilité" allemande dans ce crime.
"Nous devons également, nous Allemands, faire notre travail de mémoire", a-t-il déclaré, évoquant "une coresponsabilité, et même, potentiellement, une complicité (de l'Allemagne) dans le génocide des Arméniens", lors d'une cérémonie religieuse à Berlin, à la veille des commémorations officielles du centenaire des massacres perpétrés par les Turcs ottomans, qui ont fait 1,5 millions de victimes entre 1915 et 1917.
Le mot "génocide" pour la première fois
C'est la première fois que l'Allemagne utilise officiellement le terme de "génocide" pour évoquer ces massacres. Une vingtaine de pays, dont la France et la Russie, avaient déjà franchi le pas. Ankara rejette toujours ce terme.
M. Gauck prend le risque de froisser la Turquie, un important allié que Berlin s'est toujours efforcé de ménager sur ce sujet. L'Allemagne abrite la première communauté turque à l'étranger, estimée à environ trois millions de personnes.....rtbf.be
23/4/15
Armenian Church canonises victims of 1915 genocide...
ReplyDeleteArmenia’s Apostolic Church has declared canonisation of 1.5 million people of Armenian ethnicity annihilated in amassed ethnic purges in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 during a campaign that has become widely known as the Armenian genocide.
Bishops' Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church made a decision to canonise victims of the genocide last year when the Armenian bishops assembled in full force for the first time since 1651 and proclaimed April 24 the Day of Commemoration of Saint Martyrs slain during the Armenian genocide.
"During the years of genocide, millions of our compatriots were driven out of their homes and killed, went through fire and iron, and tasted the bitter fruit of suffering and sorrow," Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Church, said at a ceremony held on Thursday. "But facing horrible hardship and death itself, they remained strong within Christ’s love, bearing the evidence of unwavering faith."
After the canonisation had been announced, children let white doves fly up into the sky while the church choir was performing a hymn. The Armenian Church’s main relics were taken out from the Treasury of Holy Etchmiadzin Cathedral for worshipping by believers. The cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Scholars believe it was the first cathedral built in Armenia in the early fourth century and consider it to be the oldest cathedral in the world.
Christian Churches delegated their representatives for participation in the canonisation ceremony in Armenia. The Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian Orthodox Churches and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church known also as Indian Orthodox Church, which are close to the Armenian Apostolic Church in the interpretation of faith and the canon, were among them.
The delegation of Russia’s Orthodox Church was headed by Metropolitan Varsonofy of St Petersburg and Ladoga, a permanent member of the Holy Synod and chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.......http://tass.ru/en/world/791430
24/4/15
Putin confirms Russia’s stance on genocide: massacres cannot be justified...
ReplyDeleteRussian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed Russia’s stance on genocide saying mass killings of people cannot be justified.
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Putin reminded that Russia had initiated a whole range of international legal acts, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
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The Russian president stressed that Russia "sincerely sympathizes with the Armenian people that has experienced one of the most horrible tragedies in the history of the mankind."
"The events of 1915 have shocked the whole world. And Russia perceived them as its own sorrow. Hundreds of thousands of helpless and homeless Armenians, millions have received shelter on the territory of Russia and were saved," he said.
The international condemnation of violence against the Armenian people was the result of the Russian diplomatic effort, he added.....TASS
24/4/15