When Thomas Cosmades (God rest his soul) and his wife were about to publish an online version in ‘updated English’ of the book that my Grandfather’s brother (Uncle Vartan Bilezikian) had published in Armenian and English in the early 1950’s, they asked me to read over the manuscript and do some light editing. The manuscript was fine, but I felt an introduction to the work was in order. My introduction was never published on or offline and so I offer it to you, dear reader, with the link to Rev. Vartan Bilezikian's book which is now online.
The following unpublished preface to APRAHAM HOJA OF AINTAB was written by the author’s grandniece, Marash Girl, on April 1, 2008. Below is Part 1 of 7 parts.
The story of Apraham Hoja and the ‘Armenian revival’ in Aintab and Marash, [Western Armenia, Ottoman Empire], actually begins in 1820, when Rev. Trowbridge, (a missionary from the Congregational Church in Boston,) traveled to Turkey to convert the Muslims to Christianity. Having experienced little to no success as it was forbidden for Muslims to convert, the young missionary decided to reach out to the already Christian (though not Protestant) Armenian Apostolic community.
According to his unpublished memoirs, Missionary Trowbridge decided to translate the Ten Commandments into the vernacular (at that time Turkish in Armenian script) and send the translation of the Ten Commandments into the hinterlands. Trowbridge notes that the Armenians who were Christians, worshiping Christ in the Armenian Apostolic Church, did not understand the classical Armenian language used during their church service, and thus were amazed to receive the recently translated Ten Commandments from the Old Testament, commandments which they suddenly could understand and apply to their everyday lives. As Trowbridge states in his memoirs, several Armenian men walked long distances from the hinterlands to the city looking for the man who was responsible for translating God’s Word into a language they could understand. . . Thus, possibly, began the Armenian Protestant Church. To be continued tomorrow . . .
According to his unpublished memoirs, Missionary Trowbridge decided to translate the Ten Commandments into the vernacular (at that time Turkish in Armenian script) and send the translation of the Ten Commandments into the hinterlands. Trowbridge notes that the Armenians who were Christians, worshiping Christ in the Armenian Apostolic Church, did not understand the classical Armenian language used during their church service, and thus were amazed to receive the recently translated Ten Commandments from the Old Testament, commandments which they suddenly could understand and apply to their everyday lives. As Trowbridge states in his memoirs, several Armenian men walked long distances from the hinterlands to the city looking for the man who was responsible for translating God’s Word into a language they could understand. . . Thus, possibly, began the Armenian Protestant Church. To be continued tomorrow . . .
Vartan Bilezikian's father was appointed by the Apostolic Church to be the defender of the Faith, the Armenian Apostolic Church’s faith, against the invading European/American missionaries preaching the Protestant experience of 'unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God', (quote from Jesus). the Apostolic church saw it as a threat to their governance and monopoly of the christian faith. The reason why Vartan's father was chosen to be the apologist was because of his mastery of ancient Armenian and modern armenian. He was a linguist whose linguistic skills were applied to a dead language's need for a translation into the modern one. His skill was evidenced by the many translations of Armenian church fathers from the 4th century onward. Those translations exist today in the great library of Etchmiadzin. However, there is a danger to reading the Bible. It is captured in the verse, 'Faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the Word of God'. Thus, when the Bible is made available to people, the power of the Holy Spirit is released on a new level that can affect the soul. Vartan's father's soul was not immune to the power of the Word of God. So, as he had to spend much time in the Bible, time he had never before spent, in order to defend the Apostolic Church, he became, as the Word says, 'born again'. The integrity of his 'rebirth' was measured by the fact that his father was Altun Baba, a name coined by the Sultan himself. Altun Baba is Turkish for father gold, or 'Goldfather'. The richest man in Eastern Turkey, the man so rich that he was a money lender to the Sultanate, disowned his upstart son for such impertinence. Thus, began the trade of gold for soul in one branch/line of the Bilezikian family. Remember, the declaration of Jesus? It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, than it is for a camel to crawl through the eye of a needle? Why? Gold glitters and is a distraction! Ain't it so?! (Remember the Tolkien's Ring Trilogy?) Like father, like son, at least one of them. Vartan's father's virus of separation from this earthly realm (those born again are called to be in the world, not of the world) entered the soul of Vartan when he, like his father heard/read the Word of God. his dance with the Word, his courtship with the Truth, ended in a marriage, the marriage of Vartan's soul/person to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the inseparable quality of it, and the power of it that fueled Vartan's willingness and desire to preach the word to all, even at the risk of his own life. We are called by God to love our neighbor as ourself. What greater love is there than for a man to lay down his life for another, Jesus asks? Thus, Vartan, became an itinerant preacher in a group of like minded,like spirited men, soul saved men, who gave up the glory of this earth for the glory of heaven on earth, and heaven eternally. He was thrown into jail three times for preaching the Gospel because Turkish authorities thought him to be preaching the overthrow of their rule, which he was not, anymore than Jesus preached the overthrow of Roman rule. Remember the instruction of our Lord? Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God, that which is his? The third time Vartan was thrown into prison it came with a sentence of death. I will leave it up to the intellectual curiosity of the reader to see how the story ends. It always chokes me up.
ReplyDeleteI accepted your suggestion and googled Vartan Bilezekian - and found the account of the prison experience he had with Apraham Hoja and others at the cosmades.org online site noted above - I was surprised - in my haste and ignorance, I did not understand that Apraham Hoja was a person's name. So I thought the book that had been translated into "updated English" was a theological text where I would never have thought to look for an account of a real person's life. Thanks for the motivation that took me there - a very moving story. Even the bedbug part is enlightening!
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