St. Sargis Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. Sargis Church

Iran / Western Atrpatakan / Salmast / Gulizan

Location

St. Sargis Church (N 38º08°27.90°°; E 044º43°18.66°°) is located within 100 metres of the last houses standing in the south of Gulizan.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 164.

Historical Introduction

Its pilgrimage day was the fifth Sunday after Easter. Like the other villages in Salmast, particularly those with mixed populations, church bell ringing was forbidden in Gulizan.

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), pp. 56, 180. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 164.

In 1914, when only a single Armenian family was left in Gulizan, the church was appropriated by the local Assyrians (forming at least 30 to 40 houses) who were followers of the Russian Church (this alarming intention was revealed in a letter of 27 October 1913). On 28 April 1914, the Armenian Prelate of Atrpatakan, Archimandrite Nerses Melik-Tangian, addressed a letter to Catholicos of All Armenians Gevorg V, in which he particularly stated the following about this situation: “Salmast District has a village called Gyulizan ... with an Armenian church. The [Russian] consul and archimandrite repeatedly made attempts to take possession of the church saying that it had better serve not the Armenians who form just a single family, but the Assyrians who constitute 30 or 40 ones. They tried to take the church through violence, but they encountered resistance particularly by the only [Armenian] inhabitant of the village, Astvatzatur, who used to keep the keys to the church. On his return [from Petersburg], the Russian archimandrite, Sergei, who has recently been ordained as bishop, ordered the consul’s agent to imprison Astvatzatur and keep him under arrest until he yielded up the keys to the church. Thanks to the protest raised by the [Armenian] Prelacy, he was set free, but [by that time] the Assyrians who acted together with the consul’s agent had replaced the locks of its gate and door with new ones and taken possession of it. Last Sunday the church was supposed to celebrate its feast, but the Deanery Council forbade the Armenians to go there, fearing that a conflict might break out between them and the followers of the Russian Church once a lot of people gathered there. I sent a telegram to the consul of Khoy and also went to see the local Consul General to protest against the appropriation of the church through violence. [In his turn], the latter sent a telegram to the consul of Khoy, ordering him to take the keys to the church and not to give them to either of the sides until the issue was finally settled through the Vice-Roy’s and Your Holiness’ intercession. Bishop Sergei has direct ties with Petersburg and all the consuls fear him.... The local consul finds it difficult to oppose to what he has done, and for this reason, he only ordered me to write to the Vice-Roy and Your Holiness. He also asked me for permission for the followers of the Russian Church to use the church temporarily until their own one was built. The occupation of the church of Gyulizan has put the Armenians into a very bad state: the Russians being their only protectors, they have to reconcile themselves to the situation, temporarily allowing the Assyrian followers of the Russian Church to perform religious service there until the construction of their own one.”

Patrikian, “Current Life,” Horizon, no. 256, 13 November 1913, p. 3. The author means churchwarden Asatur, who was mentioned in April 1914 (Պատրիկեան Վ., Գիւլիզանի Ս. Սարգիս եկեղեցու հարցը [V. Patrikian, “The Issue of Gyulizan’s St. Sargis Church”], «Հորիզոն» [Horizon], no. 93, 3 May 1914, p. 3). National Archives of Armenia, fund 57, list 2, file 1960, pp. 4-5. The issue was also discussed in a number of press publications. Below follow excerpts from some of them: “The followers of the Russian Church want to take it [the church], saying that only a single Armenian family is left there [in Gulizan]” (Gharadagh, no. 5, 15 April 1914, p. 5). “The Armenians have their own church in Gyulizan Village of Salmast although [at present] there is only a single Armenian house there. The Russians repeatedly attempted to take possession of it, but the Armenians and the [Armenian] Prelacy opposed it. In recent days, the Russian archimandrite of Urmia, who has returned from Petersburg ordained as bishop, has demanded that the Armenian keeping the keys to the church give them over to him; moreover, he has even had this man arrested. Prelate Melik-Tangian immediately applied to the Consul General of Tabriz, Orlov, and to the consul of Khoy, explaining to them that firstly, no one was entitled to pass the church to this or that nation without the order of the Catholicos of All Armenians; secondly, the powerful Russian Empire is the only protector of the Armenian nation so that the appropriation of the property of the Armenian people by the bishop of Urmia is unforgivable” (Haykazoun, “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 79, 16 April 1914, p. 3). “The followers of the Russian Church keep persisting: instigated by the newly-ordained Russian bishop of Urmia, the Assyrian converts to Orthodoxy have broken into the church [of Gulizan] through its roof, opened it and taken possession of it. The Prelate, Archimandrite Nerses Melik-Tangian, applied to the Consul General of Tabriz, Orlov, explaining the situation, after which the latter wrote to the Vice-Roy of the Caucasus with a request to intercede before the Catholicos of All Armenians to permit the temporary use of the aforementioned church by the followers of the Russian Orthodox Church until their own church is built in the village” (ibid., Նամակներ Պարսկաստանից [Haykazoun, “Letters from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 106, 18 May 1914, p. 5). “The Russian consul of Khoy has made a “discovery”: he has written to the Consul General that allegedly the church once belonged to the Assyrians, but some young Armenian revolutionaries took it by force, taking advantage of the political turmoil reigning in Persia. The Consul General, Mr. Orlov, passed what the consul of Khoy had written to him to the Prelate, Archimandrite Nerses Melik-Tangian.... The latter responded to the Consul General with a letter in which he revealed the disinformation of the consul of Khoy and provided him with proper explanations, at the same time also addressing another letter to the Catholicos of All Armenians and informing him about the issue” (ibid., “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 123, 7 June 1914, p. 4). “After occupying the Armenian church of Gyulizan by force, the Russian bishop of Urmia had it repaired and modified in accordance with the ritual canons of the Orthodox Church. Prelate Melik-Tangian has written to the Catholicos of All Armenians about its appropriation in all details. Although the protection of the church is vested in him [His Holiness], the Prelate, Archimandrite Nerses, also wrote about this to the Russian ambassador in Tehran, consigning the protection of the property of the Armenian nation to his justice” (ibid., no. 141, 1 July 1914, p. 4). Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 164.

In another letter addressed to Gevorg V, Archimandrite N. Melik-Tangian writes that on 15 June 1914, the Russian bishop of Salmast, Sergei, “blessed the church into an Orthodox one. The benevolent attitude of our [Salmast’s] Consul General, who kindly requested, through the intercession of the Vice-Roy, Your Holiness’ consent for the temporary use of the church, has aroused the dissatisfaction of the consul of Khoy. He said in his telegram that there was no need applying to the Vice-Roy as that church had formerly belonged to the Assyrians and had been later taken from them by some Armenian fidayis. Now it was being returned to the Assyrians and allegedly everything was fair. I told the Consul General that this was absolutely wrong, as the church of Gyulizan preserves a lot of evidence of Armenian presence, including tombstones that are a hundred years old. He again wrote a letter, telling all this [to the consul in Khoy], but the powerful Orthodox mission is still being carried out, and his letter was absolutely ignored.... The Prelacy is in a very delicate situation: we have submitted petitions to both the [Russian] consulates and the ambassador for the restitution of the lands belonging to [the monasteries of] Derik, Tadevos Arakyal [Thaddeus the Apostle] and Nakhavka [St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr].... As far as the issue of Gyulizan is concerned, they say that they have always supported the Armenians, whereas we do not want to give an Armenian church of no parish to the Orthodox Assyrians. Indeed, we have answered that the church has been occupied by force, and the Head of the Armenian Church has not permitted its temporary use, but anyway, every side pursues its own interests. Informing Your Holiness about this, [I would like to ask] whether it would be expedient for You to apply to the Vice-Roy for intercession to prevent further encroachments by the Orthodox clergymen. I shall submit a petition to the ambassador of Russia in Tehran after consulting the Consul General.”

National Archives of Armenia, fund 57, list 2, file 1960, pp. 2-3. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 164-165.

Judging from the subsequent letters regarding this issue, the position of the Armenian side was conditioned not so much by its reluctance to temporarily give the church to the Assyrians but by the falsification put forward by the other side alleging that the church had originally been an Assyrian one.

Haykazoun, “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 123, 7 June 1914, p. 4. Another press publication states the following regarding the issue: “The Assyrians have taken possession of an Armenian church in the village of Gyulizan, in Salmast, Persian Armenia. Some time ago, the Russian Consul General of Tabriz wrote a letter to the Caucasian Vice-Roy asking him to intercede before the Catholicos to give that church to the Orthodox Assyrians for some time, until the construction of their own church. It was given to them, but the Russian consul of Khoy had the “brilliant” idea to write in his telegram [to the Consul General] that ‘the church had originally belonged to the Assyrians, and some Armenian revolutionaries had taken it by force, taking advantage of the political turmoil reigning in Persia.’ Allegedly, the Assyrians had finally re-taken their church. The Prelate of Atrpatakan, Archimandrite Nerses, has protested against the appropriation of the church” («Ազատամարտ» [Azatamart], no. 1542, 2 July 1914, p. 3). Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 165.

The events following the occupation of the church only increased the Armenians’ indignation: “The bishop who has appropriated the church has repaired it to adapt it to the ritual of the [Russian] Orthodox Church.” Another record states: “After some renovation carried out in Gyulizan’s appropriated Armenian church of St. Sargis, it was solemnly [re]consecrated yesterday as if it had been a pagan temple needing to be changed into a Christian church.” Indeed, it should be admitted that it was quite customary to re-bless Christian churches which passed from one religious congregation to another: for instance, when the Russian Orthodox Church returned Sourb Arakelots (Holy Apostles’) Church of Kars to the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1919, it re-opened only after a ceremony of re-consecration.

«Կոչնակ» [Kochnak], no. 36, 1914, pp. 858-859. Also see Haykazoun, “About the Massacres of Salmast,” Mshak, no. 141, 1 July 1914, p. 4. Պատրիկեան Վ., թղթակցություն [V. Patrikian, “A Letter”], «Հորիզոն» [Horizon], no. 144, 5 July 1914, p. 4. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 165.

Architectural Description

Judging from the meagre remnants of St. Sargis Church, still preserved in the site in 2011, it used to be a rectangular structure of unburnt brick (outer dimensions: 11.3 x 7.46 metres). Most probably, it had a wooden roof. Its entrance opened from the centre of its western facade. An inscribed stone (probably, the tympanum), once set in the masonry of the entrance, is now buried under the soil.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 165-166.

Description

The Armenian Prelate of Atrpatakan, Senior Archimandrite Grigor Chiftjian, who visited Gulizan on 2 April 2013, writes the following about the church: “We proceeded towards a mound of earth that was within 25 metres of a stable ... located behind a house. That was St. Sargis [Church] of Kyulizan.... The year of its construction remains obscure: judging from its comparison with other churches of unburnt brick which have the same dimensions and style, we can suppose that it was built in the 18th century. Only several pieces of its roof beams are left in the site, while the rest have been taken away. The only standing wall of the church is the eastern one of its sanctuary. The huge pits dug in the wall both outside and inside—the handiwork of treasure-hunters—have already undermined it.”

Artaz, no. 4 (April 2013), pp. 4-5. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 166.

According to the owner of the church site, Hyusein Ali Mukarram, whom we met in 2017, 60 years ago, the Armenians still prayed here, and some walls of the building still survived about 10 or 15 years ago.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 166.

Author Samvel Karapetyan
Date 2011 y․

Type Measurement
Author Ashot Hakobian
Source Sketch
Date 2011 y․