A Vital Moment for
Jerusalem
By Edmond Y.
Azadian
Holy places, which were meant to be lands of peace, have
proven to be some of the most tortured regions of the world. And Armenians, with
their traditional penchant for inhabiting troubled areas, have shared the plight
of Jerusalem for more than two
millennia. It is believed that Armenians settled in
Jerusalem during the reign of
Tigranes II, who had claimed
Jerusalem, at one time, to be part
of his vast empire, during his reign 95 to 55 BC .
But the Armenian monastic order in
Jerusalem, the Brotherhood of St.
James, dates back to the sixth century.
As Armenians have shared the perilous saga of
Jerusalem with the religious orders
of other faiths, they have been fortunate over the years to have amassed real
estate as well as religious, scholarly and artistic treasures. Kings, princes,
intellectuals and ordinary pilgrims have endowed the St. James Monastery with
immeasurable treasures, believing that the Brotherhood will act as custodians of
those treasures, rather than owners. But human weakness sometimes has played a
more prominent role than faith by those in charge, thereby compounding the
internal problems of the Patriarchate with problems created by outside
forces.
With the loss of His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom
Manoogian on October 12,
2012, of blessed memory, the Brotherhood and the Patriarchate face new challenges
which come with the succession procedures.
Archbishop Manoogian served for 22 years as Patriarch,
having been elected on March 22,
1990.
Arthur Hagopian, in his heart-warming tribute, has
covered lovingly the legacy and the achievements of the late Patriarch.
Unfortunately, most of his good works enumerated in the article were
overshadowed by the problems emanating from the Patriarchate. He was certainly
an intellectual, an accomplished scholar like his namesake, Patriarch Torkom
Koushakian, but he was not known for being an efficient administrator or a
believer in delegating responsibilities to competent subordinates or
professionals. That is why some valuable properties were lost during his
administration and the succession process has turned into a guessing
game.
The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is a monastic
order serving as custodians of holy places, along with the Greek Orthodox, Roman
Catholic as well as the Syriac and
Coptic
Churches. The compound of the
Armenian Patriarchate covers one sixth of the
Old
City; in addition, the Patriarchate
owns property outside the compound. To this day, the outside world has not been
informed of the Patriarchate’s real estate holdings and perhaps no insider has
full knowledge of the Patriarchate’s wealth either. But the world Armenian
community has to extend a helping hand every time a desperate appeal is issued
by the Patriarchate.
The Jerusalem Patriarchate, with all its treasures and
wealth, has attracted the attention of many parties. Every time
Israel and the
Palestinians engage in negotiations over
the future of Jerusalem, the
Armenian Patriarchate is on the table because it occupies such a piece of
historic real estate. In addition to the Israelis and the Palestinians,
Turkey is
vitally interested in its fate, particularly in view of the archival materials
pertaining to the Genocide. The Greek Patriarchate has proven to be a perennial
thorn in the side of their Armenian counterpart, pursuing an aggressive policy
of trampling Armenian rights in holy places, sometimes generating farcical
stories during Easter or Christmas. All these forces are vigilantly focused on
the election of the next Patriarch, to find out how well their interests will be
represented in
Jerusalem.
Another interested party is the See of Antelias, which
still holds captive the Diocese in
Iran, despite
the demise of the Cold War, to undermine the authority of the Holy See at
Echmiadzin. The division in the Armenian Church continues and the clergy in
Antelias believe that every setback for Echmiadzin will help the cause of the
Cilician See.
Turkey
has already frozen the situation at the Istanbul Patriarchate by allowing a
clergyman of whom they approve to take over, undercutting the influence of the
Holy See in that jurisdiction.
After Archbishop Torkom was incapacitated, the
Brotherhood convened on January 30,
2012, and assigned Archbishop Nourhan Manougian to provisionally run
the affairs of the Patriarchate, until the election of a
successor.
At this time, the Brotherhood is scheduled to convene on
Friday, October 19, to elect a locum tenens (deghabah), until a successor
Patriarch is elected 40 days after the death of the late
Patriarch.
Whoever is elected locum tenens can control the
developments and steer the election in a direction of his
choosing.
The holy places are governed by a set of rules called the
Status Quo, promulgated during the reign of Ottoman ruler Sultan Abdel-Majid.
Successive governments have abided by the dictates of the Status Quo. The
Armenian Patriarchate has its own internal bylaws, which allow only the
membership of the Brotherhood to participate in the elections. Outwardly, this
may sound rational, because it bars interference from outside forces, especially
governments in charge of Jerusalem
in any given period. But historically, governments have been involved, whether
directly or indirectly, in the outcome of the election. One blatant example in
recent memory of such interference was when the Jordanian authorities deported
the elected Patriarch, Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, and ushered in Archbishop
Yeghishe Derderian to the throne. While the move was illegal, Archbishop
Derderian proved to be a super diplomat, navigating the Patriarchate skillfully
among the interests of the Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. (In fact, the
elected Jerusalem Patriarch cannot take office until his election is approved by
the Jordanian and Israeli authorities.)
Unfortunately, the Brotherhood’s bylaws have
traditionally proven to be a firewall against the influence of well-intentioned
Armenian parties and even against the influence of the Mother See of
Echmiadzin.
Indeed, during the last convocation, the two delegates
from Echmiadzin were not allowed to attend the convocation to read the message
of His Holiness. Instead, the message was read by one of the members of the
Brotherhood. And this arrogance was justified “because those two delegates were
not members of the Brotherhood.”
Who will be elected locum tenens is anyone’s guess.
Prominent and experienced clergy have refused to put their candidacy forward,
leaving the floor open to younger clergy who need to prove their competence on
the job. God forbid, if the wrong candidate musters the votes, as the very
destiny of the Jerusalem Patriarchate will be in
jeopardy.
As the saying goes, war is too important a business to be
left to the generals; similarly,
Jerusalem is too important a center
to be left to the 20-30 clergymen, some of whom have chosen the vocation by
default.
As we see, the pitfalls and challenges are enormous. Only
a wise conclave can measure the historic importance of the moment and cast their
votes for the best interests and the survival of the Patriarchate, over
individual ambitions.
