St Peterburg Times

Published April 27, 2005

Armenian Christians mark a painful past, joyful future
A day of sadness is also a time of great expectations in Pinellas Park.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer

[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
The Rev. Nersess Jebejian blesses a memorial meal held by Nora Khatcherian,
9, left, and Ani Kamajian, 8, on Sunday at St. Hagop Armenian Church in
Pinellas Park. The church plans to start a new worship center in a few
months.

PINELLAS PARK – Armenians throughout the Tampa Bay area crowded into a tiny
chapel Sunday to remember ancestors who were massacred, starved to death or
otherwise persecuted by the tens of thousands early in the last century.
The gathering at St. Hagop Armenian Church, 7050 90th Ave. N, was one of
many around the country to mark the 90th anniversary of what is referred to
as the Armenian Genocide.
But the day was more than a requiem for the 1.5-million men, women and
children who perished under the weight of the Ottoman Turks, said St.
Hagop’s priest, the Rev. Nersess Jebejian.
That thriving Armenian communities and churches exist today is a victory, he
said.
“One and a half million-plus were massacred and they were sacrificed, but
we’re living today, not only for them but for our future,” Jebejian said.
At St. Hagop’s, where more than 100 people crammed into the chapel or stood
just outside its sliding glass doors Sunday, that future is full of hope. In
a few months, the congregation of about 400 families hopes to begin building
a church and multipurpose building to carry on the centuries-old legacy of
Armenian Christianity and culture.
The new church is a long-deferred dream. It was almost 20 years ago that
founding members began talking about forming a community for local Armenian
Orthodox Christians. They held their first service in a borrowed building.
They bought the now prime property at 90th Avenue and Belcher Road with
proceeds from paper and aluminum can drives, dinners, garage sales,
festivals and individual donations.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in 1997. Early in 2002, Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian, primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America,
visited to consecrate the cornerstone and launch a fundraising campaign for
a project that would eventually include a church, multipurpose center and
cultural hall.
The church and multipurpose building are expected to begin in September and
be complete in seven to nine months, St. Hagop’s priest said.
St. Hagop’s is part of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, which traces
its origin to the first century, when the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew
preached in Armenia and were martyred.
For Dr. Hagop “Jack” Mashikian, a retired psychiatrist and vice chairman of
the church’s parish council, the new buildings will be a testament to more
than perseverance of a congregation that draws worshipers from the Tampa Bay
area and beyond.
“It’s a vindication of the spirit of survival of our forebears,” he said.
Last weekend’s requiem, which followed the customary Sunday Divine Liturgy,
was offered for the 1.5-million Armenians killed between 1915 and 1923 by
the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party of the Ottoman Empire. Then,
Armenians were a Christian minority in a Muslim community.
In 1915, thousands were deported and sent to starvation and death in the
Syrian desert. Along the way, they were attacked and killed by bands of
Turks. Mashikian, the parish council member, said that many young women were
forced into harems or to marry their abductors.
“The intent of the Ottoman Empire was to annihilate the Armenians,”
Mashikian said.
Armenians lived in what is now eastern Turkey, he said. They also were in
the southeastern part of the country, which now is mostly occupied by Kurds.
In the United States, Armenians are concentrated in the Boston area,
Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Michigan, New York and New Jersey. Most
are descendants of survivors of what is called the first genocide of the
20th century.
“There is hardly any Armenian over the age of 60 here who does not have an
immediate member of his family as a victim of genocide,” said Mashikian, who
lost his maternal grandfather, paternal grandparents and an uncle in the
brutality.
Lani Silver, a genocide historian who worked with Steven Spielberg as a
consultant on his oral history of Holocaust survivors, said the trauma of
genocide lasts for generations.
“There’s a hole in your heart forever. You’ve been a people that have been
hated enough to be killed,” said Silver, who was in St. Petersburg this week
to give a talk, “Making the Link: The Holocaust, Genocide and Racism,” at
the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
“This speaks to the beauty and strength of the Armenian people that they
have continued on despite such a murderous crime,” Silver said.
What’s sad, she added, is that “very few people really remember the Armenian
genocide.”
On Sunday, though, Armenian Martyrs’ Day, St. Hagop’s tiny chapel could not
hold all who wanted to remember.
“After 90 years of crying, of lamenting, of hoping, this little community is
showing its survival,” Mashikian told those gathered.
“Our brothers and sisters perished with hope for days like today.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress