p. 15 | At the Foot of Mt. Ararat

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 26, 1908

At the Foot of Mt. Ararat

One of our missionaries, Dr. V. Pampaian, recently had a stirring experience in a village near Erivan, at the foot of Ararat, the mountain on which Noah’s ark rested after the flood. While calling at a house, a mob gathered outside. He writes:—

“After committing ourselves to the Lord’s care by prayer, I left. The young man who had accompanied me said he would not go out on the street with me. He thought they would not dare to touch me, as I am an American citizen.

“Alone, I stepped out in the street into the midst of the mob. But I had no fear, knowing that they that were with me were more than these. I walked along through their abuses and blasphemies. Soon their angry words began to be accompanied with stones and mud. Hundreds of stones came down like hail, while the bystanders were encouraging them, crying, ‘Kill him! Kill the dog!’ Though many stones hit me, yet they felt as rubber balls. In this manner they continued till I reached the house. When I went in, they stoned the door, calling me out. We wanted to send for the gandar, but there was no man in the house who dared to go out. Although the uproar had spread all over the town, yet no one came to our help. Finally, seeing no other way to get rid of the mob, my landlord, an old man, went out with a revolver in his hand, to frighten them. Thus he succeeded in getting them away.”

After a renewal of the fierce opposition next day, Dr. Pampaian was constrained to leave the place, the chief magistrate saying he could not repress the prejudices of his “wild people.” Some believers were left behind, however, to let their light shine until further evangelistic work can be done there.