ARMENIA

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 13.

Armenia, where the Turks have been massacreing Christians in unknown numbers, is one of the most ancient countries of the world. It lies in Western Asia, and is chiefly a country of plateaus, high mountains, and deep valleys. Mount Ararat, upon which the Bible says the ark rested after the flood, is in Armenia, and is a half mile higher than Pike's Peak.

The story of Armenia is very complicated, but it is necessary to tell the more important facts in order to arrive at an understanding of the present troubles.

Armenia was a great kingdom centuries before the birth of Christ. It was conquered first by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, and remained for a long time under the rule of his successors. Then it fell under the authority of the Romans. In the course of time, when the power of the Romans was decaying and they began to draw in their boundaries, Armenia became an independent and powerful kingdom again. The Armenians meantime had been among the earliest converts of the Christian church. Through all changes of government and circumstances they have remained steadfast to their faith to this day. They constitute one of the branches of the Christian church, tho the Armenian church is inferior in numbers and influence to either of the three great branches—the Protestant, the Roman Catholic, and the Greek. They resemble the Greek Church more nearly than any other, and the highest official in their church is called the patriarch.

When the Armenians regained their independence, they found their position very dangerous. The Mahometan religion was beginning to spread all over western and central Asia, and the zeal and military prowess of its converts were so great that the Christians found it always difficult, often impossible, to withstand them. In the long war of centuries in Asia Minor between the Christians and the Mahometans the Armenians bore a great part. They were very warlike then, and for many generations they helped to beat back the Moslem hordes.

The other Christian nation in Asia was the Byzantine Empire, which was the eastern half, or what remained, of the Roman Empire, the western half having long since fallen before the Goths and Vandals and other people of northern Europe. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantines, and was the greatest and richest city in the world. For nearly a thousand years the Mahometans tried to take it before they finally succeeded. First it was the Arabs, to which race Mahomet belonged, who founded the Mahometan religion. Then the Arabs declined, and the Turks took their place.

The Byzantines were a greater and more powerful nation than the Armenians, but the Armenians were more exposed to the attacks of the infidels. Nevertheless, they long held their own against vastly superior numbers. The mountainous nature of their country helped them. They were also at war sometimes with the Byzantines themselves. Had these two Christian nations remained in alliance, they might have eventually driven the Mahometans back into the depths of Arabia and Central Asia. But one of the Byzantine emperors invaded Armenia, overthrew its armies, and crushed its people. The consequences became manifest almost instantly, and were as fatal to the Byzantines as to the Armenians themselves. The Turks overran the devastated Armenian country, and, this barrier between them and the Byzantines being removed, pressed on towards Constantinople with greater force and enthusiasm than ever. Eventually they took Constantinople and overran all southeastern Europe, being stopped only under the walls of Vienna, the Austrian capital.

The Armenians have now remained for many centuries a subject nation, tho preserving all their race characteristics. Russia has taken a part of Armenia, and Persia a part, tho the larger share remains to Turkey. The Armenians in Russia and Persia are on the whole well treated, but in Turkey they are subjected to horrible persecutions.

The Armenians are supposed to number about five millions. They are very intellectual and have become the shrewdest traders in western Asia. Many have emigrated. There are forty or fifty thousand in this country.—New York World.