Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Dies after Lengthy Illness

To keep the Armenian diaspora well informed about the Patriarchate and about Jerusalem, he set up a press office (and asked this correspondent to head it), which churned out a steady stream of

articles, newsletters and press releases over the years.

Manoogian had come home. His destiny had driven him from the deserts of Mesopotamia to the golden domes of Jerusalem, on a journey of devotion and dedication, in the service of the Armenian Church to which he gave his all.

A prolific writer, his most recent oeuvre was a translation of Shakespeare’s sonnets into Armenian.

But his favorite topic was what he called the “impossible love.”

“It’s the ability, nay, the gift, to be able to love your enemy, to forgive love those who hate you and would do you ill,” he explained to me.

A gifted musician, he became the acknowledged authority on the Armenian nation’s greatest musical genius, Komitas.

I remember visiting him two years ago, when he was in the initial stages of Parkinson’s, and sitting silently for long min- utes, waiting for him to speak. He had great difficulty finding the words until I broached the subject of his book on Komitas.

The moment he heard the name, his face lit up and he launched into an impassioned discourse.

Manoogian was born on February 16, 1919, in a refugee camp near the sand-enshrouded Iraqi town of Baqoubah. As a child, he attended a school in Baghdad, the capital, where Armenians who had sought refuge from the Turkish massacres, had established a community.

Towards the end of his early schooling, tentative yearnings for something spiritually loftier became insistent, assailing his waking and sleeping hours, demanding satisfaction, and ultimately guiding him in the direction of Jerusalem.

He was ordained celibate priest in 1939 and remained in the city until 1946 when he traveled to the US, only to return a few years later.

Ten years were to pass before America called again. But this time he reached its shores as Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church.

He was elected patriarch of Jerusalem on March 22, 1990.

Throughout his life, Manoogian garnered numerous honors and tributes, both from religious and lay institutions, among them the US Statue of Liberty Medal.

He nurtured a keen interest in ecumenical affairs and has been instrumental in helping maintain the spirit of brotherly relations between the various religious institutions in Jerusalem. (In the US, he had also served on the Board of the National Council of Churches of Christ).

Manoogian had dreams of not only revitalizing Armenian Jerusalem, but also expanding and reinforcing the Armenian presence here. One of his most ambitious plans was to construct a hostel for pilgrims on land owned by the Patriarchate, but it never got off the drawing board — city hall had other plans of its own.

Manoogian will be remembered as a caring shepherd and reformer. Under his tenure, the Patriarchate workforce almost quadrupled: there were more employees within the confines of the Convent of St. James, seat of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, than there were people living there.

And he made sure that paychecks were disbursed on time, a welcome departure from past practices.

When Manoogian arrived on the scene, he discovered chaos. His unrelenting efforts to instill a sense of order and accountability into patriarchal affairs have proved successful, to a degree. “Much still remains to be done,” as one clerical source confided. A perennial diplomat, Manoogian meticulously

maintained smooth relations with both sides of the political divide in the country. The aura of charisma that enveloped him and his standing in the Armenian world, could have very easily secured him the highest accolade the church could ever grant: Catholicos (supreme head) of All Armenians. But although he served as locum tenens following the death of Catholicos Vazken I, he felt he would never leave Jerusalem.

He was the son of a people that had endured and survived wars and cataclysms, but who had not let that pain turn their hearts into stone.

Manoogian will be buried on October 22, in the Armenian cemetery on Mount Zion, just outside the towering walls of the Old City, mere weeks after the Armenian Church mourned another of its princes, Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

Who will be the 97th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem?

No one will know, until election day, which is supposed to take place 40 days after his passing.

Messages of condolence poured in. Karabagh President Bako Sahakyan said, “His Beatitude Archbishop Manoogian had a huge contribution to strengthening the Armenian Apostolic Church, consolidating the Christian faith as well as developing interchurch relations. He also had a valuable input in preserving the Armenian national identity, maintaining the Motherland-Diaspora ties, promoting international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and truthfully representing the Artsakh issue. Please, accept my deep and sincere condolences. In this difficult hour, the people and authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic share with you the pain and sorrow in connection with this irretrievable loss.”

A statement posted on the website of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America noted that Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Diocesan Primate, had asked parishes of the Eastern Diocese to conduct a requiem service in the Patriarch’s memory on Sunday, October 14.

According to the Diocese statement, “Prior to his election as Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Torkom served for a quarter-century as Primate of the Eastern Diocese. To thousands of people across this country — not only in our parishes, but in the surrounding society — he was the vigorous, compassionate, always impressive face of the Armenian Church of America. He was also the beautiful, poetic voice of our people, advocating in a principled and forceful way for our concerns and aspirations, while embodying the great Armenian civilization that had bestowed works of profound art and spirituality on world culture. As we mourn his passing, we are consoled in the knowledge that Archbishop Torkom’s gentle soul has found rest and peace in the welcoming arms of our Risen Lord, whom he loved and served with such distinction in life.”

(Additional material used.)