An Armenian Masada: The Saga of the Armenian Cow Pasture

My calls went unanswered.

Under intense pressure from local Armenians and from their diverse communities in the diaspora, the Patriarchate withdrew its “consent” and initiated legal proceedings to have the alleged “contract” declared null and void.

And in tandem with that move, the Patriarchate promptly defrocked Yeretsyan and sent him packing, under heavy police protection.

(Yeretzian, whose baptismal name was Khatchig, was a nondescript student at the Tarkmanchats parochial school in the Convent of St. James, classmates recall, with no hint of the discombobulations his conduct would later cause).

With alarm bells ringing uproariously, both Jordan and the Palestinian Authority suspended their recognition of Manoogian.

That measure was followed by a denunciation by the heads of the Holy Land’s Christian churches, rallying to the Armenian cause, voicing “grave concern over the recent events taking place within the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem,” in a statement they issued.

“In recent days, a contested contract for development on a considerable portion Of the Armenian Quarter has been declared canceled. Instead of it being handled through the proper legal channels, the alleged developers have decided to hire armed provocateurs, obstruct parking entrances, and begin demolition work,” they said.

The Christian churches expressed concern “that these events potentially endanger the Armenian presence in Jerusalem. as they set a precedent for similar engagements.”

“The illegal actions taken by the alleged developer against the Armenian patriarchate and community are not conducive for the social order that the peaceful and law-abiding Armenian community,” they said.

They accused the alleged developers of using “incendiary tactics threaten to erase the Armenian presence in the area, weakening and endangering the Christian presence in the Holy Land.”

“We are convinced that matters of this nature should be handled only through legal negotiations and procedures to avoid further escalations and violence,” they said.

The property, mellifluously called the “Cow Pasture,” comprises more than 20 percent of all the properties that belong to the Armenian Patriarchate.

During my tenure as Press Officer under the late reformist Armenian Patriarch, Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, he confided to me his dream of developing the land with the construction of either a hotel, or blocks of apartment houses.

“We could easily accommodate a large number of residents, tourists and pilgrims, all within a stone’s throw of the city’s holy places and other facilities and attractions,” he told me, wistfully.

The pasture had been left in abeyance for years, waiting for some auspicious moment that never came.

Its value in dollar terms has soared over the years: recent archaeological discoveries have added another icing on the cake: a khatchkar (a typical Armenian cross stone) bearing an Armenian inscription, along with a mosaic floor and copper coins possibly from the Byzantine era.

As schoolchildren, we used to picnic and camp in the pasture, the carpet of soft grass cushioning our wild shenanigans under the watchful eyes of our teachers.

A few meters away, the Kalayjian family had set up a flour mill that mainly serviced the Arab market, and whenever we got the chance, we would creep there and pick the ears of wheat scattered all around for a tasty snack.

But earlier in its history, the pasture also served as a temporary home for the swarm of displaced Armenian refugees fleeing the Turkish massacres who sought sanctuary in the Convent of St James, seat of the Armenian Patriarchate, and the second most important fount of spiritual rejuvenation for Armenians.

As the cold November nights descend upon the city of light and of gold, groups of Armenian faithful gather under a makeshift tarpaulin, determined to spend the night there, to protect the pasture against marauders.

Was such a pasture in his mind when the Muslim mystic-philosopher Ibn Arabi declared that his heart had become “a pasture for gazelles?”

For Armenians, who have given Jerusalem its first printing press and photographic studio, helping place it on the map, every single blade of grass in the Cow Pasture is a gift for gazelles.

(Arthur Hagopian, now a Sydney resident, was the former Press Officer of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.)