Armenian Sighs
Reflections from an Ancient & Beleaguered Nation
When Pope Francis named the Armenian monk Gregory of Narek (951–1003) the thirty-sixth universal doctor of the Catholic Church in 2015, many were caught off guard. Gregory who, from where? This was my response, too. But reading Gregory has convinced me of the pope’s rationale—this and the fact that the Vatican’s actions coincided, intentionally, with the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, known by Armenians as the Metz Yeghern (the Great Evil). Put this together with a research project that’s prompted me to consider Armenia under Soviet rule, and you’ll understand why I bought a plane ticket to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.
If you’ve followed the news, however, there’s another reason to reflect on Armenia today—one relevant to both Gregory of Narek and the Armenian Genocide. This small Christian country, only independent since 1991, stands at an inflection point in its recent history. In October 2023, with Turkey’s tacit support, Azerbaijan invaded Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani province predominantly peopled with Armenians, most of whom (around 100,000) are now refugees in Armenia proper with little prospect of returning to their ancestral home. The cultural erasure practiced during the 1915–1923 genocide—which ruined Gregory of Narek’s monastery in western Armenia (eastern Turkey today)—has returned, as Azeri forces plundered Nagorno-Karabakh (referred to by Armenians as Artsakh). And all of this fails to mention the deaths and casualties occasioned by these actions.
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Thomas Albert Howard is Professor of Humanities and holder of the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University.
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