The Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem
The Forgotten Quarter
The Armenian presence in Jerusalem
Seth J. Frantzman
Historical Geography of Jerusalem Fall 2004
-Table of Contents-
Introduction
The Armenian people and their establishment in Jerusalem 95 B.C-640 AD
The First Muslim Period 638-1199
The Crusader Periods 1099-1187, 1229-1244
The Mamluke period 1260-1517
The Ottoman Period 1517-1917
The Mandate 1917-1948
The Quarter under Jordan 1948-1967
The Quarter under Israel: 1967 to present
The Armenian Quarter
Of the four quarters in the old city of Jerusalem it would appear that the Armenian quarter would have been part of the ‘Christian Quarter’ since all Armenians residing in Jerusalem are Christians. Yet for historical reasons the Armenian quarter has remained separate, and has not suffered the same disruptions as the other quarters over the last 1000 years. Although the smallest of the four quarters, with fewer residents, the Armenians and their patriarchate remain staunchly independent and present a vigorous presence in the Old City of Jerusalem. The story of the Armenians quarter, its growth and decline, its assets and community is one often overlooked in most studies of Jerusalem.
The Armenian people and their establishment in Jerusalem 95 B.C-640 AD
The Armenians are an ancient people who have inhabited parts of Turkey, Iran and the Caucuses for more then two thousand years. The first Armenian to come anywhere near Jerusalem arrived in the 95 B.C under King Tigran II of Armenia. The Armenian armies captured Caesarea before leaving the Holy Land. It was at this time that Jews may have come to trade with Armenia and settle in that far away land when likewise some Armenians came to know of the lands around Jerusalem and may have traded with the Herodian Jewish state. Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D the Romans imported “Armenian traders, artisans, Legionaries and government administrators[1]”. At precisely this time Thaddeus and Bartholomew, both Christian apostles, arrived in Armenia to preach among the small Jewish community there and subsequently Christianity spread to the higher echelons of Armenian royalty. In 301 A.D Armenia was proclaimed a “Christian state’ under its King Terdat III[2]. During this period it is believed Armenian pilgrims were already making their way to and from Jerusalem on pilgrimages. Armenian folk history also tells that already a small “upper room” of a house on Mt. Zion was being used as a church, thus the later Armenian claim to a quarter near Mt. Zion where the St. James Cathedral would later be built.
The Edict of Milan in 313 AD made Christianity an acceptable religion in the Roman Empire. From this time forward it became easier for Armenian Christians to settle and build homes in Jerusalem. Queen Helena came to the Holy land in 326 AD and began to ‘find’ Holy Sites, including Golgotha, The Nativity in Bethlehem and the birthplace of Mary. At this time the Holy Sepulcher was built(4th century). Between the fourth and eighth centuries Armenians built as many as 70 Monasteries throughout the Holy Land, although how many of them might have been in Jerusalem is up to debate. By the 6th century A.D Armenian Bishops were located in Jerusalem around what they called “Mt. Zion”, indicating that a substantial Armenian community existed in the city and that the community was settling continuously in a particular area. Armenians at this time would have had a role in the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The invention of an Armenian alphabet in 405 certainly helped the Armenian community by allowing them to keep records in their native language[3]. This alphabet has helped spawn the more then 4000 ancient manuscripts kept by the Armenians in the St. Toros church next to the St. James cathedral. In the 19th century when braking ground for the Russian Monastery on the Mt. of Olives six mosaic floors were uncovered to reveal Armenian writing, once again testifying to the presence of Armenians in and around Jerusalem from that period. A similar mosaic was uncovered in the Musrara neighborhood (200 meters from Damascus Gate) and was purchased b the Armenian patriarchate in 1912[4].
One of the central reasons for the existence of an Armenian quarter is the religion and ethnicity of the Armenians. Armenians, unlike the majority of Christians in Israel, are not Arab, rather they are ethnically and religiously Armenians[5]. The reason for their ethnicity does not need to be elaborated on except to say that they have remained a homogenous group, intermarrying over the years and keeping their culture intact. The reason for the development of a separate Armenian church is slightly more complicated.
At the time Armenia converted to Christianity there was only one church. However in 431 AD the third ecumenical council at Ephesus split the church between Nestorians (today’s Assyrian and Chaldean Christians) and the rest of Christianity. Then in 451 the 4th ecumenical Council split Christianity again into Monophysites and Dyophysite. The Armenians thereby joined the Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian church’s in the MonoPhysite movement, whereas the Byzantine (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox etc..) Church became Dyophysite[6]. It would take until 1054 for the Latin(Catholic) Church to break from the Orthodox/Byzantine Church and then until the Reformation in the 15th century to split the Christian Church into the factions one sees today in the old city. Byzantine emperor Justinian(527-565) persecuted the Monophysite churches and the Armenians found themselves speaking on behalf of the Ethiopian, Syrian and Coptic Church’s, a leadership role the Patriarchate still assumes. Thus from 451 AD the Armenian church became a separate from the other Christian church’s in Jerusalem, a fact that would have major ramifications in the ensuing struggle with fellow Christians during the Crusader and Ottoman periods.
The First Muslim Period 638-1199
The Persian conquest and sacking of Jerusalem in 614 and the subsequent Islamic conquest in 638 found the Armenians under siege from their Byzantine masters and they therefore welcomed the invaders as a way to get back the Church property confiscated under Justinian, and which they had been forbidden from entering. The Armenians now became subject to the Pact of Omar and they became Dhimmis. They would pay a special poll taxes called Jizye, sometimes be forced to wear special clothing including Blue Turbans, and not be allowed to construct new Christian buildings. For this they were ‘protected’ which is to say they didn’t suffer the fate of Pagans, that of being killed or enslaved.
The Armenians lived under different Muslim dynasties between 638 and the coming of the Crusaders in 1099. The Umayyids based in Damascus were followed by a smooth transition to the Abbasids(750-1258) based in Baghdad and subsequent more destructive and intolerant reigns of Fatmids in 969 and finally the Seljuk’s who pillaged the city in 1071.
The Crusader Periods 1099-1187, 1229-1244
In 1009 the Fatamid ruler al-Hakim demolished the Church of the Holy Sepulcher thus inaugurating the Christian bashing policies that would light the spark of the crusades. Pope Urban II called on Christians throughout Europe to unite and drive out the Seljuk ‘infidels’ who had been harassing and suppressing the Christians trying to live in and pass through the Holy Land. The Popes call was taken up and the heavily armored crusaders with their massive draft horses set off, across Europe, through the wastes of the Balkans, past Byzantium and even wondered in sight of the Armenian kingdom of Cilisia on their was to Jerusalem. Although the Catholic crusaders did not kill their co-religousists they brought a mandate that Jerusalem would be ‘Latin’. The Armenians at this time had acquired much of the land in today’s Armenians quarter and by 1165 had finished constructing the St. James Cathedral which became the most important building of the quarter and remains so today. It was at this same time that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was rebuilt into its modern day appearance with an entrance not on the Cardo but from the south.
The Armenian quarter itself, centered around St. James also included housing and one holy Christian site, the prison of Jesus. Only the southern part of the area described as the Armenian Quarter today was actually inhabited by Armenians at this time[7]. At this time the Armenian quarters became dominated by non-Armenian churches including the Church of St. Thomas in the Southern area, a Greek Church in the north part of the quarter, the Church of St. James Intercisus in the extreme north near David’s Street and the Church of St. Mark bordering today’s Jewish Quarter[8]. As yet another testament to the entrenchment of the Armenian community is that the only Church still remaining in the hands of the same owners from this time is the complex of St. James Cathedral. The majority of the other Churches from the Crusader period have become Mosques, houses or been turned over to other Christian orders. At the same time the Armenians came to possess for a short time the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, leaving the Patriarch Abraham IV’s(in office 1205-1218) name carved on the front door of the church[9].
One must remark that the Armenians proved themselves more welcome in Jerusalem due to their not being belligerents in the wars against the Muslim powers of the day. The Crusades had been a Catholic affair. Likewise the continuing war against the Orthodox power of Byzantium and the inheritor of that power, the Russians, meant that Muslims were rightly suspicious of the Catholic and Orthodox interests in Jerusalem. However Armenia had long ago ceased to be independent, so although a million or more Armenians lived in eastern Anatolia(modern Turkey) they posed no political military challenge to the Muslim Mamlukes or Ottomans.
1260-1517 Mamluke period
The coming of the Slave Army of the Mamlukes in 1260, replacing the short lived late Muslim Ayyubid rulers(1244-1260) had little affect on the Armenians but great affect on the other Christian communities, many of whom were viewed as being part of the Crusader mentality. The Armenian Patriarch Sarkis I(1281-1313) met the Mamluke governor and subsequently returned to his community in Jerusalem, hoping to usher in a period of peace for his people after the convulsions of the crusades. The community at this time had a significant community in Egypt and it happened that Patriarchs would travel to Cairo from time to time to meet with the Mamluke rulers and their constituents. The result of these contacts can be inferred by the fact that in the 1340s the Armenians were permitted to build a wall around their quarter. This was a significant sign that the Mamluke rulers felt the quarter did not pose a threat, since the tearing down of walls had been a staple of Mamluke governance as a way to ensure the crusaders did not return. The Mamluke government also engraved the following declaration in Arabic on the western entrance to the quarter:
The order of our maser Sultan Jaqmaq which stipulates that the taxes levied recently by the town governor regarding the payment by the Armenian enclosure be cancelled and it has been requested that this cancellation be recorded in the Honored Books in the year 854 of the Hijra(1451). Anyone who renews the payment or again takes any tax of extortion is damned, son of the damned, and the curse of Allah will be upon him[10].
The Armenian quarter in this period kept creating ‘facts on the ground’ by the constant small expansions and solidifications. In the 1380s Patriarch Krikor IV built a priests dining room across from the St. James Cathedral. Around 1415 the Olive grove near the Garden of Gethsemane was purchased. But all was not achievements for in 1439 Armenians were removed from the Golgotha chapel but the Patriarch Mardiros I(1412-1450) purchased the “opposite area” and named it second Golgotha[11], this remains in the Patriarchs possession to this day. In the same period, in 1311 the first Armenian Patriarch was appointed[12]. This Patriarch augmented the other Armenian Patriarch in Armenia and together with the 2 Supreme Patriarchs(one for Lebanon/Cyprus/Syria and one for Armenia/Jerusalem and everywhere else) made up the highest officials in the church.
The Ottoman Period 1517-1917
Under the Ottomans Jerusalem would become a cosmopolitan city where religious tolerance to some degree functioned well and a corrupt but reasonable Ottoman administration functioned to sort out religious differences between the rival Christian churches and between the rival religions. Also during this period the term “Armenian Quarter” was first used on maps to describe the ‘status quo’ of the Old City’s various religious communities.
The most important aspect during this time was the increase in the Armenian demographics of their quarter and the struggle for control of the holy sights. Ottoman Jizya or tax records for 1562 and 1690 are the most accurate because they are confirmed to have actually been updated in those years to reflect the actual people living in Jerusalem rather then passed down from former tax records. Further work was done on the records, since they originally only contained the numbers of non-Muslim adult men who were not registered as full time ‘religious’ people, which is to say monks and priests. In the 1562-63 record only 189 Armenians are counted, whereas 640 are counted in 1690, an increase of 239%[13]. Some have attributed this demographic ballooning to a “process of urbanization[14]” experienced by the Armenians and other Christians in particular. Thus Armenians came to make up 22.9% of Jerusalem’s Christians by 1690, becoming the second largest Christian community.
Armenians were overwhelmingly engaged in the occupation of craft making at this time, with smaller numbers engaged in trade and services. One must recall that the Armenians who were engaged in religious activities exclusively are not recorded in these records of occupation since they were exempted for reasons of being completely pious in nature. When one examines the actual tax rates of the Armenians we find that they made up the highest numbers of those in the ‘medium’ tax bracket while their rivals for control of some of the holy sites made up the ‘lower’ tax bracket. This financial situation, heavily buttressed by Armenians donations from their home country[15], certainly contributed to the communities demographic and financial clout in the old city. This is certainly yet another reason that the community was able to expand and control an entire quarter of the city. The other myriad Christian communities at this time were meanwhile living in their historic areas around the Church of the holy Sepulcher.
Outside the Armenian quarter and its residential neighborhood and imposing St. James cathedral the Armenians vied for control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Armenians are described as the “second most important shareholder” of the Church, the Greek Orthodox being the most important. The Armenians controlled the Chapel of Parting of Raiment, St. Helena’s Chapel, The Chapel of St. John and the Chapel of the Three Mary’s, as well as the second floor above the main entrance[16]. The Church itself then was divided between the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Franciscans(Catholic) sects of Christianity.
Following the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699 the Ottoman Empire devolved into the ‘sick man of Europe’ and “the question of the Holy Sites started transforming from an internal Ottoman problem, to an external diplomatic one[17]”. This was to prove a major disadvantage since Armenia the nation had been gobbled up by the Ottomans and then in 1828 it was swept into the Russian empire. Whereas most of the other Churches had patron nations, such as France for the Catholics and Russia for the Orthodox, the Armenians now found themselves alone among Christian giants. The subsequent decline during this period of the Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian church holdings in the city were also part of this sequence of events that deprived the Monophysite churches of powerful nation-state backers.
Despite the setbacks the Armenians hung on, tenuously and doggedly to their quarter. The treatment of the Christians in Jerusalem was not always good and certainly was not always respectful. For instance their were many complaints surrounding the ‘inspections’ whereby Ottoman ‘officials’ would come into the Holy sites, particularly the Holy Sepulcher and say:
“You have added to your churches and monasteries. In these (places) or adjacent to them are mosques. Therefore pay us large sums of money, or else we will carry out inspections and report you.[18]”
These were no idle threats for various Churches and synagogues were seized after parts of them had collapsed or been damaged and the ‘masses’ would riot claiming that the non-Muslims were building ‘new’ sites. It was likewise common practice for Muslims to ‘find’ holy sites near non-Muslim buildings and to build mosques as close as possible to them. Later the Muslims would conveniently claim that the Church was encroaching on the mosque. Nevertheless although Armenian church holdings may have suffered this degradation, the Armenian quarter remained largely un-encumbered by the minaretization of Jerusalem, most likely owing to the Armenian far sightedness in self containing their quarter as much as possible, so that outsiders were not able to suddenly claim they required a Mosque in that area. While the Church of the Nativity was forced at this time to house Muslim travelers due to the Pact of Omar, the Armenians retreated inside their quarter, safe to most extents from the harassment and daily travails of not being the master of your own land.
The Armenian Patriarchate itself became politicized at this time by struggles within the Armenian Church. Suffice it to say that the Armenian Patriarchate, due to its proximity to the Holy places and isolation from the main Armenian population, played an important role in the schism that began to affect the Armenian leaderships in Constantinople and Etchmiaddzin(seat of the Armenian Church). Significantly Bishop Eghiazar, assumed the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and in 1644 declared himself ‘Catholicos(leader)’ of all the Armenian Church. These types of struggles within the church hierarchy diminished the amount of the time the Church could spend on similar struggles with the Greek Orthodox and the Holy Sites.
Struggles over the Holy sites
The Struggle over the Holy sites had little affect on the buildings themselves, save the fact that all the churches ended up agreeing in the end to split the costs of renovations. Nevertheless the Armenians and the Greek Orthodox waged a war in the Ottoman courts during the 17th century for control of worshipping practices and ownership at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and at the Church of the Nativity. The major outcome of this was that the Armenian Church lost any chance to gets its hands on the former Ethiopian holdings at the Holy Sepulcher, including the St. Abraham Monastery, the Chapel of Derision and the Chapel of Christ’s prison[19]. Compromises today regulate everything from prayer times to renovation costs date back to the mid 17th century when the Ottoman courts trade their utmost to sort out the conflicts between the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Franciscans(Catholics) over who would control aspects of the Holy Sites.
As time wore on and the Ottoman Empire weakened the issues facing the Armenians of Jerusalem remained mostly unchanged. One of their concerns regarded the Pilgrims coming and going from Jerusalem. These Pilgrims were forced to pay a certain tax upon entering the Church of the Sepulcher, and this tax perversely was used to pay for the Muslims to recite the Quran daily at the Dome of the Rock. The same waqf that today administers the Muslim holy sites was in charge of taxing the Christians during the Ottoman period. Due to the fact that the Christian buildings could not be enlarged and the abuse of the Pilgrims by ‘fake’ tax officials the Pilgrimage numbers declined. With this decline the Ottomans began to lose money and the waqf began to lose money. Subsequently the Christians explained that in return for being allowed to modify and enlarge their buildings the Pilgrims might be encouraged to return.
Thus in the 17th century the Armenians were allowed after much pleading to enlarge the St. James monastery. At the same time the Armenian Patriarch Hovhannes VII purchased a ‘large parcel’ of land south of the St. James cathedral called “Cham Tagh”[20]. One interesting issue regarding the Armenian residential areas in their quarter was that upon purchasing houses they traditionally would tear them down and then rebuild them. This was due to a Muslim custom that allowed a Muslim to redeem a sold possession within three generations. Thus Armenians had found out that property bought in the 7th century was redeemed in the 8th by the sellers descendants. To get around the tradition the original dwelling was demolished and replaced, thus the descendants had no claims to the new dwelling[21]. By 1752 the Hagop Nalian was busy renovating the entire quarter[22] and in 1828 further renovations took place after an earthquake. In 1850 the Seminary complex at the South end of the St. James convent was completed.
Other changes to the Quarter in this period included the walls of Suleiman the magnificent finished in 1527. These walls along with the internal walls built by the Armenians came to determine the outline of the quarter. The Ottoman period created what is known as the ‘Status Quo’ for Jerusalem. This idea meant that certain religious and demographic traditions at the Holy Sites would be kept and were recognized as having a lasting permanence. The City was divided into four quarters. The Temple Mount became a Muslim Holy place and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as well as other various Christian sites were recognized as belonging to the Christian world. Despite the arguments over who would control what aspects of these sites the Status quo has remained from the 17th century to the present largely intact.
Armenians had embraced the modern era with high hopes. As the Armenian diaspora spread throughout Europe and America they came into wealth as never before. Their status as craftsmen and traders and their dispersal allowed them to exceed in international trade and business. Thus the oil man Calouste Gulbenkian known as Mr. 5 percent for his dealings, came to endow the Gulbunkian library in the Armenian quarter which was completed in 1929 and today holds over 120,000 volumes including one of the great collection of ancient Armenian manuscripts including endless copies of the various Firmen’s or Ottoman edicts that granted the quarter protection and rights under Muslim rule[23]. In 1833 the Armenians established the city’s first printing press and opened a theological seminary in 1843[24]. In 1840 Church bells, the ringing of which had been forbidden under Muslim rule, were finally allowed to be used[25]. In 1856 following a financial crises precipitated by the Crimean war Patriarch John inaugurated a land investment program that engendered the current sequence of valuable land holdings of the Armenian Church existing outside the Old City and the Holy Sites. The areas eventually grew to include rocky land outside of Jaffa gate as well as the Hotels and properties in West Jerusalem leased to pilgrims and western tourists[26]. In 1866 the Armenians had inaugurated the first photographic studio and their first newspaper in Jerusalem[27]. Also in 1908 the Armenian community built two large buildings catty-corner to the North-Western side of the Old city along Jaffa Street. Armenians themselves began to brave life outside the walls, but one young husband petitioned the Patriarch complaining “It is impossible for me to outside the Old City and leave my children in the hands of Turks and troops and other strange people[28]”. In 1896 a portion of the wall of the Armenian compound was even torn down to make way for the cars, creating the present road that cuts through the quarter[29].
With the outbreak of World War One the Armenians found themselves cut off from their sources of support among the western powers. In 1915, using the excuse that the Armenians were allied with the Russians, the Young Turks ordered all Armenians expelled from Armenia in North Eastern Turkey. The ensuing genocide left as many as 1.5 million Armenians dead[30]. The Soviets meanwhile marched into Russian Armenia and annexed it as Soviet Socialist Republic. Armenians may have been influential in the communist movement, among them Anastas Mikoyan, but these atheistic types would prove no help to pious Armenians of Jerusalem. Thus the Patriarch in Jerusalem seemed orphaned, a church without a homeland. Then one day towards the end of Chanukah, in December 1917 the Union Jack was run up outside the old city, as the Turks fled the British and General Allenby entered the city. For the first time in almost 800 years a Christian power had returned to the Holy Land, unfortunately for the Armenians it was not to last and it was to be another 80 years before an independent Armenia would play a role in the church again.
In 1905 the Armenians represented about 2.7% of the Christians in Jerusalem, around 840 people[31]. In the beginning of 1831 Jerusalem’s 9000 residents celebrated the coming of Mohammad Ali and his Egyptian army[32]. The Armenian community, reduced along with the rest of Jerusalem due to the poverty and neglect of the Ottomans also celebrated[33]. Numerous sources mention the individual nature of the Armenian quarter in this period, its “distinct ethnic with its particular language and culture, intent on retaining its separate identity and unity, minimizing the contacts with Arabs and the Ottoman authorities[34]”.
The Mandate 1917-1948
The British authorities, with their spit shined boots and years of colonial experience were quick to embrace the Status Quo, despite Balfours declaration to create a Jewish Homeland. The British looked to the Status quo of 1852 for guidance[35], keeping the four quarters of the Old City while at the same time allowing a major building program outside the city walls.
1920s most of the Armenian quarter by this time had “European style gable roofs” as opposed to the domes preferred in the Muslim quarter[36]. In 1922 Armenians made up 8 percent of Jerusalem’s Old City Christians, bringing their total number to about 2480 people[37]. Armenian refugees are estimated to have brought the total community to as many as 25,000 for a short period of time, but as with most population statistics, such numbers are impossible to verify[38]. It is also noted that non-Armenians found comfort in the protection of the walled Armenian ‘compound’. As events moved at a fast pace outside the city and the dark clouds of World War Two gathered and were then cleared away, the Armenian quarter changed little in this period. The shock of the loss of Armenia to the Soviets and the destruction wrought by the genocide left the Patriarchate with financial backing to be found mostly in the wealthy American diaspora community. The quarter was renovated at this time, but the various Christian communities could not come to an agreement on the renovations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The 1948 War and Jordanian Rule 1948-1967
In 1948 the British were set to leave Palestine, the U.N agreed to partition Palestine and Israel declared her independence. Under the U.N resolution Jerusalem was fantasized as becoming an international city, but the arrival of the Jordanian legion and the Haganah defense forces made any such utopian ideal impossible. Later historians like Rashid Khalidi would stress the “de-sectarian nature[39]” of the Palestinians, exhibiting Christians such as George Habash as model Arab nationalists. Yet for the Armenians, who were not Arab or Jewish, they were Armenian and had no ‘dog in the fight’ using the parochial expression of the American south. Thus although the Armenians deployed a small militia to protect their quarter they closed their gates and hoped for the best and the Jordanians shelled the old city and the Jewish defenders tried their best to relieve their comrades, under siege in the Jewish quarter abutting the Armenians one.
On August 2nd 1948 the Armenians petitioned Count Bernadotte to help negotiate a protection for the holy places, but it was to no avail. The Count would later be assassinated and the shelling of the Old City by both opposing forces dragged on through September. The Armenian quarter was hit several times in this period forty people were killed in the fighting and 250 were wounded[40]. Armenian residents of the Quarter were lucky to have the 1 meter thick walls of the Church of St. James to huddle behind for protection[41].
The numbers of Armenians residing in Jerusalem and in Palestine in 1948 is disputed. One source cites a total population “never exceeding” 10,000 and a total of 8000 in all of Palestine/Israel at the time[42]. One must remember that as recently as 1870 only 14000-22000 people lived in Jerusalem, making even a small Armenian presence a significant minority of the population[43]. One source also claims a pre 1948 Armenian population of 16,000 in Jerusalem whereas another claims 12,000[44] and a 1949 population of 5000 due to emigration from the conflict[45]. Either way the majority of the population fled to America, Europe or Lebanon due to the fighting and subsequent Jordanian rule.
Jordanian rule was not as equal and tolerant as modern day historians like to imagine it. Rather Jordanian law required the Armenians and all Christians to “give equal time to the Bible and Quran” in private Christian schools as well as restricting the expansion of church assets[46]. On august 30, 1958, after refusing to recognize the new Armenian Patriarch Tiran Nersoyan, the Jordanian police seized and deported him[47]. Nevertheless in 1962 the Armenians agreed with the Catholics and Orthodox to begin renovating the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The renovations continue to this day. As the Armenians were now separated from their holdings in Israel the Patriarch began to lease these buildings out to the Jerusalem municipality and to developers.
The 1967 War and Israeli Rule 1967-present
The 1967 war is remembered by some in the Armenian community as a ‘miracle’ due to the fact that two unexploded bombs were later found inside the Armenian monastery[48]. Nevertheless it is also believed, absent of hard statistics, that more then 20,000 Armenians lived in Israel and Jordan before the 1967 war. Today the number has declined to fewer then 15,000. But this is after reaching much lower numbers in the intervening decades. The fall of the Soviet Union has opened the doors to an independent Armenia. Today more then 3000 Armenians live in Jerusalem although some claim the number is closer to 2500[49]. The Armenian quarter is home to roughly 500 of them, some of whom are temporary residents studying at the seminary or serving the church in various functions. The entire quarter is owned by the Patriarchate today as well as the other ‘valuable’ assets in West Jerusalem and elsewhere. Finances for the quarter are helped by the prosperous Armenian communities in America. In 1975 a Seminary school was completed inside the quarter.
Following the 1967 war the Israeli government gave compensation to repair the Armenian churches and holy sites damaged in the fighting, regardless of who had caused the damage and in 1969 an Armenian studies program was created at The Hebrew University[50]. The Armenian population has continued to fluctuate throughout the period, sometimes due to the presence of Seminary students or the political and economic climate of Armenia. In 1980 a source[51] claims 1500 Armenians reside in the city of Jerusalem. A separate figure of 1200 has been suggested for the year 2000[52].
In 1987 Naomi Shepherd reported that “The Armenian and Syrian Orthodox clergy are present and correct, but not on speaking terms[53]”.At this time she also reported that only 14,000 Christians lived In the city of Jerusalem[54].
The Armenian quarter today is divided into two sections, the Monastery(convent) of St. James and the residential neighborhoods around it. Although technically most of quarter is owned by the Church itself, one writer claims that of the 581 properties in the quarter, 81 are now owned by Jews[55]. A separate source says that the Armenian quarter rents out 120 “pieces of residential and commercial property[56]”. One reason for the Jewish presence may be the chosh and chatzer areas within the quarter whose Jewish presence dates back as much as a century and where 30 Jewish homes and 2 synagogues exit today[57]. Since the Armenian and Jewish quarters are in such proximity and are divided by Chabad street(Suq El Hussor Road) it is natural that the demand for houses has risen as more Jews have moved back into the Old City(since being expelled by the Jordanians in 1948) and the tensions in the Armenian quarter are not what they would be in the Christian or Muslim quarters, which are composed mostly of Arabs.
The Monastery of St. James complex covers roughly 2 thirds of the quarters total area. Inside this walled compound one finds the Church of St. James, the ‘St. Archangels Church at the south end where baptisms, weddings and funerals are held.[58]”, The Gulbunkian library, the Mardigian Armenian museum, Priests quarters, the Patriarch’s residence, a printing press, school, recreational center and theological student dormitory built in 1969. Across from the main gate of the St. James complex is the Theological seminary. The total area of the quarter comes to about one sixth of the city.[59]
The Armenian Patriarchate still owns its “valuable property in West Jerusalem and in the area west of the Old city walls[60]” much of which is leased to the JNF or developers[61]. In addition to these the Patriarchate owns 8 buildings, with a total of 250 shops along Jaffa and Zion Hamalka streets in Jerusalem. Subsequently Armenian Archbishop Shahe Ajamian sold the small property west of the Old city walls to Israel to allow for the current picturesque landscaping. The Patriarchate also “owns extensive properties in and around Jerusalem[62]” many of these are leased to Israelis but some of these are open spaces of land on the Mt. of Olives, and in Bethlehem as well as the Armenian cemetery on the Mt. Zion. Patriarch Torkom Manoogian took office in March of 1990 and has continued efforts to work with the other Christian organizations in the ongoing renovations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Thus after more then 2000 years of contact with the Holy Land the Armenian presence continues[63]. The community is but a smaller example of Israel as whole, of a communities ability to survive and persevere for such long periods.
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Peri, Oded. Christianity under Islam in Jerusalem: The Question of the Holy Sites in Early Ottoman Times. Brill London 2001.
Papazian, Dennis. The Contribution of Armenians in Jerusalem to Armenians in America. February 17th 2002. 10 December 2004. http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/jerusalem.html
Schiavi, Nicole. Merry Christmass No Really…January 7 2003. 10 December 2004. Jerusalem Post.online edition
Shepherd, Naomi. Teddy Kolleck: Mayor of Jerusalem. 1988. New York.
Stone. Michael F. Armenians in Jerusalem and Holy Land. May 1999. 10 December 2004. http://micro5.mscc.huji.ac.il/~armenia/30years/index.html
Rabinowitz, Allen. An Amazing Armenian Maze October 23 2002. Jerusalem Post. 10 December 2004. http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/03/01/Tourism/Tourism.22242.html
Tamari, Salim. Jerusalem 1948: The Arab neighborhoods and their fate in the war. Institute of Palestine studies.
Usher, Graham. Jerusalem Quarterly File. Issue 9 2000. 10 December 2004. http://www.jqf-jerusalem.org/2000/jqf9\
[1] Holyland.org
[2] Father Norayr
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] Kramer 155
[6] Kramer 170 and Holyland.org
[7] Benvenisti
[8] ibid
[9] Krikorian
[10] Drory 212
[11] Krikorian
[12] Kramer 170
[13] Peri 20
[14] Ibid
[15] ibid page 33
[16] ibid page 35
[17] ibid page 37
[18] ibid page 82
[19] Peri 122
[20] Krikorian
[21] Father Norayr interview
[22] Krikorian
[23] Jergin 419 and Father Nayayr, Gulbunkian, despite his Armenian heritage was able to develop oil interests throughout the middle east. He acted as a middle man for larger Oil companies like Anglo-Dutch or Turkish Petroleum, and would take 5% of each deal, thus the nickname; Mr. 5%. The firmans can be found at the Gulbunkian library. Hintlian confirms the figure of 120,000 volumes.
[24] Kramer 170
[25] Rabinowitz Armenian Maze
[26] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998
[27] Krikorian
[28] Tamari 23
[29] Jewish Virtual Library
[30] Various sources confirm this figure among them The Burning Tigris, and Caravans to Oblivion.
[31] Kark 198
[32] ibid
[33] Kirk 27
[34] ibid 45
[35] Kramer 5
[36] Kirk 70
[37] Kirk 198
[38] Golan Cloistered Community and Papazian in “The contribution of Armenian Americans to Armenians in Jerusalem” speaks of 20,000.
[39] Tamari 38
[40] This toll seems high and may have been fabricated for propaganda purpouses since the same source makes the claim that only ‘Hagana’ shells hit the Armenian quarter. Hintlian Armenians in Jerusalem.
[41] Rabinowitz Armenian Maze
[42] Kramer 155
[43] Tamari 11
[44] Jewish Virtual Library claims 16000 whereas Usher in Jerusalem Quarterly file claims 12,000 with 6,000 fleeing in the conflict.
[45] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998 claimed only 5000 left after the war with the population further reduced to 3700 by 1967.
[46] Kramer 6 as explained in the introduction by Teddy Kolleck.
[47] Krikorian
[48] Norayr
[49] Norayr gave figure as 3000, whereas in 1998 Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998 claimed 2500
[50] Hebrew University Webpage
[51] Kramer 155
[52] Usher, Jerusalem Quarterly file
[53] Shepherd 6
[54] Shepherd 15
[55] Usher Jerusalem Quarterly file
[56] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998
[57] Rabbi Yakov Goldman Jerusalem Quartered
[58] Jewish Virtual Library
[59] This description of the current size and state of the quarter is taken from personal observation as well as Hagopian Armenians in Israel, The Jerusalem Letter.
[60] ibid page 72
[61] According to David Lasocki in The Armenian Reporter, Patriarch Yeghishe Derderian was scandalized for leasing properties in the 1970s to Israeli developers for 99 years. In 1996 similar accusations accused the Patriarchate of leasing more valuable properties to Israel for 198 periods. None of these however are in the Old City.
[62] Kraemer 155
[63] The Armenian date of Christmas, January 19th also separates it from the other Christian denominations, making Armenians both an ethnic minority and a celebratory minority. The date is due to a switch from the old Julian calendar.
The Armenian presence in Jerusalem
Seth J. Frantzman
Historical Geography of Jerusalem Fall 2004
-Table of Contents-
Introduction
The Armenian people and their establishment in Jerusalem 95 B.C-640 AD
The First Muslim Period 638-1199
The Crusader Periods 1099-1187, 1229-1244
The Mamluke period 1260-1517
The Ottoman Period 1517-1917
The Mandate 1917-1948
The Quarter under Jordan 1948-1967
The Quarter under Israel: 1967 to present
The Armenian Quarter
Of the four quarters in the old city of Jerusalem it would appear that the Armenian quarter would have been part of the ‘Christian Quarter’ since all Armenians residing in Jerusalem are Christians. Yet for historical reasons the Armenian quarter has remained separate, and has not suffered the same disruptions as the other quarters over the last 1000 years. Although the smallest of the four quarters, with fewer residents, the Armenians and their patriarchate remain staunchly independent and present a vigorous presence in the Old City of Jerusalem. The story of the Armenians quarter, its growth and decline, its assets and community is one often overlooked in most studies of Jerusalem.
The Armenian people and their establishment in Jerusalem 95 B.C-640 AD
The Armenians are an ancient people who have inhabited parts of Turkey, Iran and the Caucuses for more then two thousand years. The first Armenian to come anywhere near Jerusalem arrived in the 95 B.C under King Tigran II of Armenia. The Armenian armies captured Caesarea before leaving the Holy Land. It was at this time that Jews may have come to trade with Armenia and settle in that far away land when likewise some Armenians came to know of the lands around Jerusalem and may have traded with the Herodian Jewish state. Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D the Romans imported “Armenian traders, artisans, Legionaries and government administrators[1]”. At precisely this time Thaddeus and Bartholomew, both Christian apostles, arrived in Armenia to preach among the small Jewish community there and subsequently Christianity spread to the higher echelons of Armenian royalty. In 301 A.D Armenia was proclaimed a “Christian state’ under its King Terdat III[2]. During this period it is believed Armenian pilgrims were already making their way to and from Jerusalem on pilgrimages. Armenian folk history also tells that already a small “upper room” of a house on Mt. Zion was being used as a church, thus the later Armenian claim to a quarter near Mt. Zion where the St. James Cathedral would later be built.
The Edict of Milan in 313 AD made Christianity an acceptable religion in the Roman Empire. From this time forward it became easier for Armenian Christians to settle and build homes in Jerusalem. Queen Helena came to the Holy land in 326 AD and began to ‘find’ Holy Sites, including Golgotha, The Nativity in Bethlehem and the birthplace of Mary. At this time the Holy Sepulcher was built(4th century). Between the fourth and eighth centuries Armenians built as many as 70 Monasteries throughout the Holy Land, although how many of them might have been in Jerusalem is up to debate. By the 6th century A.D Armenian Bishops were located in Jerusalem around what they called “Mt. Zion”, indicating that a substantial Armenian community existed in the city and that the community was settling continuously in a particular area. Armenians at this time would have had a role in the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The invention of an Armenian alphabet in 405 certainly helped the Armenian community by allowing them to keep records in their native language[3]. This alphabet has helped spawn the more then 4000 ancient manuscripts kept by the Armenians in the St. Toros church next to the St. James cathedral. In the 19th century when braking ground for the Russian Monastery on the Mt. of Olives six mosaic floors were uncovered to reveal Armenian writing, once again testifying to the presence of Armenians in and around Jerusalem from that period. A similar mosaic was uncovered in the Musrara neighborhood (200 meters from Damascus Gate) and was purchased b the Armenian patriarchate in 1912[4].
One of the central reasons for the existence of an Armenian quarter is the religion and ethnicity of the Armenians. Armenians, unlike the majority of Christians in Israel, are not Arab, rather they are ethnically and religiously Armenians[5]. The reason for their ethnicity does not need to be elaborated on except to say that they have remained a homogenous group, intermarrying over the years and keeping their culture intact. The reason for the development of a separate Armenian church is slightly more complicated.
At the time Armenia converted to Christianity there was only one church. However in 431 AD the third ecumenical council at Ephesus split the church between Nestorians (today’s Assyrian and Chaldean Christians) and the rest of Christianity. Then in 451 the 4th ecumenical Council split Christianity again into Monophysites and Dyophysite. The Armenians thereby joined the Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian church’s in the MonoPhysite movement, whereas the Byzantine (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox etc..) Church became Dyophysite[6]. It would take until 1054 for the Latin(Catholic) Church to break from the Orthodox/Byzantine Church and then until the Reformation in the 15th century to split the Christian Church into the factions one sees today in the old city. Byzantine emperor Justinian(527-565) persecuted the Monophysite churches and the Armenians found themselves speaking on behalf of the Ethiopian, Syrian and Coptic Church’s, a leadership role the Patriarchate still assumes. Thus from 451 AD the Armenian church became a separate from the other Christian church’s in Jerusalem, a fact that would have major ramifications in the ensuing struggle with fellow Christians during the Crusader and Ottoman periods.
The First Muslim Period 638-1199
The Persian conquest and sacking of Jerusalem in 614 and the subsequent Islamic conquest in 638 found the Armenians under siege from their Byzantine masters and they therefore welcomed the invaders as a way to get back the Church property confiscated under Justinian, and which they had been forbidden from entering. The Armenians now became subject to the Pact of Omar and they became Dhimmis. They would pay a special poll taxes called Jizye, sometimes be forced to wear special clothing including Blue Turbans, and not be allowed to construct new Christian buildings. For this they were ‘protected’ which is to say they didn’t suffer the fate of Pagans, that of being killed or enslaved.
The Armenians lived under different Muslim dynasties between 638 and the coming of the Crusaders in 1099. The Umayyids based in Damascus were followed by a smooth transition to the Abbasids(750-1258) based in Baghdad and subsequent more destructive and intolerant reigns of Fatmids in 969 and finally the Seljuk’s who pillaged the city in 1071.
The Crusader Periods 1099-1187, 1229-1244
In 1009 the Fatamid ruler al-Hakim demolished the Church of the Holy Sepulcher thus inaugurating the Christian bashing policies that would light the spark of the crusades. Pope Urban II called on Christians throughout Europe to unite and drive out the Seljuk ‘infidels’ who had been harassing and suppressing the Christians trying to live in and pass through the Holy Land. The Popes call was taken up and the heavily armored crusaders with their massive draft horses set off, across Europe, through the wastes of the Balkans, past Byzantium and even wondered in sight of the Armenian kingdom of Cilisia on their was to Jerusalem. Although the Catholic crusaders did not kill their co-religousists they brought a mandate that Jerusalem would be ‘Latin’. The Armenians at this time had acquired much of the land in today’s Armenians quarter and by 1165 had finished constructing the St. James Cathedral which became the most important building of the quarter and remains so today. It was at this same time that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was rebuilt into its modern day appearance with an entrance not on the Cardo but from the south.
The Armenian quarter itself, centered around St. James also included housing and one holy Christian site, the prison of Jesus. Only the southern part of the area described as the Armenian Quarter today was actually inhabited by Armenians at this time[7]. At this time the Armenian quarters became dominated by non-Armenian churches including the Church of St. Thomas in the Southern area, a Greek Church in the north part of the quarter, the Church of St. James Intercisus in the extreme north near David’s Street and the Church of St. Mark bordering today’s Jewish Quarter[8]. As yet another testament to the entrenchment of the Armenian community is that the only Church still remaining in the hands of the same owners from this time is the complex of St. James Cathedral. The majority of the other Churches from the Crusader period have become Mosques, houses or been turned over to other Christian orders. At the same time the Armenians came to possess for a short time the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, leaving the Patriarch Abraham IV’s(in office 1205-1218) name carved on the front door of the church[9].
One must remark that the Armenians proved themselves more welcome in Jerusalem due to their not being belligerents in the wars against the Muslim powers of the day. The Crusades had been a Catholic affair. Likewise the continuing war against the Orthodox power of Byzantium and the inheritor of that power, the Russians, meant that Muslims were rightly suspicious of the Catholic and Orthodox interests in Jerusalem. However Armenia had long ago ceased to be independent, so although a million or more Armenians lived in eastern Anatolia(modern Turkey) they posed no political military challenge to the Muslim Mamlukes or Ottomans.
1260-1517 Mamluke period
The coming of the Slave Army of the Mamlukes in 1260, replacing the short lived late Muslim Ayyubid rulers(1244-1260) had little affect on the Armenians but great affect on the other Christian communities, many of whom were viewed as being part of the Crusader mentality. The Armenian Patriarch Sarkis I(1281-1313) met the Mamluke governor and subsequently returned to his community in Jerusalem, hoping to usher in a period of peace for his people after the convulsions of the crusades. The community at this time had a significant community in Egypt and it happened that Patriarchs would travel to Cairo from time to time to meet with the Mamluke rulers and their constituents. The result of these contacts can be inferred by the fact that in the 1340s the Armenians were permitted to build a wall around their quarter. This was a significant sign that the Mamluke rulers felt the quarter did not pose a threat, since the tearing down of walls had been a staple of Mamluke governance as a way to ensure the crusaders did not return. The Mamluke government also engraved the following declaration in Arabic on the western entrance to the quarter:
The order of our maser Sultan Jaqmaq which stipulates that the taxes levied recently by the town governor regarding the payment by the Armenian enclosure be cancelled and it has been requested that this cancellation be recorded in the Honored Books in the year 854 of the Hijra(1451). Anyone who renews the payment or again takes any tax of extortion is damned, son of the damned, and the curse of Allah will be upon him[10].
The Armenian quarter in this period kept creating ‘facts on the ground’ by the constant small expansions and solidifications. In the 1380s Patriarch Krikor IV built a priests dining room across from the St. James Cathedral. Around 1415 the Olive grove near the Garden of Gethsemane was purchased. But all was not achievements for in 1439 Armenians were removed from the Golgotha chapel but the Patriarch Mardiros I(1412-1450) purchased the “opposite area” and named it second Golgotha[11], this remains in the Patriarchs possession to this day. In the same period, in 1311 the first Armenian Patriarch was appointed[12]. This Patriarch augmented the other Armenian Patriarch in Armenia and together with the 2 Supreme Patriarchs(one for Lebanon/Cyprus/Syria and one for Armenia/Jerusalem and everywhere else) made up the highest officials in the church.
The Ottoman Period 1517-1917
Under the Ottomans Jerusalem would become a cosmopolitan city where religious tolerance to some degree functioned well and a corrupt but reasonable Ottoman administration functioned to sort out religious differences between the rival Christian churches and between the rival religions. Also during this period the term “Armenian Quarter” was first used on maps to describe the ‘status quo’ of the Old City’s various religious communities.
The most important aspect during this time was the increase in the Armenian demographics of their quarter and the struggle for control of the holy sights. Ottoman Jizya or tax records for 1562 and 1690 are the most accurate because they are confirmed to have actually been updated in those years to reflect the actual people living in Jerusalem rather then passed down from former tax records. Further work was done on the records, since they originally only contained the numbers of non-Muslim adult men who were not registered as full time ‘religious’ people, which is to say monks and priests. In the 1562-63 record only 189 Armenians are counted, whereas 640 are counted in 1690, an increase of 239%[13]. Some have attributed this demographic ballooning to a “process of urbanization[14]” experienced by the Armenians and other Christians in particular. Thus Armenians came to make up 22.9% of Jerusalem’s Christians by 1690, becoming the second largest Christian community.
Armenians were overwhelmingly engaged in the occupation of craft making at this time, with smaller numbers engaged in trade and services. One must recall that the Armenians who were engaged in religious activities exclusively are not recorded in these records of occupation since they were exempted for reasons of being completely pious in nature. When one examines the actual tax rates of the Armenians we find that they made up the highest numbers of those in the ‘medium’ tax bracket while their rivals for control of some of the holy sites made up the ‘lower’ tax bracket. This financial situation, heavily buttressed by Armenians donations from their home country[15], certainly contributed to the communities demographic and financial clout in the old city. This is certainly yet another reason that the community was able to expand and control an entire quarter of the city. The other myriad Christian communities at this time were meanwhile living in their historic areas around the Church of the holy Sepulcher.
Outside the Armenian quarter and its residential neighborhood and imposing St. James cathedral the Armenians vied for control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Armenians are described as the “second most important shareholder” of the Church, the Greek Orthodox being the most important. The Armenians controlled the Chapel of Parting of Raiment, St. Helena’s Chapel, The Chapel of St. John and the Chapel of the Three Mary’s, as well as the second floor above the main entrance[16]. The Church itself then was divided between the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Franciscans(Catholic) sects of Christianity.
Following the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699 the Ottoman Empire devolved into the ‘sick man of Europe’ and “the question of the Holy Sites started transforming from an internal Ottoman problem, to an external diplomatic one[17]”. This was to prove a major disadvantage since Armenia the nation had been gobbled up by the Ottomans and then in 1828 it was swept into the Russian empire. Whereas most of the other Churches had patron nations, such as France for the Catholics and Russia for the Orthodox, the Armenians now found themselves alone among Christian giants. The subsequent decline during this period of the Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian church holdings in the city were also part of this sequence of events that deprived the Monophysite churches of powerful nation-state backers.
Despite the setbacks the Armenians hung on, tenuously and doggedly to their quarter. The treatment of the Christians in Jerusalem was not always good and certainly was not always respectful. For instance their were many complaints surrounding the ‘inspections’ whereby Ottoman ‘officials’ would come into the Holy sites, particularly the Holy Sepulcher and say:
“You have added to your churches and monasteries. In these (places) or adjacent to them are mosques. Therefore pay us large sums of money, or else we will carry out inspections and report you.[18]”
These were no idle threats for various Churches and synagogues were seized after parts of them had collapsed or been damaged and the ‘masses’ would riot claiming that the non-Muslims were building ‘new’ sites. It was likewise common practice for Muslims to ‘find’ holy sites near non-Muslim buildings and to build mosques as close as possible to them. Later the Muslims would conveniently claim that the Church was encroaching on the mosque. Nevertheless although Armenian church holdings may have suffered this degradation, the Armenian quarter remained largely un-encumbered by the minaretization of Jerusalem, most likely owing to the Armenian far sightedness in self containing their quarter as much as possible, so that outsiders were not able to suddenly claim they required a Mosque in that area. While the Church of the Nativity was forced at this time to house Muslim travelers due to the Pact of Omar, the Armenians retreated inside their quarter, safe to most extents from the harassment and daily travails of not being the master of your own land.
The Armenian Patriarchate itself became politicized at this time by struggles within the Armenian Church. Suffice it to say that the Armenian Patriarchate, due to its proximity to the Holy places and isolation from the main Armenian population, played an important role in the schism that began to affect the Armenian leaderships in Constantinople and Etchmiaddzin(seat of the Armenian Church). Significantly Bishop Eghiazar, assumed the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and in 1644 declared himself ‘Catholicos(leader)’ of all the Armenian Church. These types of struggles within the church hierarchy diminished the amount of the time the Church could spend on similar struggles with the Greek Orthodox and the Holy Sites.
Struggles over the Holy sites
The Struggle over the Holy sites had little affect on the buildings themselves, save the fact that all the churches ended up agreeing in the end to split the costs of renovations. Nevertheless the Armenians and the Greek Orthodox waged a war in the Ottoman courts during the 17th century for control of worshipping practices and ownership at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and at the Church of the Nativity. The major outcome of this was that the Armenian Church lost any chance to gets its hands on the former Ethiopian holdings at the Holy Sepulcher, including the St. Abraham Monastery, the Chapel of Derision and the Chapel of Christ’s prison[19]. Compromises today regulate everything from prayer times to renovation costs date back to the mid 17th century when the Ottoman courts trade their utmost to sort out the conflicts between the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Franciscans(Catholics) over who would control aspects of the Holy Sites.
As time wore on and the Ottoman Empire weakened the issues facing the Armenians of Jerusalem remained mostly unchanged. One of their concerns regarded the Pilgrims coming and going from Jerusalem. These Pilgrims were forced to pay a certain tax upon entering the Church of the Sepulcher, and this tax perversely was used to pay for the Muslims to recite the Quran daily at the Dome of the Rock. The same waqf that today administers the Muslim holy sites was in charge of taxing the Christians during the Ottoman period. Due to the fact that the Christian buildings could not be enlarged and the abuse of the Pilgrims by ‘fake’ tax officials the Pilgrimage numbers declined. With this decline the Ottomans began to lose money and the waqf began to lose money. Subsequently the Christians explained that in return for being allowed to modify and enlarge their buildings the Pilgrims might be encouraged to return.
Thus in the 17th century the Armenians were allowed after much pleading to enlarge the St. James monastery. At the same time the Armenian Patriarch Hovhannes VII purchased a ‘large parcel’ of land south of the St. James cathedral called “Cham Tagh”[20]. One interesting issue regarding the Armenian residential areas in their quarter was that upon purchasing houses they traditionally would tear them down and then rebuild them. This was due to a Muslim custom that allowed a Muslim to redeem a sold possession within three generations. Thus Armenians had found out that property bought in the 7th century was redeemed in the 8th by the sellers descendants. To get around the tradition the original dwelling was demolished and replaced, thus the descendants had no claims to the new dwelling[21]. By 1752 the Hagop Nalian was busy renovating the entire quarter[22] and in 1828 further renovations took place after an earthquake. In 1850 the Seminary complex at the South end of the St. James convent was completed.
Other changes to the Quarter in this period included the walls of Suleiman the magnificent finished in 1527. These walls along with the internal walls built by the Armenians came to determine the outline of the quarter. The Ottoman period created what is known as the ‘Status Quo’ for Jerusalem. This idea meant that certain religious and demographic traditions at the Holy Sites would be kept and were recognized as having a lasting permanence. The City was divided into four quarters. The Temple Mount became a Muslim Holy place and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as well as other various Christian sites were recognized as belonging to the Christian world. Despite the arguments over who would control what aspects of these sites the Status quo has remained from the 17th century to the present largely intact.
Armenians had embraced the modern era with high hopes. As the Armenian diaspora spread throughout Europe and America they came into wealth as never before. Their status as craftsmen and traders and their dispersal allowed them to exceed in international trade and business. Thus the oil man Calouste Gulbenkian known as Mr. 5 percent for his dealings, came to endow the Gulbunkian library in the Armenian quarter which was completed in 1929 and today holds over 120,000 volumes including one of the great collection of ancient Armenian manuscripts including endless copies of the various Firmen’s or Ottoman edicts that granted the quarter protection and rights under Muslim rule[23]. In 1833 the Armenians established the city’s first printing press and opened a theological seminary in 1843[24]. In 1840 Church bells, the ringing of which had been forbidden under Muslim rule, were finally allowed to be used[25]. In 1856 following a financial crises precipitated by the Crimean war Patriarch John inaugurated a land investment program that engendered the current sequence of valuable land holdings of the Armenian Church existing outside the Old City and the Holy Sites. The areas eventually grew to include rocky land outside of Jaffa gate as well as the Hotels and properties in West Jerusalem leased to pilgrims and western tourists[26]. In 1866 the Armenians had inaugurated the first photographic studio and their first newspaper in Jerusalem[27]. Also in 1908 the Armenian community built two large buildings catty-corner to the North-Western side of the Old city along Jaffa Street. Armenians themselves began to brave life outside the walls, but one young husband petitioned the Patriarch complaining “It is impossible for me to outside the Old City and leave my children in the hands of Turks and troops and other strange people[28]”. In 1896 a portion of the wall of the Armenian compound was even torn down to make way for the cars, creating the present road that cuts through the quarter[29].
With the outbreak of World War One the Armenians found themselves cut off from their sources of support among the western powers. In 1915, using the excuse that the Armenians were allied with the Russians, the Young Turks ordered all Armenians expelled from Armenia in North Eastern Turkey. The ensuing genocide left as many as 1.5 million Armenians dead[30]. The Soviets meanwhile marched into Russian Armenia and annexed it as Soviet Socialist Republic. Armenians may have been influential in the communist movement, among them Anastas Mikoyan, but these atheistic types would prove no help to pious Armenians of Jerusalem. Thus the Patriarch in Jerusalem seemed orphaned, a church without a homeland. Then one day towards the end of Chanukah, in December 1917 the Union Jack was run up outside the old city, as the Turks fled the British and General Allenby entered the city. For the first time in almost 800 years a Christian power had returned to the Holy Land, unfortunately for the Armenians it was not to last and it was to be another 80 years before an independent Armenia would play a role in the church again.
In 1905 the Armenians represented about 2.7% of the Christians in Jerusalem, around 840 people[31]. In the beginning of 1831 Jerusalem’s 9000 residents celebrated the coming of Mohammad Ali and his Egyptian army[32]. The Armenian community, reduced along with the rest of Jerusalem due to the poverty and neglect of the Ottomans also celebrated[33]. Numerous sources mention the individual nature of the Armenian quarter in this period, its “distinct ethnic with its particular language and culture, intent on retaining its separate identity and unity, minimizing the contacts with Arabs and the Ottoman authorities[34]”.
The Mandate 1917-1948
The British authorities, with their spit shined boots and years of colonial experience were quick to embrace the Status Quo, despite Balfours declaration to create a Jewish Homeland. The British looked to the Status quo of 1852 for guidance[35], keeping the four quarters of the Old City while at the same time allowing a major building program outside the city walls.
1920s most of the Armenian quarter by this time had “European style gable roofs” as opposed to the domes preferred in the Muslim quarter[36]. In 1922 Armenians made up 8 percent of Jerusalem’s Old City Christians, bringing their total number to about 2480 people[37]. Armenian refugees are estimated to have brought the total community to as many as 25,000 for a short period of time, but as with most population statistics, such numbers are impossible to verify[38]. It is also noted that non-Armenians found comfort in the protection of the walled Armenian ‘compound’. As events moved at a fast pace outside the city and the dark clouds of World War Two gathered and were then cleared away, the Armenian quarter changed little in this period. The shock of the loss of Armenia to the Soviets and the destruction wrought by the genocide left the Patriarchate with financial backing to be found mostly in the wealthy American diaspora community. The quarter was renovated at this time, but the various Christian communities could not come to an agreement on the renovations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The 1948 War and Jordanian Rule 1948-1967
In 1948 the British were set to leave Palestine, the U.N agreed to partition Palestine and Israel declared her independence. Under the U.N resolution Jerusalem was fantasized as becoming an international city, but the arrival of the Jordanian legion and the Haganah defense forces made any such utopian ideal impossible. Later historians like Rashid Khalidi would stress the “de-sectarian nature[39]” of the Palestinians, exhibiting Christians such as George Habash as model Arab nationalists. Yet for the Armenians, who were not Arab or Jewish, they were Armenian and had no ‘dog in the fight’ using the parochial expression of the American south. Thus although the Armenians deployed a small militia to protect their quarter they closed their gates and hoped for the best and the Jordanians shelled the old city and the Jewish defenders tried their best to relieve their comrades, under siege in the Jewish quarter abutting the Armenians one.
On August 2nd 1948 the Armenians petitioned Count Bernadotte to help negotiate a protection for the holy places, but it was to no avail. The Count would later be assassinated and the shelling of the Old City by both opposing forces dragged on through September. The Armenian quarter was hit several times in this period forty people were killed in the fighting and 250 were wounded[40]. Armenian residents of the Quarter were lucky to have the 1 meter thick walls of the Church of St. James to huddle behind for protection[41].
The numbers of Armenians residing in Jerusalem and in Palestine in 1948 is disputed. One source cites a total population “never exceeding” 10,000 and a total of 8000 in all of Palestine/Israel at the time[42]. One must remember that as recently as 1870 only 14000-22000 people lived in Jerusalem, making even a small Armenian presence a significant minority of the population[43]. One source also claims a pre 1948 Armenian population of 16,000 in Jerusalem whereas another claims 12,000[44] and a 1949 population of 5000 due to emigration from the conflict[45]. Either way the majority of the population fled to America, Europe or Lebanon due to the fighting and subsequent Jordanian rule.
Jordanian rule was not as equal and tolerant as modern day historians like to imagine it. Rather Jordanian law required the Armenians and all Christians to “give equal time to the Bible and Quran” in private Christian schools as well as restricting the expansion of church assets[46]. On august 30, 1958, after refusing to recognize the new Armenian Patriarch Tiran Nersoyan, the Jordanian police seized and deported him[47]. Nevertheless in 1962 the Armenians agreed with the Catholics and Orthodox to begin renovating the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The renovations continue to this day. As the Armenians were now separated from their holdings in Israel the Patriarch began to lease these buildings out to the Jerusalem municipality and to developers.
The 1967 War and Israeli Rule 1967-present
The 1967 war is remembered by some in the Armenian community as a ‘miracle’ due to the fact that two unexploded bombs were later found inside the Armenian monastery[48]. Nevertheless it is also believed, absent of hard statistics, that more then 20,000 Armenians lived in Israel and Jordan before the 1967 war. Today the number has declined to fewer then 15,000. But this is after reaching much lower numbers in the intervening decades. The fall of the Soviet Union has opened the doors to an independent Armenia. Today more then 3000 Armenians live in Jerusalem although some claim the number is closer to 2500[49]. The Armenian quarter is home to roughly 500 of them, some of whom are temporary residents studying at the seminary or serving the church in various functions. The entire quarter is owned by the Patriarchate today as well as the other ‘valuable’ assets in West Jerusalem and elsewhere. Finances for the quarter are helped by the prosperous Armenian communities in America. In 1975 a Seminary school was completed inside the quarter.
Following the 1967 war the Israeli government gave compensation to repair the Armenian churches and holy sites damaged in the fighting, regardless of who had caused the damage and in 1969 an Armenian studies program was created at The Hebrew University[50]. The Armenian population has continued to fluctuate throughout the period, sometimes due to the presence of Seminary students or the political and economic climate of Armenia. In 1980 a source[51] claims 1500 Armenians reside in the city of Jerusalem. A separate figure of 1200 has been suggested for the year 2000[52].
In 1987 Naomi Shepherd reported that “The Armenian and Syrian Orthodox clergy are present and correct, but not on speaking terms[53]”.At this time she also reported that only 14,000 Christians lived In the city of Jerusalem[54].
The Armenian quarter today is divided into two sections, the Monastery(convent) of St. James and the residential neighborhoods around it. Although technically most of quarter is owned by the Church itself, one writer claims that of the 581 properties in the quarter, 81 are now owned by Jews[55]. A separate source says that the Armenian quarter rents out 120 “pieces of residential and commercial property[56]”. One reason for the Jewish presence may be the chosh and chatzer areas within the quarter whose Jewish presence dates back as much as a century and where 30 Jewish homes and 2 synagogues exit today[57]. Since the Armenian and Jewish quarters are in such proximity and are divided by Chabad street(Suq El Hussor Road) it is natural that the demand for houses has risen as more Jews have moved back into the Old City(since being expelled by the Jordanians in 1948) and the tensions in the Armenian quarter are not what they would be in the Christian or Muslim quarters, which are composed mostly of Arabs.
The Monastery of St. James complex covers roughly 2 thirds of the quarters total area. Inside this walled compound one finds the Church of St. James, the ‘St. Archangels Church at the south end where baptisms, weddings and funerals are held.[58]”, The Gulbunkian library, the Mardigian Armenian museum, Priests quarters, the Patriarch’s residence, a printing press, school, recreational center and theological student dormitory built in 1969. Across from the main gate of the St. James complex is the Theological seminary. The total area of the quarter comes to about one sixth of the city.[59]
The Armenian Patriarchate still owns its “valuable property in West Jerusalem and in the area west of the Old city walls[60]” much of which is leased to the JNF or developers[61]. In addition to these the Patriarchate owns 8 buildings, with a total of 250 shops along Jaffa and Zion Hamalka streets in Jerusalem. Subsequently Armenian Archbishop Shahe Ajamian sold the small property west of the Old city walls to Israel to allow for the current picturesque landscaping. The Patriarchate also “owns extensive properties in and around Jerusalem[62]” many of these are leased to Israelis but some of these are open spaces of land on the Mt. of Olives, and in Bethlehem as well as the Armenian cemetery on the Mt. Zion. Patriarch Torkom Manoogian took office in March of 1990 and has continued efforts to work with the other Christian organizations in the ongoing renovations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Thus after more then 2000 years of contact with the Holy Land the Armenian presence continues[63]. The community is but a smaller example of Israel as whole, of a communities ability to survive and persevere for such long periods.
Bibliography
A quick note on the MPA format I have used for the internet references. The date 10 December 2004 is the date the article was accessed and copied, not the date it was published to the internet.
Azarya, Victor. The Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. University of California Press. 1984
Benvenisti, Meron. The Crusades in the Holy Land, Jerusalem, 1970 pp 25-77.
Drory, Joseph. Jerusalem during the Mamluk period. Levine Lee I (ed), The Jerusalem Cathedra, Jerusalem, 1981 pp 190-213.
Duncan, James. History. July 2002. 9 December 2004 www.armenian-patriarchate.org/
Interview with Rev. Fr. Norayr Kazazian, Director of the Gulbenkian Library. November
21st 2004.
Golan, Patricia. Cloistered Community International edition Jerusalem Post. March 16 2001. 10 December 2004. http://www.stssahag-mesrob.org/Parishnewsetchmiadzin.htm#An%20Amazing%20Armenian%20Maze
Goldman, Yacov. Jerusalem Quartered. Winter 1975. 10 December 2004. Ohr Somayach. http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/1014
Hagopian, Arthur. Armenians in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Letter. 2 July 1986. 10 December 2004. http://www.jcpa.org/jl/hit04.htm
Hintlian, George. Jerusalem Quarterly File Issue 2 1998. 10 December 2004. http://www.jqf-jerusalem.org/1998/jqf2/armenians.html
Jergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. Simon and Schuster, 1991.
Jewish Virtual Library: Armenian Quarter. 10 December 2004. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/armenianq.html
Kark, Ruth. Jerusalem and its Environs . 2001 Jerusalem. Hebrew University Press.
Kolleck, Teddy. Mayor of Jerusalem. Harper and Row. 1988.
Kramer, Joel ed. Jerusalem Problems and prospects. Praeger Publishers. 1980
Krikorian, Haig. Chronological list of tenures and events: Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. January 20, 2002.
Krik, H. Deep Rooted Presence. December 1997. 10 December 2004.www.Holyland.org
Lasocki, David. The Armenian Reporter. October 1996. 10 December 2004. http://static.highbeam.com/a/armenianreporterthe/october121996/jerusalempatriarchaterockedbyrevelationofdeficient/
Peri, Oded. Christianity under Islam in Jerusalem: The Question of the Holy Sites in Early Ottoman Times. Brill London 2001.
Papazian, Dennis. The Contribution of Armenians in Jerusalem to Armenians in America. February 17th 2002. 10 December 2004. http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/jerusalem.html
Schiavi, Nicole. Merry Christmass No Really…January 7 2003. 10 December 2004. Jerusalem Post.online edition
Shepherd, Naomi. Teddy Kolleck: Mayor of Jerusalem. 1988. New York.
Stone. Michael F. Armenians in Jerusalem and Holy Land. May 1999. 10 December 2004. http://micro5.mscc.huji.ac.il/~armenia/30years/index.html
Rabinowitz, Allen. An Amazing Armenian Maze October 23 2002. Jerusalem Post. 10 December 2004. http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/03/01/Tourism/Tourism.22242.html
Tamari, Salim. Jerusalem 1948: The Arab neighborhoods and their fate in the war. Institute of Palestine studies.
Usher, Graham. Jerusalem Quarterly File. Issue 9 2000. 10 December 2004. http://www.jqf-jerusalem.org/2000/jqf9\
[1] Holyland.org
[2] Father Norayr
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] Kramer 155
[6] Kramer 170 and Holyland.org
[7] Benvenisti
[8] ibid
[9] Krikorian
[10] Drory 212
[11] Krikorian
[12] Kramer 170
[13] Peri 20
[14] Ibid
[15] ibid page 33
[16] ibid page 35
[17] ibid page 37
[18] ibid page 82
[19] Peri 122
[20] Krikorian
[21] Father Norayr interview
[22] Krikorian
[23] Jergin 419 and Father Nayayr, Gulbunkian, despite his Armenian heritage was able to develop oil interests throughout the middle east. He acted as a middle man for larger Oil companies like Anglo-Dutch or Turkish Petroleum, and would take 5% of each deal, thus the nickname; Mr. 5%. The firmans can be found at the Gulbunkian library. Hintlian confirms the figure of 120,000 volumes.
[24] Kramer 170
[25] Rabinowitz Armenian Maze
[26] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998
[27] Krikorian
[28] Tamari 23
[29] Jewish Virtual Library
[30] Various sources confirm this figure among them The Burning Tigris, and Caravans to Oblivion.
[31] Kark 198
[32] ibid
[33] Kirk 27
[34] ibid 45
[35] Kramer 5
[36] Kirk 70
[37] Kirk 198
[38] Golan Cloistered Community and Papazian in “The contribution of Armenian Americans to Armenians in Jerusalem” speaks of 20,000.
[39] Tamari 38
[40] This toll seems high and may have been fabricated for propaganda purpouses since the same source makes the claim that only ‘Hagana’ shells hit the Armenian quarter. Hintlian Armenians in Jerusalem.
[41] Rabinowitz Armenian Maze
[42] Kramer 155
[43] Tamari 11
[44] Jewish Virtual Library claims 16000 whereas Usher in Jerusalem Quarterly file claims 12,000 with 6,000 fleeing in the conflict.
[45] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998 claimed only 5000 left after the war with the population further reduced to 3700 by 1967.
[46] Kramer 6 as explained in the introduction by Teddy Kolleck.
[47] Krikorian
[48] Norayr
[49] Norayr gave figure as 3000, whereas in 1998 Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998 claimed 2500
[50] Hebrew University Webpage
[51] Kramer 155
[52] Usher, Jerusalem Quarterly file
[53] Shepherd 6
[54] Shepherd 15
[55] Usher Jerusalem Quarterly file
[56] Hintlian Jerusalem Quarterly File 1998
[57] Rabbi Yakov Goldman Jerusalem Quartered
[58] Jewish Virtual Library
[59] This description of the current size and state of the quarter is taken from personal observation as well as Hagopian Armenians in Israel, The Jerusalem Letter.
[60] ibid page 72
[61] According to David Lasocki in The Armenian Reporter, Patriarch Yeghishe Derderian was scandalized for leasing properties in the 1970s to Israeli developers for 99 years. In 1996 similar accusations accused the Patriarchate of leasing more valuable properties to Israel for 198 periods. None of these however are in the Old City.
[62] Kraemer 155
[63] The Armenian date of Christmas, January 19th also separates it from the other Christian denominations, making Armenians both an ethnic minority and a celebratory minority. The date is due to a switch from the old Julian calendar.
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