The Legacy of Khrimian Hayrik: Education and Enlightenment

Thank you for expanding on the enduring legacy of a humble and great leader. The amazing thing about Khrimian is that he is always relevant. The of education ….knowledge…. continues to be a top challenge for Armenians….. not in the sense of the oppression of the Ottoman thugs but in the diaspora from an assimilation perspective. Ignorance is the only force that can threaten our civilization. God bless his soul and memory.

Very enlightening article ! Thank you . Can you please tell me where I can read your thesis ?

Very enlightening. I know very little about 19th C. Armenian history other than that my great-grandfather was shot to death in a pogrom in 1895.

This is how I have come to understand Khrimian Hayrig. I quote from my blog: “It is not uncommon to read that he was a revolutionary citing his famous speech. Reading this book has made me realize that such an interpretation is way too simplistic. Revolutionaries aim to topple an existing order and have it replaced with an ideologically more conducive one. To draw a parallel to modern parlance, Khrimian was more of an advocate of the people’s right to bear arms, a holy grail in the American Constitution, and not an advocate of revolution. He never advocated raising arms against the State be it Sultan’s or the Tsar’s. He had no vision to have these states replaced.
Members of the oldest Armenian political party, Hnchag Party, tried to entice him to work with them when he was in the Western Armenian homeland. He refused to deal with them. The Tashang party was established in Tiflis in 1890, two years before his ascendancy as Catholicos. The party stood with him against the nationalization of church property but it is not likely that there was an ideological parity between him and the party. He was and remained a clergyman at heart safeguarding the institution that was the Armenian Church. He wanted to ameliorate the lot of the Armenian people through the established orders. The concepts of free and independent Armenia or of social–isms were alien to him. All he wanted was to assure Armenians against unlawful usurpation. When the Sultan’s Sublime Port and the European Powers proved to be unable or unwilling to assure the sanctity of their labor, honor, lives and property of his flock, the Armenian people, he appealed to them to take matters in their own hands and assure those rights for themselves by themselves.”

Armenians need a new Khrimian Hayrig. Where there is error may we bring truth. Where there is despair may we bring hope .