Liturgy Surb Khach Church Over

20/9/2010

Historic Liturgy on Akdamar goes smoothly amid cross controversy.

Hymns and prayers resonated on Akdamar Island on Sunday, 95 years after religious services ended in the Armenian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Cross, which occupies a special place in medieval Armenian art and architecture and is a jewel for Turkey, as indicated by Turkish and foreign observers.

“I am happy to be here, at the home of our ancestors. Turks and Kurds here would like to shake our hands. We want to resolve our problems. We are neighbors,” said 58-year-old Ruben Narsisyan, a former police officer from Armenia. Asked if the Turkish government’s decision to erect a cross on top of the church not before but after the ceremony affected his decision to come, he said “not at all” because he does not want to help nationalists in both countries. Narsisyan was in a group of 10 Armenians who were visiting the island, 55 kilometers from the eastern province of Van, for the historic religious ceremony. Most people in the group said they know people in Armenia who cancelled their reservations after the cross controversy erupted. Tour operators also say they received cancellation requests for reservations from the Armenian diaspora.

Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II agreed to send two senior clerics to the church for the service, but decided otherwise after the cross controversy surfaced. Although the restoration of the church was completed in 2007, a cross has not been placed on top of the church because Turkish officials said they need to do more research to find out whether a cross originally existed there. Research showed a cross existed but had never been put in its proper place.

Following an announcement made by the government that an annual one-day religious service is going to be allowed at the church, which has been declared a state museum operated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkish officials said there were practical and technical difficulties over the erection of a 100-kilogram cross in time for the service.

Clergymen from the Armenian Patriarchate of İstanbul then decided to temporarily display the cross outside the church, until it is erected on the church after the service, when preparations are complete.

Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, deputy patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate based in Istanbul, who headed the service yesterday, told the press on Saturday evening that the Turkish government made a promise to permanently erect the cross in one-and-a-half months. Father Tatoul Anushian, from the patriarchate in İstanbul, told Today’s Zaman that the Armenian diaspora had “failed the test.”

“There is no prerequisite for praying. If the cross is present, that is enough. If Armenians outside Turkey are making this a big issue, they would find another issue to criticize even if the cross issue was not present,” he said, adding that he believes in the government’s good will.

Today’s Zaman interviewed many people from Van, who expressed a sincere desire to have more Armenian visitors to the city not only to improve the economy of the area but to lead to reconciliation. They indicated no displeasure about the cross being placed on top of the church. To the contrary, they said churches normally have crosses.

The church, which was recently saved from the ravages of time, was built between 915 and 921 on the order of Vaspurakan King Gagik I. The church is in the form of a four-leaved clover. It has an inner dome topped by a pyramidal cone.

The church was turned into a monastery in 1131. It is distinct in that it has human and animal figures, hunting scenes and palace life depicted on the stone reliefs of its facade in addition to religious scenes taken from the Bible and the Torah.

All hotels in Van were fully booked, with officials estimating that close to 4,000 people came to the island on Sunday morning, including 63 domestic and 148 foreign accredited members of the press.

Today’s Zaman

Source: