Indeed, a profound love for the reformation of the Armenian Church had taken possession of the minds of many leading men among the nation, who were trying to do all they could. But both their knowledge and their experience were limited; they needed a wise leader or leaders who could direct the movement in a way that would accomplish the desired end. Some of them, when they came in contact with the missionaries, thought Divine Providence had sent these men to take the lead of this noble movement. They implicitly confided in the wisdom and ability of the missionaries to do this.[85]
The wisdom, magnanimity, and the piety of those missionaries were unquestionable. They showed their wisdom in the fact that they “steadily pursued the policy of disseminating the truth without making attacks upon the Armenian Church.”
The silent influence of this reformation spread far and wide in the city of Constantinople and its suburbs. The Roman Church, through its Jesuit missionaries, had carried on the work of proselyting the Armenians for centuries, and she had thousands of adherents. As a Church she had had her experience with the Reformation in the West. She was alarmed and made the first attempt to stop its progress in the East. The patriarch of the Roman Catholic Armenians publicly denounced the missionaries and their books in 1836. His evil example was followed four years later by the Greek and Armenian patriarchs of Constantinople.
Thus the spirit of hatred and persecution was instilled by their respective representatives into the minds and hearts of different communities. But this movement being mostly among the Armenians, their patriarch took a more active part in issuing anathemas and sending them to the provinces, and he caused them to be read in all the churches.
The Armenian Church was sorely wounded by the Roman Church and its missionaries. The national church meant and still means to the Armenians a national unity, and a separation from the Church was considered a division in the nation. Ever since the Armenians lost their independence, they were known as a religious community in the Turkish empire and their patriarch as the representative of the whole people. The patriarch, as the head of the nation, and other leaders, therefore, thought the suppression of this evangelical work might be a prevention of such a division as had taken place in the case of the followers of the Roman missionaries in 1830. The patriarch and his advisers, who took violent measures of persecution against those who favored and labored for the reformation of the Church, unhappily were not aware of the fact that the intentions of the missionaries of the American Board, were very different from those of the missionaries of the Roman Church. The following is the statement written at the time by Rev. Dr. Goodell:
“We ourselves, at this place, have nothing to do with the Church, its dogma, ceremonies, and superstitions.... Nor do we make any attempt to establish a new Church, to raise a new party. We disclaim everything of the kind. We tell them frankly, you have sects enough among you already, and we have no design of setting up a new one, or of pulling down your churches, or drawing members from them in order to build ours over.”[86]
And we find this policy adhered to in the case of the brethren in Nicomedia. The bishop, priests, and the leading men of that city formed a council, and this council drew up a new confession of faith.
“Thus all who were suspected of Protestantism were asked to acknowledge by affixing thereunto their signatures. Those who would refuse to do so were to be anathematized and expelled from the Church. As soon as Rev. Dwight and Dr. Goodell were informed of the Council’s proceedings they advised the brethren not to separate themselves from the Armenian communion, saying that, if they did so, the work would not advance so rapidly.”[87]
In 1843 a young Armenian embraced Mohammedanism. But he became a prey to the remorse of his conscience for his apostacy. He, therefore, renounced Mohammedanism and reconfessed Christianity. He was seized upon and beheaded in the streets of Constantinople by the Turkish authorities, and his corpse was exposed to the public gaze for several days, as an insult to Christianity. This event aroused the indignation of the European ambassadors, who, through the English ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, demanded and extorted from the Sultan the following written pledge: “The sublime Porte engages to take effectual measures to prevent henceforward the execution and putting to death of the Christian who is an apostate.”
The imprudent conduct of the patriarch, Bishop Matteos, by his anathemas and excommunicating those who were favorably disposed, and were endeavoring to reform the Church, exposed them to all manner of maltreatment. They “were stoned in the streets, unjustly imprisoned, ejected from their shops, invaded and plundered in their houses, bastinadoed and abandoned by their friends.” These persecutions were severe and extended into the provinces wherever there were those who loved the cause of reformation. The unwise course pursued by the patriarch to prevent separation by persecution indeed hastened the division in the church. Vartabed M. Muradian’s statement in regard to Bishop Matteos’ conduct is as follows: