History of the missions of the American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions to the oriental churches, Volume I.

by Rufus Anderson

A month later, this man much regretted having done so, even under such a pressure, and had no thought of abandoning the new religious life. He continued his efforts to enlighten the dark minds of those to whom he had access, though by so doing, he exposed himself to new trials.1

1 Mr. Peabody, in Missionary Herald, 1846, pp. 265-267.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ARMENIANS.

1846-1848.

We are now in the middle of the year 1846. Hitherto no one has voluntarily separated himself from the Armenian community. The so-called "schismatics" were made such by the exscinding act of the Patriarch himself. For nearly six months anathemas had been dealt out in the patriarchal church every Sabbath until many of the people grew weary of them. Through ecclesiastical influence, bread and water were still withheld from many Protestant families by the dealers in those articles, and everything was done that could be done with impunity to afflict those who remained steadfast in the truth; nor did the Patriarch or the magnates give them any hope of relief, except through unconditional submission to their demands. Their only earthly hope was in the Protestant Ambassadors, and in Reschid Pasha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sir Stratford Canning, the English Ambassador, whose noble efforts for religious liberty in Turkey are worthy of all praise, did not cease urging the government to secure to their Protestant subjects the right of pursuing their lawful callings without molestation. As to sureties for those who were excluded from their shops and business, he represented that the demands of the law might be met by their becoming sureties for one another. He at length succeeded, and Reschid Pasha, who soon became Grand Vizier, gave orders that the Protestants be permitted to resume their business on this condition. A new officer was put in the place of the one who had turned a deaf ear to their petitions. When summoned before him, they declared themselves to be Armenians, and he told them it was "Protestants," whom he was to allow to open their shops. They had never adopted that name, as it had been applied to them by their enemies by way of reproach,—as probably the term "Christian" was to the disciples at Antioch,—but called themselves the "Gospellers," or "Evangelists." But now, whether they wished it or not, they were constrained to adopt the designation of "Protestants."

A letter from the Grand Vizier, written at this time to the Pasha of Erzroom, also recognized them as Protestants. It was the first document issued by the Turkish government for their protection, and began with stating, that certain Armenians at Erzroom, who had embraced the Protestant faith, were represented to the government as suffering various forms of persecution, from which they prayed to be delivered. The Grand Vizier says that the same thing had occurred at the capital, where the Protestants, having been anathematized by the Patriarch, were cut off from both social and commercial intercourse with their countrymen. While the Sultan would not interfere with the spiritual duties of the Patriarch, he could not allow his Protestant subjects to be hindered in their lawful pursuits. As the Armenian Primate had converted the law, requiring every subject entering into business to provide sureties for his good behavior, into an instrument of oppression, by refusing to accept Protestants as sureties for each other, the Pasha was to see that they had the same liberty, in this respect, as was enjoyed by their countrymen. This was their privilege at Constantinople, and the Grand Vizier hoped the Pasha of Erzroom would secure the same for them in his province.

The Patriarch had left no means untried to break up the seminary at Bebek, and succeeded in taking away seventeen out of the twenty-seven students. But five of them soon returned, and ten others speedily joined the institution. About half of the ten were young men of good intellectual capacity and mature faith, who had fallen under the anathema of the Patriarch. Shutting up their shops had sent them to the seminary, where their minds would be disciplined, and where, studying the history of the Church, and comparing the past and present with God's Word, they would be prepared to comprehend the Oriental Apostasy. Of the other five, three were from anathematized families, and two were without relatives. A lad, who had been expelled from his father's house because he was a Protestant, was about to enter the seminary, through the influence of a young man who had left it because of the failure of his eyes. His father carried both to the patriarchate; and the Patriarch, who had declared himself no persecutor, condemned them to imprisonment, with hard labor and the wearing of a heavy chain day and night. The father repented of his cruelty and implored their release, but in vain. It was only when the Patriarch understood that the father was carrying the case before the English Ambassador, that he released the son. The other youth remained in irons; and the reply of the Turkish authorities to repeated petitions was, that he had been committed for crime. The missionaries believed him entirely innocent, and truly pious. We are obliged to leave this youth, after six weeks of labor begirt with a chain, in the midst of ferocious and beastly criminals, refusing to accept deliverance on condition of subscribing the Patriarch's creed.

This persecution changed the seminary into a theological school. More instruction was given in ecclesiastical history, especially, in regard to the introduction of doctrinal errors, and more attention was paid to the exposition of the written Word. A select class was formed for the study of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and care was taken to have the pastors of the reformed churches men of faith and prayer, strong in the Scriptures, and able to expose the antichristian character of the nominal Churches round about them.

A seminary for young ladies had been opened in Pera, in the autumn of 1845. Eight were then admitted, and five more some months later. As the pupils came from evangelical families, most of them had received some instruction at their homes. They could read in the New Testament with more or less readiness when they entered, and they made good proficiency in their studies. Several of them were excommunicated by name, and nearly all belonged to excommunicated families; so that the sympathies of all were enlisted on the side of evangelical truth, though only two or three of the older ones were regarded as hopefully pious. The school was under the charge of Mrs. Everett and Miss Lovell.