Mkrtich Khrimian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mkrtich Khrimian (Armenian: Մկրտիչ Խրիմեան; b. April 4, 1820 - d. October 27, 1907), also known as Khrimian Hayrik, was an Armenian writer, newspaper editor, and political and religious leader. He served as the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople (1869-1873), Prelate of Van (1880-1885) and Catholicos of All Armenians (1892-1907). He devoted his life to the betterment of the Armenian people, especially the peasantry in eastern Anatolia.
[edit] Biography
Khrimian was born in Van on April 4, 1820. After receiving his primary education, he studied Grabar or classical Armenian as well as Armenology. In 1854, he was ordained a priest and entered priesthood in the monastery of Aghdamar. Khrimian, a progressivist, was resented by the conservative brethren, so he left the monastery and gave himself to independent service. Elsewhere, his sermons won him public admiration and affection among Armenians. Khrimian was known to be an excellent orator, his speeches full of color and emotion. He established a printing press in Van, and thereafter launched Artsiv Vaspourakan (Eagle of Vaspourakan), which was the first periodical publication in Armenia.
Khrimian urged Armenian peasants to defend themselves against hostile Kurds. He was also successful in repealing illegal taxes imposed against Christian Armenians by the Ottoman government. In 1903 the Czarist government of Imperial Russia ordered the confiscation of all Armenian ecclesiastical and educational properties. Khrimian, then acting Catholicos, waged a heroic struggle against the decision, which came to success in 1905 when the Czar published a decree reopening Armenian schools and returning church properties. Because of his fatherly love and dedication to the common people, Mkrtich Khrimian was affectionately called Khrimian "Hayrik", which means "father" in the Armenian language.
