Ignatius Maloyan

Blessed Ignatius Shoukrallah Maloyan (Armenian: Իգնատիոս Մալոյան, b. April 8, 1869, Mardin, Ottoman Empire - d. June 10/11, 1915) was the Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin between 1911 and 1915. In the summer of 1915, the Vali of Diyarbekir, Reşit Bey, commenced the Armenian Genocide in Mardin. Under the direction of Mardin's police chief, Mahmdouh Bey, Archbishop Maloyan, along with almost all of the clergy and faithful of his Archdiocese, was force marched into the desert. The column of deportees were escorted to a Kurdish village, Aderchek, near Cheikhan (Sheikhan), where 100 of their number were taken by Turkish troops to nearby caves and murdered.[1]

As he watched his priests and faithful massacred in front of him, Mahmdouh Bey, offered to spare the Archbishop's life if he would convert to Islam. Maloyan professed his loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and responded, "I've told you I shall live and die for the sake of my faith and religion. I take pride in the Cross of my God and Lord."[2] This enraged Mahmdouh Bey, who ordered the column to depart for a valley about four hours' distance from Diyarbekir. There, on June 10/11, the remaining 200 deportees were killed and Maloyan was personally executed by Mahmdouh Bey.[3] The local Kurd population stripped the clothes from the bodies of the victims, which remained untouched for five hours until they were all collected, doused with petrol, and burned.[4]

Legacy

Archbishop Maloyan was Beatified in Yerevan by Pope John Paul II on October 7, 2001.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ (French) Ternon, Yves. "Mardin dans la guerre mondiale" in Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 6. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2006, p. 376.
  2. ^ a b Homily by Pope John Paul II, October 7, 2001
  3. ^ Ternon. "Mardin dans la guerre mondiale," pp. 376-78.
  4. ^ Ternon. "Mardin dans la guerre mondiale," p. 378.

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