Ignatius Maloyan

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Blessed Ignatius Maloyan (1911)

Ignatius (Choukrallah) Maloyan ( Armenian Իգնատիոս (Շուրալլահ) Մալոյեան ; born April 19, 1869 in Mardin , Turkey ; †  June 11, 1915 in the village of Kara-Köprü near Diyarbakır , Turkey) was the Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin. He died of violence at the age of 46 and is revered as a Christian martyr and blessed.

Life

Choukrallah was born on April 19, 1869 in Mardin as the son of Melkon and Faridé. He was the fourth of eight children (seven boys and one girl). In 1883, Bishop Melkon Nazarian sent the fourteen-year-old to the seminary of Bzommar, Lebanon.
On August 6, 1896, on the occasion of his ordination as a priest in 1896, he took the name Ignatius out of veneration for the martyr bishop Ignatius of Antioch . In 1897 Ignatius Maloyan was transferred to Alexandria and later to Cairo , where he earned the reputation of an exemplary clergyman and maintained contacts with other Christian denominations. Patriarch Boghos Bedros XII. Sabbaghian recognized his qualities and made him his private secretary in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1904 .

When a successor had to be determined for Archbishop Houssig Gulian of the Diocese of Mardin , who had resigned for reasons of age , Ignatius was elected Archbishop of Mardin on October 22, 1911 during the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Bishops in Rome and was elected Archbishop of Mardin by Patriarch Boghos Bedros XIII. Dedicated to Terzian.

In Mardin, Archbishop Maloyan took on the material, spiritual and social problems of his believers. In 1911 the province suffered a famine. In 1913 Maloyan visited the communities of the neighboring towns, such as Tal Arman , Deir Bakr , Wayranshar , Nessibian , Dabarka , El Sur and Torabin .

Maloyan maintained good relations with senior Ottoman officials. The Sultan honored him with a Ferman ("El-Shahani"), which Hilmi Bey presented to him on April 20, 1915. After the outbreak of World War I , on April 30, 1915, Turkish soldiers surrounded the Armenian church and the residence of the Archbishop of Mardin on the pretext of looking for weapons hiding places. No weapons were found, but the archbishopric's archives and files were destroyed and clergy and believers were arrested and tortured.

In early May, Maloyan gathered his priests, warned them of the looming danger and called on them to persevere in their faith. Eventually he entrusted her to the care of the Syrian Catholic Archbishop Gabriel Tappouni .

Ordeal

On June 3rd, Archbishop Maloyan, along with his secretary Father Paul Sanyoor and 27 members of the ward, was arrested and brought to justice. Memdouh Bey , the chief superintendent of Mardin police, has called for the allegedly hidden weapons to be released. Maloyan reaffirmed his loyalty to the government and the sultan and refused to convert to Islam, which Memdouh Bey had proposed, and which would have saved his life. He was beaten, tortured and forced to go on a death march on June 11, 1915 with 417 clergymen and believers. Memdouh Bey accused the deportees in Chikhane of ingratitude towards the state and again offered the opportunity to accept Islam. On behalf of everyone, Maloyan denied the infidelity to the state. Memdouh Bey then shot the praying Archbishop Maloyan. His biological brother Malallah was also killed on the same day. Both mother Faridé (baptismal name: Teresia) were deported and killed a month later. The father had died before Maloyan's ordination.

Extraordinary secret committee

The extraordinary secret committee responsible for the extermination of the Christians of Mardin had five members. They were instructed in planning and carrying out the extermination plan by Hassan Efendi, the Diyarbekir MP.

  1. Bedreddin Bey, General Secretary of the Wilajets and provisional Mutessarif (Arabic: Badri El Motassaref)
  2. Khalil Adib Efendi, President of the Court
  3. Memdouh Bey, Chief Commissioner of the Mardin Police Department (Arabic: Mamduh)
  4. Harun Efendi, Circassian and gendarmerie captain (in English reports: Aaron the Lieutenant)
  5. Tefik Bey, adjutant of the Wali of Diyarbakir (Arabic: Towfik Bek)

After two governors (Wali Şefik Bey and Wali Hilmi Bey) lost their posts, the third governor of Diyarbakir Reşid Bey carried out the plan of extermination.

Historical meaning

The very good sources on the torture and last days of suffering of Archbishop Ignatius Maloyan von Mardin is a remarkable exception in the context of the genocide of the Armenians , the Pontic Greeks and other Christians in 1915. Several hundred of the Armenian Catholic, Syrian, Latin (Capuchin Father Léonard Melki , Lebanese) and other Catholic clergymen and believers who were killed at the same time are known by name, as well as the names of the five members of the special government organization of Mardin who were mainly responsible for the extermination of Christians. In Mardin, in contrast to other provinces of the Ottoman Empire, all Christians (including Arab and Syrian) of all denominations - not just Armenians - were wiped out.

beatification

Pope John Paul II beatified Ignatius Maloyan on Sunday October 7th, 2001 . He did this in the presence of an Armenian apostolic delegation from Catholicos Karekin II Nersissian in St. Peter's Square . Maloyan's feast day is June 11th.

literature

  • Hyacinth Simon: Death in the Name of Allah - The Extermination of the Christian Armenians. Eyewitness reports, Aachen, MM Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-928272-70-5
  • P. Rizkallah Salim, Un martyr du Génocide Arménien, Léonard Melki, Capucin Libanais, Baabdate, CP Salim Rizkallah, 2001
  • Yves Ternon , Mardin 1915. In: Revue d'histoire arménienne contemporaine 4 (2002) 1-16.
  • Yves Ternon: Mardin 1915. Anatomie pathologique d'une destruction. Geuthner, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-7053-3777-3

Web links

Commons : Ignatius Maloyan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Note: The Archdiocese of Mardin (Turkey) was dissolved in 1954 and assigned to the Archeparchy of Baghdad (Armenians) . In 1972 the titular diocese of Mardin degli Armeni was founded and in 1992 it was promoted to titular archbishopric.
  2. ↑ The name Schukrallah is of Arabic origin (Arabic: شكر الله) and translates as "Thanks to God".
  3. ↑ Michael Hesemann : Genocide against the Armenians. Herbig Verlag 2015, ISBN 978-3776627558 , footnote 405
personal data
SURNAME Maloyan, Ignatius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maloyan, Ignace; Maloyan, Choukrallah; Maloyan, Shokr Allah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Mardin
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Mardin , Turkey
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1915
Place of death Kara-Köprü