To Armenia via America

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Kristina Amerkanian, a recent graduate of Mount Saint Mary College and resident of Washingtonville, NY. Kristina, who is engaged to be married to my cousin, Matt, is of Armenian descent through her father. She graciously enlightened me on her family's history, both Armenian and American, and gave me a brief introduction to the Armenian Apostolic Church from the view of a practitioner of the faith.

BGB: Tell me, to the best of your knowledge, about your family history in Amernia. Do you know where your family came from and what they did there? When did they come to America?

KA: I’ll give you some basic facts to help you know Family members and their respective birth dates. I was born to John Amerkanian in 1993, my father John was born to John Amerkanian, in 1959 (Sadly, they didn’t use Jr vs Sr titles. We will call my Great-Grandfather Pop-Pop to make it easier to follow) Pop-Pop was born to Karekan Amerikhanian & Arousiac Kashoian in 1931. Karekan was

Karekan (Frank) Amerkanian

born in 1873 and Arousiac was born in 1904.Karekan didn’t have his start in New York, instead he started out in Texas. He arrived in Texas around 1914, changed his name to Frank Amerkanian to become more “American”. Frank left behind his brothers, who didn’t want/intend to change their name. His brothers (we don’t know how many brothers Frank traveled with, or had) left Frank behind and traveled to California, never having contact with Frank again. Frank decided to go to Canada and join the Army. When he came back, he had an arranged marriage with Arousiac, they ended up falling in love the first night they met, under a lamp post. Frank sold tools and sharpened knives in New York City. Frank died of pneumonia, leaving behind Arousiac with two sons, John age 9 and Charles age 2.

Arousiac, was born on March 10, 1904 in Armenia, to Hagop (Paul) and Mairam Kashoian. They are from the Arapgir Region near the Black Sea. Both Hagop and Mairam were born and raised in Armenia. Hagop & Mairam had 5 children, Arousiac, Pilibos (Philip), Sarkis Keri (Sam), Homestoui and Yeghishe. As a family, they left Armenia right as the Genocide started. They arrived in New York City, around 1914 and Settled in Camden, New Jersey.

BGB: Was your family affected by the Armenian Genocide? If so, how?

KA: Throughout the years, I have heard many stories of families affected by the Genocide, watching their family members beheaded, breasts torn off, led on the death march. Fortunately, my family was rather lucky. However the Armenian people take the Genocide very seriously and even if it didn’t affect their families directly, they hold the grudge and burdens as if it did.

Arousiac claims the reason that they left Armenia so early was because they were poisoned by a couple of Turkish Soldiers and left to die. Fortunately they left and (all) survived. Arousiac never talked about her family that was left behind, however we later found out they were killed and nothing was left of their village.

The Amerkanian family doesn’t know much about Karekan’s family involvement in the Genocide. We do, however, know that they were in the government and were most likely killed early on. We also know that the Amerkanian family had been wealthy and owned a lot of land.

BGB: Your family really did seem to be lucky to leave when they did. From what you said in your second answer, it seems like Armenians had their wealth and property confiscated during the genocide. Was that the case? That isn't really surprising, but usually the horrific death toll is the part that receives the most attention.

KA: Their money was taken by the government, but in 70s a gentleman contacted my grandfather and his brother, claiming they knew where the Amerikhanian funds were. Close to 70 million or so. Charlie got in contact with them and apparently it was true - they had the money but it was in some bank in London with ties in Turkey and it would take lawyers upon lawyers and I guess they gave up trying to get the money back. A lot of them lost Land, most soldiers took the homes for themselves and their families.

BGB: What was the impetus for the genocide? Was it just part of WWI? I know I'm asking you something I could look up, but it's interesting to hear it from a personal perspective.

KA: Religious Cleansing. Basically the same thing that happened in Serbia in '82. I remember, when I was in Armenian Camp, we learned about how the Turkish were jealous of all the Armenian advances.

BGB: Was Armenia part of the Ottoman Empire at that time?

KA: Yes.

BGB: By advances, do you mean modernization? I know the Ottomans were having a heck of a time trying to adapt to Western influenced modern trends.

KA: Yes! They were disgusted that the Armenians could create such architecture and advances throughout the state in mathematics & literature. "Ottomanization", I believe, is what they called the ethnic cleansing.

BGB: I know Armenia has a long and interesting historical relationship with Christianity, but I know few details of the Armenian Church. As someone with more familiarity than I have, could you give me a sort of introduction to Armenian Christianity? (I don't expect you to be an expert, I just honestly don't know much about it and it would be really neat to have someone familiar with the topic explain it to me and my readers).

KA: What is really interesting about the Armenian Church is that they have the first ties to Christianity and so they really set the stepping stones for our modern day Christians. What I was taught was that St. Gregory the Enlightener converted the people of Armenia through the help of King Tiridates III.

I think the biggest difference I always point out to other Christians about Armenian Apostolic beliefs is that they don’t focus on the life of the Virgin Mary. As we know, the Catholic Church focuses much of their holidays, beliefs and prayers around her. The Armenian Church really dives into the life and times of Jesus and the trials and tribulations he faced. The best way for me to describe the The Divine Liturgy is to quote the Diocese themselves:

The Divine Liturgy is the main worship service of the Armenian Church. But the Badarak, as we call it in Armenian, is much more than that. It provides the most intimate encounter we can have with God in this life. In the Divine Liturgy, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes to his people—to you and me—in two forms: First, by his Word, in the reading of the holy Gospel; and second, by his holy Body and Blood, in Holy Communion. These two actions—the reading of the Word of God, and the reception of Holy Communion—are the two pillars or building blocks of the Divine Liturgy in all ancient, apostolic churches. Supported by these two pillars is a magnificent structure of words, music, symbols, and rituals. For those unfamiliar with it, the Divine Liturgy can seem like a bewildering array of disjointed movements and rituals, and arcane theological terminology. The complex interplay of the celebrant priest, the deacons, the other altar servers, the choir, and the people might lead one to overlook the logic and purpose of the Divine Liturgy, and to miss its very real benefits. - Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern).

The Armenian Apostolic church today, really strives to keep all of the older roots throughout the service, using the old Armenian language and continuing to follow the Badarak. A typical Sunday Divine Liturgy service is 3 hours. Unfortunately because of the growing younger population not being interested in religion many Armenian churches are switching to a shorter service, typical Christian (hour) service and translating many of the hymns into English. A “fun” fact about the Armenian Church is that they believe Mt. Ararat, which is now under Turkey's domain, is the home of Noah’s Ark. 

John Amerkanian and Kristina Amerkanian, Karekan's grandson and great-granddaughter.

Baby Got Bactria would like to thank Kristina Amerkanian for her time and for contributing her family's story to the blog.

Bactrian Brief: Everything Old is That Much Older

Lately, I've been thinking about the destruction of ancient sites that has accompanied the warfare going on in regions like Syria, Iraq, and places in Africa, like Mali.  Sites like Palmyra in Syria, and numerous others in the world today, were ancient even in the days when observers whom we consider historical figures were alive and active. That is often a very sobering and fascinating concept for me to ponder. Think about it: The pyramids at Giza in Egypt were ancient by the time Alexander the Great came through and declared himself Pharaoh. They were ancient when Rome was founded. That thought is so profound to me!

An example of this that hits home for me when I think of these things is Ibn Battuta's brief, sad description of Balkh in his Rihla. Starting in 1325 at the age of 20, Ibn Battuta set off on a journey that would take him across the Islamic world (Dar al-Islam) of his day, covering "about 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries which were then mostly under the governments of Muslim leader"(1).  Balkh itself had been in existence since the 6th c. BCE as part of the Achaemenid  Empire, and was attested by Ctesias of Cnidos as possibly being inhabited as early as the 8th or 9th century BCE(2). So to a 14th century observer viewing a site such as Balkh that had seen its share of strife and war, especially at the hands of the recent Mongol invasion, Balkh must not have appeared as the Umm al-Belaad (Mother of Cities, so named due to its ancient origins) that earlier Arab conquerors must have beheld for themselves(3).

 Ibn Battuta had this observation to give of the ancient city of Balkh:

We crossed the river Oxus into the land of Kurasan and after a day and a half's march through a sandy uninhabited waste reached Balkh. It is an utter ruin and uinhabited, but anyone seeing it would think it inhabited on account of the solidity of its construction. The accursed Tinkiz (Chinggis, or Genghis Khan) destroyed this city and demolished about a third of its mosque on account of a treasure which he was told lay under one of its columns. He pulled down a third of them and found nothing and left the rest as it was. After leaving Balkh we travelled for seven days through the mountains of Quhistan, in which there are numerous inhabited villages with running streams and leafy trees, mostly fig-trees, and many hospices inhabited by devotees. Thereafter we reached the city of Herat, which is the largest inhabited city in Khurasan. There are four large cities in the province, two of them, Herat and Naysabur [Nishapur] inhabited, and two, Balkh and Merv, in ruins.

690 years from the time Ibn Battuta began his travels to today is no small stretch of time, yet even then Balkh was ancient and ruinous by the time the traveling qadi (judge of Islamic Law) laid eyes upon it.

I suppose, what I am trying to say is, that perspective is important. When regarding the ancient sites that still exist in our world today, it is important to note that even these great, man-made monuments have witnessed the rise and decline of successive generations. What do you think future travelers will think when they behold the works of the present that endure into the decades and centuries to come?


1.) Bartel, Nick. "The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A Virtual Tour with the 14th Century Traveler." U.C. Berkley website. 2012. http://ibnbattuta.berkeley.edu/index.html (accessed on 11 December 2015).

2.)  Leirche, P. and F. Grenet. "Bactra". Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2011, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bactria (accessed on 11 December 2015).

3.) Harold, Frank. "Balkh and Mazar-e-Sharif." Silk Road Seattle website. Walter Chapin Simpson Center for Humanities: University of Washington. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/afghanistan/balkh.html

4) Ibn Battuta. Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, trans. H.A.R. Gibb. (London: Routeledge and Kegan Paul LTD/ Psychology Press, 2004), pg. 175 accessed through Google Books.