April 24th is Armenian Martyrs Day

[Armenian Bishop]

https://armenianchurch.us/the-saints...nian-genocide/

The Armenian Genocide: 1915-1923

The Armenian Genocide—the first genocide of the 20th century—took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians, who were massacred by Ottoman Turkey’s “Young Turk” government beginning in 1915. The deportation and mass extermination of Armenians continued until 1923.

Planned and executed during World War I, the Armenian Genocide saw the virtual elimination of Armenians from their ancestral homeland. Those who were not killed immediately were led on horrific death marches, like the one through the Der Zor desert in Syria. The mass exodus of surviving Armenians from Anatolia resulted in the dispersal of the Armenian people to every corner of the world. Today, the large Armenian diaspora comprises over 4 million people (roughly equal to the number of Armenians living in the modern Republic of Armenia).

The Armenian Genocide began on April 24, 1915, when Ottoman authorities arrested and killed some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Those arrested included Armenian doctors, lawyers, parliamentarians, authors, and artists. Armenian civilians—including the elderly, women and children—were then forcibly removed from their homes and sent on death marches for hundreds of miles, with no food or water.

To this day, the Republic of Turkey continues to deny that the Armenian Genocide took place, although historians and scholarly authorities throughout the world recognized the Genocide as a tragic fact of history.

For years, Armenian communities around the world commemorate each April 24 as “Armenian Martyrs Day,” which they observe with religious and cultural memorials. This continues to this day.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the genocide martyrs were canonized during a special service at the Mother See of Holy Etchimiadzin as the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide on April 23, 2015. This made the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide the first saints canonized in the Armenian Church in hundreds of years. With the canonization, the Armenian Church’s newest feast day, the Commemoration of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide, is celebrated on April 24.

[Armenian Bishop]

In San Francisco, California, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Mount Davidson is the annual rallying point for Armenian Martyrs Day (Armenian Remembrance Day), every April 24th. My mother (Ruby Sanoian) served as the Secretary for the Council Of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California (AAONC), when the Cross (and its Parklands), was purchased from San Francisco, and is now owned and maintained by the local Armenian Communities.

[Armenian Bishop]

Armenian Martyrs Day Commemoration, in the month of April, in Vatican City (2015). The Popes acknowledge and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

[Dorian]

I was going to say rest in peace but I doubt they will until justice is served.May this day come soon then.

[Armenian Bishop]

I was going to say rest in peace but I doubt they will until justice is served.May this day come soon then.

Yes Sir! Behold, their perished remains are now found as skulls and bones in the Syrian Desert of Der Zor. But, lo and behold, their Spirits can blissfully enjoy holy divine light, and angelic choruses.

[Armenian Bishop]

On Saturday, May 9, 2015, a Pontifical Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, as part of the National Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial held in Washington, D.C.

The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, with a homily delivered by His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

[Marmara]

Tragedy

[Armenian Bishop]

Tragedy

Your soul is made great in god, because your compassion is a beacon light into eternity. God Bless You, Marmara! Amen!

[Adamm]

Do most Armenian people who live today have family who got killed in this genocide?

[Armenian Bishop]

Do most Armenian people who live today have family who got killed in this genocide?

Yes Sir, most Armenians, in these times, have distant relatives whom perished in the century old genocide. My grandparents, Boghos and Alice Sanoian, immigrated to California in 1910, some 5 years prior to it. But, nearly all of their family members and close relatives perished in the genocide. My ancestral hometown is Muş (Moosh), and their kinfolks were burnt alive in buildings there. One of my great uncles immigrated to America with my grandparents; another one escaped to Yerevan, Armenia, where he started a large family; but, the rest of them perished.