The Armenian Quarter

 

 

I was genuinely surprised when the Jerusalem film (Jerusalem 2013 ENG 2017) went into very little detail about both the Christian and Armenian quarters, but especially the Armenian quarter. To be fair, it showed the Easter celebrations and traditions that both quarters partake in yearly which follow the step by step process of the events, but very little detail was shown beyond that for the Armenian Quarter. On the flip side the Jewish and Muslim quarters received plenty of attention to their buildings, traditions, etc., and this prompted the question for me of why there is an Armenian quarter in the first place. I knew that a huge chunk of Armenians were Christian, 97% to be exact (Aravot, 2011), so I wondered: why not just include them as a part of the Christian quarter? 

Firstly, it becomes clear that the Armenians are quite different from the others in their respective quarters. Although many Armenians believe their quarter to be a part of the Christian quarter (Odeh, 2015), their firm denominational beliefs vary from those in the Christian Quarter. Although the Armenian quarter does house churches of other denominations (Hopkins, 1971), their primary belief lies in a form of Oriental Orthodoxy taught by the Armenian Apastolic Church (Parry, 2010, pg 88). This is in contrast to the Christian quarter which houses Greek, Latin, Lutheran, Orthodox, and other denominational churches (Wager, 1988). Perhaps even more important is the historical background of the Armenian quarter and the people living there. Before World War I the genocide of the Armenian people led thousands of the survivors to relocate to Jerusalem (Shemassian, 2012). As a result many say that, “most of the Christian communities here are Palestinian ethnically, whereas the Armenians have their own ethnic identity as Armenians, and that is where in some sense they stand out or differ” (Golan, 2015).

This is not to say that these are the only two reasons that the Armenian quarter is separate as there are thousands of years of history for these people in Jerusalem. It becomes at the very least apparent why the Armenian quarter is held separate from the others, particularly the Christian quarter, even though they believe in it being essentially just an extension of that quarter. It does make me question, however, why the two groups don’t consider/attempt to intermingle a bit more. The way I personally see it, by collaborating and connecting more than they currently are, they would likely strengthen both the economic and personal relations between both quarters. This isn’t to mention the fact that the film discussed how the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim quarters don’t interact much either. As such a connection between the Armenian and Christian quarters would show that peaceful, positive, and productive relationships can be formed between quarters, potentially opening the door for connections between the other three.

Resources

Golan, P. (2015, February 1). A cloistered community. The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20150201173247/http://www.jpost.com/Travel/Around-Israel/A-Cloistered-Community 

Hopkins, I. W. (1971). The four quarters of Jerusalem. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 103(2), 68–84. https://doi.org/10.1179/peq.1971.103.2.68 

Odeh, A. A. (2015, January 30). Religious Inclusion, Political Inclusion: Jerusalem as an Undivided Capital. Armenian Quarter explained. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://everything.explained.today/Armenian_Quarter/ 

Parry, K. (2010). The blackwell companion to Eastern Christianity. Wiley-Blackwell. 

Shemassian, V. (2012). Armenian Genocide Survivors in the Holy Land at the End of World War I. Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, 21, 247–277. 

Համավարակի և պատերազմի ազդեցությունը ժողովրդագրական գործընթացների վրա. Արտակ Մարկոսյան. Aravot. (2011). Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.aravot.am/2022/01/25/1243389/ 

YouTube. (2017). Jerusalem 2013 Eng. YouTube. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLW6vO-7rFk. 

Wager, E. (1988). Tour No. 7: The Christian Quarter. Illustrated guide to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Publishing House.