Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Armenian Genocide

While surfing through Catholic blogosphere for details about the Holy Father's visit to Turkey, I came to what is perhaps the snarkiest, purportedly "Catholic" blog, rich in ostentatious piety but poor as far as civility and charity go. In spite of such drawbacks, I saw the mention of "Christians persecuted in Turkey," and it reminded me of the Armenian holocaust of the early twentieth century, in which two million died. The genocide perpetrated by the Moslem Turks upon the mostly Catholic Armenians during the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire is largely forgotten. It was, however, the first mass murder of the twentieth century, a century which was to see plenty of mass killing. Armenia adapted Christianity in 301 AD, becoming the first nation to do so. The Armenians have a long tradition of suffering and martyrdom. Theirs is part of the woundedness of the land where the Vicar of Christ has gone as a true Shepherd. Share

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, the snarkiness on some of the so-called catholic blogs makes my stomach turn.

elena maria vidal said...

The way I see it, if someone posts on your blog, they should be welcomed as a guest, not lectured and corrected, unless they are blatantly rude. To have some anonymous and sanctimonious coward snipe at one for no reason defeats the purpose of piety. In fact, I think such rudeness disguised as piety is a form of blasphemy. To insult one's neighbor in the name of God is to mock God.

Anonymous said...

Oh, horrors. I was just reading your links about the Armenian holocaust and looking at the photos. It is really one of the worst atrocities I ever saw or heard of in my life.

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, melanie. Who cares about nasty, snarky people? Let us pray for the dead and all who are suffering similar outrages right now.

Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm. said...

I'm sorry. I run a Catholic blog, but I frequently remind my readers of the history of "modern, enlightened, secular" Turkey, with special reference to the Armenian Genocide.

Also, let us not forget the anti-Christian pogroms of 1956. Only thousands instead of millions died, but they did manage to destro three quarters of the Christian Churches while they were at it!

elena maria vidal said...

Excellent point, Mr Weismiller, and thank you for stopping by. I look forward to visiting your blog!