The Hamidian Massacres (1894–1896), a series of violence and mass killings of Armenians that laid the groundwork for the first genocide of the 20th century, stand as one of the darkest chapters in Armenian history. The harrowing events claimed the lives of an estimated 88,000 (Johannes Lepsius) to 300,000 (French Embassy) Armenians during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Hundreds of thousands more were displaced, left impoverished, or sent to orphanages housing over 500,000 Armenian children, many of whom were later adopted or Islamized.
These heart-wrenching events are primarily recalled now as a collective memory rather than as the tragedy of individuals, perhaps because we know little to nothing about what they truly went through.
In 2019, a new avenue opened to travel back in time and encounter the harrowing details of these massacres through the eyes of the very survivors. The archive of Mkrtich I Khrimian, Catholicos of All Armenians, preserved at Matenadaran, contains over 8,000 letters, testimonies, and documents written by peasants to their spiritual leader between 1893 and 1907.
These priceless testimonies, never studied or published before, reveal that thousands of sufferers, experiencing unspeakable hardships in their native villages in Western Armenia, sought refuge in the Eastern part, where they found shelter either in the barn of Holy Etchmiadzin as newcomers or in some of the villages assigned by the Catholicos. Forlorn and hopeless, they wrote to their spiritual father to ask for food, shelter, travel money, or permission to raise funds to free relatives from prison, while recounting the deplorable stories of their families, relatives, or sometimes entire villages.
The archive of the 125th Catholicos not only documents the immense individual loss and pain endured by Armenians but also highlights the profound faith and trust they placed in the Church and their spiritual leader.
Khrimian became Catholicos during one of the most challenging periods for his people and was affectionately referred to as Khrimian Hayrig, the paternal protector of the Armenian Nation at the time. The famous inventor of the term paper ladle, which in his time described the unfavorable circumstances of the Armenian nation amidst the power plays of foreign states due to its lack of military and political power—a term which holds true even today—contributed to his nation in ways that surpass common imagination. Known for his nation-loving and humane character, he stood by his people, protecting them from cruel murders or healing their wounds with whatever alms were possible. While much of his work is known from historical records, this archive quantifies the role the Catholicos played in providing comfort and solace to his people.
“These are credible testimonies of the Hamidian Massacres, which have never been studied or published before. They help document the forced depopulation, displacement, conversions, kidnappings, and murders of Armenians through firsthand accounts, which also shed light on the socio-economic and political realities of the time,” states Matenadaran’s Senior Researcher Dr. Vera Sahakyan, who started studying the archive in 2019.
Her book, published in 2021 as a tribute to the 200th anniversary of the Catholicos, covers the 28 villages of Bulanyk Province in Mush, based on letters from their once peaceful and communal Armenian inhabitants. Through separate chapters for each village, she sought to convey the collective reality of the time based on the content of the letters.
For instance, for Yeonjalou village, she writes, “These numerous letters reveal that starting in 1893, abductions of children became widespread in the village. The residents were subjected to exploitation, forced Turkification, and religious conversion as a way to avoid taxes.”
These are credible testimonies of the Hamidian massacres, which have never been studied or published before.
Dr. Sahakyan states that these letters are particularly important from a demographic perspective. “Correspondents signed with their native addresses, including the village and province. Some letters are unique in this regard, as they reveal Armenian presence in certain villages not previously mentioned in historical records as having an Armenian population. In some cases, new village names may also appear. One such unique discovery is the village of Gaghanch—a previously unknown village name that appears in a single letter, testifying that at least two families (15 people) lived there during the tenure of Khrimian Catholicos,” she explains.
In the 19th century, the Ottoman authorities often underreported Armenian populations to minimize the Armenian presence in the empire’s eastern provinces. Consequently, Khrimian’s archive is invaluable across various disciplines, such as historiography, dialect studies, genocide studies, and even geography.
It contains the sealed sounds of unheard voices and stories that have now been given a chance to be heard over a century later, allowing diasporan Armenians to search for family histories that once seemed lost forever. As a first step towards this, 100 selected letters were translated into English and included at the end of the book for non-Armenian-speaking readers.
Dr. Sahakyan fondly recalls an encounter when a young man from Germany visited Matenadaran specifically to meet and thank her. Through one of these translated letters, he traced his family’s origins. “It was an incredibly emotional experience,” she shared. “After working with these letters for over three years, witnessing a descendant connect with his ancestors felt like the greatest reward. It was a moment that linked the voices of the past with the lives of the present.”
To learn more about Khrimian Hayrig, watch our new AGBU WebTalk about his life and legacy.
Sample Letters of Appeal
Translated by Lusine Minasyan for MATENADARAN—Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts
_________________
To Your Holiness, Holy Catholicos, Lord Mkrtich, Adored Father
From Serop Sargisian, an inhabitant from Koghak village, Liz-Bulanykh Province
A humble plea
Indeed your sagacious and keen eagle eye hasn’t neglected the fact that the rascal snakes insinuate themselves into the nest of your featherless nestlings in Central Turkey. Koghag village belongs to an unlawful oppressor Sheikh Maiso from Seyidan. He lives in Alo-Zarig village, which is located near Mount Ablbuhar in Mush. He has imposed terribly heavy taxes on me. On top of that, now he demands a tenfold increase in money. Consequently, we live like slaves in that bloodthirsty beast’s hands—we are weeping, as we are famished; we work toughly; we make a living with difficulty in the hands of that pitiless and harsh oppressor. Everything rests on his will. And not only are we being harassed by him but also by his servants—the adherers of Muhamed’s sons. They have been deliberating and exercising all kinds of malice towards us. Once they set fire to my wheat granary and hayloft and then made a circle around it and started dancing and making up savage songs. So when oppressor Maiso saw that there is no blood left in our veins to satiate [the hunger of] his loathsome body, he kidnapped my two children—twelve-month-old Fidan and nine-month-old Almast. Being terrified of that barbarism, I left everything behind and fled here barely escaping from his oppression. Now as you are a refuge for all of Armenia, I shiveringly appeal to you, Your Holiness, and plead for your help to bring my daughters back. Please bestow shelter upon me, where I will be able to make a living for my other children; even though I am a forsaken, grieving vagabond. As an earthly creature, I am praying to God for your longevity and asking for blessings for the esteemed, adored Father of the Aramyan nation.
Serob Sarkisian—(as he is illiterate, I, Hayk Aramian, wrote instead of him).
The year 1893, December 27, Vagharshapat.
_________________
To Your Holiness, Holy Catholicos, Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians, Father Mkrtich
From widow Nubar Markosian, a villager from Takearlu of Mush’s Bulanukh Province
A suppliant plea
Oh, Father,
It’s already been three years since my husband passed away. After his death, he has left not only naked and hungry children in my care but also one debt (bill) which states that we owe eight mejit gold [to the authorities]. As I am abandoned and have no one to rely on, indeed, I haven’t been able to pay the mentioned debt back. Taking advantage of the circumstances, the lender Kurd Isah Agha has forcibly made impudent proposals for several times—either to pay his debt back or marry my daughter to him. For this, he gave me a month and after that he attacked my house with swords and guns several times. Thereupon, to whom could I appeal if not to you, the only Lord? You are the hope and refuge of those like
me, who are helpless and in need. I beseech you, Lord, please be gracious and shed mercy upon my beloved daughter, the light of my eyes, and redeem her innocent life from the claws of that barbarian and bloodthirsty Kurd lender—with this hope I came here barefoot.
The year 1894, February 5, Vagharshapat.
_________________
To Your Holiness, Catholics of All Armenians, Father Mkrtich I
From Priest Matteos Ter Georgian from Bulanugh village (which is under Turkish rule) and Sahak Serovbian from Karakilisa village
A suppliant plea
Venerable Lord,
Since September 1893 the Kurds and Turks of Turkey have been torturing our Armenians intensely and oppressing and maltreating them. They have been looting our harvested wheat. They have been pillaging our stored wheat. At nights they commit adultery with our wives and then kill them. When the Armenian farmers come back
from abroad, they [the Kurds and Turks] wrench their earnings, despoil their homes, and kill them. Eighteen families from Hamzashekh village were forcibly converted into Turkish religion. Three of them were killed and now there is a command to hang 28 people on a gibbet. Master Margar from Vardenis village was kept hanging for three days, and when his body was in the Karmrakan church of Baghish, Turkish nightguards saw how a
light descended on him and testified about it. Because of this, the witness Turks were sent to prison for three months. Effendis and aghas forcibly demand 40-50 pieces of gold from the Armenian peasants, and when they fail to meet the precondition they kill them. Leader, Archimandrite Nerses is now imprisoned for a two-year term. They made him gather 450 pieces of gold through a communion-plate and now he is in prison. Effendis and aghas are forcibly taking over the Armenian villages, harming and torturing people, filling the churches
with sheep, so that Armenians would rather die than live their lives as half-dead. Esteemed Lord, Armenians
are forbidden to send a telegraph, which would possibly help find assistance. Witnessing these adversities and murders, kissing the feet of Your Holiness, I prostrate myself before you and tearfully beseech you to help and deliver our poor Armenians.
The most humble servants of Your Holiness, Priest Matteos Ter Georgian and Sahak Serovbian.
The year 1894, April 19.
_________________
Your esteemed Holiness is aware that recently in Western Armenia, particularly in Sasun and Mush, no Armenian’s life is safe. No one is able to come out of their homes; otherwise they will fall victim to the Turks and Kurds. One of these unfortunate victims was the family of an eighty-year-old priest, Father Arakel Avagian from Atkon village of Mush Province (Bulanykh). During the Sasun massacres they jailed him and me, his son, in the prison of Kop and kept us there for four months. In the meantime, they forcibly made my brother Gaspar renounce his faith. My ill-fated father had to spend all his fortune and sell whatever he had to free himself and me from prison. Yet even now, they refuse to leave him in peace. They don’t allow him to go to church, but instead make him and his family renounce their holy faith and convert to Islam, saying “as Aproyian Gaspar became Muslim, so should you, so that you serve Gaspar and the other converted Armenians as a mullah.” I was barely able to borrow seventy Ottoman liras from a Hamidian captain named Assad Agha and rescue my Islamized brother from the Kurds hands. We came to Kiurek dere village of Ghars Province in Russia, where I left my brother and his family. Meanwhile, my family along with my other brother stayed in my native village where my two daughters and two nieces are held as captives. They will undoubtedly become victims of Islam if I don’t pay back that seventy-lira debt. The Kurd gave me the money just because he thought I would convert to Islam like my brother did. Enduring the hunger and all the privation, I hastened to come to New Nakhijevan from Ghars to throw myself at your feet, Your Holiness, to express my most humble plea and entreat you to grant me a pastoral letter that will allow me to walk around my nation, gather the needed money, and free my family and the young virgins’ souls from the hands of the Turks and Kurds. Please, esteemed Lord, don’t reject the supplication of a sufferer, who came here after having passed such a long path, having endured thousand types of hardships, hoping not to remain empty-handed.
The most humble servant of Your Holiness—Serob Ter Aproian, an inhabitant of Atkon village, Mush.
The year 1895, May 9.
