'Overcome Evil With Good', Pope Writes in Book at Genocide Memorial

(photo: Register Files)

While visiting the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex today, Pope Francis wrote the following in the Memorial's Book of Honor. 

"Here I pray with pain in my heart, so that never more will there be tragedies like this, so that humanity does not forget and knows how to overcome the evil with good. May God grant the beloved Armenian people and the entire world peace and consolation.  May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should not be diluted or forgotten. Memory is source of peace and the future.

Francis 25.06.2016" 

For the Armenian people, the Armenian Genocide was carried out in the early part of the 20th century by the Ottoman Empire authorities. Here below is the official Armenian account of what happened including details of the Memorial, distributed to reporters this morning:

"Around 1.5 million Armenians became victims of the systemic extermination policy of the government. They were slaughtered on ethnic grounds and this crime later was coined by the term “genocide”. The author of this legal term and concept, a distinguished international lawyer Raphael Lemkin was saying that his main goal was to prevent horrible crimes committed against the Armenians and Jews from recurring in the future to any other nation in the world. An ethnic cleansing of the Empire from the Armenian element was the purpose of the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman authorities. They used the context of political and military developments of the World War I to achieve this goal though it was a pretense rather than a reason. The modern Turkish authorities spare no efforts to deny the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide and not ashamed of making racist statements against the Armenians.

In 1965, on the 50th commemoration of the Genocide, mass demonstrations took place in Yerevan and throughout the world. The Soviet authorities were not able to ignore anymore the demand of the Armenian nation and authorized the construction of a monument eternizing the memory of victims of the Armenian Genocide. The memorial was completed and opened in 1967. The memorial is a place of pilgrimage for all Armenians. Every year hundreds of thousands people gather here on the April 24th, the remembrance day of the Genocide martyrs. 

An ensemble was erected on basalt-tiled square with a spatial design dominated by the Memorial Hall and the Rebirth Column. Architectural solutions of the monument are simple and expressive. The Memorial Hall is a place surrounded by twelve tall, inward-leaning basalt slabs with the Eternal Flame commemorating the victims at the center. Lower parts of the slabs are joined by steps descending from all sides to the Hall, where the entourage of “mourning” slabs leaning towards the eternal flame greatly contributes to the emotional impact. The Memorial Hall is contrasted by a pyramid-shaped, sky-reaching, arrowhead stele symbolizing the rebirth of Armenia. The 44 meter-high column is a sign of the national rebirth of Armenians. Twelve slabs are positioned in a circle.  Along the park at the memorial there is a 100-meter wall with the names of the towns and villages where massacres and deportations have taken place. 

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute with its permanent exhibition and historical studies on this topic was opened in 1995 on the premises of the Memorial complex. There is a small grove near the Museum, where trees in memory of the Genocide victims are planted by foreign dignitaries.    

The Armenian (Orthodox) Church canonized the Genocide victims on April 23, 2015. Deliberations around the issue of canonizing the Armenian Genocide martyrs started back in 1960s’, but publicly it was first discussed in 1989.  However, the issue of restoring the Canonization process in the Armenian Church moved to the practical field only in 2005. A canonization commission under the auspices of Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and Aram I, Catholicos of Holy See of Cilicia, has been formed to review this issue in detail.   

The Episcopal Synod convoked on September 24-27, 2013 in the Holy See discussed the issue of reinstating the canonization tradition of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. After deliberations, the Episcopal Synod decided to proceed with collective canonization of the Armenian Genocide martyrs.

On November 11-13, 2014 the Episcopal Synod approved the canonization rite of the Armenian Church and added April 24 to the Armenian Church Liturgical Calendar as the “Remembrance Day of the Holy Martyrs died for Faith and Homeland during the Armenian Genocide”. 

After a long respite, the canonization rite of the Armenian Church was restored through the canonization of the Genocide martyrs. 

The notion of collective martyrdom was promoted through the canonization of the Genocide martyrs. 

Armenians gratefully recall the Armenian Genocide Centennial Holy Mass celebrated by the Holy Pontiff at St. Peter Basilica in Vatican on April 12, 2015. Being faithful to his blessed predecessor Pope John Paul II statement, the Holy Pontiff reiterated the idea about the bleeding wounds of Armenian Genocide. Pope Francis emphasized the importance of recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide thus contributing to the prevention of the crimes of genocide.   

The clergy is preparing for the intercessory rite adopted by the Episcopal Synod in 2014. This service is offered on the Armenian Genocide martyrs’ Remembrance Day and other special occasions asking for the intercession of already canonized martyrs. 

Two Church leaders stop before the Icon of Holy Martyrs of Armenian Genocide consecrated in 2015, during the Canonization service and represents collegially the Armenians martyred during the Genocide."

***

While at the memorial, Pope Francis joined Armenian Church leaders in a joint prayer liturgy. He gave no homily or discourse but blessed a pine planted in his name in in the Memory Alley, and left the above message in a Book of Honor signed by honorable guests at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.  

A group of children and grandchildren of Armenian Genocide survivors then met the Pope. Their ancestors, being orphans of genocide, found refuge at Apostolic Palace of Castle Gandolfo by the decision of Pope Pius XI.