

Photo by Stephen Van R. Trowbridge 

 THE LATE PROFESSOR H. BEZJIAN 

 A distinguished Armenian citizen of Aintab and Professor of Phvsics in Central Turkey 



College 



sadly symbolic of the fate of Armenian 

 homes from that time to our own. 



AROUND ARARAT 



Emerging from tradition, a distinct 

 Armenian people appears about iooo 

 B. C, dwelling on the table-lands near 

 Ararat. Having no natural boundaries, 

 the State was seldom independent, but 

 was subjugated in turn by Babylonia, 

 the Medes and Persians, the Seleucidas 

 and the Romans. The ancient Oriental 

 idea of conquest left, however, a good 

 chance of national development. Con- 

 quest meant little more than tribute. The 

 Armenians boast of a proud culture dur- 

 ing the ancient period and lines of noble 

 kings. The Armenians were closely al- 

 lied to the Parthians by religion, culture, 

 and propinquity, and were one of the few 

 ancient peoples who were never Hellen- 

 ized. 



It is in the early Middle Ages — ages 

 that we of the West call "dark," but that 



to the Xear East was a period of great 

 culture — that Armenia attains its highest 

 position, and it is through Christianity 

 that it made its contribution to the world. 

 In the year 310 A. D., 15 years before 

 the establishment of the Greek Church, 

 the Armenian Church was founded by 

 Krikor or Gregory the Illuminator, and 

 Armenia became the bulwark of Chris- 

 tianity in the East. Gregory was baptized 

 by Christian relatives in his childhood. 

 His story is an interesting one, telling of 

 an early marriage, the birth of two sons ; 

 then of his "vocation" and entrance into 

 a monastery; of his attaching himself to 

 Tiradates, who soon became king; of 

 Tiradates' persecution of Gregory be- 

 cause he would not accept the old gods ; 

 of years in prison ; of his release in re- 

 sponse to a vision ; his miracles ; the con- 

 version of Tiradates and the baptism of 

 a thousand Armenians, until in eight 

 years Armenia was fully Christianized 

 and the religion was adopted by the State. 



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