By San Yamin Aung / The Irrawaddy
Catholicos Karekin II, the supreme patriarch of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, attended a ceremony in Rangoon on Wednesday that saw
the city’s historic Armenian Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist fitted
with a blue plaque to honor its status as a heritage site. The church,
Rangoon’s oldest Christian place of worship, is the third beneficiary of a
larger project by the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT) to highlight the city’s
expansive colonial architecture.
***
Catholicos Karekin
II, the supreme patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, attends the
unveiling of a blue plaque to honor the heritage status of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist in Rangoon. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The
Irrawaddy)
RANGOON — Catholicos Karekin II, the supreme patriarch of
the Armenian Apostolic Church, attended a ceremony in Rangoon on Wednesday that
saw the city’s historic Armenian Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist fitted
with a blue plaque to honor its status as a heritage site. The church,
Rangoon’s oldest Christian place of worship, is the third beneficiary of a
larger project by the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT) to highlight the city’s
expansive colonial architecture.
Along with Karekin II, who made his first-ever visit to
Burma this week, Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe, Rangoon Mayor Hla
Myint and the British ambassador to Burma, Andrew Patrick, attended an event
unveiling the plaque at the church, located on the corner of Merchant and Bo
Aung Kyaw streets.
The plaques serve to commemorate landmarks, or well-known
events or people, in the city, YHT said.
“It is a special day for us. Because today, at the
entrance of the church, there is a plaque which has been established to
indicate its heritage position,” Karekin II told attendees via a translator.
“We have come here to encourage Armenians and their
children to preserve the tradition. We have come here not only to see the
preservation of the church, but also to strengthen [Rangoon’s] Armenian
heritage,” he said.
Burma’s dwindling population of Armenians arrived in the
17th century from Iran, where they had settled after fleeing the Ottoman
Empire. In 1881, a census by the colonial administration revealed that there
were 466 Armenians living in the country, and a decade later that number had
grown to 1,295.
But today the church is struggling to fill the pews, with
only a small number of worshippers attending service each week. Of these, few
trace roots back to the community that founded the building more than 150 years
ago.
Distinguished by its tropical architecture combined with
Gothic features, the church is the oldest church surviving in Rangoon,
according to a press release from YHT on Wednesday.
Canadian Sharman Minus, who said her
great-great-grandparents helped build the church, told The Irrawaddy that the
Armenian delegation had been incredibly welcoming to her, inviting her to
Wednesday’s event and taking great interest in her personal family history.
“I feel like I am in dream,” she said of Wednesday’s
ceremony.
“This event marks the third plaque to be installed in a
historic building of Rangoon,” said Moe Moe Lwin, director of YHT, at the
unveiling ceremony. “We hope that this blue plaque will highlight our city’s
heritage, and serve as a gateway for Rangoon residents as well as visitors to
celebrate its wonderful diversity and incredible history.”
Previously, plaques have been fitted on City Hall and the
building that once housed the up-market department store Rowe & Co.
Moe Moe Lwin said YHT is working to extend the existing
list of heritage buildings in Rangoon. The blue plaque designation means the
Armenian Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist will be included in the
extended list, help to ensure its long-term preservation.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/supreme-patriarch-sees-rangoons-armenian-church-granted-heritage-status.html
2 yorum:
The Armenian Church now has the ability after decades of isolation during the Soviet Union to reach out to long-lost communities, to ensure that the foundations laid by the early settlers some 300 years ago are respected and that the communities once again thrive. The Church rightfully belongs to the community, not some vagrant who falsely claims to be a priest.
Visit this historic Church, but don’t trust the man who squats illegally on the premises – John Felix. He is not a priest, neither of the Armenian Church nor for the Anglican Church. He was once an Anglican deacon, but now is banned by the Anglican Church from practicing.
See the latest news from BBC and watch the video here: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29505568
The Armenian Church now has the ability after decades of isolation during the Soviet Union to reach out to long-lost communities, to ensure that the foundations laid by the early settlers some 300 years ago are respected and that the communities once again thrive. The Church rightfully belongs to the community, not some vagrant who falsely claims to be a priest.
Visit this historic Church, but don’t trust the man who squats illegally on the premises – John Felix. He is not a priest, neither of the Armenian Church nor for the Anglican Church. He was once an Anglican deacon, but now is banned by the Anglican Church from practicing.
See the latest news from BBC and watch the video here: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29505568
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