History, not founding fathers, decided that the Armenian nation would fall prey to genocidal tyrants and be torn apart. History, not planners, prevented the Church from growing into a coherent administrative entity. The Church was probably not designed to accommodate more than one catholicate or more than one head, but History decided otherwise: there were duplications and animosities. In the last thousand years, there have always been more than one catholicate. Between 1441 and 1831, there were four; at the end of the 19th century, there were three; at one time in history, there were nine concurrent catholicoi!

In 1956, the 500-year-old Catholicate of Cilicia was a complete, autonomous and independent entity, as she had been throughout history. Her only boss was her catholicos, not the Catholicos of All Armenians. Her only constraints were those of the Armenian Apostolic Faith - and traditions.

By 1956, traditions were severely violated on several fronts. The Armenian government banned religion, dismantled the Church infrastructure and desecrated churches and monuments. Etchmiadzin was in servitude and a center for Soviet political activity. Dioceses were practicing exclusion - particularly the Diocese of America, where at least one third of the community was disfranchised. Worldwide, there were Armenian clergymen in disarray, undisciplined and unruly. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem was a catastrophe, with assets practically pillaged by no less than patriarchs and their entourage. Nerkakht and the mutism surrounding Soviet crimes created the impression that the Church's leadership was callous.

Disfranchised communities hungry for spiritual leadership actively sought the services of Antelias. Acting like a surrogate of the Mother See, Antelias expanded beyond the boundaries she had set for herself in 1929. She went into regions that Etchmiadzin was not able to serve properly.

UNHOLY FUROR
The enthronement of Catholicos Zareh in Antelias created unholy furor. Many clergymen left Antelias, some already scandal-ridden and unable to survive the disciplined environment of the renewed catholicate. The laissez-faire in the dioceses of Etchmiadzin suited them well.

In time, the Catholicate of Cilicia became active on the international stage. Her popularity and success was partially related to Karekin Sarkissian, a.k.a. Prelate Karekin Sarkissian, Catholicos Karekin II of Cilicia and Catholicos Karekin I of All Armenians. Karekin's brilliance was the nightmare of the enemies of Cilicia, particularly the Diocese of America. The Catholicate of Cilicia shattered the romantic vision of Etchmiadzin sitting on top of the highest clouds. Antelias was saying: "Look, Etchmiadzin is less than functional, Antelias is fully functional. It is possible to have a living Armenian Church without being subservient to the Soviets."

The AASO successfully fostered the impression that Antelias was in the process of invalidating the Mother See. They did not want anything to empower the ARF.

The anti-Cilicia, anti-Antelias campaign was ugly beyond description. Catholicos Zareh I of Cilicia was insulted daily in Ramgavar, Hunchag and Bolshevik newspapers. Phantasmagoric calumnies circulated about him - even about how he died. He died very young in 1963, seven years after his enthronement, from the sequella of severe hypercholesterolemia.

HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
Historical revisionism popped up in Etchmiadzin circles, ultimately articulated by intellectual giant Archbishop Nersoyan. During the seventies, the former primate wrote a short document in which he said that the Catholicate of Cilicia was illegitimate from top to bottom, from the days of her inception in the 15th century.

Nersoyan's views did not reflect the official Etchmiadzin line, even during the worst days of the conflict. Catholicos Vazken had made a few angry remarks, but Etchmiadzin never, ever formally declared the Catholicate of Cilicia "illegitimate" or "schismatic," nor did she ever anathematize her.

Nersoyan had been rebuked twice by Etchmiadzin, one time by Vazken Vehapar himself (for writing with authority on the subject of marriage of celibate priests. The Archbishop defended the non-canonical marriage of celibate priests already sworn to celibacy). The former primate never published "The Schism of Antelias" during his lifetime. Maybe he did not want a third rebuke. Maybe he was afraid it would affect the unity committee negatively.

Someone else published the document, years after the venerable archbishop died. "The Schism of Antelias" appeared in 1998, in angry response to the failure of the unity committee in 1997 as if to say: "Antelias is not legitimate anyway!"

SENSE AND NONSENSE
Nersoyan's presence can be felt everywhere in the diocese. He was a prolific writer, and he had a generally positive impact on the diocese. He founded St. Nersess Seminary in 1962, and his graduates are now pastors of churches, able to influence the thoughts and views of generations of parishioners.

Nersoyan was a staunch idealist.

"... Terminate the schism by restoring the unity of the Church. One People, one Church, one catholicossate. In the throne of St. Gregory the oneness and the identity of our Church must be seen, symbolized and safeguarded. Its authority in the one Church and its continuity must be secured."... "The center of the Church must be recognized and established in its native, age-old environment, in Armenia, in Holy Etchmiadzin, in the Mother country, where the bulk of the Armenian people live"

Unfortunately, Nersoyan's solution for the divisions in the Church consisted of negating, denigrating and de-legitimizing the Catholicate of Cilicia. He hoped that, with a sufficient put-downs, Cilicia would go away and allow Etchmiadzin to stand alone, unchallenged.

Here are quotes and paraphrases from "The Schism of Antelias":

The catholicos of Cilicia in the 15th century acceded to the throne only after "bribing the tyrant of Egypt"... "The 'independence' of the See of Cilicia sowed an evil seed which sprouted centuries later"..."There was no reason to hang a new schism from that rusty and wobbly peg... The schism was not allowed to die a natural death"... Catholicos Sahag of Cilicia (in 1929) was a "shrewd and wily old man" and a "double dealer" who, in 1929, used deceit and lies to manipulate "a desolate and isolated Etchmiadzin in no condition to give effective direction to the affairs of the Church"... "he was a dissident catholicos anyway, he should not have been allowed to start again and organize a dissident jurisdiction, which circumstances had already terminated."

Nersoyan said nothing about the role of bribes and corruption at the Mother See after her transfer to Etchmiadzin. "The Schism of Antelias" summarily brushed aside the enormous relevance of the Catholicate of Cilicia in Armenian Christian life since the genocide.

BITTERNESS
In 1957, after becoming patriarch of Jerusalem, Nersoyan struck at the Catholicate of Cilicia. He asked for the immediate return of property that the patriarchate had made available in 1929. In August 1958, perhaps as a consequence, the King of Jordan ousted him humiliatingly on the grounds that he was procommunist. Members of the ARF had publicly accused him of "dubious activities" and "willing subservience to communist plans abroad." Maybe Nersoyan was a victim of ARF-led McCarthyism. Maybe he was a victim of his rivalry with the previous patriarch, who was involved in shady activities. Maybe he was a victim of overconfidence. Probably all of the above.

The former primate had more than one reason to be embittered about Cilicia and the ARF. In 1956, he was bypassed as potential candidate for catholicos of Cilicia, though he was eminently qualified. In 1947, when he was primate, the ARF demanded that he take a stand on the issue of two defrocked priests whom the prelacy wanted him to pardon; this frustrated his nearly successful project of reuniting the diocese.

Nersoyan knew that publishing a document asserting that the catholicate was dissident would have a negative impact on the unity committee. Perhaps that's why he never made its contents public. However, when the unity committee fizzled out in 1997, all bets were off. The work appeared in 1998, ten years after his death, just as Catholicos Karekin I was due in New York for the centennial ceremonies. Somebody was waiting backstage to unleash the "truth" at the catholicos: he was less than worthy because he came from the dissident Catholicate of Cilicia.

DIOCESAN CREDO ABOUT CILICIA
The "The Schism of Antelias" was not published by any official organ of the diocese. There may even have been some opposition at the diocese. However, the diocese made the work available at the St. Vartan bookstore. It never took a position on its inflammatory content, even though there was enough there to constitute a symbolic slap to the face of the catholicos. The bookstore at St. Vartan is not exactly a champion of academic expression: there are not many works by scholars from Antelias or the prelacy.

All this may point to a contingent at the diocese, perhaps small, but influential enough to get their way and thumb their noses at the Catholicos of All Armenians - if not the primate.

"The Schism of Antelias" was unnoticed and did not have any practical impact - perhaps because it is not in league with other erudite works by Nersoyan. Nevertheless, it may be considered the actual credo of the diocese on the Catholicate of Cilicia. It outlines the underlying principles of the diocese's vision for the reunification of the Church: bring the Catholicate of Cilicia down so Etchmiadzin is alone at the top, unchallenged. Treat the Catholicate of Cilicia and the Prelacy like renegades, non-canonical, illegitimate, illegal, schismatic entities. Cultivate the impression that the catholicate and the prelacy are harming Etchmiadzin and the Armenian Church.

"The Schism of Antelias" may help understand why the disunited parts of the Church stay at antipodes.

Next week: Thirty Years of Unity Committee for Naught.

Munster, IN