The Syriac Orthodox in North America (1895–1995): A Short History 9781463240387

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1

2019

ISBN 978-1-4632-4037-0

ISSN 1935-6838

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kiraz, George Anton, author. Title: The Syriac Orthodox in North America (1895-1995) : a short history / George Anton Kiraz. Description: Piscataway, NJ : Gorgias Press, 2019. | Series: Gorgias handbooks, ISSN 1935-6838 | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2019009610 | ISBN 9781463240370 Subjects: LCSH: Syrian Orthodox Church--North America--History. Classification: LCC BX174.N7 K573 2019 | DDC 281/.63097--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009610 Printed in the United States of America

In Memory of The early KHARPUT immigrants who settled in Worcester… The early DİYARBAKIR immigrants who settled in NJ… The early MIDYAT immigrants who settled in RI… The early MARDIN immigrants who settled in Sherbrooke… The early HOMS immigrants who settled in Detroit…

And in Memory of My Great Uncle BARSOUM DAUDOĞLU KIRAZ of Ivos-Kharput You arrived on the East Coast in the 1910s… Your family lost touch with you… Your nephew searched all over for you, but to no avail… You and he are now buried together 130 miles from each other… My father would have loved to have visited your grave.

Contents Foreword ............................................................................................ xiii By Mor Dionysius Jean Kawak Preface .................................................................................................. xv Acknowledgements ............................................................................ xx Nomenclature .................................................................................. xxiii Prologue ................................................................................................. 1 1. Sayfo I… Immigrants I .................................................... 7 1840s Shammas Micha, the First Immigrant ............................ 10 1884 Ḥaji Yakob, the English Speaker of Diyarbakır ........... 12 1887 Ḥaji Thomas of Kharput .................................................. 14 Aharon and Charlie’s Journey from Kharput ........................... 16 Bringing Brides .............................................................................. 18 1888 George who Married the Prime Minister’s Cousin ...... 19 1889 The Doctor and the Merchant ........................................ 20 1892 A Syriac Orthodox Bishop without a Syriac Flock ...... 23 1893 George Jarjur, the First in Canada .................................. 26 1899 Mary Basmajy and Her Daughters.................................. 28 1906 San Francisco Fires and Kharput Immigrants .............. 30 From Families to Communities .................................................. 34 vii

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2. Building a Society ......................................................... 35 1897 First Association in New England: A.B.A. ................... 36 1899 First Association in New Jersey: T.M.S. ........................ 46 1907 The First Priest ................................................................... 50 1908 The Intibāh Association ................................................... 53 1909 The First Newspaper ........................................................ 58 1909 Women and First Associations ....................................... 66 1910 Picnics and Community Life ........................................... 71 1913 First Directory .................................................................... 72 1914 The First Malphono .......................................................... 74 On the Eve of the Great War ..................................................... 76 3. Sayfo II… Immigrants II .............................................. 77 The Three Men from Kharput.................................................... 80 The Girl who Survived Sayfo ...................................................... 82 1915 The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief ............................................................................... 86 1916 US Census ........................................................................... 87 1916 A Visit to New England ................................................... 89 1916 With Church of the East Assyrians ................................ 90 1917 Conflicts within the Community .................................... 96 1917 Convention in Worcester ................................................. 98

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1918 Bishop of Jerusalem Seeks Help ................................... 102 1919 The Paris Peace Conference .......................................... 103 1920 Patriarch Elias III Intends to Visit America ............... 105 1921 More Priests ...................................................................... 109 1921 The Need for a Homeland ............................................. 112 1922 From Unskilled Laborers to Professionals.................. 115 1926 US Census ......................................................................... 116 1927 The Intended General Synod of Jerusalem ................. 117 A New Decade Approaching .................................................... 125 4. Bishops Visit… Churches Consecrated ....................... 129 1927 First Apostolic Delegate ................................................. 130 Archbishop Barsoum’s Scholarly Activities ............................ 135 With Gibran Khalil Gibran ....................................................... 137 1928 First Priest Ordained in America .................................. 138 1929 Second Bishop Visits ...................................................... 140 1930 The General Synod at Deir Mar Matta ........................ 141 1932 Archbishop Barsoum, Now the Locum Tenens ............ 143 1933 The New Beth-Nahreen ................................................. 145 1934 First Choir ......................................................................... 151 1934 Successful Boys… Successful Girls .............................. 153 1936 US Census ......................................................................... 156

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Contents 1937 A New Priest for Detroit ............................................... 157 1938 Third Bishop Visits ......................................................... 159 1939 Boys in the Army ............................................................. 162 1940 Patriarch Appeals for the Seminary .............................. 163 1941 St. Ephrem Association in Sherbrooke ....................... 164 1948 War in Palestine: More Immigrants .............................. 165 1949 Archbishop Samuel as an Apostolic Delegate ............ 166 Bedouins and Scrolls ................................................................... 168 Towards a Parish-like Society.................................................... 170

5. Formation of an Archdiocese ....................................... 173 1949 Arrival in New Jersey ...................................................... 174 Conflict with the Patriarchate ................................................... 176 1950 The Priests and the Conflict .......................................... 178 Parish Councils and the Conflict .............................................. 180 1952 Patriarchal Vicarate.......................................................... 181 Conflict over the Name: Assyrian vs. Syrian .......................... 185 Name Under the Ottomans ........................................................ 187 Name and the First Immigrants ................................................. 190 Archbishop Barsoum Objects to “Assyrian” ............................... 193 Arrival of Mor Athanasius ........................................................ 197 Patriarch Barsoum Sets the Record ............................................. 199

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The Clash ................................................................................... 201 1954 Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibits… Sold ................................. 205 1955 The Fourth Homs Synod and the American Issue .... 206 1957 A New Patriarch… A New Archdiocese .................... 209 1958 First Cathedral .................................................................. 211 1959 More Bishops Visiting .................................................... 212 1960 First Patriarch on American Soil ................................... 213 Recording the Beth Gazo .......................................................... 219 1960 Archdiocese Consolidated.............................................. 221 6. Growth of the Archdiocese ........................................... 224 1961 Conventions...................................................................... 225 1963 Los Angeles ...................................................................... 227 1966 Chicago .............................................................................. 228 1967 Liturgy Books ................................................................... 229 1968 From Detroit to Southfield ............................................ 232 1968 From West New York to Paramus ............................... 234 1970s New Parishes in Canada ................................................. 236 1971 Patriarch Jacob’s Second Visit ....................................... 237 1974 New Organizations.......................................................... 238 1975 Malankara Parishes .......................................................... 240 1980s More New Parishes ......................................................... 242

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Contents 1982 Knanaya Parishes ............................................................. 244 1986 Some Statistics .................................................................. 246 1990s Disappearance of the “Old-Timers” ............................ 249 1995 Palm Sunday and the End of an Era ............................ 252

Epilogue ........................................................................... 256 Archdiocese for the Eastern United States ............................. 257 Archdiocese for the Western United States............................ 260 Archdiocese of Canada............................................................... 262 2014 A Syriac-American Patriarch.......................................... 263 Works Cited ..................................................................... 265 Archives Consulted ..................................................................... 265 Interviews ..................................................................................... 265 Periodicals ..................................................................................... 266 Secondary Sources....................................................................... 267 Index ................................................................................ 272

Foreword By Mor Dionysius Jean Kawak What binds a community together is their history. Being an immigrant community constantly under the stress of assimilation versus preservation of one’s culture, it is our common ancestry and their struggles that will bind us together. The immigration to the US came in various phases of oppression our faithful faced in their homelands. Starting in 1895, and again in 1915, Sayfo survivors went in search of lands with religious freedom. The waves of immigration continued with subsequent wars in the Middle East (ArabIsraeli wars, the Lebanese civil war, and the recent wars in Iraq and Syria). As the children of survivors of Sayfo, it is important for the current generation and the generations to come to read this book. It will give them an insight into the challenges a community faced as it struggled to establish itself and build a society. The community had their Syriac Orthodox faith in common and it is still the glue that holds us together. Sadly, many communities that were established no longer exist. We hope that this book will shed light onto the issues immigrant communities face with our ongoing struggle of preserving our culture and heritage and yet be a xiii

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productive member of the American society in general. In addition, we hope that this book will help those who have lost touch with the church to reconnect and our faithful to understand where we came from in order to decide where we should go. It is for this reason that I asked Malphono George Kiraz to write a book on the history of the Suryoye in America. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him. It is hoped that future scholars will build upon this work, expand upon it by writing about the Suryoye immigrants in the current millennium.

Preface During the summer of 1983, a few weeks after I completed high school in Bethlehem, our family received a letter from the American Consulate in Jerusalem: if we wanted to immigrate to the United States, our green cards were ready! This was unexpected. Although my maternal aunt Mariam Khamis Hazou, who then lived in NJ, had begun the process of immigration paperwork for my mother many years earlier, immigration was not something on our radar. The news was very welcome, though: I had just finished high school, and my only opportunity for higher education there was to attend the local Bethlehem University. But the matter carried some urgency: I was well into my seventeenth year—in other words, a minor. If I hit my next birthday and became an adult, I would not be able to immigrate with my mother. We had to immigrate within a few months; this included finding funds for travel. At the time, I had just finished writing a history of the Syriac Orthodox in the Holy Land in Arabic. I immediately began to gather information about the church in America, wanting to know as much as possible about the Syriac Orthodox community there before leaving Bethlehem. I gathered in a folder what I could from the news sections of church journals such as al-Ḥikmat, the Patriarchal Magazine of Jerusalem, and the Patriarchal Magazine of Damascus. xv

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Once in the United States, I began to contact the various priests and parishes, sending them questionnaires. By 1986—I was then 21—I had written a rough draft of the book in Arabic. But then school and other projects arose and got in the way. However, I kept adding notes to my folder whenever I found new information with the intention that one day, I would write a history of the Syriac Orthodox in America. The one folder grew into four larger folders. The project remained on the back burner for more than thirty years. Last year, Mor Dionysius John Kawak, Archbishop of the Eastern Archdiocese, approached me about writing a brief history of the Syriac community in North America to be published for the 2019 Sayfo memorial. I took the opportunity to resurrect my notes. The rediscovery of the Arabic draft from 1986, which I had forgotten about, was a pleasant surprise. But in order for the project to come to fruition within the short time allocated (I could only allocate January 2019 due to other research and teaching commitments), I had to take a pragmatic approach. First, I would limit the discussion mostly to what I had written in Arabic in the 1980s, adding only new material here and there to present a coherent story (the 1980s material forms 50% of the final product). Second, I would confine the discussion to the 100-year period between 1895 and 1995. Both dates have historical significance. The year 1895 was the year of the First Sayfo that triggered the first

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wave of immigration to North America. And 1995 marked the passing away of Metropolitan Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the first and only Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States and Canada. The following church synod, held in 1995, dismantled the Archdiocese and replaced it with three Patriarchal Vicarates: one for the Eastern United States, another for the Western United States, and a third for Canada. Each would have its own archbishop and diocesan structure. Doing justice to the post-Samuel period—and to all the hard work that his successors accomplished—requires extensive research and another book, hopefully to be written by someone else. As such, the current book is not a definitive history. Rather, it is a brief historical account with many shortcomings. It is worth pausing here to point out some of these shortcomings. None of the parish archives, except that of Worcester, have been consulted as they are—if they exist in the first place—dispersed all over the continent. (The Archdiocesan archive, however, was consulted.) While I managed to interview a few elderly people in the 1980s and 1990s, the opportunity to interview the “old-timers” is now almost gone. Only a handful survive. Between 1909 and the 1940s, community writers and journalists produced a huge body of journalistic literature that surpasses, by many folds, anything that was produced in the subsequent period. Only the issues that survive were consulted. A large portion of this corpus is written in

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Ottoman Turkish, a language in which I am not able to do research. Understanding this corpus is essential for our understanding of the social and cultural aspects of the community and the mindset of its authors during the early period. This requires careful research by a scholar with the right linguistic skills. This, too, is for someone else. While for most of the period, the Syriac Orthodox in North America were from the Middle East, the second half of the twentieth century witnessed the formation of Malankara and Knanaya parishes. These were first under Mor Athanasius; but by the end of the century, they had their own diocesan structures. That story, while extremely important, only receives a brief mention in this work. Another shortcoming is the shift in style from microhistory for the early period to macro-history for the later one. The pre-Archdiocesan period up to the end of the 1940s (Chapters 1–4) is more of a “people history.” This was possible because of the journalistic literature mentioned above that was produced through the 1940s, as well as the interviews that were conducted with the elderly members of the community. The journalistic literature disappeared during the Archdiocesan period, and with that we lose historical contact with the people who made up the community. As a result, the Archdiocesan period, starting from the 1950s (Chapters 5–6), is a history of the Archdiocese, top-down. A better coverage of the Archdiocesan period requires oral history research; and this is the ripe time to do such

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research, before the immigrants of the 1950s and 1960s leave this world. Hopefully someone will take up this task. Given these shortcomings, this book remains mostly the work of an enthusiastic twenty-one-year-old reworked by a fifty-three-year-old to make it sound just a bit smarter! George A. Kiraz January 27, 2019, Memorial of Fr. Eli Shabo

Acknowledgements His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphrem II entrusted me, along with two other priests, with running the Archdiocese when it became vacant after his election to the Patriarchate. This gave me first-hand experience in the difficult task and helped me appreciate the complexities of operating such a vast organization. Mor Dionysius John Kawak, who asked me to write this book, gave me the opportunity to resurrect my 1980s research which I may never have returned to otherwise. Fr. John Meno, who was the Archdiocesan Secretary during the tenure of Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, kindly answered many questions. Special thanks is due to the various priests who answered my questionnaire and my various letters during the 1980s and to the current priests who gave a report on their parishes. Today, there are many resources online that make life easier for the researcher. Many of the periodicals cited here are known to me only from MARA, the Modern Assyrian Research Archive portal at the University of Cambridge. The New York Public Library kindly provided a microfilm of Intibāh and Beth Nahrin back in 1985. The journals of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate (al-Ḥikmat and the Patriarchal Magazine of Jerusalem and Damascus) are now available on the web site of the Patriarchate’s Department of Syriac xx

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Studies thanks to the efforts of Dayroyo Roger Akhrass and his team. Mor Dionysius John Kawak kindly gave me access to the Archdiocesan archive (i.e., the Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel archive, denoted in the footnotes as “AYS archive”). Dayroyo Saliba Kassis was very generous with his time in this regard. Dayroyo Augeen Alkhouri Nimat kindly took me with him to Worcester in March 2019 to examine the church archive. Reading Ottoman Garshuni is a challenge for me. During the 1980s, I used to read, and my father Anton Kiraz used to translate for me. Recently, Murat Bozluolcay, a graduate student at Princeton University, has been immensely helpful. I am also grateful to Dr. Nilüfer Hatemi of Princeton University, who graciously allowed me to audit her Turkish and Ottoman courses during the fall of 2015. Fr. John Meno and Dr. Khalid Dinno kindly offered to read the penultimate draft. Their feedback was extremely valuable. Fr. Joseph Shabo was always helpful with pictures and documents. Sargon Donabed kindly answered questions on the Worcester community. Darius and Barbara Baba hosted me back in 1988 during the youth convention and again just before this book went to print in March 2019, which allowed me to add a few anecdotes. Hannah Stork of the University of Chicago did an amazing job copy editing the manuscripts. Sebastian Kenoro Kiraz kindly proofed the index. The professionalism with which Melonie Schmierer-

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Lee of Gorgias handles book acquisition and production is superb. While writing the book, Fr. Eli Shabo, a long-time friend, passed away. I remember when I visited the East Coast in 1995 and wanted to interview some of the “oldtimers”; he would spend the entire day taking me from one house to the next. His funeral in January 2019 brought most of the priests together and was an opportunity to gather the most recent statistics about the community. Fr. Eli has been a help during life and death. My wife Christine and the kids—Tabetha, Sebastian Kenoro, and Lucian Nurono—have always been a constant support. I virtually disappear from their lives every time I begin work on an intense project, shubqono ! I do hope that the kids will continue to be part of this beautiful community and become the “old-timers” long after we go.

Nomenclature It is not possible to write an account of the “Syriac Orthodox” in North America that avoids nomenclature. While the self-identification of the early immigrants in their respective native languages—Turoyo Aramaic, Turkish, Armenian, and Arabic—was straightforward for the most part, the nomenclature in English proved more problematic. Standard designations changed over time, starting with “Assyrian” in the early 1900s, moving to “Syrian” in the 1950s, and shifting to “Syriac” at the turn of the third millennium, with all three terms coexisting until the present day. The term “Syriac” in the Syriac language itself is Suryoyo. But by the end of the nineteenth century, when our history of the community in North America begins, the members of this church only used Syriac liturgically. While those from the Tur Abdin region of today’s southeast Turkey—who would end up in Central Falls—spoke Aramaic natively, others who lived in Kharput and would end in the Worcester, Massachusetts, area spoke Turkish and Armenian. Residents of Diyarbakır, who immigrated to the New Jersey and New York areas, spoke Turkish. Immigrants from Mardin, who settled in Canada and some parts of New England, as well as those from Homs, who settled in Detroit, were Arabic speakers. They all self-identified with the Arabic/Turkish form Suryānī. xxiii

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Western scholars who wrote in English about this community called them “Syrians” and called their language and culture “Syriac.” Being a branch of Orthodoxy, their church was designated in English as the “Syrian Orthodox” church. When Patriarch Peter III/IV visited London in 1874, “Syrian” was the term that was employed in English. We have no record of what the early immigrants called themselves in English, or in their native languages for that matter, when they arrived in North America during the 1880s and 1890s. Our earliest written records are from after 1900; in these, the English gloss used to designate the Syriac term Suryoyo or the Arabic/Turkish term Suryānī was invariably “Assyrian.” When they wrote in Syriac, they used the Syriac term Suryoyo; and when they wrote in Turkish or Arabic, they mostly used the term Suryānī. During the 1950s and after the arrival of Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, conflict over the name broke out between the early immigrants on the one hand and the new immigrants and the church hierarchy on the other. The new immigrants of the 1950s were more accustomed to the term “Syrian” for Suryoyo or Suryānī, as this was the common English usage in the Middle East (although some areas, like Palestine, used both “Syrian” and “Assyrian” interchangeably). Archbishop Samuel and Patriarch Afram Barsoum also pushed for the term “Syrian.” All parishes established during the 1950s and after were named “Syrian,” while the three pre-1950 parishes—West New York, Worcester, and

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Central Falls—continued to use “Assyrian,” along with their various organizations. Today, only the parish of St. Mary in Paramus, NJ, despite its move to a new location in 1968, maintains the term “Assyrian” in its title as well as in the titles of its older organizations; the parish’s new organizations, though, do not use the term (e.g. the Aramaic American Association, founded in 1974, and the Suryani American Association, founded in 1980). At the turn of the new millennium, the English-speaking dioceses of the church, especially those in the United States, asked the Holy Synod if they could use “Syriac Orthodox” instead of “Syrian Orthodox.” (The Catholics and the Maronites had already begun using “Syriac.”) The Synod approved, and this has been the term used for parishes established during the third millennium. As such, today all three terms—“Assyrian,” “Syrian,” and “Syriac”—are used concurrently, but mostly in mutual exclusivity. In what follows, I shall adopt the generic term “Syriac Orthodox” when speaking generally of the church and its members. When citing names of churches and organizations and quoting material from English sources, the term “Assyrian” is used for the earlier period, “Syrian” for the middle period, and “Syriac” for the latest period, denoting the proper names used by adherents in their own historical contexts. Turkish and Arabic sources usually use the term Suryānī, and this has been translated as “Syriac” when I was unable to find an English name for the entity.

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While authors writings in Arabic and Turkish generally used the term Suryānī as mentioned earlier, writers such as Naum Faik and others evoked the names of ancient cultures—such as “Aramaean” and “Assyrian”—interchangeably, sometimes in the same paragraph. Whenever these terms occur in quotes, I have given the original in square brackets in order to avoid any confusion. Unlike the modern divisive usage of these terms, the early usage was more harmonious. These terms were treated as if they were synonyms. This is best exemplified with the following editorial written in Arabic by Naum Faik in 1917:1 For about twenty-five centuries, our Assyrian homeland [waṭanunā al-ʾĀthūrī ] was under the control of many nations… Its Aramaean inhabitants [sukkānuhu al-ʾĀrāmiyīn] were under the yoke of slavery… We and our homeland, O Syriac people [maʿšar al-Suryān], are like a ball in the hand of sports players… We the Aramaeans [al-ʾĀrāmiyūn] have been suffering for 2,500 years… What shall we, the Syriac [al-Suryān] people, do? … Which nation is more oppressed than our Syriac [al-Suryān] nation? And which people were subdued for such a long time more than our Aramaean people [šaʿbuna al-ʾĀrāmī ]? And which

1

Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 5 & 6, 1917) p. 1–3.

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people was suppressed with much persecution as much as our Assyrian people [qawmunā al-ʾĀthūrī ]?

The early immigrants did not experience conflict over the name. The conflict only began in the 1950s with the formation of an Archdiocesan entity. This conflict is discussed in Chapter 5.

Prologue This is a history of the Syriac Orthodox in North America spanning about 100 years from 1895 to 1995. As such, it is not a history of a cohesive community; rather, it is a history of diverse communities speaking different languages, arriving in the United States at different points of history, and overlapping with each other. Apart from being Syriac Orthodox, the first wave of immigrants of the late nineteenth century did not have much in common with those who began to arrive in the mid-twentieth century and beyond. The world of those from Kharput, Diyarbakır, and Mardin who were victims of the 1895 massacres—the First Sayfo—even differed from the world of those who immigrated as a result of the 1915 Sayfo. Twenty years spanning two centuries is not a short time. Social, cultural, and political attitudes toward the outside world and toward the internal community itself were not immune to changes and shifts. The early immigrants had no church and no priest for almost thirty years. They knew that, in the homeland, they belonged to the Suryānī Qadīm or “Old Syrian” Millet within the Ottoman system (a system that provided non-Muslim confessional communities a way to manage themselves in terms of “personal law”). This was not simply a spiritual belonging, but rather an “ethnic” or “quasi-national” 1

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belonging that, within a few decades in the diaspora, would translate for some active members into full-fledged nationalism. Imagine someone born in the diaspora in the mid1880s. That child would be almost twenty or twenty-five before the first priest arrived in New Jersey and almost thirty before a priest would arrive in New England. Until the late 1920s, there was no church to glue these “Syriac Orthodox” together. What they had were secular associations and—despite the small number of the community—tons of them. This is not the same social and religious dynamic or community structure that a new arrival in the 1950s or 1960s encountered. An immigrant in this later period—especially in the New Jersey and New England areas—was welcomed into a structured church organization with churches and parish priests and an Archdiocese and a resident archbishop that gave the community a sense of cohesion: that is, into a Syriac Orthodox Church in North America. The world of the 1910s through the 1920s would have been an alien world to these newcomers. The linguistic diversity of the immigrants also contributed to the fact that this is a history of communities, plural. The early immigrants of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century came from environments in which Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, and Aramaic were spoken—probably in this order of usage. Though some would have spoken more than one language (Fr. Favlos Samuel knew Syriac, Turkish,

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Armenian, Arabic, and Kurdish),1 forming a small, united community could not have been easy for them. Each had their own customs and varieties of social norms. After World War I, the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire into nation states created Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Turks in the Middle East. This added to the diversity of the spring from which later immigrants would gush. Arrivals in the 1950s and beyond were citizens of these new nation states and associated with them socially, linguistically, and culturally. What connected them to the early immigrants among whom they would live was Syriac Orthodoxy, but only Syriac Orthodoxy. The early immigrants became “the Americans,” or the “old-timers.” Their number shrank as the number of new immigrants grew. This dynamic makeup of parishes is a characteristic of the diaspora. My family immigrated first in 1983 to Los Angeles, where my older sister Guita lived. By 1990, when I moved to England for my higher education, I was a very active member of St. Ephrem’s parish in Los Angeles. I knew almost everyone, and almost anyone who was a regular churchgoer knew me: I was the only deacon to hold the censer on every church occasion between 1983 and 1990. 1 Interview of Fr. Abdulnur (Albert) Samuel, the son of Fr. Favlos on June 19, 1995. His obituary in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette mentions seven languages, presumably including English; the seventh language may have been French.

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Even if you did not want to see me, you were out of luck! But now, when I visit Los Angeles, I hardly recognize anyone. The vast majority are newer immigrants. In 1996, I moved to New Jersey, where my aunt Mariam lived, and my wife Christine joined me from Los Angeles after we got married in 1998. We became active members of St. Mark’s Cathedral, and it took us some time to get to know people. Within a few years, we got to know my aunt’s “gang” and met new friends of our own, and faces became more familiar. But today, twenty years later, we do not recognize the majority of the parishioners. New immigrants keep arriving due to the constant wars of the Middle East, and we cannot keep up with them. We are becoming strangers in our own parish and are on our way to becoming the “old-timers.” Our children, if they persist in attending church activities after we go, will become “the Americans.” The sad part of the story is that the new immigrants are not increasing the numbers of the North American communities but, in a way, replacing the children of earlier immigrants. It seems that only two or three generations can exist distinctly before the melting pot of American society takes over. There are very few cases of fourth- or fifth-generation Syriac Americans who are still active. The rest no longer identify as Syriac-Americans (or Assyrian Americans, as did the early immigrants) and may not even known their family history.

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Writing this book, I felt that I was jumping between worlds: the world of the survivors of the 1895 Sayfo, the world of the survivors of the 1915 Sayfo, the world of the refugees of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts of 1948 and 1967, and the world of the refugees of the modern conflicts of the Middle East. I was jumping from “Assyrian,” to “Syrian,” to “Syriac.” If the book seems disconnected, then perhaps I have accomplished my task.

1. Sayfo I… Immigrants I (1880s–1900) The Syriac Orthodox Christians of the Ottoman Empire had shrunk to a small minority of less than half a million by the second half of the nineteenth century. One English missionary named Oswald Parry, who visited them in 1892, even estimated their population at no more than 200,000.1 The Patriarchs lived at Deir al-Zaʿfarān in Mardin, and most of the faithful resided as far north as Kharput, as far south as Jerusalem, as far west as Aleppo and as far east as Mosul. While Syriac remained the liturgical language, Aramaic was only spoken in Tur Abdin. The Syriacs of Kharput and Edessa (Urfa) spoke Turkish and Armenian, those of Diyarbakır spoke Turkish, and inhabitants of the region around Mardin and further south spoke Arabic. Kurdish was the language in many villages. Many people spoke more than one language. Despite this geographic and linguistic diversity, they all knew that they belonged to a ṭāʾifa, or community. By the end of the nineteenth century, the community would evolve into a millet, or a nation. We see the 1

O. Parry, Six Months in a Syrian Monastery (1895) p. vii. 7

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1. Sayfo I… Immigrants I

shift from a ṭāʾifa to a millet in many letters that were sent to the Patriarchs.1 Safety was always an issue, and Syriac villages were raided now and then. We know of raids and massacres that occurred, for example, in 1835 in Beth Zabdai, 1839 in Arbo, and 1855 in Kfarzeh,2 all situated in today’s southeast Turkey. In August 1888, Kurdish Aghas led attacks on Syriac villages in Tur Abdin. The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Peter requested that the central government investigate, but to no avail. Further Kurdish raids targeted several Syriac villages in October 1889. About 40 villagers, including women and children, were killed. These were the first signs of unrest in the areas where the Syriac Orthodox lived.3 The greatest of all massacres occurred in 1895, sometimes called the First Sayfo. (The Syriac term sayfo, meaning “sword,” has become a synonym for “genocide.”) On October 1, 1895, two thousand Armenians assembled in the capital, Istanbul, to petition for reform. But the rally was broken up violently by the police. This triggered massacres 1 These letters are kept at Deir al-Zaʿfarān in Mardin. For this period, see Khalid Dinno’s The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond (2017). 2 J. Çiçek, Mimre d-ʿal Sayfo (1981) p. 8–15; A. Barsoum, History of Tur Abdin (2008) p. 313–314, 364. 3 de Courtois, The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans (2004) p. 93–95.

(1880s–1900)

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of Armenians in Istanbul, and soon these massacres took an anti-Christian tone and moved to the interior of the country. The Syriac Orthodox became victims of this violence. The Syriac perspective of these events is described by Isaac Armalet.1 In November 1895, Kurds began attacking Christians within the city of Diyarbakır, burning shops and killing people. The Patriarch of the Church, Abdulmasih, who by then had succeeded Patriarch Peter in 1895, went immediately from his Patriarchal residence in Mardin to Diyarbakır. The governor promised the Patriarch that the Syriacs would not be harmed. The Patriarch gathered as many people as he could in the Church of the Virgin Mary for their own protection. Oral history reports that in order to get to the church, the Patriarch had to walk on the corpses of women and children. Attacks began on Syriac towns and villages within the governate of Diyarbakır and even as far as Edessa and Nisibin. Mardin was about to face the same fate, but the local Muslims of Mardin stood against the attackers and saved the Christians. This was but one of the reasons that some Syriac people began to immigrate to the United States. Some had done so before the massacres, looking for a better life, and had stayed in the United States for good. Others came for a short period to work and then traveled back to the old 1

I. Armalet, al-Quṣārā fī Nakabāt al-Naṣārā, (1919) p. 34–66.

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country. We have been able to gather the personal stories of a few early immigrants. 1840s

Shammas Micha, the First Immigrant During the nineteenth century, American missionaries from the Boston area were active in Mesopotamia and Persia among the Eastern Christians. When they were in Mosul, they met a shammas, or deacon, named Micha al-Naqqār. Micha belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church and was a skilled scribe. Micha had somehow learned English, allowing him to serve as a translator and interpreter for American and British missionaries: at some point in the 1840s, he was at the service of an Indian priest named Joseph Matthew, who was on his way to Mardin to be consecrated as bishop Athanasius for the Syriac Orthodox in India. Matthew spoke English, and Micha was his guide. Micha was subsequently hired by American and British missionaries and accompanied them on several missions and expeditions. One missionary described him as an “intelligent and valuable assistant.”1 During one of these expeditions, the missionaries wanted to record a Jew reading the scriptures in Jewish Aramaic. They turned to Micha, Thomas Laurie, Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians (1853) p. 214. 1

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who listened carefully to the reader and produced a transcription in the Syriac Serto script in two manuscripts. Today, the two manuscripts are at Harvard University containing biblical texts in the Jewish Aramaic dialect of Zakho.1 It seems that when the American missionaries returned to the United States, Micha went with them and settled in Boston. He worked for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the entity that was sending missionaries to the Middle East. We do not know much about Micha after his arrival in Boston. He is mentioned in some of the records of the American Board, but it is unlikely that there was a Syriac Orthodox community to speak of at the time. Much later, we have record of a Hanna Johnson from Mosul who was active in Boston in 1918. Hanna’s last name indicates that his father must have been an American; it is possible that Hanna was a descendant of Micha, as we do not know of any other immigrants from Mosul in the Boston area at that time.2

1 Joshua Burns, “A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Translation of Genesis recorded in Mosul, Iraq, ca. 1841…” in Aramaic Studies 5 (no. 1, 2007) p. 47–74. 2 Hanna Johnson is mentioned in The New Assyria 2 (no. 24, 1918) p. 9.

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It might be the case that other Syriac Orthodox arrived here and there during the early and mid-1800s, but we do not have any records of immigrants until the first major wave began to arrive in the 1880s. An article in The New BethNahreen confirms that some of the early immigrants arrived after encounters with American missionaries in the Middle East. These immigrants began to arrive around 1883.1 1884

Ḥaji Yakob, the English Speaker of Diyarbakır The English missionary Oswald Parry visited Diyarbakır in 1892. At the time, the bishop of the town was Bishop Abdullah, who would later become Patriarch. “In the morning,” Parry wrote later, “the Bishop sent his ‘peace’ to me by the mouth of a man called Yakob.”2 Yakob spoke English because he had previously spent nearly six years in New York. If Parry met Yakob immediately after his return from New York, then Yakob must have reached New York no later than 1886. If one is to allow travel time and a period during which Yakob resided in Diyarbakır before meeting Parry, then Yakob could have reached the United States before 1885 or even before 1884. Yakob became Parry’s guide for most of his journey in the Middle East, apart from a portion of the trip when Parry 1 2

The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 4, 1941) p. 2. Parry 42.

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went to Mosul. If Parry chatted with Yakob about his experience in the United States during their long days of travel, he did not record their conversations in his book. All that Parry reports is that Yakob was a tall, fair complexioned Syrian, with thick hair, and a beard of five days’ growth. Having been in New York for nearly six years, earning money as a ribbonweaver, he spoke English fluently, but with the most unusual grammar.

We know from later accounts that many of the immigrants worked as unskilled laborers, especially in mills. We also have a hint that immigrants learned English and were able to become fluent within five or six years. Having visited Jerusalem before and “been tattooed with the sign of the cross at the Syrian church,” Yakob was a Ḥaji. This gave him status within the Syriac community. When he accompanied Parry to visit Patriarch Peter, Parry took a seat next to the Patriarch; and Yakob was seated directly next to Parry because he was treated “with a Ḥaji’s honour.”1 We also know that Yakob was multi-talented: he played the kanun well.2

1 2

Ibid., 63. Ibid., 88.

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Unlike Shammas Micha, who was probably on his own, Yakob was most likely part of the Diyarbakır immigrant community that lived in the New York or New Jersey area. 1887

Ḥaji Thomas of Kharput Ḥaji Thomas Ovanis, or Quoyoon, came from Kharput to Worcester, MA, in 1887 at the age of seventeen.1 Quoyoon was his real last name; but as it was illegal to immigrate during those times, many took Armenian names to be able to leave Ottoman territories. Ovanis was Thomas’s fake Armenian last name. Thomas began to work in Worcester to support himself; and when it was time to get married, he went back to Kharput in 1895 and married a girl named Sophia from the Dasho family, who were merchants. Thomas and his wife remained in Kharput until 1912. Then Thomas came back to Worcester through Antep (now Gaziantep), bringing along two of his children, both of whom were born in Antep—indicating how long these journeys took; he left Sophia and his other children behind. George was one of Thomas’s children whom I interviewed back in 1988. Just before sending this book to press, Interview with George Quoyoon, Thomas’s son, at the house of Darius and Barbara Baba in April 1988. Thomas is Barbara’s paternal grandfather. 1

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George’s daughter Barbara told me that George was “marched” (i.e. taken by the authorities in groups that marched either to their death or to labor camps). He never mentioned this to me in 1988; and apparently, he never mentioned it even to his own children until he grew quite old. George was seven when he was marched. His mother Sophia, fearing that he might be taken away, always made sure that his pockets were full of bulgur (cracked wheat). “If they take you,” she told little George, “you can spit into the bulgur and eat it.” George never told his children how he managed to escape and survive the march. Sophia followed the family to America in 1921. Bringing little George with her safe and sound, she wanted him to become the Sahwshbino of Jesus—the person holding the baptismal water, head covered, during procession—for Epiphany (the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus in the Syriac rite). As churches needed funding, the custom was to bid for the position, the highest bidder getting to hold the water. But Sophia had no money. She told the priest how George had survived Sayfo, and the priest allowed George to hold the water during the procession without bidding. Many years later, when George was an elderly man, he made a memorial for his mother at the church and gave a donation in

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the amount that she would have bid, adding to it inflation and interest.1

Aharon and Charlie’s Journey from Kharput Ḥaji Thomas was not the only one to arrive in 1887. Thomas’s son George tells us that two other individuals known as Mr. Aslan and Mr. Safar had also arrived that same year from Kharput. Living conditions were harsh, and the new immigrants were poor. About 20 boys lived in one house with only five beds or so; they had to take shifts sleeping. All were unskilled laborers and worked in wire mills making fencing material and other wire products. Whenever an individual was able, he brought more relatives over from the old country. This is how the community grew. The trip from the old country was difficult, sometimes taking a year or more. The Safars had a difficult experience. We know only of the first leg of the journey from Kharput to Istanbul.2 Mr. Safar left Kharput on foot with his two children, Aharon and Charlie, passing through rigorous mountain terrain. They had to pack as much food as 1 Just before going to press, I discovered that the Ellis Island Oral History Project has a number of interviews with the Worcester Kharput immigrants: Maljan Chavoor (DP-10), Farida Ohan Chavoor (EI-403), Pauline Perch (EI-789), and Charles Perch (EI790). 2 S. Donabed, Remnants of Heroes (2003) p. 57–58, 61–62.

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possible, for the journey would take two months. What they could not pack, the group had to supplement with whatever wild fruits and berries they could find. Others may have taken a different route to Istanbul. Those who could afford it would have travelled north by land to Trabzon and then taken a ship on the Black Sea heading to Istanbul. There were other practical difficulties along the way. Once in Istanbul, travelers needed passports and other paperwork to continue their journey; acquiring the necessary documents sometimes took months. We do not have the details of their journey from Istanbul to Massachusetts, but they likely would have boarded a boat and stopped first somewhere in Europe, such as Marseille. Sometimes there would be another wait in Marseille or a stop at another European destination, at times due to US immigration quota requirements. Finally, they would board another ship from Europe to the eastern shores of the United States. Some immigrants came through Cuba.1 We have a later account from the Saraffian family of Diyarbakır, indicating that Thomas Saraffian’s family remained in Cuba for eight years, from 1920 to 1928, waiting for an opportunity to

Interview with Thomas Saraffian and Gloria Palak-Saraffian, January 26, 2009. (Gloria is the daughter of Elias Palak who is the nephew of Naum Palak (Faik). 1

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enter the United States. While in Cuba, the immigrants worked in beading and sewing to support themselves.

Bringing Brides Thomas’s decision to return from Worcester to Kharput to get married was not uncommon; there were not that many girls among the immigrants. George Mardinly lived in New Jersey as a single man. One day, he received a letter from his family that his young sister would soon be traveling to visit him. He immediately wrote back: “Bring me a bride.” The family found a thirteen-year-old bride in Diyarbakır and dispatched her with the sister.1 Arranged marriages were the norm, but sometimes there were complications. My paternal great uncle Barsoum David Kiraz left Ivos, a village in the mountains between Kharput and Malatia, and immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. He settled in New Jersey and was supposed to stay only temporarily, for he’d left behind an Armenian girl named Lousazine who was promised to him. It seems that Barsoum was not in a hurry to go back and claim his bride. The parents of the girl inquired, and Barsoum agreed to marry the girl only if her parents sent her to America. The parents refused, but 1 Interview

21, 1995.

with Dorothy Boyajy (George’s daughter) on June

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breaking an engagement would be scandalous. The Kiraz family offered to take Lousazine for their younger son Arush (also known as Artin), who stayed in the Middle East. Sometimes, young men who had already obtained citizenship would travel to Cuba, where a community of immigrants was waiting, and marry a Syriac girl looking for an opportunity to move to the United States. The couple would return to the US, and the family would follow later. Such marriages would have taken place at churches of other denominations. 1888

George who Married the Prime Minister’s Cousin George Barsoom’s story is an interesting one. He was born in Kharput in 1872 and studied at Euphrates College. At the age of sixteen, in 1888, his father Agabab Barsoom was already living in Worcester, MA. Agabab sent for his son, and George crossed the seas to be with his father. It seems that the family, after saving some money in the US, decided to go back to Kharput. Upon their return, George found that life in Kharput no longer appealed to him, so he decided to return to the United States. We do not know when he traveled back, but he settled once more in Worcester. Later, George attended a theological seminary in Chicago and then entered Baltimore Medical College to study medicine. But he did not have sufficient funds to complete

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his medical studies. He moved to Philadelphia and met a girl at the church he attended. It seems that George’s family may have had contacts with American missionaries in Kharput and may have become Protestant. Attending the seminary in Chicago and planning for ministry must have taken place outside of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, George kept in touch with his people. George did well. He met and fell in love with a girl in Philadelphia, Clara Campbell, who was of Scottish descent. Her father was a first cousin of the English Premier, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman who later served as prime minister from 1905–1908. George and Clara had two children. After some misfortunes, George moved to California; later, he went back to Worcester, where he opened a business. He moved again to California in 1932 and spent the rest of his days there, dying in 1936. His cousin Yacoob Aga Elbag, who lived in Fresno at the time, died two days after George.1 1889

The Doctor and the Merchant While many of the early immigrants were unskilled laborers, others arrived with established careers under their belts.

1

Assyrian Progress (Jan 1937) p. 24–25, 30.

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Such was the case of Abraham Yoosuf and Balshasar Alexander. Abraham was born in Kharput on December 12, 1866.1 He was a gifted child, and his parents sent him to study at Central Turkey College in Antep around 1886. After graduation, he taught at the College until 1889 when he decided to immigrate to the United State to further his education. He arrived in the United States on November 30, 1889, and attended Baltimore Medical School. His father died while he was still in medical school, meaning he had to care for his family in addition to his studies. After obtaining his medical degree, he opened a practice in Worcester in 1897. Many of the community members would have him as their physician. Later, he went to London for postgraduate studies and then to Vienna to specialize. He returned to Turkey, where he served as a volunteer surgeon during the Balkan Wars during 1912 and 1913 and was decorated by the Sultan for his services. Dr. Yoosuf moved back to the United States and enlisted in World War I, serving as a Major. He wore his military uniform during many community events, as can be seen in many pictures. He was one of the attendees of the 1 Shlomo 11 (no. 10, 1989); The New Assyrian 3 (no. 32, 1919) p. 8; a brief biography is also provided by Tomas Beth-Avdallah (ed.) in Abraham K. Yoosuf, Assyria and the Paris Peace Conference (2017) p. 13.

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Paris Peace Conference that took place after World War I, advocating for Assyrian national interests. Back in Worcester after the war, Dr. Yoosef helped in building St. Mary’s Church and became its first president in 1923. He was active helping immigrants and travelled to Washington DC at the end of 1921 to appear in front of the Immigration Committee to advocate that they provide entry to many community members who were detained in Istanbul by the Turkish government.1 Dr. Yoosef passed away on December 26, 1924, shortly after the Church of St. Mary was consecrated. Balshasar Alexander (also known as B. Iskandar) was born in Kharput on March 9, 1854, to a family whose business was cloth dyeing. He left Kharput in 1890 to look for modern dyeing methods and settled in New England. After working for ten years, he saved enough money to bring the rest of his family after the 1895 massacres and started a business of his own in Providence, RI. He was responsible for the establishment of the Assyrian Charity Association in Providence in 1906. During 1913, he migrated to Fresno, California, and became active among the community. Balshasar is the earliest person that we know of who moved from the East Coast to California, though a community existed there, at least in Fresno, before Balshasar’s arrival. Later, he returned to the 1

The Union (no. 28, 1921) p. [4].

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East Coast. In the last few years of his life, he studied Syriac, saying, “It is never too late to learn.” He was buried in Pacasset Cemetery.1 There were other “Firsts” who made names for themselves among the community—not as professionals, but rather as the first ones to obtain something unique. Nishon Ohan was the first among the Kharput immigrants of Worcester to own a car. In 1926, people came from Boston to Worcester in six cars and made a parade.2 A certain Safar, maybe Aharon’s and Charlie’s father, succeeded in business and purchased a farm in West Boylston around 1910. Another farm was purchased by Bishara Perch. The farms became social hubs for the young and their families. They would gather there for picnics, eat traditional food, listen to Turkish music, and dance. 1892

A Syriac Orthodox Bishop without a Syriac Flock The early immigrants did not have any spiritual guidance as there were no priests in America during the early period. Soon, though, America would have a Syriac Orthodox bishop; but he would be posted hundreds of miles away from where the immigrants had settled, a bishop who was Syriac Orthodox by name only. 1 2

The New Assyria 1 (no. 6, 1917) p. 10–11. Interview with George Quoyoon.

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Joseph René Vilatte (1854–1929) was a French-American religious leader who belonged to various denominations. Vilatte seems to have been keen on obtaining a valid episcopal consecration through a valid apostolic line of succession. Somehow, he got in touch with Mor Julius Alvares (aka Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares, 1836– 1923), a Roman Catholic priest who joined the Syriac Orthodox Church in India and was based in Ceylon, modern Sri Lanka. Alvares was consecrated as bishop of Ceylon, Goa and India Excluding Malabar on July 28, 1889, by three Syriac Orthodox bishops in India with the sanction of Patriarch Peter.1 Through the efforts of Alvares, Vilatte was consecrated bishop in 1892 in Sri Lanka. It was Alvares, together with Mor Athanasius Paulos (d. 1907), Bishop of Kottayam, and Mor Gregorius Gewargis (d. 1902), Bishop of Niranam (and later of Thumpamon), who consecrated Vilatte and named him “Mor Timotheos, Metropolitan of North America.” Now, America had a Syriac Orthodox bishop. But Vilatte hardly knew anything about Syriac Orthodoxy, and he certainly would not have learned during such a short period of time the complexities of the Syriac liturgy. At any rate, his commission was not to attend to the needs G. Kiraz, “The Credentials of Mar Julius Alvares, Bishop of Ceylon, Goa and India Excluding Malabar,” in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 7.2 (2004). 1

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of the Syriac Orthodox immigrants of America. Rather, he was simply to continue to take care of his existing Latin-rite church, which was based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, far from our immigrants. After returning to the United States, Vilatte took it upon himself to single-handedly consecrate other bishops, contrary to canon law, which resulted in his excommunication from the Syriac Orthodox Church. The bishops consecrated by Vilatte started consecrating other bishops themselves. Already by 1964, over 25 churches in America, Europe, and Africa claimed the Vilatte succession.1 Later, when Archbishop Yeshue Samuel was appointed as Apostolic Delegate by Patriarch Afram Barsoum in 1948, the Patriarch warned Archbishop Samuel about the Vilatte groups: “You should proclaim their excommunication at all occasions.”2 Earlier, on December 10, 1938, Patriarch Barsoum, probably at the request of the Church of England, issued a statement in which he denied any relation with all schismatic bodies of the Vilatte line.3

P. Anson, Bishops At Large (1964), ch. VIII. See also H. R. T. Brandreth, Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church (1961, 2nd ed.). 2 Handwritten notes by Patriarch Afram Barsoum titled Maʿlūmāt ʿan ʾAmrīkā w-Kanadā [Information on America and Canada] and dated October 1, 1984, p. 13. 3 Brandreth, 118–119. 1

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Meanwhile, the immigrants remained without a priest. New immigrants continued to arrive, and now Canada was about to have its first Syriac Orthodox immigrant. 1893

George Jarjur, the First in Canada George Jarjur was born in Mardin on November 15, 1876, and arrived in the United States in 1893 (another account has it as 1895). We know that two other individuals from Mardin had already arrived in the United States before George, but we do not know their names. Later, in the New Jersey area, we come across another George whose last name was Mardinli, meaning “from Mardin.” It is possible that this other George was one of the two who had arrived from Mardin before George Jarjur. We also do not know where George Jarjur and other later immigrants from Mardin settled. But if we were to judge from later concentrations, they may have settled in Boston or Fitchburg, MA. George would not stay too long in the United States. He left for Montreal, Canada, and thus became the first Syriac Orthodox to settle in Canada.1 George began to bring 1 al-Jāmiʿa al-Suryāniya 18 (no. 4, 1952) p. 200–201; letter from Fr. A. Carim Karma to the author dated May 18, 1985. Karma gives Jarjur’s arrival date in Canada as 1893, while al-Jāmiʿa alSuryāniya gives the date of arrival in the United States as 1895.

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members of his extended family and then other families from Mardin, who in turn brought their relatives. In 1940, Nishan Quoyoon visited Canada and reported meeting George Jarjur and others from Mardin. He also reported meeting a Khalil Murad from Midyat who had already been in Canada for 40 years.1 Depending on when George Jarjur moved from the United States to Canada, Khalil Murad was likely either the first Syriac Orthodox in Canada or the second, shortly after Jarjur. George began a successful wholesale business in 1902 and was appointed administrator or principal for one of the school districts of Montreal in 1917.2 Eline and Carol Anto belonged to the family of Archbishop Gabriel Anto, who would later visit North America.3 Their mother Zahura was about 16 when she went to Canada, sometime in the 1920s. Zahura’s brother was not permitted to immigrate because he had pink eye infection. Eline and Carol recall that the community consisted of the Haddads, the Qassars, the Antos, the Kömüres, the Abdallas, and the Zakkos, in addition to the Jarjurs. The families were dispersed across many towns.

The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 5, 1940) p. 9. Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 7–8, 1917) p. 6. 3 Interview with Carole and Elaine Anto and Sevim Altinis, February 1, 2019. 1 2

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Carol Anto recalls that the kids were not accepted in Catholic schools unless they changed their faith, which they refused to do. As a result, most of them ended up going to Protestant schools and thus spoke more English than French. 1899

Mary Basmajy and Her Daughters So far, we’ve heard the stories of men. While many of the immigrants were indeed single men who came on their own, a woman named Mary Basmajy also provides an interesting story that was later written by her granddaughter Mazy.1 Mary was a survivor of the 1895 massacres and arrived in the United States in 1899 as a widow. She was born in Diyarbakır around 1850 and was married at the age of 15 to Jacob Betterbed in Diyarbakır. Jacob and Mary had six children. Jacob was a shopkeeper, and they owned two homes and a farm. During the 1895 massacres, Jacob was killed while attending his shop. A mob entered the house where Mary was with her children and a nephew. Mary recognized a member of the mob, a friend of her father, and called him by name; and when he recognized her, he raised his sword and Mazy Basmajy, “1850–1914: Mereyam Basmajy: A Story of a Great Lady,” from http://www.atour.com/history/1800/ 20011107a.html. 1

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shouted that he would kill anyone who harmed Mary or her children. Mary and her family immigrated to America through Istanbul and Marseilles in 1899 and settled in Paterson, NJ, where many from Diyarbakır had already settled. One of Mary’s daughters, Sadie, married Said Basmajy, another immigrant from Diyarbakır who had arrived at Ellis Island in 1897 at the age of seventeen. There had been a mix-up regarding his arrival date, and he’d remained at Ellis Island for three days until his uncle came to claim him. Said and Sadie lived in Connecticut, Long Island, and New York City. Finally, they moved to New Jersey. Said worked as a silk weaver and later owned a dry-cleaning factory. Mary died in New Jersey in 1914. The following year, Said learned that his entire family had been wiped out in the Sayfo of 1915. Said was a charter member of the Taw Mim Simkath association, to be introduced in the next chapter. Mary and her sister Dorothy remained active members of the Assyrian Ladies Society, another organization that will be introduced in the next chapter. Serpuhee is another woman whose tale represents the Kharput-American experience. She was born around the late 1850s or early 1860s in Kharput and was educated at Euphrates College; she then taught in the elementary school of Kharput. Around 1899, she immigrated with her husband and children to the United States and first settled in

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Worcester, MA. After a few years, they moved to California and settled in Fresno.1 Other early women immigrants include Tooming Kedersha from Diyarbakır, who arrived around 1895 and settled in New Jersey.2 Women’s networks would become a major fundraising machine and a cornerstone of the community. They would enable the building of churches later on. 1906

San Francisco Fires and Kharput Immigrants In the early morning of April 18, 1906, a major earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 struck the San Francisco Bay area. Devastating fires broke out in the city and lasted for several days. Up to 3,000 people were killed, and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed. Workers came from the entire country to rebuild the city. Some of the Kharput immigrants who were already in the New England area formed a minute part of the rebuilding workforce. Shortly after, many moved to Fresno and became “vineyardists,” according to Assyrian Progress.3 Other immigrants from the East Coast began to arrive in California in the early part of the century. We have already Assyrian Progress (July 1934) p. 8. The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 2, 1940) p. 8. 3 Assyrian Progress (Oct 1936) p. 2. 1 2

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encountered Balshasar Alexander, who moved from Providence, RI, to Fresno, CA, in 1913. Mary Hait, who was born in New York in 1910, was one year old when her parents moved to Fresno. After two years, Mary’s family moved to Los Angeles.1 A fundraising effort in February 1912 to build a church in West Hoboken, NJ, (later to be opened in West New York and much later to move to Paramus) lists donations from California.2 The Fresno community was mostly, if not entirely, from Kharput. Sometime in 1917 or 1918, Margaret Donabed (who became Mrs. Satenig Rustigian after her wedding) established with seven other women the Fresno California Assyrian Ladies’ Association. By 1919, the association had grown to 48 members.3 A 1921 list of donations to the Ḥuyodo newspaper that was published in New Jersey gives a collective amount received from the community at Fresno, an impressive $1,090 [≈ $15,000 in 2019]. There is also another donation listed from Los Angeles for $50 [≈ $700 in 2019] and another for $74 [≈ $1,070 in 2019] from the Women Association of Los

Assyrian Progress (Jan 1933). Intibāh no. 28 (1912) p. 7. 3 The New Assyria 3 (no. 32, 1919) p. 5. 1 2

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Angeles.1 Ḥuyodo had two representatives in Fresno, men named Iskandar and Howard Bedig.2 We also know of a Mar Aphraim Ward in Los Angeles in 1918, but it is not clear if its members where Syriac Orthodox, Church of the East Assyrians, or both. (The aspirated ph of “Aphrem,” as opposed to East Syriac “Aprem,” points to a Syriac Orthodox initiative.) They had sent a letter that was read at the 1918 Worcester Convention, which is discussed in the next chapter.3 The community in California formed the Assyrian American Benevolent Association of California, Ltd. They began publishing a newsletter named Assyrian Progress in 1932. The January issue had a circulation of 45 copies; by May, it had increased to 100 copies. By the end of its first year, we have access to its budgetary information: one-time machines and fixtures cost $350 [≈ $6,400 in 2019], and monthly postage for 100 copies cost $120 [≈ $2,200 in 2019]. The publication did not exist in isolation; it was also known on the East Coast. An Ottoman Turkish Garshuni report in the July 1932 issue of Beth Nahrin in New Jersey reported news about the establishment of the periodical. By 1932, there was also a Ladies Benevolent Association in Los The Union (no. 9, 1921) p. 4. The Union (no. [11], 1921) p. 2. 3 The New Assyria 3 (no. 26, 1918) p. 3. 1 2

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Angeles. This community was connected with the one in Fresno, publishing the Fresno news in their newsletter (in addition to news from New York and New England).1 We do not have much information on how the community worshiped. Mary Hait’s funeral in 1933 was at Armenian Holy Cross Church in Los Angeles.2 The immigrants in Fresno also attended Armenian churches for both funeral and wedding services.3 A good number of the Kharput immigrants, who were Armenian-speaking, intermarried with members of the Armenian community. While we do not have statistics for the Los Angeles immigrant population, we do have a list of graduates from 1933: the community included nine graduates from high school, ten from college, and three from trade school.4 The Association purchased an eight-room, two-story property in 1932 at the corner of Gramercy Drive and Ninth Street.5 A report from 1936 claims that there were 1,500 members of the broader immigrant community in California (though it is not clear if that number includes Church of the East Assyrians as well).6 They used to gather annually for a Labor Assyrian Progress (May 1932, December 1932). Assyrian Progress (Jan 1933). 3 Assyrian Progress (July 1934) p. 8; (Oct 1936) p. 6. 4 Assyrian Progress (Mar 1933). 5 Assyrian Progress (Nov 1933). 6 Assyrian Progress (Oct 1936) p. 2. 1 2

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1. Sayfo I… Immigrants I

Day picnic and had an annual outing at the famous Venice Beach.1 We continue to hear from the California Kharput community during the 1940s and 1950s.2

From Families to Communities We have already come across the names of organizations such as Taw Mim Simkath in New Jersey, the names of periodicals such as Intibāh and Beth Nahrin, and references to churches such as St. Mary of West New York. Our early immigrants did not live in isolation; they coalesced and began to hold activities, parties, picnics and the like. The Kharput immigrants in New England were in touch with their countrymen who made it to California. The New Jersey community discovered that there were Syriac Orthodox immigrants in Detroit from Homs, Syria. Next, our immigrants begin to build a society in North America, one that was dispersed over a huge geographical area. But such a setting was not strange to them. Even in the Middle East, the Suryānī Qadīm were a minute minority that lived across a vast area. Assyrian Progress (Sept 1937) p. 12–13, 15. For example, a letter from the Assyrian American Benevolent Association of California, Ltd., to St. Mary’s of Worcester dated Nov 12, 1944, accompanied by a donation of $50 [≈ $715 in 2019]. 1 2

2. Building a Society (1900–1915) Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the body of immigrants became larger, and they began to feel the need for something that could glue them together. There were no priests among the early immigrants. There could have been deacons (in addition to Shammas Micha, our first immigrant). But we do know that some were Ḥajis—those who performed pilgrimage to Jerusalem—like Ḥaji Yakob and Ḥaji Thomas; these had a special status. The two larger concentrations of immigrant populations were on the East Coast: the New Jersey area was largely home to immigrants from Diyarbakır, and Massachusetts to immigrants from Kharput. We also begin to hear about immigrants from Midyat in Rhode Island, from Mardin in Montreal, and from Homs in Detroit. These communities began to organize various associations and societies. They also began to publish newspapers such as Intibāh in 1909, Bethnahrin in 1916, and Ḥuyodo later on. Members of these communities also published a few books, including one for the church calendar, called Taqlab, which was published by Gabriel Boyajy in 1914; a language primer by Naum Faik, written in 1917; and a few others. To fill the 35

36

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spiritual void, they sent one of their deacons to the Middle East to be ordained a priest and began to form parish-like communities. The Syriac Orthodox in the Ottoman Empire were small in number but lived across a vast geographical area. They all identified as being part of a Suryānī Qadīm millet— or the Old Syrian ‘nation’—despite the distance between them. The church and their Patriarch glued them together despite their linguistic diversity. That model would be copied and applied in North America. Communities were small in number, and huge distances separated them. They always found each other, though, and knew that they were Suryānī, which they identified in English as “Assyrian.” This identity united them, and soon a church would connect them. It was up to the immigrants to build a society in the diaspora, and a society they built. 1897

First Association in New England: A.B.A. The 1895 massacres must have taken their toll on the Syriac Orthodox of the homeland, especially in Diyarbakır and Kharput. Widows, orphans, and refugees were in need of much help. The Kharput immigrants in Worcester, MA, established the Assyrian Benefit Association in 1897 to help these refugees. A key founding member was Dr. Abraham Yoosef,

(1900–1915)

37

whom we encountered earlier. The date of the Association’s establishment is known from a sign in a photograph of the group taken some years later. It was not formally incorporated until 1911. Between 1908 and 1924, the various New England communities would create a bewildering number of associations despite the small population size. While the largest concentration in Massachusetts was in Worcester, we find our early immigrants in Fitchburg, Lowell, Springfield, Leominster, and Boston. In Rhode Island, the concentration was in Central Falls; but we also find a community in Providence. A few organizations were named after Syriac saints: St. Ephrem in Lowell (active as early as 1910) and another in Central Falls (established in 1910 or 1913 with 52 charter members). There was a Mar Barsoum in Leominster (active in 1917) and a Mar Yacoub in Lowell (est. 1922). Some organizations were exclusively for women. The women in Worcester established one such organization in 1908. The women in Fitchburg followed suit and established another that was active in 1917. There was also an organization for men in Boston. Some organizations were for a specific purpose. In Fitchburg, there was one for promoting the Syriac language (est. 1910). Another one, probably in Worcester, was set up as an educational fund.

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There were some societies for immigrants who came from a specific town. There was a Kharput union (est. 1913 or 1914) and a Mardin society (active in 1918). We know some organizations by their short Syriac names. There was the Worcester-based Knushto and the Providence-based Shawtofutho. By the 1920s, we begin to see “United”-type associations. These either functioned as umbrella organizations involving representatives from member organizations, merged a few existing organizations into one, or had memberships consisting of immigrants who came from different towns in the Middle East. In what follows, I shall attempt to give information about some of these organizations, providing simply what I have been able to gather about them. But the task is not simple. Some of these organizations are known to us from Syriac, Arabic, and Turkish sources, while others are known from English sources. Usually, each organization had a Syriac or Turkish name and an English name, and it is not always easy to map these names onto one another accurately. Whenever I managed to find an official English name, it is given below. Otherwise, I have translated the names from Syriac, Arabic, or Turkish sources myself. (Hence, organizations with the “Assyrian” appellation are the ones that I was able to find in English sources.)

(1900–1915)

39

The Assyrian Ladies’ Church Loving Association, Worcester. This association was formed on February 5, 1908. Its by-laws expressed its purpose: to “help the Assyrian Church and other benevolent enterprises.” A photograph taken in 1915 shows 25 ladies.1 Syriac Language Organization, Fitchburg. The organization’s English name is unknown; we only know about it from a report in Beth Nahrin.2 The community members were from Mardin and Kharput and formed this organization together in 1910. It seems that disagreement followed; and in 1916, the two groups split, the folks from Kharput only wanting to help the poor of Kharput. The funds were divided between the two groups. The Kharput group joined an existing organization in Worcester, while the Mardin group continued with the organization on their own. After the split, the two groups were probably known in English as the Harpoot [Kharput] Educational Society and the Mardin Society, as both names appear in a 1918 gathering of the Assyrian Five Association of Boston’s first annual picnic.3 Despite the split, the two organizations continued to collaborate: we know that on April 23, 1916, they held an event to celebrate Easter which more than 100 people attended. 1 S. Donabed and N. Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (2006) p. 79. 2 Beth Nahrin (no. 3, 1916). 3 The New Assyria 2 (no. 24, 1918) p. 10.

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Invited speakers included the American Council to Hungary, and the event included musical recitations and performances on the piano and the violin. The gathering raised $186 [≈ $4,300 in 2019], $103 of which was spent on the funeral of Iskandar Kawak of Mardin, who passed away on Easter Sunday at the age of twenty-four. The Assyrian Mar Afram Benevolent Society, Lowell. The society was apparently active in March 1910; that month’s issue of Intibāh published a report about its activities. Syriac Orthodox Ittifāq al-Ḥub Association, Boston. From time to time, new immigrants were “discovered.” In the October 1913 issue of Intibāh, Fr. Hanna Koorie—the first priest in America, whom we will introduce shortly—published an announcement titled “Good News.” The good news was that while he was traveling in Boston, he had discovered a few families originally from Mardin and Midyat. These families formed a society and named it the “Syriac Orthodox Ittifāq al-Ḥub [“love agreement”] Association of Boston” on September 18, 1913. The association included about forty individuals, including children.1 A Ladies Auxiliary Organization, Fitchburg. This organization must have been established sometime in 1917 as they celebrated their one-year anniversary on September 15, 1918, at 1

Intibāh no. 48 (1913) p. 6.

(1900–1915)

41

the home of Mrs. Margaret Perch in Leominster. Members of the Mar Barsoum Association of Leominster were also in attendance.1 The Assyrian Five Association, Boston. This association included members from villages other than Kharput and was active as early as 1918, when it held its first picnic.2 The “Five” in its name is a puzzle. On August 11, 1918, it held its first annual picnic, which was attended by people from the New England area as well as New Jersey. They acknowledged many other associations in attendance:3 The Assyrian Mar Barsoum Association of Leominster wishes to thank the following persons and societies for much appreciated help in selling the tickets sent to them by the association: Worcester Coonooshto [Knushto] Society by Albert Barsoum. Boston Erosto [maybe ʿĪrutho, the Syriac form of Intibāh] Society by Hanna Malick. Fitchburg Harpoot [Kharput] Educational Society by Isaac George. Fitchburg Mardin Society by Elias Elkas.

The New Assyria 3 (no. 26, 1918) p. 12. The New Assyria 2 (no. 24, 1918) p. 9; it was also active in 1922; The Union (no. 34, 1922) p. 2. 3 The New Assyria 2 (no. 24, 1918) p. 10. 1 2

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Mar Afraim Society of Central Falls by Elias Elkas. Lowell Mar Afraim Society by Francis Hoyen. Assyrian Five of Boston by Martin B. Hoyen. Springfield Conooshto [Knushto] Society by Abraham Arslan. Providence Shafto Footo [Shawtofutho] Society by Ahran B. Eskander.

The Assyrian Mar Yacoub Religious Society, Lowell. We saw that the Lowell community established a St. Ephrem organization in 1910. Later, in 1922, they formed this new organization. It is the only organization for which we have a logo.1 The Assyrian Young Men’s Association of Boston. This association was made up of men from Kharput. In 1913, they published a directory, which will be discussed later in this chapter. It gives us a glimpse into details like the number of immigrants, their careers, and the number of their children. The Harpoot [Kharput] Assyrian United Educational Fund. This group was probably based in Worcester. Its aim was to help educate the younger generation. Harpoot [Kharput] Union, probably in Worcester (est. 1913 or 1914). This union was formed with membership from 1

The Union (no. 32, 1922) p. 2.

(1900–1915)

43

Worcestor, Lowell, Fitchburg, and Providence. The Union held a meeting in 1916 and made several important decisions: 1. Appointing Fr. Hanna Koorie and Mr. Jacob Dasho to look into print type for publishing the Beth Nahrin newspaper and other Syriac books. 2. The Union had previously asked a number of writers to put together a collection of articles on Syriac history and literature to educate the community in the diaspora. The project was postponed until print type options were found. 3. Seeking to raise funds in India for the Sayfo refugees through the Patriarchate Legate in India. 4. Sending Mr. George Quyun and Bsharah Perch to the Syriac Language Association of Fitchburg to explain to them the purpose of the Union. It seems that there were talks to get the Fitchburg Association included in the Union. 5. Holding the next meeting in January 1917 and inviting representatives of the Union membership. Indeed, another meeting was held on January 7, 1917 and made the following decisions: 1. Collecting $250 [≈ $4,900 in 2019] from each member organization to purchase Syriac print type. 2. Seeking to establish a union for the immigrants in the New Jersey and New York areas.

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3. Establishing chapters for the Intibāh organization in Boston, Worcester, Lowell, and Fitchburg. 4. Agreeing on the necessity to establish a newspaper for the Syriac people in Mesopotamia and Syria and to support the Beth Nahrin newspaper in the US. The Union provided $40 [≈ $790 in 2019] to Beth Nahrin. 5. Holding a general meeting for all the organizations of New England and the New York and New Jersey areas to discuss various topics pertaining to the community. The expenses of such a meeting were to be paid by the Union.1 The community in Leominster, MA, formed an association under the name of St. Barsoum. The community must have been small; the association had only 10 members and a budget of $100 [≈ $2,300 in 2019]. In 1916, they managed to raise $35 [≈ $810 in 2019] for the printing press project. The association was active in 1922.2 Around 1924, the Assyrian Progressive Association of Boston was formed, probably a chapter of the Taw Mim Simkath association of NJ (to be introduced in the next section). It celebrated its third anniversary on October 2, 1927. Between 150 and 200 people attended. Its members were The source is not indicated in my 1986 notes but is likely to be one of the early issues of Beth Nahrin 1917. 2 The Union (no. 34, 1922) p. 2. 1

(1900–1915)

45

most likely from Kharput and Armenian-speaking. During this event, Fr. Favlos Samuel spoke in Armenian. The Association also published a monthly periodical called Nineveh, written mostly in Armenian and English.1 At some point, an umbrella organization for all these groups was formed under the United Assyrian Association of Massachusetts, Inc.2 This umbrella organization held a picnic at Camp Nineveh on August 12, 1951, for the benefit of the Theological Seminary of the Patriarchate. There were other umbrella organizations such as the Harpoot [Kharput] Assyrian United Association of America, which was established in 1927, and the Nineveh Association of Greater Boston. On January 28, 1945, a few of the umbrella organizations united in an ever-larger organization. The new United Assyrian Association of Massachusetts comprised four previous associations: the Assyrian Boston United Association, Harpoot [Kharput] United Association, Assyrian National Union (active in 1934),3 and the Assyrian American Progressive Union.4

Nineveh 1 (no. 11, 1927) p. 105. If this is the same as the Assyrian National Union, Inc., then it was established in 1931 to unite earlier organizations; see Assyrian Progress (Sept 1932). 3 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 7–8, 1934). 4 S. Donabed, Remnants of Heroes (2003) p. 83, 89; S. Donabed and N. Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (2006) p. 63 ff. 1 2

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1899

2. Building a Society

First Association in New Jersey: T.M.S. The New Jersey and New York community was probably as old as the community in New England, though we do not have anecdotal data from the area dating back to the 1880s as we do for New England. The immigrants of New Jersey were primarily from Diyarbakır, though there were immigrants from other areas, too, including George Mardinli from Mardin.1 The community spoke mostly Turkish. On October 8, 1899, eleven individuals, originally from Diyarbakır, met in Sterling, New Jersey, to form an organization. They did not have a specific purpose or name at the beginning. But they each agreed on an initiation fee of $1 [≈ $30.00 in 2019] and a weekly pledge of five cents [≈ $15 in 2019].2 On March 25, 1900, a meeting was held at which new members joined. One of the new members was Gabriel Boyajy (also known as Jabbur Boyajy), a new arrival from Diyarbakır. Gabriel suggested a name and purpose. The name, in Turkish, was Terakkiyât-ı Mekteb-i Süryânî: It is more likely that George Mardinli came from a family that was originally from Mardin that migrated to Diyarbakır prior to immigrating to the United States. 2 The New Beth-Nahreen 6 (no. 1, 1943) p. 2; a brief history in 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (Sunday, May 16, 1965). The preface to the T.M.S. constitution from 1912 states that six people met in Sterling. 1

(1900–1915)

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“Progress of Syriac Schools.” The purpose: to open a school in Diyarbakır when finances permitted. It was around this time that an initial constitution and by-laws were drawn up. Later, in 1910, Gabriel prepared a copy of these for publication in Turkish Garshuni. The first article gave the name of the association in Turkish and added that the association should be known in English as “...”; a blank line was left for the English name. Gabriel’s copy was published later, in October 1912, by the Intibāh Press. Gabriel never filled in the English name, but the title page of the publication bore the English title Assyrian National School Association of America, Inc. Sometime between 1949 and 1968, the association was renamed to “The Assyrian Orphanage and School Association of America, Inc.,” which remains its current name. It is, however, commonly known within the community as Taw Mim Simkath. The immigrants wrote Turkish not in the Arabic-Ottoman script, but in the Syriac alphabet, a system known as Garshuni. Hence, the association’s Turkish name, Terakkiyât-ı Mekteb-i Süryânî, gave rise to a Syriac acronym. The first letters of each word of the Turkish name are, respectively: Taw (the T in Terakkiyât-ı), Mim (the M in Mektebi), and Simkath (the S in Süryânî). This is how Taw Mim Simkath became a popular name. Now, even English speakers call it the T.M.S. (read tee em es). By 1908, the organization had grown, with branches at College Point (Long Island, New York), Paterson, and

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Sterling; this growth resulted in a need for an executive board of trustees, which would then incorporate the organization in the State of New Jersey. In the aftermath of the 1915 Sayfo massacres, the members changed their focus from supporting education only in Diyarbakır to general education support. In 1919, an orphanage was established in Adana, Turkey, in cooperation with the French High Commissioner. There, Fr. Yuhanna Dolabani taught Syriac to what would become a new generation of modern writers. By 1921, T.M.S. in New Jersey had about 100 members.1 After a short period of three years, the French High Commissioner withdrew support and planned to move the orphans to Paris. Instead, T.M.S., in cooperation with the community in Beirut, Lebanon, moved the children to Beirut in 1923; they then built a small complex in Khandaq alGhamīq and transferred the orphanage there in 1926. In 1973, the school was moved to Burj Ḥammūd, where it remains. By T.M.S.’s Golden Jubilee in 1949, about 160 students had graduated from the orphanage, some of whom became luminaries in modern Syriac literature, including Fawlos Gabriel, Ghaṭṭās Maqdisī Elias, George Danhash, and Ḥanna Salmān. Currently, the school has 312 students and 20 teachers. T.M.S. purchased Syriac metal types in 1921 and a printing press in 1923 to support the publication of the periodical 1

The Union 1 (no. 2, 1921) p. [3].

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Beth Nahrin. The next English-speaking generation would publish a new periodical named The New Beth-Nahreen, mostly in English. T.M.S. may not be the oldest Syriac association (the Assyrian Benefit Association of Worcester has two years seniority over T.M.S.), but T.M.S. is the oldest organization that has been continuously active until the present day. It is now based in Paramus, New Jersey, at the Church of the Virgin Mary. Chapters or branches of Terakki (“Progress”) were established in other areas, each running independently; but none took the abbreviation T.M.S. In 1924, for example, a group of people in the New England area established the Assyrian Progressive Association. We know about it from their publication Nineveh, which appeared starting in 1927 and lasted for at least two years. Nineveh was published mostly in Armenian, with some articles in English and Turkish Garshuni, and was closely related to the Kharput community—they may have founded it. The Association held its third anniversary in 1927 and invited Fr. Favlos Samuel as the main speaker, as we have already seen.1 There were other immigrant communities in New Jersey. In 1896, immigrants settled in Summit and formed their own group.2 Several people in West Hoboken established a 1 2

Nineveh 1 (no. 11, 1927) p. 105–106. Assyrian Progress (May 1933).

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2. Building a Society

club in 1901; but by 1906, that club had been closed and reopened as the Assyrian National Club. During its first establishment, its headquarters was in the back of a grocery store. To keep the youth engaged with the community, a subgroup was created and called the Assyrians Junior Association. In 1916, its first annual picnic was held in Floral Park, West Hoboken.1 The local community kept in touch with one another through these various organizations; but soon they realized that if they were to continue as a community in the new homeland, they needed a church to hold them together. 1907

The First Priest Since the arrival of the immigrants in the 1880s and 1890s, no parish organization had yet been formed since there were no Syriac Orthodox priests in the country. We saw how the community coalesced around organizations and used picnics as a primary function. There were several deacons among the immigrants, but we do not know if they held any services in the early days of immigration. A number of people from Paterson, together with others who lived within a day’s journey, assembled in 1906 and determined that in order for the community to survive, they needed regular

1

The New Assyria 1 (no. 1, 1916) p. 3–4.

(1900–1915)

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spiritual worship activities. They began to discuss the possibility of having a priest ordained. One deacon among the early immigrants was Hanna Koorie, the son of a priest named Mirza who served in Diyarbakır.1 Hanna lived in Paterson and may have been present at the meeting. The community selected him to become their priest, but there was no bishop in the country to ordain him. They managed to raise funds and sent him to Jerusalem, armed with a petition signed by the community requesting his ordination to the priesthood. He left in April 1907 and was ordained on May 20 by Bishop Elias Hallouleh of Jerusalem at St. Mark’s Monastery. He returned on September 28, now as Fr. Hanna Koorie, and celebrated the first Syriac liturgy in North America at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey. None of the communities had built a church building yet. Fr. Hanna used to travel to other towns within NJ and hold the liturgy in people’s homes. Baptisms were also held in people’s homes.2 While we do not have further records of the extent of Fr. Hanna’s spiritual activities, we know that from time to 1 A brief history in 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (Sunday, May 16, 1965); The New Beth-Nahreen 4 [2nd series] (no. 4, 1941) p. 2. 2 Interview with Martha Redvanly on June 21, 1995. Martha herself was baptized at home.

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time he traveled to New England to celebrate the Syriac liturgy. In April 1916, he celebrated the liturgy at Christ Episcopal Church in Fitchburg, with six local deacons helping him.1 And during the Christmas season of the same year, he celebrated the liturgy in Central Falls.2 The use of Episcopal churches seems to have been the norm, the community sharing an agreed cooperation with the Episcopal church.3 While the liturgy was celebrated in Syriac, with some elements probably in Turkish, the community used many hymnals in Turkish, which they brought with them. Many of these can be found in the manuscript collection of St. Mary in Paramus. Some additional Turkish hymnals were authored in the United States, including a Madīḥ written by Fr. Hanna and appearing in the March 1910 issue of Intibāh. It seems that Fr. Hanna had a knack for Turkish poetry, both religious and secular. A number of his poems appear periodically in Intibāh.

Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 3, 2016) p. 6. Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 16, 2016) p. 8. 3 C. F. Armitage, 1918 Year Book of the Churches for Covering the Year 1917 (1918). 1 2

(1900–1915)

1908

53

The Intibāh Association The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 forced the Ottoman Sultan to reinstate the constitution of 1876; and with some amendments made by the Young Turks, the new constitution permitted the creation of political parties. Feeling optimism and a new spirit of freedom, a number of active members of the Syriac Orthodox community in Diyarbakır established an association in 1908 that they named Intibāh (“Awakening”1), giving it the slogan “Come to Intibāh.”2 The organization soon began to establish chapters at other locations, eventually forming ten chapters in the United States, the first of which was established in Paterson in 1910. We do not know the actual size of these chapters’ memberships. It seems that the main chapters in the Middle East were in Diyarbakır, Mosul, and Mardin, and these three chapters 1 The word ʾintibāh is originally from an Arabic word meaning “attention, vigilance”; its usage here, though, is from Turkish, meaning “an awaking to consciousness” (see Redhouse’s TurkishEnglish dictionary). This is confirmed by the Syriac form of the organization’s name ʿīrūtho, “wakefulness.” 2 We know the Arabic version of the slogan from a letter written by Bishop Behnam Samarjy of Mosul to the editor of Intibāh, dated August 15, 1910: Ƥ߈࠶ᆁᅕத஠ƄᏬᏞƄƮᏲƫᎵ. The year of establishment is known from The New Assyria 1 (no. 1, 1916) p. 2.

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were supposed to hold any assets that the organization would have. It was decided in 1910 that the organization should not acquire non-movable assets, perhaps an indication of mistrust in the local future of the community in Turkey. All moneys raised were supposed to be deposited in a bank to be administered by these three main chapters, and it was also required that no one chapter could deposit or withdraw moneys without the consent of the other two chapters. We do not know if actual accounts were ever created.1 Intibāh was most likely the brain child of Naum Faik, who lived in Diyarbakır. He later recalled:2 The history and desire for this Intibāh and its necessity for our Aramaean nation [qawminā al-ʾArāmī ] was kept in my heart for more than thirty years, ever since I entered school and began learning our beloved Syriac language [al-lugha al-Suryāniya ].

Faik was born in 1868. If his statement is true, then the idea of Intibāh hit him before he had reached his teenage years, which is remarkable. Even if Faik overestimated or his memory betrayed him, he would only have been a teenager. His desire to establish Intibāh was strong,

1 2

Kawkab Madnḥo (Oct 1910) p. 3 Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 7–8, 1917) p. 1–3.

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I was longing for the time when “Intibāh” would be announced and would spread among our beloved Millet “nation.”

This spread seemed like an imminent possibility at the time, for the political mood in Turkey allowed it: We began to correspond and announce Intibāh in all cities, and we succeeded in establishing chapters in Mosul, Mardin, Midyat, Viranşehir, Jazireh, Kharput, Urfa (Edessa), Ḥiṣn Manṣur, Siverek, Sʿirt, and Miyafarqin. Then we corresponded with our brothers in Syria, India, and America. Many chapters were established in America, and we began to receive good news from India and Syria that the idea is pleasing to them.

It is not clear if all these locations had functional chapters or if one or two people agreed to represent their respective region. A list of representatives from Mosul, Mardin, Midyat, Siverek, Viranşehir, and Sʿirt appears in Intibāh. The Mosul representative was a monk by the name Afram Barsoum. He would later become the first archbishop to visit North America and would ultimately become Patriarch.1 We do know the date of the Viranşehir chapter’s establishment. Writing to complain about the absence of a 1

Intibāh (Nov. 1910) p. 3.

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mention of their chapter in Intibāh, the Viranşehir chapter wrote to the editor, mentioning that “our chapter was established on July 1, 1908.”1 But then the dream of Intibāh was quashed as the Young Turks’ promises did not materialize: The motives of the Unionists became clear: they wanted to Turkify all the non-Turkish elements. The face of Turkish politics changed, and signs of oppression against the various elements of society began to appear.

This, according to Faik, made people “immigrate from Turkey to this land [i.e. America], the land of freedom and justice.” Faik himself immigrated in 1912. There were now only a few individuals left to nurture the idea of Intibāh in the Middle East. And after the 1915 Sayfo, “Intibāh was buried” in the homeland; and communication between America and the homeland became extremely difficult. But then, according to Faik, Intibāh found hope in America: The idea of Intibāh came to grow among the Syriacs [al-Suryān] in the American lands, and not a few chapters were established during this period (1916–1917). A general committee was established under the name “Commission of the Intibāh Association.” And after 1

Intibāh (Nov. 1910) p. 6.

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corresponding with our Eastern Syriacs [al-Suryān almashāriqa ] (the Nestorians) who live in this country, we agreed with them to create chapters for this association; for the purpose of this association is to find a literary union among the Syriac elements [al-ʿanāṣir alSuryāniya ] that is independent of religious matters.

The Commission of the Intibāh held a meeting in 1916 in Paterson, NJ, and formed a committee consisting of Anton Dartley, First President; Sam Nadin, Second President; Sanharib Baley, Secretary; George Mardinli, Treasurer; and the following members: Yousef David, Naum Basharof, Abdulmasih Dartley, Bashar Boyajy, and Benjamin David. A report written in Beth Nahrin in 1916, probably by Naum Faik, states that the objectives of the organization were1 to preserve the Syriac identity [al-ʾism al-Suryānī ] and its nationalism, to unify the thoughts of all Syriacs [alSuryān ] who exist in the world, to unify all the Syriac denominations [al-maḏāhib al-Suryāniya ], known as Jacobite, Nestorian, Chaldean, Maronite, Catholic, and Protestant, without interfering with faith matters, the progress of Syriac journalism [al-ṣaḥāfa al-Suryāniya ], and the spreading of our Syriac language [lisānunā alSuryānī ].”

1

Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 6, 1916) p. 5.

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We know of the following American chapters of Intibāh, all established between 1916 and 1917: Providence, RI; Central Falls, RI; Detroit, MI; West Hoboken, NJ; College Point, NY; Yonkers, NY; Elizabeth, NJ; and Worcester, MA. It is not clear how large these chapters were. Some may have consisted of a dozen or so members. Eight years before the 1916 meeting of the Commission of Intibāh, Gabriel Boyajy had already started publishing a newspaper named Intibāh from his home in College Point, New York. 1909

The First Newspaper The first decade of the twentieth century saw a new literary genre among the Syriac Orthodox: journalism. One of the pioneers of this genre was Gabriel Boyajy of College Point, New York. Gabriel was a native of Diyarbakır and was already in the United States in 1900, when he attended the T.M.S. meeting described above. Gabriel established the first Syriac newspaper in the United States and called it Intibāh. The subtitle, in Ottoman Turkish Garshuni, read, “Our pages are open writings for the benefit of the Syriac [Suryānī ] millet.” The newspaper was obviously named after Naum Faik’s Intibāh association. In fact, Faik would become a regular contributor to the newspaper even before his arrival in the United States.

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The newspaper lacked Syriac print type and was produced in Gabriel’s handwriting using mimeograph machines.1 The first issue was written entirely in the ArabicOttoman alphabet, but later issues were exclusively published in the Syriac alphabet in Garshuni form. Most the articles were in Turkish and very few in Arabic and Syriac. The November 1910 issue has an article in the Ottoman script introducing the reader to the Syriac alphabet and giving the correspondences between the Ottoman script and the Syriac script. It seems that the aim was to increase the readership of the newspaper while maintaining its Garshuni character. Beth Nahrin, the newspaper that would succeed Intibāh in 1916, did a similar thing in its first year of publication, introducing a table of correspondences between the Syriac and Arabic alphabets.2 Intibāh also served as a bridge between the diaspora community in North America and the communities in the old country, frequently republishing news items from periodicals in the Ottoman Empire and publishing letters that regularly arrived from the Middle East. The newspaper also published general news about the Ottoman Empire.

The printing technology used is given in Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 6, 1916) p. 2; Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 10, 1916) p. 2. 2 Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 4, 1916) p. 5–6. 1

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Starting in its second year, the newspaper bore the English subtitle “Assyrian’s [sic] Monthly Newspaper.” The newspaper was consistently published on schedule except for the December 1913 issue and the interval between August 1914 and January 1915, when issues did not appear. The last issue was published in March 1915.1 Sometime in the summer of 1911, Nasif Hanna Qirmizi arrived from Mardin in New York City. In an editorial in Intibāh,2 he tells of how he met the editor Gabriel Boyajy, “the young, intelligent, and hardworking Jabbur Efendi Boyajy who, as soon as he heard I had arrived, came to meet me with the speed of lightning and was so kind to me.” Boyajy would not hesitate to help Qirmizi with daily matters and finally invited Qirmizi to his home in College Point, New York, where Qirmizi witnessed how Intibāh was produced: He [Boyajy] showed me how he edits and prepares the newspaper. In addition to his daily work, you find him spending all evening composing and editing the newspaper with no one to help him except a red electric lantern.

1 B. Trigona-Harany, “A Bibliography of Süryânî Periodicals in Ottoman Turkish,” in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 12.2 (2009): 287–300. 2 Intibāh (Sept 1911) p. 1–2.

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We also understand from the editorial that the number of subscribers in September 1911 was about sixty, with only one third paying subscription dues. The rest of the expenses were paid for by Boyajy himself. The rest of the editorial encouraged the readers to help by subscribing and sending news. “Do you think an angel from heaven sends him all the community news?” Qirmizi asks. The lack of subscription support was a chronic problem with later newspapers as well. Beth Nahrin published the following announcement in its January 1927 issue: We ask our readers to kindly send the subscription dues or inform us if they are not interested so that we do not print many copies and pay for postage. Our budget does not allow for this.

The absence of English in Intibāh may seem surprising: the children of the immigrants would have benefited from some English articles. But Boyajy, based on the above encounter with Qirmizi, did not seem to have help, and he himself was probably not able to edit English texts. The few English glosses that do appear here and there are written phonetically, such as “unsinkuble,”1 used to describe the Titanic, and “cristmas,” used to report a Christmas party at Worcester.2 A few years later, beginning in 1916, The New 1 2

Intibāh (May 1912) p. 1. Intibāh (Jan 1913) p. 7.

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Assyria, a collaborative project between the Syriac Orthodox and Church of the East Assyrians, would fill the English gap. Gabriel’s Intibāh project became more than a newspaper. In 1912, he published the constitution of T.M.S. under the Intibāh imprint. Then, in 1913, a collection of Turkish and Arabic poems in Garshuni was also published under the Intibāh imprint.1 Most of the poems were by Naum Faik, but some were by Fr. Hanna Koorie (one poem on the meter of My Country ‘Tis of Thee), Nasif Hanna Qirmizi, the monk Afram Barsoum (later the Patriarch), Hanna Sirri Çakı, and Yakob Fahmi. In June 1914, Gabriel also published the Taqlab, the calendar system that shows the dates of Easter for any year in a 532-year cycle,2 under the English title Taklab: Everlasting Calendar of the Orthodox Church. This, too, was published under the Intibāh imprint. We do not know much about Gabriel Boyajy. His nephew Joe tells us that he was a weaver in College Point. He then moved to Springfield, MA, and opened a grocery store. He lived until his mid-80s. When I asked Joe about Intibāh, he said,3 İntibah ilmî cemiyetine mahsus medîhalar mecmuasıdır (1913). The number 532 is represented in Syriac letters by the sequence t [400] + q [100] + l [30] + b [2], which gave rise to the name of the book, Taqlab. 3 Interview with Joe Boyajy on June 21, 1990. 1 2

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He did it on his own. He was literary-minded and very concerned about the language and our church rituals. He was always doing something in publishing. But he did it as a side thing.

Intibāh soon had competition. Sanharib Baley began publishing a new newspaper in Paterson, New Jersey, titled Savto d-Oromoye, or “Voice of the Arameans.” It seems to have been published only in Ottoman Turkish, though we do not know in which alphabet as no issues of Savto d-Oromoye have survived. (Sanharib Baley was later involved with The New Assyria and wrote Turkish articles in Garshuni.) We only know about Savto d-Oromoye and are certain about its title from other newspaper sources reporting about it. The inauguration of Savto d-Oromoye and a few basic details were announced in a newspaper called Murshid-i Âsûriyûn, which was published in Kharput. There are also a few articles in Intibāh about Savto d-Oromoye. One of them, from a 1913 issue, accused Savto d-Oromoye of being an Armenian mouthpiece.1 As mentioned earlier, one frequent contributor to Intibāh was Naum Faik, who contributed both while living in Diyarbakır and after his arrival in the United States. When B. Trigona-Harany, “A Bibliography of Süryânî Periodicals in Ottoman Turkish,” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 12.2 (2009): 287–300. 1

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Intibāh closed in 1915, Faik reopened it as Beth Nahrin the following year. But, according to the editorial of the first issue, Beth Nahrin concentrated on Arabic instead of Turkish in order to make itself available to a wider audience.1 Intibāh was published monthly with a subscription rate of $1 [≈ $28 in 2019] for 12 issues. Beth Nahrin was published twice a month (or sometimes once a month) with an annual subscription of $2 [≈ $46 in 2019] (which later became $2.50).2 Much of the news arrived indirectly to the newspapers. For example, consider how the community in North America heard that Bishop Elias Shakir had been chosen as Qaymaqam, or locun tenens, after the death of Patriarch Abdullah in 1915: A letter arrived from Fr. Nahum Koorie [who would later immigrate to the US] in Aleppo to his brother, Fr. Hanna Koorie, in America, informing them that they are all, including the children, fine and in good health. The letter also informed that Mor Ivanious Elias Shakir, bishop of Mardin and formerly bishop of Diyarbakır, was elected and appointed as Qaymaqam for Beth Nahrin no. 1 (1916) p. 1. The $2 rate is described in an article in Syriac addressed to the Syriac Orthodox in India. Beth Nahrin vol. 1 (no. 8, 1916) p. 6. 1 2

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the Patriarchal See of Antioch with the sanction of the Ottoman government.1

The community heard of the installation of the new Patriarch in an even more circuitous manner:2 During these days [of Sayfo], a card arrived from Mardin to Mr. Yousef Basmajy dated March 27, 1917, and signed by Patriarch Ignatius Elias Shakir, indicating that Mr. Basmajy’s wife and children are all in good health and listing the names of twenty or so people who are alive. If this is indeed true, it means that bishop Elias Shakir was installed as Syriac Patriarch of Antioch [albaṭriyarkiya al-ʾanṭākiya al-Suryāniya ] in Mesopotamia.

Both Intibāh and Beth Nahrin are very important to our understanding of the history of the Syriac Orthodox in North America as they preserved letters, gave bits of news that are now historical sources, and published many editorials. This corpus, mostly in Ottoman Turkish in Garshuni form, remains understudied.

1 2

Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 9, 1916) p. 3. Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 4, 1917) p. 7–8.

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Women and First Associations The second decade of the twentieth century witnessed the formation of several societies. We have already come across the societies of New England and have seen that there were two organizations dedicated to women, one in Worcester established in 1908 and another in Fitchburg established in 1917. The New Jersey and New York immigrants had their own share of organizations—though not as many as in New England—including the Taw Mim Simkath association, which we have already discussed. Women would play a major role in the life of the New Jersey and New York community. One of the first organizations—and one that would last until today—was the Assyrian Ladies Society. During the spring of 1909, a few women assembled in West Hoboken, New Jersey, with the assistance of Rev. Hanna Koorie, and organized the Assyrian Ladies Society.1 Their aim was to meet monthly, collect dues, and raise funds to purchase a land on which they could build a church. Immigrants from Diyarbakır had settled in Sterling, Summit, Paterson, Newark, West Hoboken, and Union Hill in New Jersey. Others had settled in Brooklyn, College Point, New York City, and A brief history in 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (Sunday, May 16, 1965). 1

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Long Island in the State of New York. West Hoboken seemed a middle ground. The following year, another branch of the Society was established in Paterson, New Jersey. Within a few years, the women had managed to raise enough funds to put a down payment on a parcel of land on Clinton Avenue in West Hoboken. They completed payments in 1915; at that point, the community had grown, and they realized that they needed a bigger lot. The West Hoboken lot was then sold, and a new one was purchased on the corner of 60th Street and Monroe Place in West New York, New Jersey. This would become the site of the first Syriac Orthodox church building in North America. The women worked tirelessly and were instrumental in raising funds to build this first church. The church was completed in 1927 and consecrated by Archbishop Severius Afram Barsoum as the Assyrian Apostolic Church of the Virgin Mary, as we shall see later on. The women continued their fundraising until the mortgage on the new building was cancelled and the title of the building was free and clear. Many years later, the parish outgrew the West New York location. In 1962, the board of trustees of the parish pooled resources from their members and chose a land parcel of just under four acres on Paramus Road, Paramus, the

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current location of the parish. The women again worked hard in raising funds to make this project possible.1 We also know of an organization in New Jersey for the promotion of the performing arts that had female and male members. This association was established on November 1, 1915, in New Jersey with just over 20 members. Its Syriac name was Ḥezwone, and its English name was the Assyrian Dramatic Association/Society.2 Within a year, it had a budget of $90 [≈ $2,100 in 2019]. They seem to have donated a small amount to Beth Nahrin and promised to do the same annually. The association aimed to produce historical and national plays to be performed during community events.3 One of the plays narrated the killing of a monk named Abdulahad and his steward Michael by Kurds around Siverek, near Diyarbakır, before World War I. The play narrates that, through the efforts of Bishop Dinha, the murderers were punished; and the government returned the money that had been stolen. The play was in Turkish in five acts. It was performed for the first time on December 2, 1 Progress Report on the Projected New Church Building Program in Paramus, NJ (Assyrian Apostolic Church of Virgin Mary, no date). A copy is filed in the AYS archive, folder 1964. 2 The English name is known from The New Assyria 1 (no. 1, 1916) p. 1; The New Beth-Nahreen 2 (no. 1, 1934) p. 1. 3 Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 6, 1916) p. 6; Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 19-20, 1917).

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1916, at an event that was organized by the Ladies Association of those who belonged to the Church of the East.1 The Abdulahad play was published in Turkish Garshuni twice, in 1916 and 1919, and was composed by Naum Abdulmasih and edited by Naum Faik. The introduction was signed by Lutfi Boyagy.2 Ḥezwone was still active in 1921 when they performed a play named Adam and Eve, also in Turkish, at an event held by T.M.S.3 Women were quite active in the various communities. While we do not know much about them individually, the following obituary gives us a glimpse into the life of one Annie Tashjy:4 Mrs. Annie Tashjy was born on November 15, 1896. She graduated from Public School No. 4 in 1912, and West Hoboken Hight School No. 4 [in] 1914. She belonged to West Hoboken High School Alumni. She organized Girls’ Sewing Circle in 1916–1918. She was a member of the Assyrian Red Cross. She married on January 4, 1920, and died on April 17, 1921.

A picture of the young bride in her wedding gown was published. It seems that Annie was active both in the West Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 16, 1916) p. 4. Rahip Abdulahad’ın Kürtler tarafından masumen katledilmesi (1916, 1919). 3 The Union (no. 24, [1921]) p. 2. 4 The Union 1 (no. 3, 1921) p. [3]. 1 2

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Hoboken community and in her church community. A more detailed Turkish report followed, from which we learn that Annie was intelligent, patient, and humble. We also learn that Annie (or her husband Yaʿqub Tashjy) were originally from Urfa. This is our first indication of immigrants from Urfa. We also encounter the Assyrian Red Cross for the first time. In following years, this organization would appear from time to time in news reports. It already existed in 1919, when it held a picnic on May 7 in East Hoboken, attended by people from New York, Yonkers (probably Church of the East Assyrians), Paterson, Elizabeth, and New York. Speeches were given by Jacob Tashjy, Joseph Durna, and Sanharib Baley. More than $100 [≈ $1,500 in 2019] were raised at the event.1 The Assyrian Red Cross appears in news as late as 1933, when it is mentioned in the Beirut-based newspaper Leshono d-Umto for donating $100 [≈ $1,900 in 2019] to the T.M.S. orphanage in Beirut.2 Connecting with the Syriac language was important to the young women who ran the Red Cross, and they incorporated Syriac in their speeches. Rose Shommet addressed a crowed in 1919:3 Fathers, Mothers, Sisters and Brothers. I have the honor to speaking to you on “why we have assembled The New Assyria 3 (no. 33, 1919) p. 10. Leshono d-Umto no. 38 (1933) p. [1]. 3 The New Assyria 3 (no. 30, 1919) p. 8. 1 2

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here today?” Who has assembled here today? Why is the “Slebo Soomecks ed Soonyoyo” or the Assyrian Red Cross Society? … What a beautiful name this “Slebo Soomocno” or the Red Cross has!

Inserting Syriac phrases (Soomecks/Soomocno must be for Sumoqo, and Soonyoyo for Suryoyo) gave speakers a linguistic affinity with Syriac, something that one can still hear in speeches today. Women’s organizations (and probably all other organizations) did not have their own centers and used to meet at homes. We know, for example, of a meeting of the women of Paterson held in 1919 at the home of Mrs. Sadoon Shammas.1 1910

Picnics and Community Life The early immigrants did not coalesce around a church and were not guided by a priest. The first priest was ordained in 1907 for the New Jersey and New York communities, but Worcester would not have its own priest until 1921. The communities of New England had to coalesce around something else, and this took the form of picnics and parties at public parks or at the farms of Safar and Bishara Perch, whom we encountered in the previous 1

The New Assyria 3 (no. 32, 1919) p. 4.

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chapter. Some of these picnics were organized by the various organizations that began to be established. The United Assyrian Association of Massachusetts even went as far as purchasing a camp in Shrewsbury with 72 acres of land for $1900 [≈ $25,000 in 2019] in 1946 and calling it Camp Nineveh.1 This camp would become the focal hub for the New England community and would operate until 1974, at which point it was taken over by the state through eminent domain (the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation). The state paid $65,000 [≈ $332,000 in 2019] for the property. It was common for immigrants from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut to gather together for picnics such as those held at Camp Nineveh.2 Similarly, we have seen that the communities in Canada, New Jersey, and California held many picnics. 1913

First Directory In 1913, the Assyrian Youngmens’ Association of Boston published a directory of the known immigrants in the Interview with George Quoyoon. S. Donabed and N. Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (2006) p. 29. 1 2

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United States and Canada, with an introduction in Ottoman Garshuni.1 This directory is very important and provides us with not only the names and locations of family heads, but also their professions, how many children they had, and their childrens’ genders. The directory accounts for 1126 individuals, 417 of whom were children (193 girls and 224 boys). The largest concentration was in New Jersey, with about 175 families in addition to 60 families in New York. Within New Jersey, the largest concentration was in West Hoboken and Paterson, followed by Summit. In New York, the largest concentration was in College Point, then Manhattan. Surprisingly, only a few families lived in Brooklyn. In terms of professions, most were weavers and tailors. There were also bookkeepers, waiters, grocers, barbers, cleaners, and shoemakers. There were two printers, one bookbinder, and one who worked in a Turkish bath establishment. Massachusetts was next, with 165 families residing mostly in Worcester, followed by Boston, East Watertown, Fitchburg, Springfield, and Lowell. They worked in various professions: there were shoemakers, confectioners, tailors, grocers, barbers, carpenters, cobblers, farmers, and waiters. There was one artist and one chauffeur.

A Directory of the Assyrian Population of the United States and Canada (1913). 1

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The third concentration was in Rhode Island, where over 50 families lived in Providence and worked as weavers and machinists. A few worked in rug repair. There were three students. The fourth concertation was in Canada, where 53 families lived in Dorchester and Montreal, Québec. There was one dentist and one bookkeeper. The rest were merchants, traders, and shopkeepers. The fifth concentration was in California, with 30 families mostly living in Fresno and Reedley in the north and eight families living in Los Angeles. Those in Fresno and Reedley were all in farming. Those in Los Angeles were a cook, a chef, a tailor, two fruit dealers, and two peddlers. In addition to the above, Shelton, Connecticut, accounted for five families: four silk weavers and a tailor. Cleveland, Ohio, accounted for six families who owned shoe shops. The directory does not list any names from Detroit but we know that immigrants from the Homs area lived there. 1914

The First Malphono The importance of teaching the Syriac language was a recurring theme for early writers. The St. Ephrem association of Central Falls, Rhode Island, managed to find a place for meetings—probably a rental property, as a report states that it was guaranteed for 5 years. They began a night school to

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teach children both Syriac and Arabic; instruction began in 1914 with 20 registered students. The students met on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights from seven to nine PM. During the summer, the school was open every day. The name of the Malphono (teacher) was Yacoub Yeshu.1 In January 1917, a few of the organizations in New Jersey got together and began a Syriac language school in Paterson, attended by both boys and girls. Naum Faik authored a primer for language teaching that included vocabulary definitions in English; it was published by financial support from Taw Mim Simkath.2 Faik taught Syriac three times a week; and on May 15, the pupils were given a test, which became the impetus for a larger community event. The testing event began with an organ performance by Bashar Boyajy. The pupils then recited the Lord’s prayer and the Trisagion (Qadishat Aloho) in Syriac with Fr. Hanna Koorie. Then Naum Faik and Lutfi Boyajy chanted the hymn ʾEmath dal-Ḥartho from the Beth Gazo, the liturgical musical reference book. After this program, the pupils were given their test in reading and writing. The event attendees donated $60 [≈ $1,200 in 2019] for the school.3

The Union 1 (no. 6, 1921) p. 6. Faik, Kthobo d-Qeryono d-Suryoyutho (1917). 3 Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 4, 1917) p. 5; (no. 7–8) p. 10. 1 2

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On the Eve of the Great War The Great War, or what we now call World War I, began in 1914. The United States did not enter the war until April 1917, so immigrants were not affected immediately. But the communities in America were already invested in the war as soon as the Ottoman Empire joined. No one expected that the following year, 1915, would bring a second Sayfo, one far greater than the 1895 Sayfo, that would uproot the church and bring its faithful to the brink of extinction. Throughout 1914, life among our immigrant communities continued as usual. They had one priest, Fr. Hanna Koorie, who served the New Jersey and New York area and from time to time visited New England. Social organizations continued to be active and were the focal point of community life. Intibāh and other publications continued to appear; women continued to serve as integral parts of fundraising efforts; and small communities scattered across New Jersey and New York, New England, Montreal, Detroit, and California continued to organize their own community events. Soon, though, the tragedies of 1915 would bring more immigrants, and the sizes of these communities would increase.

3. Sayfo II… Immigrants II (1915–1927) While a 15- or 20-year period of calm followed the 1895 massacres in the areas where the Syriac Orthodox lived in the Middle East, World War I arrived in 1914 with a new wave of upheavals far more destructive than the 1895 massacres. The Ottomans and the Young Turks joined the war on the side of the Germans. Internally, in 1915, a wave of violence against Christians culminated in enormous massacres that came to be characterized as genocide. When Syriacs today use the term “Sayfo” (“sword”), they typically refer to the massacres that began in 1915 and lasted for several years. While the 1895 massacres were a major blow to the small Syriac Orthodox community of the late Ottoman period, the massacres of 1915 completely uprooted them; these massacres were accompanied by official directives of sefer berlik, or deportation orders. In fact, while the term “Sayfo” was used by Aramaic speakers, Arabic and Turkish speakers called the massacres sefer berlik. To the survivors and their children and grandchildren, the term no longer meant “deportations,” but rather full-fledged massacres— 77

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what we today call genocide. This is, for example, how I understood the term growing up. Out of the dozen or so Syriac Orthodox Archdioceses that existed in 1915, the only ones to remain were those in Mosul, Aleppo, Jerusalem, and Tur Abdin. The map of the church shifted drastically as populations in villages, towns, and entire districts completely disappeared. Those who survived began to move south to areas that later became Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. But some chose to immigrate to the Americas, forming a second wave of arrivals. In 1928, the editor of al-Ḥikmat, the mouthpiece of the Syriac Patriarchate, wrote an emotional description of the deplorable state of the church after the war under the pseudonym Jacob Baradeus:1 The community exited the war losing thousands of its children, who were killed with sharp swords. It saw in front of it an army of orphans, children of those martyrs, with no father to help them and no mother to love them. And while it was our duty to take care of those whose luck was darkened by fate, we neglected our duty and left them as a cold spoil for others. The others embraced them, and thus we lost the fathers and then the children. The war took the fathers, and the protectors of humanity stole our children.

1

al-Ḥikmat 2 (no. 9, 1928) p. 421–426.

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The loss was not limited to the loss of human souls. There was much more: The community found—in addition to the army of orphans—demolished properties, closed schools, desolate monasteries, libraries in disarray, churches kneeling on the ground. All this needed speedy repair. The community fixed some and ignored others. And what it ignored was more important than what it fixed.

This is indeed a sad picture coming from an official publication of the Patriarchate. The writer may have been a bit harsh as neither the church nor local communities had the resources to rebuild the infrastructure of the church. International help was not readily available as it is today, and the church leadership had no experience in obtaining what was available. Internally, the Patriarch had no one to appeal to but his own flock in America. Many would answer the call, but the community in America was still small. And much money was spent by a new generation of nationalists who were dreaming of building a country, an Assyrian national state that would not materialize. This deplorable condition “brought the Syrian Orthodox to the verge of extinction,” to cite the words of Khalid Dinno, who covered this period in an excellent

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monograph.1 We do not know how early the community in North America began to hear about the atrocities. In March or April 1916, the newspaper Beth Nahrin2 heard from Daniel Khoury Hanna of Youngstown, Ohio, that the entirety of the Syriac population of Jazireh was murdered. This was followed by a eulogy by Daniel Khoury: Wail, O daughter of Aram. May the fog that is above you drip drops of blood. For your crown has been tainted, and your honor was stained with blood.

This tragic news item is also the first time we hear of the existence of immigrants in Ohio. Another issue mentions someone from Mardin who resided in Cambridge, Ohio.3 Daniel was in contact with the community in New Jersey: a list of donations to Ḥuyodo mentions that he donated $10 in 1921 [≈ $140 in 2019].4

The Three Men from Kharput Some survivors made it to America and told their stories in person. In 1917, probably around April, three men arrived 1 K. Dinno, The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crises then Revival (2017). 2 Beth Nahrin 2 (March & April, 1916) p. 4–5. 3 Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 3, 1916) p. 4. 4 The Union 1 (no. 9, 1921) p. 4.

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in Worcester from Kharput. They had escaped six months earlier.1 They narrated how thousands of people were killed and how they managed to rescue an Armenian man who was disguised as Syriac Orthodox. We do not know much about the rate of immigration during this period. Sometimes, immigrants came in groups. Towards the end of 1921 or the beginning of 1922, fiftyfour people arrived in Boston and twenty-eight at Ellis Island.2 We know about these groups because they were initially denied entry. The community wrote imploring President Harding: We implore your intercession for 54 Assyrians here in East Boston, under order of deportation because of excess of quota, who are mostly women and children who are coming to their husbands and fathers who are residing in the United States, from whom they have been separated by the Great War.

The letter goes on to describe that these immigrants began their journey a year earlier and had all obtained valid passports and visas before the quota was set. The 28 from Ellis Island were initially sent back, but the ship that took them back was unable to deboard them in France, Italy, Greece,

1 2

Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 4, 1917) p. 4–5. The Union 2 (no. 31, 1922) p. 4.

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or Turkey. The shipping company brought them back to Elis Island for a second time. The story of Yoosuf Oshjy gives us another example of the long, circuitous route by which immigrants arrived in the United States. Yoosuf was born in Diyarbakır and was already an adult when World War I began in 1914. He escaped to the Persian border and smuggled himself into Russia; from Russia, he managed to get to Egypt. After hearing of the 1915 massacres, he volunteered in the French army and was sent to France. He was decorated with a Croix de Guerre, a military decoration created in 1915 to honor soldiers who distinguished themselves by acts of heroism. After the War, Yoosuf immigrated to the United States and settled in Paterson, New Jersey.1

The Girl who Survived Sayfo The following story, while told from a second-hand account almost 100 years after the events, illustrates the collective memory of the Syriac Orthodox regarding the 1915 Sayfo. Nijmeh d-Beth Aḥo of Södertälje, Sweden, recalls how her father immigrated to the United States temporarily at

1

The New Assyria 3 (no. 32, 1919) p. 9.

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the beginning of the twentieth century.1 Nijmeh’s father, who lived in Tur Abdin, went with a few friends to Adana for work picking cotton. His friends told him that people were going to America and asked, “Why don’t we go with them?” He wrote to his dad requesting permission, but his dad wrote back: “You have four children, and your mother and I are old… If you go, you will not come back.” Nijmeh’s dad wrote back to his father that they would only go for one or two years to make some money. “Permit me to go,” he wrote. “I want to go.” Finally, Nijmeh’s father went with his friends to America. Nijmeh recalls her dad saying We went, but the Americans did not let everyone enter. Before we entered America, they examined us; they examined our eyes and ears. And if they felt someone had a sickness, they turned him back. They said: “The sick cannot enter America because they transfer the disease to America.”

Nijmeh then narrates how they went to New York, speaking no language apart from Suryoyo (i.e. Turoyo). They did not know any Arabic or Turkish, let alone English:

1 Otto Jastrow and Shabo Talay, Der neuaramäische Dialekt vin Midyat (Miḏyoyo), Band I, Texte (1994) p. 182–189. Thanks to my sister Theodora Khader for her help in the translation from German. Quotes are paraphrased from the original story.

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We used to ask him, “Father, how did you manage?” He said, “We worked. They took us to a factory and we worked weaving silk. They took us every day to the factory. They paid us according to their conscience.”

Nijmeh’s dad and his friends used to send money to their families once or twice a year. At some point, the money was returned. After some time, they began to hear about Sayfo in Turkey. But they did not know in what region it had occurred. The young men met and said to each other, “If we stay and get married here, we would leave our children and become adulterers.” They decided to go back, and it was only when they reached Mardin that they realized that Midyat, their hometown, had been affected by Sayfo. Their journey back was a long one. First, they traveled to Aleppo and spent their money purchasing things to take home: cookware, clothes, “and thousands of other things,” says Nijmeh, recalling what her father once narrated. “When they arrived home,” Nijmeh remembers that her dad went to his maternal uncle who was in Anhil. He asked, “Who is still alive from my family?” They told him, “You do not have a family anymore. We know that one of your daughters survived. They killed your wife, your mother, your father, and your children. Your daughter grew up.

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Nijmeh’s dad now wanted to find his daughter but did not know how to go about locating her. His family told him We cannot go and say to them, “Give us the girl.” Wallah [by God], they will kill us. Tomorrow, we go to other people; we talk to them, and we talk to the government. We tell them, “We have a daughter, and we want to bring her home.”

They gathered some people, including the Mukhtār (the town’s leader), and went to the family that took the daughter. “This man came back from America. He has a daughter who is with you. He wants his daughter back.” They replied, “Oh, we will not give you the girl. The girl is now a woman. We will not give her back.” The Mukhtar then pleaded, “Give him the girl. He came from America. He will give you whatever you want.” The family that had the girl brought her forward with two or three men. Nijmeh’s father took out everything that he’d brought from Aleppo and gave it to them. He said, “You saved my daughter. I thank you.” Nijmeh concluded the story: “This is how the story went. Then he married my mother.”

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The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief Following the 1915 massacres in Ottoman Turkey, Cleveland H. Dodge, a New York-based capitalist and philanthropist who was close to the American president Woodrow Wilson, led the efforts for the creation of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (ACASR). His actions were motivated by the words of Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, who sent a plea to the United States to help Armenians, Greeks, and other minorities in the Middle East who were forced from their homes following violent upheavals at the outbreak of World War I.1 Following this plea, President Wilson issued an order to dedicate October 21 and 22, 1916, as a special day to collect funds for the victims. Beth Nahrin reports that each community was asked to create a committee to help coordinate efforts on those days.2 Our immigrants selected Fr. Hanna, Hanna Bahosh, and Nasib Mazijy to meet with Armenian and Arab Syrian [Sūriyīn] representatives to coordinate matters. Fr. Hanna organized events with the American leaders of Paterson, New Jersey. Twelve Americans formed a “History,” Near East Foundation, https://www.neareast .org/who-we-are. 2 Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 12, 1916). 1

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committee and began to work with the Syriac Orthodox committee. Fundraising took place in Paterson on November 11 at an event called “tag day.” About 300 volunteers from the Syriac community (15 young men and women came from West Hoboken) walked the streets and shops and raised just under $40,000 [≈ $925,000 in 2019].1 A similar activity took place in Lowell, MA, where the Syriac Orthodox, the Syrians (i.e. Rum Orthodox, [Sūriyīn]) and the Armenians took part and held another tag day. These communities raised $2,250 [≈ $44,000 in 2019].2 1916

US Census The Bureau of the Census of the United States government performed a census of religious bodies in 1916.3 (The Syriac Orthodox were not reported in the first 1906 census.) The name of the church, as recorded by the census authorities, was “Jacobite Church (Assyrian).” Its history was given as follows: Included in the immigration from the Turkish Empire have been a considerable number of persons representing the old Jacobite churches (known sometimes Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 14-15, 1916). The New Assyria 1 (no. 3, 1916) p. 10. 3 Department of Commerce, Religious Bodies: 1916, Part II (1919). 1 2

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as Assyrians), under the ecclesiastical authority of the Patriarch of Antioch, resident at the city of Mardin. Some have come from northern Syria, but most from Mesopotamia… Their organization in this country is yet incomplete, there being but one recognized prelate.

The recognized prelate was Fr. Hanna Koorie, still the only priest in the country at that point. The census reported 15 organizations (not parishes, as none existed) and 748 members, almost 300 of which were under 13 years old. The membership was divided by gender: 434 males and 314 females. Massachusetts reported 291 members, Rhode Island 102 members, New York 44 members, and New Jersey 311 members. The only language reported for the liturgy was “Syrian,” and no church edifices were reported as none existed. The numbers reported here seem to be an underestimation, considering the 1913 directory that was discussed earlier. The tally of that directory came to 1,126 individuals, whereas the 1916 census gives 748 (excluding those residing in Canada and probably California, as well as other locations such as Ohio).

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A Visit to New England In the summer of 1916, an association named “Mercy” (Syriac mraḥmonutho), established a few years earlier in Providence, Rhode Island, invited Naum Faik, Sanharib Baley, and Abdulmasih Dartley to spend a few days with them.1 The group arrived in Providence and stayed with Balshasar Alexander, whom we encountered in the first chapter. They attended a banquet at the farm of one Mr. Bram, an event at which there were many attendees from Worcester, Boston, Central Falls, Fitchburg, Leominster, Lowell, and other towns. The speeches that followed demonstrated the linguistic diversity of the immigrants. First, Balshasar spoke, most likely in Turkish. Then a Malphono named Jirjis Touma was asked to speak in Syriac (most likely Turoyo). He emphasized the need to teach the Syriac language and the importance of unity among the immigrants. He then spoke in Arabic. Then, Naum Faik and Sanharib Baley spoke, most likely in Turkish, on the themes of “unity” and “awakening,” Syriac ḥuyodo and Turkish intibāh, both of which themes produced newspapers with dedicated titles, as we have seen. This was followed by a speech by Dr. Abraham Yoosuf of Worcester in Armenian. The gathering managed to raise $140 [≈ $3,200 in 2019] for the Mercy association. 1

Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 7, 1916).

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The following day, representatives of the various associations of Kharput immigrants met. A decision had previously been reached by this group to raise $250 [≈ $5,900 in 2019] from each of the organizations in Rochester, Boston, Providence, and Fitchburg for the purchase of a printing press for the publication of books and newspapers. Until then, both Intibāh and Beth Nahrin were published using mimeography. The New Jersey group then visited Central Falls to see the community from Midyat. They lodged at the home of Malphono Jirjis Touma. They gathered the following day at the community center; and after the morning prayers, they met and formed a committee for helping the Sayfo victims of Midyat. They raised $172 [≈ $4,000 in 2019] for that purpose. They then formed a chapter of the Intibāh association with 22 members. It was later reported in Beth Nahrin that the committee for raising funds to help the victims of Midyat raised a total of $303 [≈ $7,000 in 2019]. 1916

With Church of the East Assyrians The Syriac Orthodox in North America made efforts to connect with Church of the East Assyrians, with whom they felt a linguistic, cultural, and national affinity. The two communities also shared the identity name “Assyrian” in English.

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In 1916, Yousef Benjamin, Sanharib Baley, and Abdulmasih Dartley, all members of the Syriac Orthodox community in the New Jersey area, visited Church of the East Assyrians in Elizabeth with the hope of opening a chapter of the Intibāh association exclusive to that community. On that visit, they managed to convince 23 members to join.1 Later that year, a meeting took place at the house of Yousef Badal, a Church of the East Assyrian from Persia.2 The group decided to raise $75 [≈ $1,700 in 2019] for the printing press project and to help other associations teach the Syriac language. It was also decided that they would have the constitution of the Intibāh association translated into Sureth, the Aramaic vernacular of the community, through the efforts of Sam Nadir in order to make it more accessible to Church of the East Assyrians. This means that Intibāh did not have an English version of its constitution accessible to Church of the East Assyrians. These efforts to establish contact seem to have been successful. The Intibāh Association held its second picnic on June 10, 1917, in New Jersey; it was attended by both the local Syriac Orthodox community and Church of the East Assyrians.3 Literature of the period referred to the Church Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 11, 1916). Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 17–18, 1916) p. 7. 3 The New Assyria 1 (no. 10, 1917) p. 6. 1 2

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of the East Assyrians by the Arabic term suryān mashāriqa, or “East Syriacs.” English literature made a distinction between the two groups by calling the Syriac Orthodox “Turkish Assyrians” and the Church of the East members “Persian Assyrians.”1 An editorial in Beth Nahrin, written in Syriac during World War I, explains the need for a union across denominations, especially at times of war:2 We the Syriacs [Suryoye]—while we are of one race, which is the Aramean race [genso ʾOromoyo] and from one land, which is Mesopotamia [Beth Nahrin] and of one language, which is the Syriac language [leshono Suryoyo]—have fought, hated, killed, and excommunicated each other over the “persons,” “qnume,” and “natures” in Christ…

The author is referring to the Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries and how the various Syriacusing churches—especially the Syriac Orthodox and the Church of the East—ended up at the opposite ends of the Christological spectrum. The editorial author then calls for a ḥuyodo, or “union”: O beloved brothers, let us awaken from the slumber of negligence… and rise to make a Syriac union 1 2

The New Assyria 2 (no. 15, 1917) p. 1–8 Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 1, 1916) p. 7.

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[ḥuyodo Suryoyo] in the midst of this Great War… and build a tower of Syriac union, not in the manner in which our forefathers built the tower of Babylon with vain pride, but a tower of love.

It is interesting to note that while Beth Nahrin was published mostly in the Serto script, this particular editorial appears in Classical Syriac in the East Syriac script, with dotted vowels that would be very familiar to East Syriac readers. The writer wanted to make the editorial accessible to the Easterners or the “Persian Assyrians.” Nowhere was the integration of people from the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Church of the East under the “Assyrian” identity more successful than in Worcester, MA. All attended liturgy in the Syriac Orthodox rite. In 1926, a picnic was held in honor of Lady Surma, sister of the Patriarch of the Church of the East; more than 300 people attended, most of whom were Syriac Orthodox. The gathering was organized by the Harpoot [Kharput] Assyrian United Association of America. With the first issue of Ḥuyodo, or The Union—the newspaper that followed Beth Nahrin in May 1921—the desire for a nation united across denominations was extended even to include the Rum Orthodox Syrians [sūriyīn] and the Maronites, as can be seen from an Arabic editorial:1 1

The Union 1 (no. 1, 1921) p. [3].

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We request of our Syrian [Sūriyīn, i.e. Rum Orthodox] brothers of all denominations… to support our literary project… And we expect a greater support from our Maronite brothers who are of Aramaic heritage [al-muntasibīn ʾilā al- ʾĀrāmiyah], for the purpose of this newspaper is to unify the thoughts of the Arameans [banī Ārām]… There is no difference between an Aramean [ʾĀrāmī ] of Lebanon or Syria and an Aramean of Mesopotamia or Persia except for a few theological matters.

The author, probably Naum Faik, was aware of the Maronite contribution in introducing Syriac to Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and of the significance of the Maronite College of Rome. He mentioned the Maronite luminaries of that time by name, hoping to gain Maronite support for the newspaper. Despite these efforts, we do not seem to witness much interaction between the Syriac Orthodox and other communities, apart from the “Persian Assyrians.” Unlike all the previous newspapers, Ḥuyodo now published content in English as well. Those who were born during the publication of Gabriel Boyajy’s Intibāh and the early days of Naum Faik’s Beth Nahrin were now teenagers, and the teenagers were now young adults. The English

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editorial introduced The Union, as the newspaper was called in English:1 Ladies and Gentlemen, permit us to introduce to you our new-born child, The Union. This baby might be rightfully called the legitimate offspring of Beth Nahreen (Mesopotamia), and the direct descendent of The Aramaean… Do not imagine that it is Beth Nahreen because it happens to have Mr. Nahom E. Polack [Naum Faik] on its editorial staff. But The Union can and will expound the ideals which Mr. Polack stood for and for which we all now stand.

The editorial goes on to stress that Ḥuyodo is indeed a continuity of Beth Nahrin. The reference to The Aramaean is to Sanharib Baley’s newspaper Ṣawto d-Oromoye (“Voice of the Aramaeans”). Ḥuyodo, which was an organ of the Assyro-Chaldean National Unity of America, was part of the second generation of newspapers coming from the immigrant community, now published using print type and professionally typeset with the new Linotype technology. The Union was multilingual. There were articles in classical Syriac, Eastern Neo-Aramaic (Sureth), Turkish Garshuni, Arabic in the Arabic script, and English. By early 1922, the editorial board seemed frustrated with the lack of 1

The Union 1 (no. 1, 1921) p. [4].

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support from Arabic readers. They expressed in an editorial that they had spent $700 [≈ $9,800 in 2019] on Arabic type, but only a few Arabic readers sent their subscriptions. After 30 issues, they decided to stop publishing in Arabic. It is interesting to note that the editorial that announced that no more Arabic articles would be published was printed in Garshuni—unlike all previous articles, which were in the Arabic script. The editors probably did not want to offend non-Syriac Arabic speakers.1 A few months later, though, it seems that the decision was reversed, and articles in Arabic began to be published again. 1917

Conflicts within the Community We do not know how popular the ideals of “union” were with the average person on the street. And we do not know how often these ideals were discussed at gatherings or if they were even on the radar of the average Yousef (“Joe”). We must keep in mind that the majority of people did not leave behind traces of their ideas and thoughts. What we have received are the opinions of the select few who produced literature. We are simply seeing the world through the eyes of Gabriel Boyajy, Naum Faik, Sanharib Baley, and the “Persian Assyrians” who collaborated with them, such as Joel Warda. The continuous calls for unity in the literature, 1

The Union 2 (no. 31, 1922) p. 2.

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not only between the “Turkish Assyrians” and the “Persian Assyrians” but also within the Syriac Orthodox sub-communities, is probably a good indication that unity did not exist on the ground but was instead an ideal to aim for. The community in Fitchburg did not have a priest of its own; and whenever they needed spiritual services, they turned to Christ Episcopal Church, as we have seen already. Rev. Frederick H. Sleep, pastor of the parish, gave his perspective on the problems that the Fitchburg community faced.1 The first and foremost problem, according to Sleep, was the diversity of languages: the Syriac Orthodox spoke Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, and Turoyo, while the “Persian Assyrians” spoke Eastern Neo-Aramaic (Sureth) and probably Persian as well. Because of this diversity, “difficulties are continually arising through misunderstanding.” Rev. Sleep knew the entire Fitchburg community as “Assyrians.” But he was aware that they belonged to diverse church traditions. The second challenge, in his opinion, was the diversity of religious expression of the three main denominations: the Syriac Orthodox, the Church of the East, and the Catholics (probably meaning Chaldeans). This diversity created “great tensions.” Sleep had no desire “to take any of the Assyrians from the churches to which they already belong.” Ironically, however, this ecumenical approach of the Episcopal Church naturally resulted in 1

The New Assyria 1 (no. 8, 1917) p. 6–7.

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many Syriac Orthodox (as well as Church of the East Assyrians and Chaldeans) ending up in the Episcopal Church, both in New England and in New Jersey. A third conflict, not noticed by Sleep, was that people self-identified with their places of origin. We have already witnessed how an organization created in 1910 for the promotion of the Syriac language by Syriac Orthodox immigrants from Kharput and Mardin had to split in 1916 because the Kharput members only wanted to help students from Kharput.1 In much of the reporting in Intibāh and Beth Nahrin, references are made to people from Diyarbakır, people from Kharput, people from Midyat, people from Mardin, etc. Unity and conflict are two ends of a spectrum that describes the life of our immigrants; the reality on the ground was probably a continuum linking the two extreme ends. 1917

Convention in Worcester We have encountered events held in New England with participants from the New Jersey and New York community. But these usually took the form of social gatherings. Now the immigrants were ready for a convention, with representatives from various organizations. 1

Intibāh no. 48 (1913) p. 6.

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The first convention was organized by the Kharput Union of Massachusetts;1 it probably had a formal English name, but our source here is in Arabic. The event took place on December 7, 1917, with representatives from the various communities of New England attending to discuss the condition “of the nation” and how to prepare for its success after World War I. An editorial, written in Arabic in Beth Nahrin, commended such a meeting and made an analogy with other immigrant communities:2 Holding this meeting is important for our Millet “nation.” We have strong hope that great benefits will result from this meeting… The Armenians, Syrians [Sūriyīn, i.e. Rum Orthodox], the Jews, and the Arabs all hold such meetings annually to look into the needs of their respective communities.

It seems that this convention was limited to New England, the representatives coming from Boston, Worcester, Fitchburg, Providence, and Lowell. We are told that the Kharput Union was established in 1913 or 1914 as an umbrella organization for the various associations in the mentioned areas. 1 Our source for the name of the host organization is Arabic. This may be the Assyrian National Union of Massachusetts, which hosted the fourth convention of the Assyrian National Federation in 1937; see Assyrian Progress (Nov 1937) p. 7. 2 Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 14–15, 1916) p. 11–12.

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The convention decided to raise funds to purchase Syriac type to support the publications of newspapers and books. It set a goal of $500 [≈ $9,800 in 2019] for this purpose. The representatives also decided to write to the New Jersey and New York community to encourage them to form a union as well. Attendees of another meeting decided to encourage the creation of chapters for the Intibāh association in various towns. Two chapters were created in Providence and Central Falls with the hope of creating future chapters in Boston, Worcester, Fitchburg, and Lowell. It was recognized that a newspaper was needed to serve the homeland in Mesopotamia and Syria; additionally, members set aside $40 [≈ $785 in 2019] to help Beth Nahrin in America. It was also decided that a larger second convention should take place in 1918, including lectures for which speakers were paid an honoraria from the budget of the union. Indeed, a second convention took place on September 26–28, 1918, in Worcester, but this was not the second convention of the Kharput Union. Rather, it was the second convention of the Assyrian National Association, the first

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of which was held in Yonkers, NY.1 This second convention was attended by both Syriac Orthodox and Church of the East Assyrians, including even Assyrian delegates from Chicago. At the event, the Intibāh association gave an annual report, delivered by Sanharib Baley. Over the course of the meeting, both the Mar Ephrem Society and the Assyrian Five Association were accepted as members of the Assyrian National Association.2 As early as 1917, there seems to have been—at least in the eyes of some community members—an unease about the Assyrian National Association vis-à-vis Naum Faik’s Intibāh movement. We only know the perspective of the former from an editorial in The New Assyria :3 the Assyrian National Association, we are told, is political, while the Intibāh association is simply educational. Naum Faik may or may not have agreed with this assessment. We do not have his voice on the matter. 1 The New Assyria 2 (no. 24, 1918) p. 2. For a report on the Yonkers Convention, see The New Assyria 2 (no. 15, 1917) p. 1–8. The Syriac Orthodox present seem to have been the smaller number; and most of the discussion was in Eastern Neo-Aramaic, with one address being given in English for the benefit of the “Turkish Assyrians” (i.e. the Syriac Orthodox). Naum Faik gives a report on the Convention in Beth Nahrin and was impressed that the Easterners all spoke Aramaic. 2 The New Assyria 3 (no. 26, 1918) p. 1 ff. 3 The New Assyria 2 (no. 16, 1917) p. 6–7.

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Bishop of Jerusalem Seeks Help Towards the end of the war, and as a result of Sayfo, the Syriac Orthodox community in the Middle East needed much financial support from their brothers and sisters in North America. Palestine received a huge number of immigrants. In fact, each and every Syriac Orthodox family in modern Palestine can trace its roots to a pre-Sayfo town or village in today’s southeast Turkey. St. Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Church there, was faced with many challenges in taking care of the flux of refugees. In 1918, a letter was sent by the bishop of Jerusalem, Mor Gregorios Afram of Sadad, to the community in the United States, asking them to send financial assistance. The communication was through the community in Detroit— both the bishop and the Detroit community were from the villages of Homs. At the time, the Detroit community used to communicate with the rest of the communities in the United States through Beth Nahrin. We know that the community in Detroit donated about $200 [≈ $3,300 in 2019].1 Soon, the Patriarch himself would turn to the North American immigrants to aid the entirety of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

1

Beth Nahrin 3 (no. 3, 1918) p. 3.

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The Paris Peace Conference After World War I, a conference was held at Versailles that came to be known as the Paris Peace Conference. The objectives were to negotiate the peace terms after the War. Patriarch Elias III sent Mor Severius Afram Barsoum, Archbishop of Syria, to represent church interests. Dr. Abraham Yoosuf, the immigrant from Kharput whom we encountered in Chapter 1, spent two years in Paris as part of an “Assyro-Chaldean” delegation and was the most active member trying to negotiate issues among the members of the delegation—especially relating to nomenclature (apparently, the British favored “Assyrian,” while the French favored “Assyro-Chaldean”).1 Patriarch Barsoum’s mandate was expressed in letters from Patriarch Elias III to the French embassy in Constantinople, which state that the Archbishop had2 received from the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch the following mandate: 1) to solicit the protection of France for his nationals;

1 R. Donef, “The Assyrian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference,” in H. Travis (ed.), The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies (2017) p. 217. 2 de Courtois, The Forgotten Genocide (2002) p. 206.

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2) to give an account of the losses and damages incurred by the deportations and massacres and to ask for legitimate indemnities and reparations; 3) to solicit for his community the same material assistance that has been accorded to the Armenians.

The demands of the Syrian Orthodox church were more modest than the demands given by the rest of the “AssyroChaldean” delegation, which amounted to the establishment of a country. The Syrian Orthodox submitted claims for “the emancipation of the villayets of Diarbakir, Bitlis, Kharput, and Ourfa from the Turkish Yoke.” Archbishop Barsoum described the Syrian Orthodox as a “nation which sighs for a tolerable future in which she can play her ancient role of Assyro-Chaldean civilization.” The Syrian Orthodox had accepted the “Assyro-Chaldean” appellation, at least for the purposes of the Peace Conference.1 In addition to Abraham Yoosuf from America, it seems that at least one other Syriac Orthodox person was present: Dr. Abdallah Barsoum, the brother of Mor Severius. It is not clear if he had any official role.

1

R. Donef p. 230.

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Patriarch Elias III Intends to Visit America Patriarch Elias III, now managing a desolate church with hardly any resources, wanted to travel to Europe and represent his people at an international peace conference in Paris; from there, he wanted to visit the United States. Having no resources for this trip, he turned to the Syriac Orthodox of North America. On May 13, 1920, he sent an encyclical addressing the North Americans. He explained the deplorable state of affairs in which the church found itself:1 Our nation today is dispersed and is nearing destruction. Our churches and monasteries are desolate. And even though there was no formal order to dislodge our people, more than 100,000 were killed and displaced under the pretext of being Armenians. All our clergy in the governates of Diyarbakır, Betlis, and Maʿmurat al-ʿAziz were killed. All that these churches owned was stolen. Some of the movable assets that were taken by the Turkish government were returned to the Armenians as they were registered under their name.

If the estimates that we have for the Syriac Orthodox population toward the end of the nineteenth century are accurate (recall that the English missionary Parry estimated 1

Beth Nahrin 4 (no. 7, 1920).

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200,000 people), then the victims of Sayfo constituted about half of the entire population. The Patriarch expressed that if he himself did not travel to Europe “to represent our case and seek the necessary medicine for our illness, our nation will be destroyed.” He asked the North Americans to help in raising funds for the trip; and he expressed that, if necessary, he would be willing to travel to the United States. He concluded, We have spent much money on useless matters. We have no more hope, and our patience has run out. Had we had the funds to travel earlier, we would not have postponed the trip until now.

Upon receiving the encyclical, Fr. Hanna Koorie immediately published an appeal: Yes, some of our organizations and many individuals did send help to the homeland, but these donations— as you are aware—provide assistance for a limited time only. Our orphans are dispersed here and there… What is needed are large sums of donations from European and American philanthropists. These cannot be obtained unless our Patriarch travels to Europe and the United States accompanied by a bishop and a monk.

There is evidence that this is not the first time that the Patriarch requested funds for his planned trip to represent

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his people in Europe. In a telegram dated November 21, 1919, the Patriarch informed the French that he had to postpone his trip for health reasons and that he would be willing to make the trip if he received from the members of his nation residing in the United States the monetary help he has requested with the expenses involved in traveling to and staying in Paris.1

We do not have any journalistic evidence as to whether funds were collected for this purpose. But we know from later accounts that the Patriarch, for whatever reason, could not travel to Paris and sent in his stead Mor Severius Afram Barsoum, bishop of Syria. Bishop Barsoum had distinguished himself as a scholar and spoke French fluently. He would later travel to Paris to attend the Peace Conference and then would become the first Syriac Orthodox bishop to visit the United States. From time to time, the Patriarch wrote to his flock in North America asking for financial assistance in order to manage the church after the Great War. He wrote again on October 22, 1921, explaining that he had left the Patriarchal See three years earlier; and now that a peace treaty was going to be signed, he planned to go back to the Patriarchate in Mardin to help the widows and orphans, to find shelter for 1

S. de Courtois p. 205.

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the homeless, to recover the church properties that had been lost, and to rebuild churches and monasteries. The Patriarch needed much financial assistance to accomplish all of this. Ḥuyodo published the letter and followed it by an editorial encouraging everyone to donate. The editorial emphasized how much the Patriarch was working to help his people: Two years earlier, he had been able to secure the release of the Syriac Orthodox of Kharput who were imprisoned in Samson by the Ankara government. He had also managed to bring about the release of the Syriac Orthodox who were imprisoned in France and Lebanon by the French government.1 All this, the editorial continued, required much funding. But the Patriarch did not realize that the new Turkish government would deny him residency in his Patriarchal See; and he himself would soon become homeless, looking for a new home for his ancient patriarchal line. The Patriarch now took St. Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem as his residence. His predecessor, Patriarch Abdullah, had resided at St. Mark’s during the last four years of his Patriarchate and had been buried there. When Patriarch Elias realized that he was no longer welcomed in the new Turkish republic, he attempted to move the Patriarchal See to Jerusalem. The three major Christian communities—the 1

The Union 2 (no. 36, 1922) p. 2.

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Greeks, Latins, and Armenians—would deny him this wish. Regardless, Jerusalem became the de facto Patriarchal headquarters, and the Patriarch planned to hold a General Synod there. 1921

More Priests It was not until 1921 that a second priest arrived, a blood brother of Fr. Hanna named Niʿmatallah, shortened to Naʿʿum (in English, Nahum).1 Fr. Nahum had already been a priest in the old country; but he had two sons who lived in the United States, and he obtained permission from Patriarch Elias III to visit these two sons. He had been ordained as a priest in 1908 by Mor Dionysus Abdulnur, bishop of Kharput, and had served in Aleppo and Beirut. While in Aleppo, he wrote a poem in Syriac congratulating the Intibāh newspaper.2 Two days after his arrival in Boston, on November 6, 1921, he celebrated the liturgy with his brother Hanna. He continued to serve in the United States until 1928, when he went back to the Middle East, probably 1 Ḥuyodo 1 (no. 24, [1921]) p. 1; al-Ḥikma 2 (no. 10) p 499. Both sources give November 4, 1921, as the arrival day of Fr. Nahum, but the date is given as 1922 in a brief history in 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (Sunday, May 16, 1965). 2 Intibāh no. 6 (1910) p. 6.

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to Beirut. His sons remained in the United States and continued to serve as high ranking deacons in the West New York parish in New Jersey for many years.1 In other locations, the community turned to the Episcopal Church for essential services such as weddings, baptisms, and funerals. (In California, they turned to the Armenian Church.) We have the details of the funeral of one young man in Fitchburg, MA, named Elias Boutrus Alqas, originally from Mardin. The funeral took place at Christ Episcopal Church in 1916, before the arrival of Fr. Nahum, with an American priest performing the service. But the community had a good number of deacons by then, and the host churches seem to have allowed the Syriac Orthodox deacons to take part in chanting hymns in Syriac.2 This case does not seem to be a unique. In fact, we know of another tragedy that befell the same family; the following year, their daughter Rose fell from a three-story building and remained hospitalized for ten days before passing away. Her funeral also took place at an American church, with four Syriac Orthodox deacons taking part.3 We also know of a wedding in Fitchburg in 1919. It was held at the new home of the couple, Mr. Simon Toomajan and Miss Rose Boyagy. The ceremony was performed by the The Union 1 (no. 24, [1921]) p. 1. Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 16, 1916) p. 8. 3 Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 5–6, 1917) p. 10. 1 2

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rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Fitchburg. We do not know if Syriac Orthodox deacons took part or not. We are also told that a shower was held for the bride at the home of her mother—indicating that the immigrants had already borrowed local American customs—but that the event included eastern dances. Even at such private parties, the community took the opportunity to raise funds for various associations. At Simon and Rose’s wedding, $18.35 [≈ $266 in 2019] were raised for the Assyrian National Association.1 By 1916, the community in Central Falls, which was comprised mostly of families from Midyat, had a community center and a Malphono named Jirjis Touma. Naum Faik, Sanharib Baley, and Abdulmasih Dartley paid them a visit from New Jersey in 1916, as we have already mentioned. We know that at least on that occasion, morning prayers were held before they all had a meeting. We do not know if morning and evening prayers were held regularly. During the 1920s, two additional priests arrived in the United States. Fr. Favlos Samuel, originally from Kharput, arrived around 1923. He became the pastor of St. Mary in Worcester from 1927 to 1933, after which he served at St.

The New Assyria 3 (no. 32, 1919) p. 4. Rose is named Annie in a related report on the same page! 1

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Ephrem of Central Falls for about ten years when he retired. He passed away in 1958.1 Fr. Peter Barsoum, who was born in Urfa in 1896, arrived in 1927. He was ordained by Patriarch Elias III in 1923 and was then assigned to Central Falls. He first attended night schools and continued progressing in his education until he received a Bachelor of Theology from Gordon College in Boston in 1941. He is probably the first priest to hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. After serving St. Ephrem parish of Central Falls for about six years, he transferred to St. Mary of Worcester in 1933.2 He passed away in April 1963.3 1921

The Need for a Homeland While Patriarch Elias was looking for ways to rebuild his church, some of the members of the immigrant community in North America were seeking to build a “nation” with a flag, a national anthem, and a homeland in Mesopotamia. Syriac Orthodox nationalists in North America joined Church of the East Assyrians to achieve their goal: to build 1 St. Mark’s 25th anniversary ([1984]). According to an obituary in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Fr. Samuel arrived to the United States in 1927 and retired about 1942. 2 The New Beth-Nahreen 4 [2nd series] (no. 8, 1941) p. 2–3; 5 nd [2 series] (no. 5, 1942) p. 8. 3 St. Mark’s 25th anniversary ([1984]).

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an Assyrian nation in the homeland. At least one Syriac Orthodox from the United States attended the Paris Peace Conference advocating for an Assyrian nation, as we have seen. The Syriac Orthodox Church leadership and the nationalists seem to have been at odds with each other, but we do not see an outright conflict between them. Their very different approaches, however, can be read between the lines. When Patriarch Elias wrote in his 1920 letter to the community in North America that “we have spent much money on useless matters,” he was referring to the money spent to create a nation rather than to help the church rebuild itself after Sayfo. Naum Faik was simultaneously a nationalist and a highranking deacon in the church. He managed to navigate both worlds and gained respect in both. He wrote a poem in Syriac about the homeland1 and suggested that a “nation” needed a homeland that could be identified by a name. And Mesopotamia made clear sense to Faik. No country bore that name. In fact, Faik called his newspaper Beth Nahrin. The first stanza of Faik’s poem defines the homeland and promises that it will not be forgotten: Beth Nahrin is our Homeland. We will not forget it until our death. 1

Ḥuyodo 1 (no. 2, 1921).

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In it, our youthfulness became manhood. And in it, our kingdom was established.

The first line of each of the following stanzas stresses what this homeland is, Beth Nahrin is our Land… Beth Nahrin is our Soil… Beth Nahrin is our Home… Beth Nahrin is our Soul…

Fr. Favlos Samuel, pastor of St. Mary in Worcester, also wrote a poem on Beth Nahrin:1 Beth Nahrin is our Kingdom… Beth Nahrin is our pride… Let’s go to Beth Nahrin, our Homeland.

While today’s immigrants may long for their Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, or Turkey, the immigrants of the 1920s did not have a nation-state to long for. The Ottoman Empire, they felt, betrayed them in 1895, and the Young Turks even more in 1915. There were towns to long for— Diyarbakır, Kharput, Mardin, Midyat—but not a country. Beth Nahrin became the homeland to long for.

1

Assyrian Progress (April 1935) p. 11.

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From Unskilled Laborers to Professionals The early immigrants of the 1880s and 1890s were mostly unskilled laborers who worked in mills and a few other professions as we have learned from the 1913 directory. Some were shoemakers and others tailors and weavers. Martha Redvanly, the daughter of one such weaver who was born in the 1920s, remembers that the average wage was about $15 per week (≈ $217 in 2019).1 Apart from a few success stories of doctors and lawyers, we do not know what sort of jobs most people had by the 1920s—especially the second generation. Newspaper ads begin to give us a glimpse into the personal lives of individuals. The Intibāh newspaper did not seem to run ads at all. The last issues of Beth Nahrin in the 1930s had one ad that ran frequently—selling special cigarettes and cigars! But starting in 1921, the Union ran professional ads. There was Yacob Dasho, who sold life insurance in New York, and John Baba, who ran an auto service in Rutherford, NJ. Joseph Durna was an attorney at law in Newark, NJ. The Dasho and Safar families seem to have had a partnership in Boston and sold, inter alia, “oriental records” recently received from Istanbul. S. Dartley was a “clother”—that is, he worked selling clothes—in Jersey 1

Interview with Martha Redvanly on June 21, 1995.

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City, NJ. Henry Durna sold insurance in Newark, NJ. N. B. Quoyoon was an importer of oriental rugs in Boston and had a company named Babylonia Rug Co. And L. C. Manogaan had an electric contracting and repair company.1 Gabriel A. Namen was a success story.2 He was born in Kharput in 1911 and arrived in Worcester at the age of 14. He obtained a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in 1936 and was appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1941. He served as president of the board of St. Mary a few times and was the first president of the United Assyrian Association of Massachusetts. He passed away in 1987. 1926

US Census The Bureau of the Census of the United States government performed another census of religious bodies in 1926.3 The government’s official name for the church had now changed from “Jacobite Church (Assyrian)” to “Assyrian Jacobite Apostolic Church.” The total number of members was given at 1,407, with 703 males and 304 females. The membership had almost doubled from the previous census of Advertisements in The Union, 1921–1922. Shlomo 3 (no. 5, 1990). 3 Department of Commerce, Religious Bodies: 1926, Part II (1929). 1 2

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1916. The membership “consists of all persons received into the local churches through baptism.” The census reported a decrease from 15 organizations in 1916 to 3 in 1926, but this is misleading. During the 1916 census, it seems that the community reported the large number of secular organizations discussed earlier; but in 1926, there were three actual parishes (St. Mary of West New York, St. Mary of Worcester, and St. Ephrem of Rhode Island). The three church buildings were estimated at $92,000 [≈ $1.3 million in 2019]. The 1,407 members were geographically divided as follows: 220 in MA, 162 in RI, and 1,025 in NJ (probably including NY). Out of the entire total, about 291 members were under 13. Fr. Hanna Koorie gave a historical statement that was published. Based on this information, it seems that the above numbers include some Syriac Catholics, Chaldeans, and Protestants (but not members of the Church of the East). 1927

The Intended General Synod of Jerusalem For a few hundred years, the Syriac Orthodox Church had not held synods except for the sole purpose of electing a new Patriarch whenever a sitting Patriarch died. With the challenges facing the church after Sayfo, Patriarch Elias III had the novel idea of holding a general synod, consisting not

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only of bishops but also of lay representatives, two from each diocese, to look into the affairs of the church and the community. The intended Synod was to be held in Jerusalem in February 1927. In a report in that month’s issue of Beth Nahrin, the newspaper informed its readers that each of the parishes in North America had received a letter from the Patriarch regarding the Synod.1 Representatives of the North American communities held a meeting in West New York on January 30, 1927, under the chairmanship of Fr. Hanna Koorie in the private home of George Mardinli. With less than a month to go before the synod, it was clear that the North Americans would not be able to attend. Nevertheless, they wanted their voices to be heard and prepared 18 requests to the intended Synod. The meeting was attended by eleven individuals from the New Jersey and New York area, one from Worcester, MA, two from Central Falls, R.I., and one from Boston. No one else outside of the Northeast was able to attend, but letters were received from Sherbrooke, Detroit, and California. The eighteen requests give us a snapshot of the needs of the community in North America, but also of the state of

1

Beth Nahrin 6 (no. 4 & 5, 1927) p. 3 ff.

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the church in general. At the top of the list were liturgical matters that had affected the North American parishes. Their first concern was the calendar. Until then, the Eastern churches maintained the Julian calendar for church feasts and business. Since the sixteenth century, the West had adopted the Gregorian calendar. The North Americans requested that the church switch to the Gregorian system so that feast days, such as Christmas and Easter, would match Western feast days. Their second request was to ease fasting. The Syriac Orthodox had six fasts during the year. There was a fasting period of 25 days before Christmas, a 15-day fast for the Virgin Mary in August, and another one of variable length for the Apostles after Pentecost. The fast of Nineveh lasted for three days, and the Great Lent lasted for about 50 days. On top of all of these, every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year—except during the period between Easter and Pentecost—were designated as fasting days. “Today, most members are obliged to break the fast and hence break the Law,” the report stated. The representatives requested that fasting be eased as much as possible. Another issue connected with fasting was marriage ceremonies. The church prohibited marriage ceremonies during fasting periods when one was required not only to avoid certain foods (one simply had to become vegan), but also to abstain from sexual intercourse. As such, “our young boys have much difficulty,” the report stated. “First, they

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spend much money in bringing their brides from the homeland.” Their brides could not be handed to them until the wedding ceremony, and the restrictions on wedding ceremonies during fasting periods obliged many to turn to other denominations to perform their marriage ceremonies. This caused distress for many and affected the income of parishes. The representatives requested that wedding ceremonies be permitted any time during the year except during Passion Week and the Fast of Nineveh. The final liturgical request was to shorten and unify the liturgy. The Syriac Orthodox Eucharistic liturgy, including an additional morning prayer that preceded it, took some hours; and those who attended Episcopalian services before the arrival of Syriac Orthodox priests could compare the length. Another problem with the liturgy was the diversity of local traditions. This was never a problem in the homeland, where each local tradition was known to its own users; when, however, one put deacons from Diyarbakır, Kharput, Mardin, Urfa, and Midyat on one altar—as was the case in diaspora parishes—one can imagine the conflicts that could arise. “It is difficult to use the long liturgies these days,” the report stated, “and the liturgy is not uniform in all places.” The remainder of the requests did not pertain to North America but to the church globally. The representatives were concerned about the homelessness of the church leadership. For hundreds of years, the Patriarch had resided in Mardin; after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and

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the establishment of the modern Turkish Republic, Mardin ended up within the borders of Turkey, and Patriarch Elias III was no longer welcome to reside within the borders of the new Turkish republic. The Patriarch was contemplating moving the Patriarchate to Jerusalem, as discussed earlier. The North American representatives also suggested that the Patriarchate move either to Jerusalem or Mosul. Further, the North Americans present at the meeting were concerned about the schism in India. There were two parties in India: one paying allegiance to the Patriarch and the other seeking autocephaly, or ecclesiastical independence. Back in 1912, Patriarch Abdulmasih, who had been deposed and replaced by Patriarch Abdullah earlier in 1906, went to India and installed for the non-Patriarchal party a Maphrian, or Catholicos. The North Americans suggested that the office of Maphrian (or Catholicos), which was abandoned a century or so earlier in the Middle East, be reinstated and assigned to India. The proposal further suggested that the Maphrian, regardless of being a Syrian or an Indian, should become the next Patriarch but must reside in the Patriarchate in the Middle East. The representatives then proposed that the church be administered by two “mixed” assemblies; by mixed, it was meant that these assemblies should consist of not only bishops but also lay people, like modern synods of Western churches and similar to the general synod proposed by the Patriarch. The first mixed assembly was to have

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representatives from each diocese; the number of representatives was to depend on the size of each diocese, something along the lines of the American House of Representatives. This assembly was to meet once a year, and the term of service was to be set to five years. A second mixed assembly was to consist of individuals, both clergy and lay people, chosen by the Patriarchate and within close proximity; this assembly was to meet monthly to run the daily affairs of the church. The North American gathering also proposed the establishment of a seminary for teaching the Syriac language and the subjects necessary for producing educated clergy. The expenses of such a seminary were to be covered by the various dioceses. They also proposed that all clergy should have set salaries. Until then (and even today in many localities), the clergy did not have set salaries and survived on gifts provided by the parishioners. It was also suggested that all future clergy should be approved by the newly proposed mixed synod. This mixed synod was also to manage and administer the waqf (endowments) of the church. Those gathering were also concerned about the education of girls, including their instruction in the Syriac language. They proposed that schools for girls should be established and that the teaching level should be exactly the same as that in boys’ schools. Further, girls should be taught the liturgy and hymnals and be given a part in the liturgical

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celebrations. For the previous few centuries, the voice of women had not been heard in churches. Advocacy for the use of the Syriac language was also important. The North Americans requested that all liturgy should be conducted only in Syriac, forbidding the use of all Turkish and Arabic Anaphoras. Sermons, however, were to be conducted in local languages. It is not clear if this was already practiced in North America or not. The parish of St. Mary in Worcester, MA, at least during the 1990s, prided itself on using Syriac exclusively, apart from the scripture readings and the sermon. The North Americans also requested that all correspondence between the Patriarchate, the bishops, and the rest of the clergy be conducted “in the Syriac alphabet.” In other words, the North American community was advocating for the use of garshunographic writing, something they had been practicing all along. This means that whenever they wrote Arabic or Turkish, they wrote them using Syriac letters, a system they called Garshuni. In fact, most of the primary sources used for writing this book are in Garshuni. Another proposal was for the establishment of a Patriarchal periodical, to be published in Syriac and Arabic and to be administered by the Patriarchate. In fact, the Patriarchate had begun publishing a journal called al-Ḥikmat in 1914; but Sayfo and World War I dictated that it should have a short life, and only the 1914 issue was published. It was also proposed that all Archdiocese submit to the

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patriarchate an annual financial report to be published by the proposed periodical. The distrust in the modern Turkish republic was so great that the North Americans asked that all manuscripts and rare objects in the monasteries and churches in Turkey should be moved to a safe place. They even went so far as to suggest that all waqf in Turkey should be sold and the income placed in investments with banks outside Turkey, to be administered by the proposed mixed synod. Finally, the parishes in the United States, Canada, and South America wanted to be more integrated within the Patriarchate. They called for the establishment of a diocese in the diaspora and asked that the name of the bishop for such a diocese be sent first to this committee. They also requested that a bishop visit them periodically, as the Patriarch and the proposed mixed synod would see fit. Realizing that there was no time to send their own representatives, the community in America appointed three local individuals to represent them: the monk Yuhanna Dolabani, Mr. Malki Kirkanni of Damascus (who would immigrate to New Jersey in 1930, where his sons already lived),1 and deacon Girgis Thouma. The synod was delayed, however, and did not take place until 1930.

1

al-Ḥikmat 4 (no. 7, 1930) p. 442.

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A New Decade Approaching The approach of the 1930s marked the passing of about half a century since the first wave of immigrants had begun to arrive in the 1880s. By now, the community must have included second-generation members who were already well into their twenties and thirties; there may even have been some third-generation members of the community. It is worth pausing here to reflect on the life of our immigrants thus far. The immigrants who arrived before the 1895 massacres tended to be young men, like Ḥaji Thomas Quoyoon, who arrived from Kharput at the age of seventeen, and the Safar boys and their father, who reached North America after an arduous journey; and young women were present, too, like Mary Basmajy, who arrived as a widow in 1899. By the turn of the twentieth century, the number of immigrants had increased enough that organizations began to be formed, such as the Kharput Assyrian Benefit Association in Worcester and Taw Mim Simkath, formed by Diyarbakır immigrants in New Jersey. Within the first decade of the twentieth century, we begin to see much activity: the community sent one of its deacons to Jerusalem to be ordained a priest (1907), the women of Worcester established an association for themselves (1908), Gabriel Boyagy began publishing the first newspaper (1909), and people from Kharput and Mardin in

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Fitchburg, MA, began to be concerned with teaching the Syriac language and formed an organization for that purpose (1910). By 1910, immigrants from Diyarbakır had settled in the New Jersey and New York area; those from Kharput, in New England; those from Mardin, in Boston and Montreal; and those from Midyat, in Rhode Island. We also know of a community of immigrants from Homs and Urfa that had settled in Detroit. Some of the Kharput families moved from the East Coast and settled in Fresno and Los Angeles in California. The year 1915 turned the Syriac Orthodox world on its head. In the homeland, Word War I brought with it a wave of massacres and persecutions against the Christian population; the Syriac Orthodox call 1915 the Year of “Sayfo,” or “sword.” Within a few short years, approximately half of the Syriac Orthodox population had disappeared. This period of violence brought a new wave of immigrants to North America. Those who were already in North America continued about their business; soon, though, they found themselves supporting a host of widows and orphans in their midst. They did their best to do so while, at the same time, trying to lead a life of normalcy: a delegation from New Jersey visited New England (1916), Naum Faik taught kids Syriac (1917), a convention was held in Worcester (1918), and the

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women of California grew their association to fifty members (1919). The 1920s were a period of repair after so many losses during Sayfo: losses of human souls, losses of properties, and losses of infrastructure. Patriarch Elias appealed to his North American flock for help and planned a general synod to be held in Jerusalem. Most newspapers produced by the community during the 1920s are not available, so there is a gap in our knowledge of community life in North America for much of this period. Dangers of the American melting pot were also looming. Naum Faik wrote a letter in Syriac to Archbishop Barsoum:1 Not a long time will pass until all those Syriacs [Suryoye] in America will become Episcopalians [methʾangolu], Catholics, or secular, living without faith, without nationality, and without a name or appellation of a nation. They will become “modern,” without “tradition.” Woe to our time! Pooh to the age in which we live!

Towards the end of the 1920s, the nature of Syriac Orthodox community life would undergo a major shift. The Patriarch sent Mor Severius Afram Barsoum, Bishop of Syria, as an Apostolic Delegate to North America. With his 1

Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate archive, Maarat Saydnaya.

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arrival, the Syriac Orthodox began to meet in their own church buildings; and the focus of community life transitioned from picnics and social events to activities centered around parish life. This is the story of the next chapter. Before ending this chapter, we must pay tribute to Naum Faik. His death—on February 5, 1930, at the age of 62—marked the end of an era. He had been a major literary figure; without the news items that appeared in the various newspapers he edited, this book would have looked very different and would lack much information about the early period. Bishop Gabriel Anto travelled from Canada to preside over the funeral at St. Mary of West New York. Faik was a senior Ewangeloyo deacon; and as such, they performed the zuyoḥo for him. Faik was such an important figure that within three days of his passing not only did the bishop managed to arrive from Canada, but many others came from across New England. About 80 cars were in the motorcade to the Flower Hill Cemetery in West New York. After Naum was placed in his grave, Said Asfar threw a copy of Beth Nahrin on top the coffin.1 Journalism was his life: no one among the Syriac Orthodox has surpassed his contributions to journalism, and no one has ever managed to balance nationalism with church life as he did. He was respected by both the clergy—including the upper hierarchy—and the lay nationalists. 1

Murad Fuad Çakı, Naoum Faik (2004) p. 106–108.

4. Bishops Visit… Churches Consecrated (1927–1948) We have already seen that in February 1927, the North American communities requested that the planned Jerusalem Synod send them a bishop from time to time to take care of the spiritual needs of the diaspora. There were already four priests in North America by that time: Fr. Hanna Koorie in New Jersey; his brother, Fr. Nahum Koorie, who may have been retired by then;1 Fr. Favlos Samuel in Worcester; and Fr. Peter Barsoum in Central Falls. But priests cannot ordain deacons, cannot ordain other priests, and cannot consecrate churches. These tasks are vested only in the episcopate. At the time, the Patriarchate under Patriarch Elias III was still rebuilding itself: it still had no permanent home, and it needed to build new infrastructure—especially a seminary. Much financial assistance was needed, and the only faithful that could provide it were those in North America. 1 Fr. Nahum Koorie later moved back to the Middle East sometime after 1927 (he appears in a picture with Archbishop Barsoum that year). He died in Aleppo in 1938 (The New BethNahreen 1 [2nd series] (no. 7, 1938) p. 18).

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The spiritual needs of the North Americans and the financial needs of the Patriarchate coalesced into a plan: the Patriarch would send an archbishop as an Apostolic Delegate to perform episcopal needs and, at the same time, to collect donations for the Patriarchate so that it could operate. 1927

First Apostolic Delegate Towards the end of 1927, Patriarch Elias III sent Mor Severus Afram Barsoum, bishop of Syria, to represent the church at the second World Conference on Faith and Order in Lausanne, Switzerland.1 Following the meetings, the archbishop was to visit the communities in North America as an Apostolic Delegate. Archbishop Barsoum arrived in New York on September 14, 1927, the first Syriac Orthodox Archbishop to set foot on American soil. His task was to take care of the spiritual needs of the North American communities, but he was also responsible for gathering donations for the Patriarchate—especially for the establishment of a seminary in Jerusalem.2 Jerusalem remained the focal point of plans for a future Patriarchal headquarters. The name of the conference given in the US Census report of 1926, p. 69. 2 al-Ḥikmat 3 (no. 1, 1929) p. 57. 1

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So far, none of the Syriac Orthodox churches in North America had been consecrated due to the lack of episcopal presence. On September 25, Archbishop Barsoum consecrated the first church in America: the Church of the Virgin Mary in West New York (which would later move to Paramus).1 As the church consisted mostly of immigrants from Diyarbakır, the church was named after St. Mary of Diyarbakır: Mariam Anne. Initially, the church was supposed to be built on Clinton Avenue in West Hoboken, where land had been purchased back in 1914. But by the time the mortgage had been fully paid the following year, the community needed a larger lot to accommodate the new immigrants of the 1915 Sayfo. A lot was purchased in West New York, where the church was consecrated.2 Prior to building the West New York church, the community had rented a building in Union City behind an Armenian church where they held services.3 The second church to be consecrated was St. Ephrem of Central Falls, Rhode Island. Back in 1916, the community had raised $158 [≈ $3,650 in 2019] for the building of a

al-Ḥikmat 2 (no. 1, 1927) p. 58. A brief history in 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (Sunday, May 16, 1965). 3 Interview with Joe Boyajy on June 21, 1995. 1 2

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church;1 and the Central Falls community began to hold annual picnics starting in 1918. We know that the fourth annual picnic was held on July 3, 1921, and that a few people from New Jersey, including Naum Faik, attended. They managed to raise $466 [≈ $6,600 in 2019] for building a church and a school at that event.2 Archbishop Barsoum visited and celebrated the liturgy on December 11, 1927 and consecrated the church.3 The third and last church to be consecrated was St. Mary in Worcester, MA. Earlier, the community had laid the foundations for the church at 17 Hawley Street in Worcester. The land was purchased in 1923 for $1,200 [≈ $17,700 in 2019], and the corner stone was laid in 1925, with the liturgy celebrated by Fr. Nahum Koorie and his brother Fr. Hanna Koorie.4 Archbishop Barsoum traveled by train and was received by the community and its priest Fr. Favlos Samuel. We do not have any reports on how the consecrations of churches proceeded. They must have been huge events and milestones in the life of the three communities. But in Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 5, 1916). The Union 1 (no. 6, 1921) p. 6. 3 al-Ḥikmat 2 (no. 3, 1927) p. 164. 4 S. Donabed and N. Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (2006) p. 77; S. Donabed, Remnants of Heroes (2003) p. 74 (there is a confusion about the names of the priests). 1 2

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an earlier visit to Boston, before the consecration, Archbishop Barsoum had explained how the event in Worcester would take place to some members of the community who had come to great him:1 The first day, I will read to you the pastoral letter from our Patriarch. The second day, I will give you information concerning the history of our Church and Nation, which I have written and wish to publish. The third day, the people may ask me questions about our Church and Nation during the present time. And on Sunday, we will hold the [consecration] mass.

Archbishop Barsoum celebrated the liturgy on April 21, 1928, and consecrated the church.2 Here, too, the Kharput community named their church after St. Mary of Kharput. In addition to consecrating the three churches, Archbishop Barsoum visited the community in various locations. We know that he visited Detroit, Michigan, but we do not have any details about the visit.3 In an undated letter to Naum Faik, he wrote that he had just visited Florida—most

Nineveh 2 (no. 1 & 2, 1928) p. 136. Al-Ḥikmat 2, p. 401. 3 J. Meno, The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch: A Brief Historical and Doctrinal Sketch in St. Mark’s 25th anniversary ([1984]) p. 21. 1 2

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likely Jacksonville.1 He may have also visited the community in Sherbrooke. Reflecting on his mission later, Archbishop Barsoum likened his journey to the missions of the early apostles:2 I was like the early apostles, moving from one place to another and from one church to the next, baptizing children, providing spiritual guidance to the elderly, ordaining priests and deacons, and spreading the word of God wherever my foot touched.

Indeed, the Archbishop kept a record of his spiritual activities. Although the local priests had the ability to baptize, some faithful must have seen it as a special blessing to have their children baptized by a bishop; and there were some localities where there were not even any priests. Archbishop Barsoum baptized at least 35 children and gave the holy Mayrun (Chrism for Confirmation) to about 40 people who had probably been baptized by other denominations. He registered the name of each child and individual, providing the names of their parents as well.3 During the summer of 1928, Barsoum wrote a letter to Fr. Yuhanna Dolabani, then at St. Mark’s monastery. From 1 Undated letter from Naum Faik to Barsoum, Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate archive, Maarat Saydnaya. 2 Y. Ibrahim, “Patriarch Afram Barsoum,” in Bayn al-Nahrayn 1 (no. 2, 1973) p. 221–238, quote on p. 227. 3 Patriarchal archive, Maarat Saydnaya.

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this letter, we know that Archbishop Barsoum was residing in Union City, NJ (at 237 49th Street). He informed Dolabani that he had traveled, visiting “our scattered” people to offer them spiritual services and to bring them to the “fear of God and the love of the Nation.” Reporting on his meetings in Lausanne, the Archbishop expressed disappointment and dismay, stating that “no benefit came from the meeting in Lausanne except empty promises… No true friend for our church can be found.” The letter gives some important statistics: “The number of our people is around 2,200 people, and amongst them some Protestants from Kharput.” This is the first time we learn of Kharput Protestants in America. The Archbishop also reported that he had raised $8,000 [≈ $118,000 in 2019], half of which went to “expenses,” $2,000 to the Patriarchate, and $800 was “from the Association”—presumably Taw Mim Simkath—for the publication of a history book.1

Archbishop Barsoum’s Scholarly Activities Archbishop Barsoum was quite the scholar. During his two trips to Europe—in 1919 to attend the Paris Peace Conference and in 1927 just before arriving in North America—he took the opportunity to visit the major European libraries that had Syriac manuscript collections. Later, he would write 1

Al-Ḥikmat 18 (2004).

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one of the most comprehensive references on the history of Syriac literature and would name it, appropriately, al-Luʾluʾ al-Manthūr (“The Scattered Pearls”), expressing how Syriac manuscripts were now dispersed all over the world. His alLuʾluʾ would become a treasure for the Syriac Orthodox many years later. The original Arabic was published five times1 and was translated into Syriac (1967), English (2000), Turkish (2005), Swedish (2006), and Malayalam (2009). The Archbishop did the same thing in America. He visited the libraries of New York, Harvard, and the University of Chicago, where he stayed for almost a year at the Oriental Institute. We do not have a diary of his activities; one reporter, though, noted a visit to Boston starting December 14, 1927, and explained how the Archbishop spent his days: “During the day he visited theological, scientific, and historical institutions; and the evenings he spent with his own people.”2 Later, when he would become the Patriarch, he would write to Fr. Barsoum of Worcester, requesting that he go to Harvard and copy specific texts.3 During his visit to the University of Chicago, he presented the library a copy of his History of Deir al-Zaafaran (published in Mardin in 1917) with a dedication in Syriac 1 Homs 1943, Aleppo 1956, Baghdad 1976, Damascus 1987, and Holland 1987. 2 Nineveh 2 (no. 1 & 2, 1928) p. 136. 3 AYS archive, folder Bishop Abajy.

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and French. The copy was catalogued under the call number BX178.M32I2.

With Gibran Khalil Gibran During his stay in the New Jersey area, it seems that the Archbishop got to know members of the Pen-League, an Arab American literary society that was formed in 1915 or 1917. They invited him to write an article about Syriac literature in their magazine al-Sāʾiḥ. When Gibran Khalil Gibran, author of The Prophet, read the article, he requested to meet him. Archbishop Barsoum visited Gibran at his home and was utterly shocked when Gibran received him in his pajamas. The room was full of used coffee cups, cigarette butts, and many paintings on the walls and all around the room, Barsoum later recalled.1 Before Barsoum managed to recover from his shock, Gibran said, “I have read your article, and I have a request.” “What is it?” replied Barsoum. “This world does not deserve to read any poet but Ephrem the Syrian,” Gibran said. “This poet is the star of the spirit… I beg you to translate Ephrem for us so that we

1 Y. Said, Ḥayāt al-Malphan Mar Gregorious Boulos Behnam

p. 32–33.

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can eat from the banquet of heaven and drink from its pure springs.” Barsoum promised Gibran to do so. He then asked Gibran a pointed question: “Why do you hate the clergy?” Gibran’s face showed anger, and he said in a sharp voice, “I love a true person like yourself, and I honor such a person, because you love Jesus… But I am against the small group that buys and sells in the name of Jesus.” Gibran took another cigarette and began smoking, looking at the ceiling in silence, clearly quite angry. “Please, Teacher, calm yourself!” Barsoum said. “I am now calmer than a blue lake, sir.” Barsoum spoke for a while; but for most of the time, Gibran remained silent. 1928

First Priest Ordained in America Fr. Hanna Koorie, who served the New Jersey and New York area, and Fr. Nahum Koorie, who served New England, had advanced in age. The community was looking for a new priest. Initially, they proposed a number of deacons from the homeland. Naum Faik suggested to Archbishop Barsoum that Fr. Peter Barsoum should move to the West New York Parish, as he spoke Turkish, and that a Turoyoor Arabic-speaking deacon from the Central Falls area be

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ordained for that parish.1 This is another example of how the linguistic diversity of the various communities in North America played a role in parish life. The West New York community selected a thirty-five year old deacon already living in the United States: Elias J. Sugar from Worcester, MA. Elias was born in Mardin in 1893 and studied at the church of the Forty Martyrs. He had taught at St. George in Damascus for three years and then immigrated to the United States and settled in Worcester. Sugar was ordained in 1928 by Archbishop Barsoum for St. Mary of West New York. He served until he passed away in 1963.2 This would be the first ordination of a Syriac Orthodox priest on American soil. By then, the parish numbered 450 families.3 We also know that the previous year, on October 16, 1927, Archbishop Barsoum elevated Fr. Nahum Koorie of St. Ephrem in Central Falls to the rank of Corepiscopos.4 He would become the most senior priest in North America. He returned to the Middle East (probably when Mor Severius went back) and passed away in 1933. His brother, Fr. Hanna, passed away in the United States in 1929.5 1 Letter from Naum Faik to Barsoum, Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate archive, Maarat Sydnaya. 2 St. Mark’s 25th anniversary ([1984]). 3 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 [2nd series] (no. 6, 1938) p. 7. 4 Nineveh 2 (no. 1 & 2, 1928) p. 136. 5 St. Mark’s 25th anniversary ([1984]).

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Second Bishop Visits After Archbishop Barsoum left North America, it did not take long before another archbishop arrived. Archbishop Gabriel Anto, who was the bishop of Jerusalem from 1923 until 1926, arrived in Canada in August 1929, primarily for health reasons and to visit his family. While he was not appointed in any formal capacity, e.g. as a Patriarchal Delegate, he was entrusted with caring for the faithful in terms of spiritual services.1 We know that he was called upon on at least two occasions. In 1930, Naum Faik passed away. He was a respected member of the community and a high-ranking deacon, and his contribution to North American Syriac Orthodox life is detailed throughout the previous chapters of this book. Archbishop Anto was called upon to preside over the funeral service, which took place at St. Mary in West New York.2 Two year later, Patriarch Elias III passed away while on a visit to India. By now, the line of communication between the North American community and the Church in the Middle East had evolved. (Recall that the community heard accidentally about the election and installation of Patriarch Elias.) The parishes of North America held a memorial for 1 2

al-Ḥikmat 4 (no. 9, 1930) p. 555. M. F. Jaqqi [Çakı], Naoum Faik (1936) p. 106–108.

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the late Patriarch in Worcester, presided over by Archbishop Anto. Worcester was most likely chosen as a midpoint between Canada, where the Archbishop was residing, and New Jersey. There may have been other formal events in which Archbishop Anto participated; we simply do not have any records. He did not remain in North America for long after the memorial service. The list of bishops of Jerusalem includes his name from 1932 until he passed away in 1938.1 1930

The General Synod at Deir Mar Matta We have seen that in 1927, Patriarch Elias III planned to hold a general synod in Jerusalem. We have also seen that he invited the North Americans to attend and that they sent a long list of requests. The general synod did not take place until 1930, when it was held at Deir Mar Matta outside Mosul. The Patriarch could not garner local support for moving the Patriarchate to Jerusalem as the other major Christian communities—the Greeks, Latins and Armenians—objected. It seems that the American parishes did not send representatives and appointed three locals to represent them at

1

G. A. Kiraz, ʿIqd al-Jumān (1988) p. 46.

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the synod: Dr. Abdulahad Abdulnur, Dr. Abdullah Qasir, and Said Nashmeh. Many of the requests of the North American communities were granted.1 Resolution 21 kept the Julian calendar as the official calendar of the Church but permitted the Syriac Orthodox in North America to switch to the Gregorian calendar with the exception of Easter, which was to remain according to the Julian calendar. Resolution 22 promised to send to the Americans an Apostolic Delegate from time to time to take care of the spiritual needs of the immigrants. Some of the North American requests pertained to the entire church, and the Synod took action on some of these. Resolution 1 called for the establishment of a Seminary, and Resolution 2 called for the establishment of Sunday schools—the North Americans had called for the establishment of schools in general. Resolution 4 put together a committee to look into the unification of liturgy, one of the concerns of the North American parishes. Another concern of the North American parishes was the use of Garshuni in correspondence among the clergy. Resolution 10 made the decision that “all correspondence among the Syriac clergy is to be in Syriac or in the Syriac script in the desire for protecting this rich heritage.” Resolution 30 recommended that parish priests be given a regular salary.

1

Khulāṣat muqarrarāt majmaʿ dayr mār mattā (1930).

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Archbishop Barsoum, Now the Locum Tenens While on a visit to India, Patriarch Elias III passed away and was buried there. A memorial service was held at St. Mary in Worcester, MA, which was attended by more than 600 people with delegations from the various parishes of North America. The liturgy was celebrated by Mor Gregorius Gabriel Anto, as mentioned earlier. He was assisted by Fr. Peter Barsoum of St. Ephrem in Rhode Island, Fr. Favlos Samuel of St. Mary in Worcester, and Fr. Elias Sugar of St. Mary in West New York. The liturgy was offered in four languages: Syriac, English, Turkish, and Arabic.1 The bishops of the Syriac Orthodox Church held a synod and elected Mor Severius Afram Barsoum, who had visited North America as an Apostolic Delegate in 1927, as Qoyumo, or locum tenens. The task of the Qoyumo is to administer the church and prepare for the election of a new Patriarch. During his tenure as Qoyumo, Mor Severius Barsoum wrote to the North Americans, outlining the main challenges facing the Patriarchate in a “new age.”2 He informed the parishioners in North America that “the modern age requires that he obtain their opinion” on matters pertaining to Assyrian Progress (April 1932). Letter dated May 23, 1932, and published in Beth Nahrin (July, 1932) p. 4. 1 2

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the Patriarchate. The church was now weak, especially after the immigration of its people from their homelands after Sayfo. “We want the mixed assembly in this new age to be the permanent assembly for the Patriarchate,” he wrote. But such a move would require funding, and where would that funding come from? He informed them that “the life of the church today depends on putting together laws and regulations… and establishing a seminary, which the church has been dreaming about for sixty years.” Again, Barsoum questioned, where would the income for this seminary come from? Archbishop Barsoum also pointed out the importance of publishing liturgical and spiritual books. Yet again, where would the financial support for this come from? Mor Severus asked for the opinion of the North Americans on two big problems facing the church. “The problems of the church in India are well known,” he said, and all the efforts of Patriarch Elias III “did not produce anything as Bishop Gewargis [of India] does not seek peace.” How was the Patriarchate to deal with this issue? St. Mark’s in Jerusalem was in debt, and the mortgage was a large expense. How to resolve this debt so that the church could benefit from the monastery’s waqf ? The Qoyume clearly put much faith in and had many expectations of the North American communities. “We ask God to give you the right decisions in your answers. We will gather your answers and discuss them with the bishops.” He

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concluded his letter by stating that “the new Patriarch will have a great responsibility.” Reading between the lines, it is clear that Mor Serverius was expressing frustration with the North American communities. The American parishes had great expectations of the Patriarchate: in 1927, they suggested creating a mixed assembly, establishing a seminary, publishing books, etc. They may have expressed the same expectations of the Qoyumo. The Qoyumo, in return, was basically telling them: put your money where your mouth is. 1933

The New Beth-Nahreen Many of the children and grandchildren of the early immigrants remained active in their respective parishes. With the death of Naoum Faik in 1930, his newspaper Beth Nahrin was coming to an end: the last issue that I know of is from 1932. Beth Nahrin was the newspaper of the first generation, speakers of Turkish, Arabic, and Aramaic. The second generation (i.e. the children of the immigrants, who were born in the United States) began an English monthly periodical and named it The New BethNahreen. The publication was initially sponsored by Taw Mim Simkath, then still called in English the Assyrian National School Association of America, Inc. Sometime in the summer of 1938, however, there seems to have been a reorganization; the publisher was now the Assyrian New Beth-

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Nahreen Association, Inc., and the volume number was reset back to one (in the footnotes here, these issues are marked as 2nd series). The inaugural issue was most likely published in December 1932. An editorial in a later issue named the importance of such a publication:1 Nothing so coordinates and unifies public opinion as a newspaper. This is especially true with a news organ of a small nation or of a small group of people of foreign extraction living in their adopted country… It is not great deduction to conclude that the New BethNahreen is not a luxury but a necessity. There must be an organ to bring together our people. Assyrians must not be allowed to disband and forget their identity, which situation is especially applicable to the younger generations of Assyrians.

Throughout the periodical, we see recurring themes of a “nation,” the millet of the older generation; “unity,” the ḥuyodo of the earlier writers; and “progress,” that taraki that was inherited from Ottoman modernity and remained as the Taw of Taw Mim Simkath. Mention of the glories of ancient Assyria—and, on a few occasions, of the ancient Arameans—was also a recurring theme. The sense of Assyrian The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 11, 1934) p. 1. The editorial is written by George Moomjy. 1

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identity was clearly strong among those of the second and third generation. The New Beth-Nahreen was mostly aimed at the Englishspeaking younger generation, although a few very short articles appeared in Arabic. Its editorial board lists new English first names with the familiar old family names:1 the Managing Editor was George Bally, and the treasurer was Alice Bally (recall Sanharib Balley of the earlier generation). The treasurer was G. G. George. All three lived in Astoria, Long Island, in New York. There were two associate editors: J. H. Eshak, who lived in Camden, NJ, and Jack Darakjy, who lived all the way in Los Angeles. It is interesting to observe that the connections with the West Coast were still active. Editorials, announcements, and news snippets tell us much about community life during the 1930s and 1940s. Again, new first names with older last names appear throughout these publications. There was a John Shamsey, an Albert Dartley, an Alexander Mardinli, a William Cheringal, a Leo Kapanjy. These individuals, probably all members of the second generation, were elected in 1934 to the board parish of St. Mary in West New York.2

1 2

The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 3, 1934) p. 3. The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 3, 1934) p. 6.

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Union City, NJ, was home to a sizable Junior Girl’s Club, with 200 people attending one event.1 Brooklyn, NJ, had a Ladies Auxiliary, established in 1931, which seemed to operate under the auspices of Taw Mim Simkath.2 We also learn that in the 1930s, Taw Mim Simkath had branches in Summit, Newark, and Brooklyn.3 Paterson’s Ladies Aid Society, which by now had a place at 842 Main Street, was still active.4 News from Central Falls reports the creation of the St. Ephrem Junior Youth group in 1939.5 We also learn about the Los Angeles community. We’ve already seen that one of its members served as an associate editor of The New Beth-Nahreen. We also encounter references to the Assyrian Association of Juniors in Los Angeles, a group consisting of the youth of the community.6 As the newspaper was run mostly by parishioners of St. Mary in West New York, we also learn about that parish during the 1930s. An annual mortgage drive was held to raise funds to cancel the debt on the church building.7 The Ibid. The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 3, 1934) p. 7 and back-cover ad; [5, issue has 1] (no. 6, 1938) p. 7. 3 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 4, 1934) p. 4. 4 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 5, 1934) p. 4. 5 The New Beth-Nahreen 2 [2nd series] (no. 5, 1939) p. 11. 6 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 3, 1934) p. 6. 7 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 7–8, 1934) p. 2. 1 2

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parish had an educational club and a fund “for the poor and destitute.”1 It also had a Sunday school with forty regular students.2 The few ads give us a glimpse into the careers of the young. H. Bishar owned a company that sold generators and other machines in Astoria, Long Island.3 George Mardinli had a fuel corporation in Hoboken, NJ; and Selim Elby owned an oriental rug shop on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a very posh area. The Malko brothers had a grocery store in New York.4 Salem Boorujy made good money in a dry cleaning business in Summit; and in 1938, he built the Chatham Manor. (According to the 1940 US Census, he was born around 1907, meaning he would have been roughly 31 at the time).5 George Kedersha sold insurance in West New York, and S. H. Bazaz was a notary public in Hackensack.6 Along with ads for these business, we find reports of younger people obtaining degrees in fields like law and pharmacy; and at least one, Charles Martin Saffer, obtained a Ph.D. from MIT. A “Professional Directory” from 1939 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 3, 1934) p. 5. The New Beth Nahreen 1 (no. 5, 1934) p. 4. 3 The various issues of The New Beth-Nahreen consulted for this book. 4 The New Beth-Nahreen 2 (no. 1, 1934) p. [12–13]. 5 The New Beth-Nahreen [6, issue has 1] (no. 7, 1938) p. 4. 6 The New Beth-Nahreen 2 [2nd series] (no. 5, 1939) p. 16. 1 2

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lists nine lawyers, three physicians, and one pharmacist.1 One “success story” is that of David Perley, who immigrated from Kharput in 1918. The David B. Perley Memorial Assyrian Fund at Harvard University, set up in his honor in 1986, is a testament to his work in the New England community and as an advocate of Assyrian causes. A church calendar for May 1939 tells of the continuous linguistic diversity of the community. The language of the sermon for each Sunday is given:2 May 7, English sermon. May 14, Arabic and English sermon. May 21, Arabic and English sermon. May 28 (Pentecost), English and Arabic sermon. June 4, Arabic sermon.

Being from Mardin, Fr. Sugar would have been an Arabic speaker, though the older generation of the West New York parish would have been Turkish-speaking. We have already seen earlier that Naum Faik preferred a Turkish-speaking priest for his parish. English seems to have been used in services to a limited extent in the 1940s.3 We also know from the schedule that Sunday services began at 11 AM. This gave people sufficient time to travel The New Beth-Nahreen 2 [2nd series] (no. 3, 1939) p. 4, 7. The New Beth-Nahreen 2 [2nd series] (no. 5, 1939) p. 13. 3 The New Beth-Nahreen 6 [2nd series] (no. 1, 1943) p. 16. 1 2

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by public transportation all the way from Long Island, Brooklyn, Summit, and other distant places. Those coming from Long Island had to take the subway, then a ferry, then a train, with much walking.1 The 11 AM tradition persists today in most parishes. The New Beth-Nahreen, like all its predecessors, ran at a deficit. An appeal for support during the first year informs us that each issue cost Taw Mim Simkath $60 [≈ $880 in 2019] while the donations were a mere $25 [≈ $370 in 2019]. That works out to an annual deficit of $720 [≈ $10,600 in 2019], assuming 12 issues annually (though we do know that sometimes double issues were published).2 1934

First Choir In 1930, Resolution 7 of the Synod of Mar Matta allowed the use of the organ in the church, to the disappointment of some bishops. Resolution 8 permitted girls to sing.3 Despite this, we do not know when modern choirs were formed or whether any church in the Middle East acted on the synod’s decision.

Interview with Joe and Dorothy Boyajy on June 21, 1995. The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 7–8, 1934) p. 5. 3 Khulāṣat muqarrarāt majmaʿ dayr mār mattā (1930) p. 5. 1 2

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Sometime before April 1934, St. Mary of West New York formed the first modern choir, at least in North America.1 Traditional choirs, which were called gudo and were composed of male clergy, had already existed in the church for generations. The modern choirs were composed not of deacons, but of lay people, who normally sat silently in the pews. St. Mary’s choir consisted of fourteen young women and three young men. John Stambol and Elias Boyajy were credited with the idea of forming the ensemble. If indeed St. Mary’s choir was the first in the entire Syriac Orthodox Church, then Stambol and Boyajy were true pioneers. The choir had special gowns designed. Hymn books were donated (although we do not know of any hymnals published at the time). The hymns were taught by Boyajy, who was assisted by Elias Palak (a nephew of Naum Faik) and Salim Darakjy. The three must have already been deacons to be able to teach the hymns. The choir had two organists: one Mrs. John Stambol (we do not know her first name) and Bashar Boyajy. An editorial in The New Beth-Nahreen reads: The choir is a permanent institution. It is part of our church. And these young folks have made it possible. They are the answer to the crying need of the day— more young people in the church.

1

The New Beth Nahrin 1 (no. 5, 1934) p. 4.

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Indeed, this “crying need of the day” would remain a constant issue for generations to come. Keeping the young would prove difficult beyond the second or third generation. It is a problem that is still faced today. 1934

Successful Boys… Successful Girls Aphrem George Hoyen of Lowell, MA, most likely of the second generation, was a gifted boy of “modest circumstances.” He was very interested in music and became the first and only American to have ever received a certificate of honor from the Mozarteum of Salzburg in Austria. He had been a conductor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Little Orchestra Association and was sent to Austria to complete his studies in music. While in Salzburg, he was selected to conduct the Beethoven’s Leonore Overture. He also attended musical events at Munich, Vienna, and Paris. He was a pride of the community, and at least three issues of The New Beth-Nahreen reported on his activities. Even the California-based Assyrian Progress reported on him.1 Later, Aphrem wrote of his hard work in

The New Beth Nahreen 1 (no. 5, 1934) p. 6; (no. 6–7, 1934) p. 12; 1 (no. 11, 1934) p. 7; Lowell Sun (Tuesday, September 18, 1934) p. 2. A fuller biography is given in The New Beth-Nahreen [6] [2nd 1

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Salzburg, describing how he would “work from eight to ten hours a day for ten weeks trying to impress the Herr Doktor and Herr Professors.”1 Margaret Najar was a success in sports. A graduate of Ridgewood High School in New Jersey, she was a successful basketball player and went on to become a referee; she was licensed in 1939 to referee any international basketball game by the New Jersey Board of the Women’s National Officials Rating Committee.2 Sherman Chavoor was another success story. His family was among the Kharput families that moved to the West Coast. He was born in Los Angeles in 1914 and attended UCLA. A 2008 obituary in the Los Angeles Times called him “an outstanding athlete.”3 UCLA named him a “most valuable player” in 1935. Sherman stayed close to his roots and married a girl from the community, Lily Bedig, in 1939. He later embarked on a 35-year career with the Burbank Unified School District. After volunteering for the United States Army, where he taught celestial navigation in 1942, he returned to Burbank Schools in 1945 and became an series] (no. 4, 1943) p. 5–6. We know his first name, Aphrem, from the Assyrian Progress (July 1932). 1 Assyrian Progress (Sept 1934) p. 2–4. 2 The New Beth Nahreen 2 (no. 5, 1939) p. 4. 3 Los Angeles Times (Feb 12, 2008).

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administrator in 1950. The Kharput community in Los Angeles was very proud of Chavoor, and he is mentioned many times in the 1930s issues of Assyrian Progress. Sherman’s sister Evelyn also made it.1 Their father Elias used to sell fruit produce to the Hollywood stars. The actress Helen Douglas Gehegen and her husband, actor Melvin Douglas, were looking for a babysitter. Elias suggested his daughter Evelyn. Helen Gehegen was quite pleased with Evelyn; and when she later ran for US Congress and won, she took Evelyn with her to D.C. as part of her staff. Joan Chavoor, Evelyn’s second cousin who lived in Worcester, visited in the 1940s and remembers that Evelyn used to take them swimming at the home of Helen and Melvin Douglas. It is not clear if Sherman Chavoor was aware that a Syriac Orthodox church was present in Burbank starting in the early 1990s. (I was an active member at the time and do not recall him.) Again, one aspect of Syriac Orthodox life in America is the drifting away of second- and third-generation members.

1

Interview with Joan Chavoor, March 2019.

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US Census The Bureau of the Census of the United States government performed a third census of religious bodies in 1936.1 In this census, the community reported four parishes instead of three, including Detroit, MI. The membership had increased from 1,407 in 1926 to 3,100. Three Sunday schools were reported with 20 teachers and 160 “scholars” (probably students). The 3,100 members included 1,680 males and 1,420 females, and 860 members were under 13 years old. Geographically, 880 were from MA, 470 from RI, 1,200 from NJ, and now 550 from MI. The historical statement on the community was repeated, unchanged from the 1926 version. The United States Census of Religious Bodies collected significant data on religious organizations through this 1936 census. Data was also collected in 1946, but it was never published because the U.S. Congress failed to budget money either for tabulating or for publishing the information. By the time of the following census of 1956, Congress had

Department of Commerce, Religious Bodies: 1936, Part II (1941). 1

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discontinued the funding for the census of Religious Bodies altogether.1 1937

A New Priest for Detroit Details surrounding the arrival of the Syriac Orthodox in Detroit are a bit obscure, mostly because the community did not leave us literature. We know only a bit about their early history from the reports of visitors who met them and wrote about it in New Jersey publications. We know that there were immigrants who arrived in Detroit during the first years of the twentieth century, if not earlier. In 1917, a certain Naum Nashmi, who was residing in the East Coast, travelled to Detroit for business and met there with Syriac Orthodox people from Homs. It seems that Nashmi convinced them to form a chapter of the Intibāh association,2 but it is not clear if this chapter was active. In 1918, someone in Detroit named ʿIsa ʿAbbud alRayyis received a letter from Jerusalem and sent it for publication in Beth Nahrin.3 1 A Brief History of Religion and the U.S. Census, Pew Research Center (January 26, 2010) from http://www.pewforum.org/ 2010/01/26/a-brief-history-of-religion-and-the-u-s-census/. 2 Beth Nahrin 2 (no. 4, 1917). 3 Beth Nahrin 3 (no. 8, 1918) p. 6.

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We have seen that sometime before 1918, the community created an organization called Progress Association (in Arabic, Jamʿiyat al-ʾIrtiqāʾ ), which provided aid to Jerusalem. A list of 33 donors is provided, so we can assume that there were at least 40 to 50 families in the area.1 It seems that by the 1930s, the community in Detroit had grown to 120 families. By the early 1930s, they had a parish-like association under the name of St. John Chrysostom. Patriarch Barsoum agreed to send Fr. Steven Durghali to them to serve their needs. The community raised the funds for his travel and provided for all the liturgical vestments and the books that were needed to open a parish. Fr. Durghali left Beirut on a ship on November 17, 1937, and travelled to New York via Marseilles. After Fr. Durghali arrived in the United States, he telegrammed the Patriarch on December 4, informing him of his arrival. His first stop was at the Church of the Virgin Mary in West New York, where he was welcomed by Fr. Sugar. He celebrated the liturgy in West New York the following Sunday and then went to Detroit.2

1 2

Beth Nahrin 3 (no. 3, 1918) p. 3. Patriarchal Magazine, Jerusalem, 4 (no. 10, 1937) p. 314–315.

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Third Bishop Visits We have seen that, in 1930, the Synod of Mar Matta adopted a decision to send a bishop to America from time to time as an Apostolic Delegate to take care of the spiritual needs of the North American parishioners. In 1938, Patriarch Afram Barsoum, who himself had been sent as an Apostolic Delegate back in 1927, sent Archbishop Yuhanna Abajy, bishop of Jazireh and the Euphrates, to check on the North Americans and to collect funds for the Patriarchate projects, especially the seminary. Archbishop Abajy left Homs on March 11, 1938; he first traveled to Beirut, where he visited the American Council to receive the necessary papers for the visit. The American Council was extremely helpful; and on March 15, he boarded a ship to Marseille. Once he had arrived there, he telegraphed Fr. Sugar of the West New York church, informing him of the anticipated date of his arrival in New York. The ship from Marseille docked in New York on April 1, and Archbishop Abajy was welcomed as a VIP. He was asked to stay on board until two members of the community, Mr. Elias and Mr. Anton Kirkenni, boarded to welcome him on behalf of the community. After two hours, they disembarked on a smaller boat that took them to the New York shore. There, a huge number of the North American community, headed by Fr. Sugar, were awaiting him,

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shouting slogans in support of the Patriarch and the archbishop. Archbishop Abajy then entered a beautiful car decorated with flowers. A motorcade, escorted by police on motorcycles, moved away from the shore and headed to St. Mary in West New York. After entering the church, Archbishop Abajy gave a speech in Syriac and in Arabic. The arrival was reported in the local media; and it was announced in the local newspapers that the following Sunday, the archbishop would be celebrating the liturgy in the language of Jesus. Archbishop Abajy stayed for a few weeks in West New York, visiting the parishioners; and he celebrated Passion Week and Easter Sunday at St. Mary. Next, he visited Central Falls, arriving on May 24 and celebrating the liturgy on the following Sunday. He remained in Central Falls for a few days, visiting the parishioners and providing guidance for the administration of the church. While in the area, he also visited some families in Providence, returning to Central Falls for the celebration of Pentecost. Before returning to New Jersey, he encouraged the community to establish a school (i.e. an evening or weekend school). They did so, enrolling 32 students in the school’s first year, both male and female; Fr. Favlos Samuel taught the school’s pupils the Syriac language and the liturgical prayers. Archbishop Abajy returned to New Jersey, which was his base.

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On July 1, the archbishop boarded a train to visit Worcester. He was received by the priest and the parishioners at the train station; from there, they visited St. Mary. He celebrated the liturgy the following Sunday. The following day, he visited the mayor and was given the symbolic key to the city. He remained in Worcester for 35 days, visiting the parishioners, resolving some internal disputes among them, and encouraging the congregation to unite. He then visited Boston. From Boston, he embarked on a journey to Sherbrooke, Canada, accompanied by Fr. Elias Sugar. He spent forty days there, visiting the parishioners. Fr. Sugar served the Canadian community at least once a year. Back in Boston, the archbishop boarded a train to Detroit and was received by Fr. Steven Durghali and the community. He celebrated the liturgy on Sunday and remained in the area for 25 days, visiting the parishioners and resolving internal disputes. After completing his visit, he returned via Worcester to West New York by train. He then visited Detroit for a second time, suggesting that there may have been unresolved issues after his first visit. At the conclusion of the trip, Archbishop Abajy gathered the priests and representatives of the various parishes. He gave them a report on the Patriarchate and its work and projects and asked the North Americans to help in the financial needs of the Patriarchate. The representatives agreed to help and signed a document to help the seminary.

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Archbishop Abajy embarked on his journey home on January 22, 1939. A trip between the Middle East and the United States typically took about two weeks at that time, and he arrived in Beirut on February 7, 1939.1 One month later, World War II began, and the community in the Middle East was faced with new hardships. But this time, the war would affect the North American community, too, as many young boys enlisted to serve. 1939

Boys in the Army Quite a number of young men served in the US armed forces, and some had even served in World War I. Abraham K. Yoosuf, originally from Kharput and a resident of Worcester, was a captain. Charles Perch, a fellow immigrant from Kharput, was also part of the US military in 1918. The community in Worcester used to take part in the 4th of July parade, carrying a sign that read “Sons of Assyria.” Other known veterans were Henry Perch and Bishara Donabed, the latter shown in a photograph from 1942.2

Patriarchal Magazine, Jerusalem, no 4 p. 314–315; no. 5 pp. 106–110, 165–166, 218, 276–278. 2 S. Donabed and N. Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (2006) p. 35–37, 45–46, 105. 1

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Many boys served in the army, especially during World War II. A list of “our boys on U.S. service honor rolls” gives the names of about 120 young men who were already serving in January 1943.1 Ninety of them belonged to St. Mary in West New York. By September of the same year, the number of boys serving from West New York alone rose to 130.2 Young girls joined the red cross. It was always a sad occasion when the parish priest would announce a missing boy. 1940

Patriarch Appeals for the Seminary One of Patriarch Barsoum’s achievements was the creation of St. Ephrem Seminary, which produced, and continuous to produce, clergy for the church. It had been decided at earlier synods that the seminary was to be supported by the various dioceses. Oral tradition has it that Patriarch Barsoum spent much of his personal money for the creation of the seminary. It is said that in order to keep the seminary running, he sold his mother’s jewels (she came from a wealthy Mosul family). On April 26, 1940, the Patriarch wrote a letter at least to the West New York parish, requesting that North 1

9–10. 2

The New Beth-Nahreen 6 [2nd series] (no. 1, 1943) p. 3–5, 7, The New Beth-Nahreen [6] [2nd series] (no. 5, 1943) p. 3.

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America pay its dues for the seminary. Apparently, he had written earlier as well. An editorial in The New Beth-Nahreen, following the letter, indicates that no action had been taken by the appropriate committee in America and claims that Taw Mim Simkath was the only organization that was paying its dues.1 The issue of the seminary would become a constant point of antagonism between the Patriarch and the North American parishes during the next decade. 1941

St. Ephrem Association in Sherbrooke The immigrants in Canada, mostly from Mardin, established an association under the name of St. Ephrem in 1941 for the purposes of establishing a parish. Until that point, Fr. Sugar has been visiting them from New Jersey annually to do the Holy Liturgy. In 1940, the liturgy was celebrated in a Catholic church, apparently the first time a Syriac Orthodox eucharistic liturgy was permitted in a Catholic parish.2 Michelle Kömüre was the first to rally the people to get a church going. They met and held picnics and dinners to raise money. They would get together at a Kömüre cottage in Lake Mégantic. They partied a lot and drank a lot. By 1947, they requested that the Patriarch assign them a permanent priest; they had already purchased a house for 1 2

The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 8, 1940) p. 4. The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 11, 1940) p. 9.

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a priest, which they rented out until a priest was assigned. Rizqallah Kömüre was the president of the association during this period.1 By 1952, the Mardin community of Montreal was 600 strong.2 1948

War in Palestine: More Immigrants World War II ended in 1945. Three years later, the British Mandate over Palestine came to an end. The League of Nations decided to divide Palestine into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. Jerusalem was to become an international territory. But things did not go as smoothly as planned. A war broke out in 1948 between the Jews and the Arabs. By the end of the British Mandate, there were about 4,000 Syriac Orthodox in Palestine. During the 1948 war, a bomb fell on St. Mark’s Monastery, which was full of refugees. A monk named Boutros Sawme was killed. While the causalities of war were limited to 10 killed and 30 injured, the biggest catastrophe was the loss of homes. Many had to flee and became refugees. Some became refugees internally and ended up in the West Bank. Many others left for Amman, Jordan, and from there to other countries, such as the United States. The Palestinians who made it to 1 2

al-Mashriq 1 (no. 18 & 19, 1947) p. 879–880. al-Jāmiʿa al-Suryāniya 18 (no. 4, 1952) p. 200–201.

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the United States mostly ended up in New Jersey, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Though distant, the 1948 war would change the path of Syriac Orthodoxy in North America. 1949

Archbishop Samuel as an Apostolic Delegate At the end of the 1948 war, Patriarch Afram Barsoum had many refugees to care for. Jerusalem needed much help to rebuild its community, and the only community that had the financial strength to help was the one in North America. The Patriarch sent the archbishop of Jerusalem, Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, as an Apostolic Delegate to visit the North American parishioners and collect funds to help the refugees of the 1948 war. In the appointment encyclical, dated November 19, 1948, and translated into English, the Patriarch gave Mor Athanasius the power to1 ordain Chorepiscopuses, priest and deacons, and examine the spiritual conditions of the priests and deacons, and attend to all their needs… and to assure us of your spiritual welfare, and guide your particularly to the Teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ… He will also examine your communal and constructional conditions and do whatever is beneficial and appropriate for you so that our heart may be gladdened.

1

AYS archive, folder 1948.

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The Patriarch then reminded them of the catastrophe that befell the Holy Land: Your Syrian brethren have taken refuge in Bethlehem, Transjordan, Beirut, Damascus, Zahla, Homs and Aleppo. Their losses have been heavy and the harm which they have suffered has been immense… They number 1930, dispersed here and there. The great losses sustained by our convent of St. Mark’s deepens our grief… Therefore, kindly extend your generous hands… by making substantial contributions, worthy of the honour of the Holy Land… Register the contributions from all places with care and precision in documents to be made in two copies which should be authenticated by the respective Parish priests and their Council Members.

It is worth noting the reference to “your Syrian brethren.” The Syriac Orthodox in America had thus far been using “Assyrian” as a self-identifying label. The different translations of Syriac Suryoyo and Arabic Suryānī into English “Syrian” and “Assyrian” would soon become the cause of a major conflict.

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Bedouins and Scrolls In addition to the 1948 war, an unrelated event in the Judean desert would have a major impact on the life of Syriac Orthodoxy in North America. In late 1946 or early 1947, two Arab Bedouins discovered three scrolls near the Dead Sea. The Bedouins sold the scrolls to a Syriac Orthodox antiquities dealer in Bethlehem named Khalil Eskander Shahin (also known as Kando). Kando in turn sold the scrolls to Archbishop Samuel for 24 Palestinian Liras ($97.20 at the time, ≈ $1,100 in 2019). On September 5, Archbishop Samuel asked his friend Anton Kiraz to accompany him to Homs to show the scrolls to Patriarch Barsoum. The Patriarch dismissed their antiquity. Samuel and Kiraz were quite close. In fact, Kiraz was the only person from Palestine to attend the consecration of Archbishop Samuel in Homs in 1946 as the rest of the parish had a dispute with the Archbishop-elect. Kiraz later held a lavish dinner to honor the new archbishop. The story of what happened next is disputed between Archbishop Samuel and Kiraz. According to Kiraz, after the trip, around October 3, Samuel wanted to sell Kiraz the scrolls to take care of dire financial needs. Kiraz paid him 25 Palestinian Liras (just above what Samuel paid for them) and told him, “Let’s be partners in whatever the scrolls may bring.” According to a later account by the archbishop, this

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encounter did not take place: Kiraz was simply a parishioner that heard about the scrolls and offered to help, later making claims of ownership in order to profiteer.1 In February 1948, Anton Kiraz took the scrolls and showed them to the Jewish archeologist E. Sukenik. (Sukenik had excavated a cave on Kiraz’s property in September 1945, but Kiraz lost the property in the 1948 war.) They met at the office of Malak Tannourdji, the librarian of the YMCA and a member of the Syriac Orthodox community. After a few meetings, Kiraz and Archbishop Samuel decided not to sell the scrolls to Sukenik as Kiraz had suggested—seeing that Sukenik was very keen on the purchase—instead agreeing to get a second opinion to determine the proper value of the scrolls. The scrolls remained in Kiraz’s house for some time, after which they were taken to St. Mark’s to be shown to scholars at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. In late March 1948, the scrolls were deposited in a bank in Beirut without Kiraz’s knowledge. In his autobiography, Archbishop Samuel expressed how his appointment as Apostolic Delegate to North America2 1 Kiraz’s version is told by J. C. Trever, The Untold Story of Qumran (1965). Samuel’s version is given in his Treasure of Qumran: My Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1966) p. 155 ff., 174. 2 Samuel p. 169–170.

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could not have come at a more auspicious time, for I just received a word from America advising that the only possibility of selling the scrolls there would be to make them available in that country for the inspection of prospective buyers.

Archbishop Samuel first travelled to Beirut and then sailed on the Excalibur. “I was aboard her with the scrolls… laid at my feet.”

Towards a Parish-like Society Until the arrival of Archbishop Barsoum as an Appostolic Delegate in 1927, the North American community functioned as a self-made society, partly secular and nationalistic and partly sacred and structured around parish-like organizations. With the consecration of churches and the constant arrival of visiting bishops, the North American communities were moving closer and closer to structed parishes with more contact with the hierarchy of the church. The main bodies of the community were now parish boards of trustees. The large number of secular organizations, especially in the New England area, had diminished to only a few. North America now had four priests serving five parishes: Fr. Elias Sugar of West New York (NJ and NY in general), Fr. Favlos Samuel of Worcester, Fr. Peter Barsoum of Central Falls, and Fr. Stephen Durghali for Detroit. Fr.

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Sugar also served Sherbrooke, Canada, at least once a year. We do not know if Fr. Durghali served the faithful in Jacksonville in any capacity. During the 1930s and 1940s, we see the beginnings of the loss of second-generation Syriac Orthodox Americans. In Los Angeles, a debate over intermarriage appeared throughout the 1930s issues of Assyrian Progress. Parents’ traditional values put restrictions on boys meeting girls, and there were calls to permit girls to attend the various youth events so that the young could meet. Girls complained that boys did not go after their hearts but rather complied with their parents’ expectations of what a marriage should look like. Until now, associations were segregated by gender. The case of Los Angeles is an example. By the mid-1930s, the small community of Kharput immigrants divided itself into three associations: there was the Assyrian Benevolent Association of California for men, the Assyrian Ladies Benevolent Association for women, and the Assyrian American Association of Juniors, aka the Triple A-s, for the youth. The Triple A-s was active in sports activities, parties, and picnics. Tasks were also split among the associations: the “seniors” fostered “interest in the social, economic, educational, and civic conditions of Harpoot Assyrians and their descendants.” The Ladies were usually the force behind any fundraising, managing all events. By 1935, there were 35 female members in Los Angeles. The Triple A-s,

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who had about 30 members, were to prepare the younger generation to be ready to join the older organizations.1 The lack of organized parishes—apart from West New York for the New Jersey and New York community, Worcester for the entire New England community, and Central Falls for Rhode Island—meant that smaller communities remained without parishes for almost half a century. We begin to see less and less mention of Fitchburg, Lowell, Leominster, and Springfield—all in Massachusetts—in news reporting, though some members would have joined St. Mary in Worcester. Soon a new chapter in North American Syriac Orthodoxy would open—not because of any desire in North America, but because of totally unrelated events in the Middle East: the 1948 Arab-Israeli war in Palestine and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls!

1

Assyrian Progress (Nov. 1935) p. 1.

5. Formation of an Archdiocese (1949–1960) The arrival of Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel as an Apostolic Delegate marked the start of a new chapter in the life of Syriac Orthodoxy in North America. Within half a century, he would build not only the largest Archdiocese within the jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Church—at least in terms of territory—but also the wealthiest. He would grow the church from five parishes to more than a dozen across the continent. He himself would become famous worldwide for bringing the Dead Sea Scrolls to the United States. But the initial process for establishing the Archdiocese would be tainted with difficulties and controversies. The 1950s, the subject of this chapter, would be an era of conflict and divisions: conflict between Patriarch and bishop, between bishop and priest, between parish councils and members, even between brother and sister. This conflict was multifaceted, but it culminated in a huge controversy over the name of the church and the community. As such, this chapter was the most difficult for me to write. But it had to be written… It had to be written to be true to the early immigrants, who laid the foundations upon which Mor Athanasius built his Archdiocese; to be true to Mor 173

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Athanasius, who labored tirelessly to create this vast Archdiocese; and to be true to ourselves, so that by understanding history we can build a better future. I will try my best to be fair to all the parties involved, giving their own perspective. The reader should try to do the same. 1949

Arrival in New Jersey The Excalibur docked in Jersey City, New Jersey, on January 29, 1949, and the archbishop was welcomed by the clergy and faithful led by Fr. Sugar of West New York. The following Sunday, the archbishop celebrated the holy liturgy, assisted by Fr. Sugar, Fr. Favlos Samuel of Worcester, Fr. Peter Barsoum of Central Falls, and Fr. Stephen Durghali of Detroit. This was the entire clergy of North America at the time. During the sermon, the Archbishop relayed to the faithful the despair and poor condition of the Jerusalem refugees. The community rented a room for Mor Athanasias in Hotel Plaza in Jersey City for a few months. Shortly after his arrival, he formed a committee to raise funds for the 1948 refuges. During the late spring, he resided at St. Mary in Worcester; there he became very close with one of its

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parishioners, Charles Manoog, who would help him in the sale of the scrolls.1 The archbishop’s first episcopal action was to consecrate a new church in Central Falls, RI. The old church had been consumed by fire a few years earlier. The consecration of the new St. Ephrem took place on August 28, 1949. This was still the only Aramaic-speaking community in North America. Now, the Archbishop’s attention turned to growing the church in America. He reflected later,2 Certainly there was much to be done if our Syrian Church in America was to reflect the splendor of our long and glorious history. She needed priests, she needed churches, and equally important, she needed those seemingly minor things to create the proper atmosphere and tradition by which a heritage is safely passed from generation to generation… Community councils were being formed across the length and breadth of this land.

The relief committee continued its work; and by the end of 1950, all the congregations together had raised $15,000

1

Samuel p. 174; Lisān al-Mashriq 1 (no. 6 & 7, 1949) p. 72–

2

Samuel p. 177.

74.

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[≈ $156,000 in 2019] to help the St. Mark’s refugees in Palestine.1 The Archbishop’s mission to the United States had two objectives: to collect funds for the 1948 refugees and to provide spiritual services for the North American parishes, such as ordinations of priests and deacons and consecrations of churches. Now that the two objectives had been met, the Patriarch expected that the archbishop would return to his Archdiocese in Jerusalem; during his stay in America, Archbishop Samuel continued to sign his name with the title “Archbishop of Jerusalem and Transjordan.”2 But the archbishop had different plans, which caused friction between the Patriarchate and the archbishop.

Conflict with the Patriarchate Patriarch Barsoum and Mor Athanasius seem to have had different views of the assignment that Mor Athanasius was charged with. From the perspective of the Patriarch, who himself had been an Apostolic Delegate back in 1927, the entire mission was a temporary one with a clear objective that could be accomplished within six months or so: to Samuel p. 187; AYS archive, folder 1950, has the amount at $13,687.55. 2 AYS archive, folder [19]50. 1

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provide spiritual services to the faithful in North America and to collect financial support for the 1948 refugees. Mor Athanasius had additional objectives. In his autobiography, he expressed how his appointment as Apostolic Delegate to North America1 could not have come at a more auspicious time, for I just received a word from America advising that the only possibility of selling the scrolls there would be to make them available in that country for the inspection of prospective buyers.

But there is more evidence indicating that Archbishop Samuel was not planning on returning to Jerusalem. He had taken with him between 100 and 200 manuscripts from the ancient library of St. Mark’s Monastery, a collection that would be instrumental for building a new Archdiocese in America—until then, hardly any liturgical manuscripts had been published in book format. Mor Athanasius also took with him much of his own archive, personal and ecclesiastical material that would not be necessary for his temporary mission as an Apostolic Delegate. One can be fairly certain that from the outset, Mor Athanasius had no intention of going back to Jerusalem. This was unknown to the Patriarchate. 1

Samuel p. 169.

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The Patriarchate began to inquire as early as November 1949.1 Why had the mission not been accomplished? What was causing this much delay? Why was the Archbishop not communicating weekly, or at least monthly, with his representative at St. Mark’s in Jerusalem, Fr. Boulus Jilif, to run his Archdiocese? At stake were community properties in the Russian Quarter in Jerusalem that were leased for a long period. The Patriarchate wanted the property issue resolved so that its income could help in the running of its affairs. The Patriarch wanted Mor Athanasius back urgently. But Mor Athanasius was still actively seeking a buyer for the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1950

The Priests and the Conflict When the Patriarch was unable to get Mor Athanasius to return to Jerusalem, he began to communicate directly with priests and other prominent members of the community. In a letter dated July 26, 1950, and addressed to Fr. Sugar and prominent members of the West New York parish regarding the collection of aid for the 1948 refugees and the loss of church properties in Jerusalem, the Patriarch expressed that it was crucially important for the archbishop “to return to the diocese for which we consecrated him an AYS archive, folder Bp. Abajy, Abajy to AYS dated November 1, 1949. 1

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archbishop.” He implored the West New York community, “If you love what is good for the Archdiocese of Jerusalem and our rights there, then you should strive to ensure that the archbishop should return back to us as soon as possible.”1 The priests, especially those of West New York and Worcester, opposed the idea of having the archbishop remain permanently in the United States. Apart from letters which they wrote to this effect, we do not have much evidence to understand their motivation. One can conjecture that the priests were operating in the United States independently without much oversight by a bishop. They reported directly to the Patriarch, but the Patriarch was across the seas. If Mor Athanasius was to remain permanently, they would have a boss immediately over them; this was not in their best interest. This is not a wild conjecture. Such conflicts often take place whenever a new Archdiocese is established in a remote area. The local clergy prefer their own semiindependence. We see it much later in Los Angeles when an Archdiocese for the Western United States was established after the passing of Mor Athanasius in 1995. The phenomenon is visible elsewhere as well. The priests also had parish councils to report to. At the end of the day, it was the parish councils that employed 1

al-Jāmiʿa al-Suryāniya 18 (no. 3, 1952) p. 109–110, 133–134.

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them. These parish councils—at least those of West New York and Worcester—also opposed the appointment of Mor Athanasius.

Parish Councils and the Conflict The main parish that opposed Mor Athanasius was St. Mary of West New York. Here too, there seems to have been a power struggle that arose between the archbishop and the parish council. The council had operated independently thus far as there was no diocesan structure. Having a formal Archdiocese on their doorsteps would require them to be accountable to their archbishop. Although most parishes even today operate quasi-independently, there are some restrictions on parish councils: for example, they cannot buy and sell properties as they wish without the consent of a diocesan bishop, and they cannot now elect new councils without the consent of a diocesan bishop. Another sensitive issue that arose was the name of the Church, a subject we will come to shortly. So far, the main parishes had been using “Assyrian” as a label for the church. Even further, all the early immigrants had thus far self-identified in English as “Assyrian,” which was their English gloss for Syriac Suryoyo and Turkish/Arabic Suryānī. Mor Athanasius initially also used the term “Assyrian” in his communications. But when the time came to establish an

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Archdiocese, he opted, with the support of the Patriarch, to use “Syrian.” Parishes, as always, had internal conflicts. Some people sided with Mor Athanasius. Others sided with their parish councils. Things escalated to such a degree that there were now divisions within families, between brother and sister, father and daughter. It is difficult to know if the power struggle between Mor Athanasius and the parish councils and clergy manifested in the name controversy or if the name controversy created the problem between the archbishop and the parishes. Or it’s possible things could have gone both ways, each conflict feeding the other. Regardless of the initial cause of the problem, by the mid-1950s, things had gotten so bad that the West New York parish forbade Mor Athanasius from entering the church. Mor Athanasius began to establish his own parish. 1952

Patriarchal Vicarate On May 13, 1952, Patriarch Barsoum conceded and appointed Archbishop Samuel as a Patriarchal Vicar to the United States and Canada; the position was to be temporary, though, undergoing a two-year trial period “so that we may try out your attitude, to be sure during this period that you fulfill effectively the two above mentioned conditions.” The conditions were that the community should demonstrate its

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ability to support the administration of a diocese by purchasing an episcopal dwelling, providing for a resident bishop in addition to paying the annual patriarchal tithe and supporting the seminary.1 Some letters that went out announcing the change of status to a Patriarchal Vicarate were a bit misleading, the “two years” replaced with “permanently,” adding to the existing confusion.2 The notion of a patriarchal vicarate at the time differed a bit from today’s application of the term. Today, a patriarchal vicarate is an established Archdiocese whose head is a vicar appointed by the Patriarch. The United States and Canada was not yet an Archdiocese. Patriarch Afram wrote a letter to West New York in 1954 explaining “you are not a diocese or archdiocese” and “we proclaimed Mor Athanasius as provisional vicar.”3 Mor Athanasius now turned his attention to expanding the number of parishes. The community of John Chrysostom in Detroit had managed to build a church for its own use. Archbishop Samuel consecrated that church. And on August 31, 1952, he consecrated a new church in AYS archive, folder 1952. Letter dated August 12, 1952 addressed to “My Dear Spiritual Children;” in Donabed, Remnants p. 78. 3 Letter dated April 7, 1954; a copy of an English translation is found in the Worcester church archive, folder 1956. 1 2

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Sherbrooke, Canada, under the name of St. Ephrem. The Sherbrooke community had reached 1,500 individuals, but it was still without a priest. They had been served for many years, from time to time, by Fr. Sugar, who travelled for services from New Jersey.1 The archbishop then visited Jacksonville, FL, where another 1,500 lived and celebrated the liturgy at Homs Brotherhood Hall as they did not have a church of their own.2 The total number of consecrated churches in North America was now at five, the original three that Archbishop Barsoum, now the Patriarch, had consecrated between 1927 and 1928 (St. Mary of West New York, St. Ephrem of Central Falls, and St. Mary of Worcester) and the two new churches consecrated by Archbishop Samuel (St. John Chrysostom of Detroit and St. Ephrem of Sherbrooke). There were now two camps in New Jersey and Worcester, MA. In 1953, those who supported Mor Athanasius purchased a home at 293 Hamilton Place in Hackensack, NJ. This fulfilled one of the conditions set by the Patriarch. Mor Athanasius began to celebrate the liturgy for his supporters in the basement of the house under a new parish named St. Mark (after the Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem where Mor Athanasius grew up). 1 2

Samuel p. 194. Samuel p. 177.

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His supporters in Massachusetts established the Massachusetts Group Supporting the Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch in the United States and Canada, with 31 charter members in 1954.1 They went even further and established a corporation named the Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch, Inc., whose aim was “to support the Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch in the United States and Canada.”2 The charter members seem to have been former members of St. Mary of Worcester who had stopped attending St. Mary. They held picnics to raise funds. The parishes—other than those of West New York and Worcester—either supported Mor Athanasius or, at the advice of the Patriarch, remained neutral. Such was the case, for example, of the community in Sherbrooke. Many of them were confused and did not understand what the fuss was all about and decided to wait until the two parties had resolved their differences. The Patriarch did not seem to be pleased with the speed at which things were proceeding or that the house had been purchased without the community informing him.3 The group opposing Mor Athanasius had the ears of the 1

1954.

AYS archive, folder Mass Group, document dated May 2,

2 AYS archive, folder Mass Group, by-laws dated September 22, 1954. 3 AYS archive, 1954, Manoog to Patr. Barsoum, dated May 19, 1954.

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Patriarch while those supporting Mor Athanasius continued to lobby for the establishment of a formal diocese for the United States and Canada, which the Patriarch refused to grant. The rift between the two parties continued.

Conflict over the Name: Assyrian vs. Syrian Interviewing the elderly of both the West New York parish (now Paramus) and Worcester, the only point of contention that everyone remembers is that of the name. It had become such an explosive issue that the “old-timers” speak of it negatively even today. As mentioned, it is not clear if the name issue was originally the main point of contention between Mor Athanasius and the community or if the other power struggle issues manifested themselves in the name controversy; one will probably never know. Regardless, it was the name that ultimately became the dividing factor. Before diving into this issue and trying to understand what went wrong, it is crucially important for the reader to understand matters in their own historical context. Today, the Assyrian vs. Aramaean/Syrian controversy (i.e. Oromoyo vs. Othuroyo) continues within some Syriac Orthodox circles. This is not the same controversy our immigrants and their descendants faced in North America. What the words “Assyrian,” “Syrian,” and “Aramaean” meant in the late 1800s is not what they meant in the 1950s and is certainly not what they mean today. It is important to keep this in mind if one

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is to understand the name issue that caused such divisions during the 1950s. To start with, all these terms are in English. While this seems obvious, it is a very important factor. If the language of the land had been Syriac, Arabic, or Turkish, there would have been no name controversy (though maybe another controversy would have taken place). Words with formal equivalences in different languages do not always mean the same thing consistently. For example, the formal equivalence of the Arabic word Suryānī in English is “Syriac.” But the Arabic term Suryānī as used by classical Arab writers of the tenth century is more equivalent to today’s English term “Aramaic.” Anyone who spoke Aramaic—be it Syriac or any other Aramaic variety, even Jews, Mandaeans and pagans—were Suryānī to the tenth-century Arab writers. Consider the following phrase translated from an Arabic work of the thirteenth century: “Masargawayh, the physician of Basrah, was a Jew by faith, a Suryānī .”1 No scholar today would classify Jews or pagans as Suryānī.2 To understand the complexity of the self-identification of our North American immigrants and their descendants, it is important 1 Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, Ṭabaqāt al-ʾAṭibbāʾ (1965) ch. 8 under Masargawayh. 2 For the history of the name “Syriac,” see Jack Tannous, “What is Syriac? Explorations in the History of a Name” (forthcoming).

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to look beyond the English labels “Assyrian” and “Syrian” and understand what they meant at each historical stage. This is what I will attempt to do in what follows.

Name Under the Ottomans Our story began in the 1880s of the late Ottoman Empire, in Kharput, Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Homs. The community members of that period called themselves in Turkish and in Arabic Suryānī—or Suryānī Qadīm, meaning ‘old Suryānī, ’ to distinguish the Orthodox from the new Catholic Suryānī. It is these terms and no other terms that appear in all of the documents of the period, such as letters they wrote to their Patriarchs in Mardin. If they wrote in Syriac, which was rare at the time, they used the Syriac term Suryoyo. English was not an issue because the people never had to self-identify in English. Having an English equivalence for Suryoyo or Suryānī was only a matter for European scholars and missionaries who wrote about the community and its history; it is unlikely that such books fell into the hands of the common people. The church hierarchy communicated with Westerners, especially with the Church of England, during the late 1800s and must have come across an English term that the English-speaking used for Suryoyo or Suryānī; but again, the common people were not involved in such communications. The only possibility for interaction with English names was in encounters with missionaries

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who arrived in the Middle East and mingled among our folks. In all these cases—the Western writers, formal communications with the West, and Western missionaries—the English term of choice was “Syrian.” This was not a term that was devised by the community in the Middle East; it was a term that was used by Western writers. When Horatio Southgate visited the Suryoyo (I am avoiding English forms now!) church in 1841, he wrote his report in a book titled Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian (Jacobite) Church of Mesopotamia. In 1875, the Church of England established the Syrian Patriarchate Educational Fund to provide assistance to the Patriarchate in Mardin.1 Bishop Vilatte, whom we encountered in Chapter 1, wrote to Patriarch Peter in 1892, referencing the “Syrian church.”2 By the time our immigrants began to arrive in the United States, the formal equivalence of Syriac Suryoyo and Turkish/Arabic Suryānī in the English literature was invariably “Syrian.” But once again, the common people were probably not exposed to this literature. There is another term that was quite familiar to our immigrant communities before they left the homeland: Asouri. This is the Armenian term that designated Suryoyo or Suryānī. 1 2

William Taylor, Antioch and Canterbury (2006) p. 50 ff. St. Mark’s archive, Jerusalem.

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Horatio Southgate noticed that Asouri was the common name for the “Syrians” (as he called them) in Kharput.1 Our immigrants from Kharput—who would later settle in New England, especially around Worcester—spoke Armenian and would have used Asouri in Armenian as a self-designation. Immigrants from Diyarbakır—who would settle in New Jersey and build the West New York church—would have also been familiar with Asouri as they lived among many Armenians. During the process of writing this book, I interviewed Thomas Saraffian on January 26, 2019. Thomas’s father was an Armenian, and he grew up in the West New York church. The main self-designation that he used with me during our interview, while speaking in English, was always Asouri. But the term Asouri was unknown—or at least not common—to the Turoyo-Aramaic speakers who settled around Central Falls or to the Arabic speakers of Mardin who ended up in Sherbrooke, Canada. Immigrants from Homs who settled in Detroit, MI, and Jacksonville, FL, had most likely never heard of it. This distinction between those who came from areas with heavy contact with Armenians and those who did not will play a role in determining which parishes were most affected by the name controversy.

1

Southgate p. 87.

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Name and the First Immigrants Once our immigrants arrived in the United States in the 1880s and 1890s, they must have needed an English term for self-designation, especially when they began to form organizations. We do not have any written records of what they called themselves in English until the early 1900s. The first instance of English self-designation that I found was from 1910, when the Intibāh newspaper began to run with the English subtitle “Assyrian’s Monthly Newspaper” in its second year.1 During the first year, it had simply used the Turkish term Suryānī in Garshuni form. From this early attestation, as well as from later attestations in the literature and in photograph captions, it is clear that the English term “Assyrian,” at this early stage, was simply their equivalent of Suryānī. In his primer for teaching the Syriac language, Naum Faik translated Syriac Suryoyo as “Assyrian” in a conjugation lesson: “I am Suryoyo,” “you are Suryoyo,” etc. He also translated Othuroyo as “Assyrian” in another lesson.2 The two terms were clearly synonyms to the early immigrants. One may ask: why was the term “Assyrian” chosen over “Syrian”? As we do not know if “Syrian” was an option in 1 While established before 1910, the Assyrian Benefit Association of Kharput did not incorporate until 1911; and Taw Mim Simkath did not have an English name until 1912. 2 Faik, Kthobo d-Qeryono d-Suryoyutho (1917) p. 28–29, 45.

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the first place (since our early immigrants of the 1880s and 1890s may not have been aware that Western writers used English “Syrian” to designate Suryānī ), the question should simply be: why “Assyrian”? There are several theories that have already been proposed, which I shall present together with a brief assessment of their degrees of likelihood. The first theory argues that English “Assyrian” sounded to the early immigrants who came from Kharput and Diyarbakır phonetically close to Armenian Asouri, which the immigrants had used as a self-designation in the homeland when they spoke Armenian or had encountered when they heard Armenians talk about them.1 Through contact, immigrants from Midyat in Central Falls began to use the term. We do not know what nomenclature the communities in Sherbrooke, Detroit, or Jacksonville used in English as they left us no literature in English. The second theory assumes that “Syrian” was originally an option. When the immigrants arrived, though, the term “Syrian” had already been taken by Arabic-speaking immigrants from what later became Lebanon and Syria. Little Syria was already an active neighborhood in Manhattan 1 For a similar situation among the Church of the East Assyrians, see W. Heinrichs, “The Modern Assyrians–Name and Nation” in R. Contini, F.A. Pennacchietti, and M. Tosco (eds.), Semitica. Serta philologica Constantino Tsereteli dicata (1993) p. 107.

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during the 1880s, composed largely of Arab Americans arriving from the Ottoman territory of Syria. This neighborhood was also called the Syrian Quarter, and those Arab Americans were called Syrians. In fact, in those days, the Rum Orthodox in the United States called their parishes “Syrian Orthodox.” Between 1904 and 1915, the Arab Bishop Hawaweeny of the Rum Orthodox had consecrated between 35 and 40 “Syrian Orthodox” churches across the United States.1 Our Suryānī immigrants still had none at this time. One of these parishes was close to our immigrants in Worcester. As early as 1898, there were forty “Syrian Orthodox” (i.e. Rum Orthodox) families living in Worcester who established St. George Syrian Orthodox Mission near “Syrian Hill.”2 If our Suryānī immigrants wanted to have a distinctive self-identity, then “Syrian” was not available. It would have referred to an Arab, which they were not. “Assyrian” made more sense to the Suryānī immigrants. The third theory is that the early immigrants believed that they were descendants of the ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia. In other words, they were Assyrians in our modern understanding of the word. Although this would certainly In A. Naff, Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (1985) p. 295. 2 “A Brief History of St. George Cathedral” on the cathedral’s website http://stgeorgeworcester.org/about-us/our-history. 1

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become true after World War I, Assyrian nationalism had not developed by the time of the arrival of our first immigrants in the 1880s and 1890s, not even among Church of the East Assyrians.1 It is unlikely to have been the initial motivation. A combination of the Armenian Asouri theory and the existence of an Arab Syrian community in the United States is the most likely cause for the community’s initial choice of “Assyrian” as a self-designation in English. Later, the rise of nationalism during the early parts of the twentieth century certainly gave “Assyrian” a stronghold. Theories aside, by 1927, when Archbishop Afram Barsoum arrived as the first Apostolic Delegate, the entire community was using English “Assyrian” as a self-designation (though we are not certain about the communities in Sherbrooke, Detroit, and Jacksonville).

Archbishop Barsoum Objects to “Assyrian” We have seen that Archbishop Barsoum was quite a learned man, and his writings in Arabic indicate clearly that he was familiar with the writings of Western scholars who used English “Syrian” or French Syrien as a formal equivalence On the origins of Assyrian nationalism, see A. Becker, Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism (2015). 1

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for Suryoyo or Suryānī. He probably used these terms when he communicated with such scholars. Later, when he had his own letterhead—and he was the first to have a letterhead among the Syriac Orthodox clergy1—he designated his Archdiocese in French as Archevêché Syrien de Syrie. Having said that, the Syriac Orthodox Church had used the appellation “Assyro-Chaldean” during the period of the Paris Peace Conference. This appellation was pushed by the French, while the British pushed the term “Assyrian.” Archbishop Barsoum, when he was representing Patriarch Elias III, even used “Assyrian” when he communicated with the British. These appellations were not intended for a Syriac Orthodox audience but served as a general term used by the Western powers to cover all the Syriac-using churches: the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldeans, the Syriac Orthodox, and the Syriac Catholic. But the Paris Peace Conference did not produce anything useful for these communities, and the Syriac Orthodox hierarchy did not continue with such appellations. To Archbishop Barsoum the scholar, English “Assyrian” post-Paris was not the formal equivalence of Syriac Suryoyo, but of Othuroyo, a term that became the self-designation for members of the Church of the East. Hence, when I am grateful to Aziz Abdulnour of London, who first pointed out to me that Archbishop Barsoum was the first to have a letterhead. 1

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he visited the United States and was about to consecrate the first few churches, he objected to the name “Assyrian.” The only records that we have of Archbishop Barsoum’s objections are anecdotal and date from a few decades later. Annie Papaz of Worcester recalled in 1954 that1 Our Patriarch was in this country. He was an archbishop when he came here. The Worcester church was just built, and he blessed the church and at that time he wanted to call it “Syrian” and the people said, “NO, ASSYRIAN!”

Fr. Alphonse Chaurize, a former Chaldean priest originally from Iraq, also recalls that Archbishop Barsoum had a similar experience at the West New York parish. The community had told him that if he did not use the name “Assyrian,” they would not raise money for the Sayfo refugees. If these anecdotes are true, it means that the objections from the church hierarchy to using the identity marker “Assyrian” predate the arrival of Archbishop Samuel. They also indicate how strong people felt about the “Assyrian” label, even refusing to raise money for refugees over the issue.

Minutes of the fifth meeting of the Mass. Group p. 3; AYS archive, folder Mass. Group. 1

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Between Archbishop Barsoum’s objections in 1927 and the arrival of Archbishop Samuel in 1949, the term “Syrian” was not completely unknown to the North American communities. Reading an article in the Boston Sunday Advertiser about a new discovery of Syriac Gospel manuscripts, Francis E. Hoyen of the Worcester parish was concerned that these manuscripts were stolen: “From which Syrian or Assyrian Church are these manuscripts authorized?” he wrote in 1934.1 Hoyen most likely wanted to make a distinction between the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. The Christmas program of St. Mary in West New York, published by Fr. Sugar in 1938, was titled “Church Program, Syrians [sic] Apostolic Church of the Virgin Mary.”2 Two articles written in 1940 in The New BethNahreen referenced “the Syrian Apostolic Orthodox Antioch Church at Adiaman, Turkey”3 and “the History of Syrian Clergy” which talks of “our Old Syrian church.”4 Another article from 1943 mentioned the “wail of the Syrian The New Beth-Nahreen 1 (no. 7–8, 1934) p. 9; Boston Sunday Advertiser (May 13, 1934). The two manuscripts in question are the Old Syriac Gospels from Deir al-Suryān in Egypt (now preserved in the British Library) and from St. Catherine in the Sinai (which remains there). 2 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 [2nd series] (no. 7, 1938) p. 11. 3 The New Beth-Nahreen 1 [2nd series] (no. 8, 1940) p. 5. 4 The New Beth-Nahreen 3 [2nd series] (no. 2, 1940) p. 2–3. 1

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Orthodox Bishop of Hasstchi [Ḥasakeh], Syria.”1 Despite these sporadic articles, the dominant label in English writings was and remained “Assyrian.”

Arrival of Mor Athanasius When Mor Athanasius first arrived, he too began by using the term “Assyrian.” Writing to the television program We the People on March 11, 1949, he introduced himself using both “Assyrian” and “Syrian”:2 I recently arrived from Palestine, as the Assyrian Apostolic Delegate to the United States of America and Canada. I have been sent to this country by my Superior, His Holiness, the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, Afram I, at Homs, Syria, for the purpose of bringing to the American Public the need of speedy relief to the Christian refugees in the area of Jerusalem, Palestine.

Here, Mor Athanasius used “Assyrian” to refer to his position in the United States but “Syrian” to refer to the church in the homeland. By the end of 1949, he had a letterhead that read “Assyrian Archbishop of Jerusalem and

1 2

The New Beth-Nahreen [6] [2nd series] (no. 4, 1943) p. 10. AYS archive, folder Chicago California.

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Transjordan, Apostolic Delegate to U.S.A. & Canada.”1 There are letters as late as 1953 in which Mor Athanasius addressed his parishioners—at least those in West New York, if not the entire country—by the label “Assyrian.”2 Some letters had the letterhead “Assyrian Orthodox Archdiocese of United States of America and Canada.”3 A document in the Worcester church archive describes a convention that was held in Worcester on October 8 and 9— but alas no year is given—to formulate an “Assyrian Apostolic Diocese of North America, Inc.” and to petition Patriarch Afram to appoint Mor Athanasius as its archbishop. The sources we have used thus far are all written sources: articles in newspapers, letters, and captions on photographs. There must have been an oral component to the controversy over the name. Did Archbishop Barsoum in 1927 or Mor Athanasius in the 1950s say to the people, “You are not Assyrians?” Or did they ever say, “There are no Assyrians?” This is what some of the elderly today remember. If this was the case, one can imagine the heated discussions that ensued. 1 Worcester church archive, folder 1956, letter in Syriac addressed to Atur Chavoor dated Dec. 30, 1949. 2 AYS archive, folder 1950; Donabed, Remnants p. 78–79. 3 Worcester church archive, folder 1956, letter dated August 12, 1952 from Mor Athanasius to “My Dear Spiritual Children.”

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Patriarch Barsoum Sets the Record Conflict brewed for a few years after the arrival of Mor Athanasius in early 1949. Had there not been other power struggles, as discussed above, the name controversy may have been contained; and the Archdiocese may have continued using “Assyrian.” But ultimately, with the arrival of new immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s, the name would have inevitably become an issue at some point. After being formally assigned as Patriarchal Vicar, Mor Athanasius began to work on establishing an Archdiocese. He decided to use the same English term that the Patriarchate had been using: “Syrian.” It is possible he made that decision on his own, but it is more likely that he did so with the consent and support of Patriarch Barsoum, who had always objected to the term “Assyrian.” Mor Athanasius had already requested that the Patriarch write an essay on the name sometime in 1951. Towards the end of 1952, Patriarch Barsoum penned a 22-page essay in Arabic titled Fī ʾIsm alʾUmma al-Suryāniya: “On the Name of the Suryānī Nation.” Mor Athanasius published the Patriarch’s autograph using zincography “to show you them [the autograph pages] in the identical script which we received from His Beatitude under his seal.”1 The text was published with a facing Ignatius Ephrem I, The Syrian Church of Antioch, Its Name and History (no date, but the Patriarch’s autograph is dated December 1952). 1

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English translation in which the Arabic Suryānī was translated as English “Syrian.” The English introduction, by Mor Athanasius, illustrates the already existing tension: We had never thought that the day would come when we would have to prove to ourselves that our name is authentic and valid. However, it is fortunate that this proof has actually become necessary for our Syrian followers in a foreign land where they were isolated, and so not well-furnished with true and well-based information about their own Church and community, its language and its history.

Patriarch Barsoum began the essay stating that the “Syrian nation was known from its beginning as the Aramaean nation,” which he followed by citations from the Bible, West Syriac authors (i.e. of the Syriac Orthodox Church), East Syriac authors (i.e. of the Church of the East), and “orientalists” (i.e., Western scholars). In the conclusion, the Patriarch addressed the question of how to overcome the name issue in America: If some ask, “how shall we remove the ambiguity when using the Suryānī name in America—because the gloss Suryānī is translated into French Syrién and English Syrian in the same way that the gloss Surī is translated… and Surī means all the inhabitants of Syria, and one cannot then distinguish between the various religions and sects. And if we added Orthodox

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to the gloss Syrian, then both the Suryān Orthodox and the Rūm Orthodox (who for some time now have abandoned use of the title Greek Orthodox) will be using the same name,” we say: There is no way to change the French or English use of this word. But the ambiguity can be removed if one appends Syriac Aramaic to denote the language, Syrian Aramean to denote the nation, and Syrian Aramean Church to denote the Church.

The Patriarch gives these alternatives in English. The essay then moves to argue against the use of the English term “Assyrian” as it contradicts (and now he enumerates): 1. the historical truth, 2. ancient tradition, 3. the identity of our nation in all countries, and 4. the consensus of Western scholars: French, English, German, Italian, and American. Mor Athanasius now had in his hands a supporting document, one that was written not only by the highest spiritual authority of the Church but also by its highest scholarly authority of the century.

The Clash By the end of 1953, Mor Athanasius had a letterhead that read “Archdiocese of the Syrian Church of Antioch.”1 We do not have any reports on the communities’ reaction to Patriarch Barsoum’s essay, not even from the West New 1

AYS archive, folder 1953.

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York and Worcester parishes. But judging from what followed, it could not have gone down well. Mor Athanasius established a diocesan committee in order to create a formal diocese. On May 14, 1953, the president of the committee—obviously a supporter of Mor Athanasius—reported to the Patriarch that the following churches agreed on using the term “Syrian”: Central Falls (whose members were mostly from Midyat, Turkey); Detroit, MI; Jacksonville, FL (mostly from Syria); and Canada (mostly from Mardin, Turkey).1 In 1955, the Patriarch sent a letter to Canada, instructing them to stay neutral until the situation had been resolved.2 In addition to those parishes, Mor Athanasius also had his own supporters in West New York. A list of donations supporting the purchase of a diocesan house from 1953 includes quite a few names from the West New York parish.3 A later donation list shows at least two recognizable names from Worcester: Manoog (an ardent support of Mor Athanasius) and Chavoor.4 It is in these two parishes that a split took place. 1 AYS archive, folder 1953, letter from the President of the Diocesan Committee to Patriarch Barsoum dated May 14, 1953. 2 Minutes of the seventh meeting of the Mass. Group, dated May 15, 1955; AYS archive, folder Mass. Group. 3 AYS archive, folder 1953. 4 AYS archive, folder 1954.

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As mentioned earlier, the Massachusetts Group Supporting the Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch (hereafter the Mass. Group) was formed in early 1954 with about 30 members from Worcester, West Roxbury, Springfield, and Leominster.1 At their fifth meeting, the group invited the Chaldean priest Alphonse Chaurize to explain to them “about ‘Syrian’ and ‘Assyrian.’”2 Now the clash would begin to take another dimension. Did the West New York and Worcester parishes insist that the new diocese to be established be named “Assyrian” instead of “Syrian?” Did they go so far as to request that the Patriarchate change from “Syrian” to “Assyrian”? We do not have enough sources from both sides to determine this. Mor Athanasius’s supporters claimed that the pro-Assyrian groups not only wanted the new Archdiocese to be named “Assyrian,” they also wanted the Patriarch to use “Assyrian” for the Patriarchate. Charles Manoog, a Worcester supporter of Mor Athanasius, claimed in a letter to the Patriarch that3 no member of the diocesan committee or our archbishop has ever asked these two churches to change 1 List of Charter Members dated May 2, 1954; AYS archive, folder Mass. Group. 2 Minutes of the fifth meeting of the Mass. Group, dated November 24, folder 1954; AYS archive, folder Mass. Group. 3 AYS archive, folder 1954, letter dated May 7, 1954.

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their name from Assyrian to Syrian. It is some members of these churches who insist that the diocese name and the name of our Patriarchate and our religion be changed to Assyrian instead of Syrian.

There might be some truth to this. The minutes of a meeting in Worcester document calls for “elimination of Syrian diocese.”1 Records from another meeting indicate that some present at the meeting were calling members not to recognize the Patriarch if his name was “Syrian.”2 It seems that there was some effort to mitigate the issue. An English translation of a 1957 encyclical from the Patriarch addressed the congregations as “our Suryani Orthodox people,” avoiding both “Assyrian” and “Syrian.”3 The status quo continued during the 1950s, with supporters of Mor Athanasius calling upon the Patriarch to establish a formal diocese. Those who supported Mor Athanasius went with him and began to worship at the Hackensack house. The West New York and Worcester parishes continued to operate. Things would only change a few years later when a new Patriarch would be elected.

1 Worcester church archive, folder 1956, Executive Meeting, Feb. 28, 1956. 2 Worcester church archive, folder 1956, Membership Meeting held May 28, 1956 [p. 2]. 3 AYS archive, folder 1957.

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Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibits… Sold Since his arrival in the United States, Archbishop Samuel hoped to find a way to sell the Dead Sea Scrolls. He arranged exhibits at many institutions, including the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore in 1948, the Library of Congress in 1949, and Duke University and the University of Chicago in 1950. Charles Manoog of Worcester was a constant help, and the scrolls were even kept for some time in a storage unit made specially for them in his house.1 Many institutional buyers were hesitant, concerned that the archbishop did not have full title to the scrolls because of claims from the Jordanian and Israeli governments, as well as from Anton Kiraz, who insisted that he was a half partner. On June 1, 1954, after much frustration at not finding a buyer, the archbishop put an ad in the Wall Street Journal classified section!2 Miscellaneous For Sale THE FOUR DEAD SEA SCROLLS Biblical manuscripts dating back to at least 200 B.C. are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group.

1 2

Samuel p. 193. Samuel p. 198.

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A buyer soon approached; and with Mr. Manoog of Worcester acting as a negotiator, a price of $250,000 [≈ $2,335,000 in 2019] was agreed upon. At the time, the archbishop was in Jacksonville visiting the faithful. He returned on June 1 and sold the scrolls to Mr. Sidney Esteridge. As it turned out, Esteridge was acting on behalf of the Israeli government. On October 7, 1952, Archbishop Samuel created a charitable trust in the state of Massachusetts and named it the “Archbishop Samuel Trust”; there he deposited the check from the sale. The trust fund, however, was established with some irregularities. It seems that the archbishop did not have the right legal council, and the IRS taxed the transaction at almost 40%. Archbishop Samuel had to pay $87,000 [≈ $813,000 in 2019] in taxes. The beneficiaries of the trust were Mor Athanasius and the archbishop’s mother. In 1979, all the assets from the trust were transferred to the Archdiocese.1 1955

The Fourth Homs Synod and the American Issue During November 1954, the Fourth Homs Synod took place. The Synod accepted the “corrected Julian calendar” (i.e. the Gregorian calendar) and declared that December 2 (Julian) would be considered December 15. This ruling was 1

AYS archive, folder 1979a.

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to apply to the entire church with the exception of the Archdiocese of Jerusalem and the parish in Egypt. It also excluded Lent and Easter, which would remain according to the Julian calendar. This decision satisfied one of the desires of the North Americans who had met in 1927 and sent requests to the planned general Synod of Jerusalem. An appendix to the decisions dated January 27, 1955 (now Gregorian), stated that a decision had been made to send Mor Philoxenos Yuhanna Dolabani, Archbishop of Mardin and a teacher of Mor Athanasius, to the United States “for a final investigation regarding the dispute between Archbishop Yeshue and the Americans [i.e., the Syriac Orthodox congregations].”1 Apparently, the synod had received conflicting letters from the two groups in America and desired to undertake an independent investigation. In a Syriac letter dated December 18, 1954, Archbishop Dolabani wrote to Mor Athanasius:2 If God wills it and if death does not come fast, I shall see you and be comforted by talking to you and seeing the beloved people. And all of us will be in the harbor of peace.

Archbishop Dolabani was a good mentor and a peacemaker: AYS archive, folder Homs 4th & 5th Synod. AYS archive, folder Bp. Dolabani, Dolabani to AYS dated December 18, 1954. 1 2

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All of us make mistakes… but love covers everything. I did not like what was written against you, but also did not like what you wrote to me. I want our correspondence to be always pure.

The following month, Mor Athanasius wrote to Archbishop Dolabani, welcoming him as a mediator and an investigator:1 I was happy at your appointment for this mission because you are the only physician for its many wounds. You are most welcome. Our hearts are open to you.

Another letter was sent in March to Archbishop Dolabani to inquire about his arrival date.2 It seems that, at the time, the Patriarch had an unrelated dispute with Archbishop Dolabani over other matters and asked the bishops to revoke the synodal decision to send him to investigate the American issue.3 Mor Athanasius expressed much frustration and

1 AYS archive, folder Bp. Dolabani, Dolabani to AYS dated January 7, 1955. 2 AYS archive, folder Bp. Dolabani, Hanna Stanboul to Dolabani dated March 7, 1955. 3 AYS archive, folder Bp. Dolabani, Dolabani to AYS dated April 8, 1955.

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wrote to Archbishop Dolabani that he intended to resign from his post.1 Apparently, the Fourth Homs Synod also discussed the name issue. We know about this not from the encyclical but from the proceedings of the Fifth Homs Synod of 1957, which stated that the Sixth Session of the Fourth Homs Synod had decided to support the “Syrian” name for North America.2 A 1957 Statement of Income and Expenses of the planed Archdiocese lists only St. Mark Church (the archbishop’s parish); St. Ephrem Church of Central Falls; the Detroit “group”; and the Springfield, MA “group.”3 Neither St. Mary of West New York nor St. Mary of Worcester recognized the “Archdiocese.” In fact, the Patriarchate had not given North America the status of Archdiocese yet. 1957

A New Patriarch… A New Archdiocese On June 23, 1957, Patriarch Barsoum passed away. A synod of 21 sessions convened beginning on June 25 to take care of the burial services of the late Patriarch and the election 1 AYS archive, folder Bp. Dolabani, AYS to Dolabani dated May 14, 1955. 2 Proceedings of the Fifth Homs Synod, AYS archive, folder Homs 4th and 5th Synods. 3 AYS archive, folder Church Bulletin.

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of a new Patriarch. During the Sixth Session, which was held on October 9, the situation in North America was discussed. A new Patriarch had not yet been elected. The bishops present decided to support the establishment of an Archdiocese in North America. The Synod also discussed the name of the church and decided to support “the Syrian name [al-ʾism al-Suryānī ] for all the churches of this [i.e. North American] Archdiocese in accordance with the decision of the Fourth Homs Synod, Sixth Session on December 4, 1954,” adding that “the churches of West New York and Worcester, however, will remain under their current name temporarily until their respective boards are convinced to set right [taʿdīl ] their names like the other churches.” The election began at the Nineteenth Session on October 14: Mor Osthatheos Quryaqos of the Jazireh and the Euphrates gained six votes, as did Mor Severius Jacob of Beirut; and Mor Gregorius Boulos Behnam of Mosul gained three votes. As the result was a tie, the election was repeated. In the second round, Mor Osthatheos won eight votes, Mor Severius Jacob six votes, and Mor Gregorius Boulos one vote. But when Mor Osthatheos was asked if he was willing to serve as Patriarch, he thanked the archbishops for their trust in him and declined. A third round of voting took place. This time Mor Severius Jacob won nine votes and Mor Gregorios Boulos five votes. Mor Severius was declared the winner and named

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Mor Ignatius Jacob III.1 With the election of Patriarch Jacob, Mor Athanasius gained the full-fledged support of the Patriarch; this would change the status quo in the United States. The following month, on November 15, Patriarch Jacob announced that the United States and Canada was now a formal Archdiocese within the Syriac Orthodox Church, with Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel as its Archbishop. This was the first time an Archdiocese was established outside the historical territories of Antioch. 1958

First Cathedral Now that the archbishop was presiding over an official Archdiocese, he began to plan to establish a cathedral. That “cathedral” began in the living room of the archbishop’s home at 293 Hamilton Place in Hackensack. In 1958, the church purchased a property in Hackensack on the corner of Fairmount and Grand Avenues2 for $37,500 [≈ $326,000 in 2019], with twenty-five families supporting the project. The first formal priest for the cathedral was Dr. K. M. Simon (1917–1996), a Knanaya priest, who served from 1959 Proceedings of the Synod, AYS archive, folder Homs 4th and 5 Synods. 2 J. Meno, “History of St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral,” in St. Mark’s…Cathedral Consecration Day (1996) p. 24–31. 1

th

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until 1961. Fr. Zakka (later the Patriarch) helped to fill in during 1960 and 1961 while he was studying at Union Theological Seminary. Fr. Abdelahad Sarkar helped with liturgies from 1959 until he passed in 1987. Fr. Albert Samuel, who was the first to be ordained in the cathedral in 1963, also helped with services until 1981 (he had arrived in the US in 1955 and passed away in 1996). There was also Fr. Yousif Koury; he did not serve in any formal capacity but was at St. Mark’s between 1979 and 1999. Fr. John Meno was ordained on October 2, 1972; and in 1975, he was appointed as dean of the cathedral on a part-time basis (he had a full-time job in circulation at the American Bible Society in New York). In 1972, he was assigned the position of Archdiocesan General Secretary and was elevated to the rank of Corepiscopos in 1983. 1959

More Bishops Visiting In 1958, Mor Athanasius recommended Mor Gregorios Boulos Behnam of Mosul to Union Theological Seminary. He was accepted as an Ecumenical Fellow for the academic year 1958–59.1

AYS archive, folder 1958, R. Hyslop to AYS, dated September 2, 1958. 1

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During the 1960s, the North American parishes would get used to seeing more Syriac Orthodox hierarchs visiting. In the summer of 1963, Mor Malatius Barnaba of Homs visited the area.1 Archbishop Shalita, a convert from the Assyrian Church of the East to the Syriac Orthodox Church, visited in 1964.2 On July 5, 1964, Mor Dionysius Jirjis Behnam of Aleppo was in the United States and celebrated at St. Mark.3 He accompanied Mor Athanasius in a visit to Los Angeles.4 With the passage of time, the North American parishes became more and more integrated within the global church hierarchy. 1960

First Patriarch on American Soil During the 1920s, Patriarch Elias had wished to visit the United States but had been unable for the lack of financial resources. By the 1960s, times had changed, and transportation had became easier. The two-week boat journey could now be achieved in two days with airplanes. 1

1963.

AYS archive, folder 1963, AYS to Fr. Sugar, dated June 3,

2 AYS archive, folder 1964, AYS to West New York, dated May 6, 1964. 3 AYS archive, folder 1964, Ned Mardently to AYS, dated July 14, 1964. 4 AYS archive, folder 1964, AYS and Bp Behnam to Joby Lewis, dated July 28, 1964.

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On March 11, 1960, Patriarch Jacob III embarked on a five-month visit to the Americas, North and South. Following his journey gives us a snapshot of church life in North America by the end of the 1950s. We also see how the Patriarch’s visit consolidated the power of Mor Athanasius. Patriarch Jacob was accompanied by his secretary, a monk named Zakka who would one day succeed him as Patriarch. We know the specifics of the trip in great detail because Fr. Zakka published an entire book describing the visit.1 The Patriarch and his secretary traveled by airplane from Beirut to the United States via Rome. The plane landed at Idlewild Airport in New York (renamed JFK in 1963) on March 13. He was met at the airport by many people from the community led by Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel and Mor Gregorios Boulos Behnam. After a rest at the airport, a motorcade with police motorcycle escort provided by the State of New York and the State of New Jersey took the Patriarch to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Hackensack, where the mayor of the city welcomed the Patriarch. Upon arrival, the Patriarch celebrated the Holy Liturgy. Following the liturgy, the Patriarch visited St. Mary in West New York, the oldest parish in North America. The Patriarch was welcomed by receptions not only from his own community but also from a number of other 1

Z. Iwas, al-Mashkāh fī Ziyārāt Rāʿī al-Ruʿā (1960) p. 108–159.

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entities. The world had opened up by the 1960s, and communities had begun to interact with each other. On March 22, the Presbyterian church in New York threw a reception. The Patriarch gave a lecture in English about the history of the church. On March 28, a similar reception was held in the Patriarch’s honor in New York by the National Council of Churches; and there was a tea party that afternoon at Union Theological Seminary, where Mor Gregorius Boulos was a Fellow. Eastern Christians also welcomed the Patriarch. Receptions were held by the Armenians on March 31 and by the Greeks on April 2, both in New York. And on April 6, the Patriarch met with the General Secretary to the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld. Among the attendees was a Syriac Orthodox Iraqi named Matta ʿAqrawi who was the UNESCO representative at the United Nations. The following day, the Patriarch visited the mayor of New York and then the Lebanese Council to the United States. On April 22, the Patriarch, accompanied by Mor Athanasius and Bishop Boulos of Mosul, embarked on a journey in New England. His first visit was to Central Falls, RI, where he was received by Fr. Abdulahad Domato and his parishioners. The governor of Rhode Island provided police escorts on motorcycles, and the Patriarch went first to the capital, Providence, where he was welcomed by a deputy of the governor due to the latter’s absence.

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The Patriarch then went to Central Falls and visited St. Ephrem’s church. The following Sunday, April 24, the Patriarch celebrated the liturgy; the service was followed by a reception that was attended by more than 300 people, including the Anglican bishop, the deputy governor, and the mayor of Central Falls. The events made local news. On April 26, the Patriarch left Central Falls for Boston and was received there by Fr. Peter Barsoum, the pastor of St. Mary in Worcester. The Patriarch stayed at the home of Salim Hadaya. Here, too, the Patriarch’s first visit was to the governor of Massachusetts; this visit took place on April 27. He then visited the Boston Public Library and was shown the collection of Syriac manuscripts. He also visited the library of Harvard and was shown their collection of Syriac manuscripts by the curator. On April 29, Brown University held a reception for the Patriarch at which he gave a lecture on the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church. On April 15, St. Mark’s Cathedral held a banquet in the Patriarch’s honor in New Jersey. It was attended by the heads of the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. On April 17, Fordham University held a lunch reception for the Patriarch. On April 20, the Patriarch visited Jacksonville, Florida. We know that a number of the Detroit parishioners, who were from the village of Fairuzeh, near Homs, began moving to Jacksonville in the 1950s. A club named the Homs Brotherly Club was established there in 1952. Several Syriac

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families living in Miami came to Jacksonville to meet the Patriarch. After a week, the Patriarch celebrated the liturgy and encouraged the people to establish a church in Jacksonville. Following the Florida trip, the Patriarch returned to Hackensack, New Jersey. On May 2, the Patriarch visited Worcester and stayed at the house of Charles Manoog, who had helped Archbishop Samuel in the sale of the scrolls. The following day, he visited City Hall and was given the key to the city by the mayor. On May 4, the Patriarch visited the Syriac community in Springfield, where he stayed at the home of Frank Barsoum. The following day, the Patriarch returned to Hackensack. The lack of information about a visit to the Worcester parish is intriguing. This remained the second largest parish in North America; yet the Patriarch arrived there mid-week, and his only official function was visiting the mayor. We know that he stayed at the house of Charles Manoog, and we know that “many of the children of the church gathered there to receive the blessings of the Patriarch.” Mrs. Barbara Baba recalls that the Patriarch and archbishop drove by the church but did not enter due to the conflict between the archbishop and the community over the name and the status of Fr. Peter Barsoum.1 On May 31, the Patriarch visited Washington, DC, for a reception by the Friends of the Middle East. While there, 1

Barbara Baba, personal communication.

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the Patriarch visited the historical sites in DC. There is no mention of parishioners in the DC area. On June 3, the Patriarch visited Portland, Oregon. There is mention of a few Syriac families there, but they probably attended the Rum Orthodox (Antiochian) church. The Patriarch was a guest of Lewis & Clark College. On June 5, Portland University bestowed upon the Patriarch an honorary doctorate. The Patriarch gifted to the university library a number of his own publications. On June 8, the Patriarch headed to Los Angeles, where he stayed at a hotel as a guest of Mr. Jobi Lewis (aka Juʿbeh ), a successful businessman from Fairuzeh, near Homs. The following day, the Patriarch visited San Francisco and was a guest of an Armenian man by the name of George Mardikian. In San Francisco, the Patriarch visited City Hall and met with the mayor. There is no mention of visiting any of the Kharput immigrants in either Los Angeles or Fresno. The Patriarch returned to New Jersey on June 10. On June 12, the Patriarch visited Sherbrooke, Canada. He was welcomed there by the local priest Fr. A. Carim Karma of St. Ephrem Church. There, too, the Patriarch was received by governmental officials and was provided police escort. The Patriarch celebrated the liturgy at St. Ephrem’s. On June 18, the Catholic church held a dinner in his honor; and a banquet was hosted by St. Ephrem on June 14. On June 25, the Patriarch visited Detroit, where he celebrated the liturgy at the parish of St. John Chrysostom.

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Detroit also provided him police escort in the form of four motorcycles. On July 8, the Chaldean community held a reception in honor of the Patriarch. The parish of St. John held a banquet for him on July 10. The Patriarch remained in the city for two weeks, staying as a guest at the homes of Rizqallah Zakko, Jamil Dinno, and Juʿbeh. The Patriarch then returned to Hackensack. On July 31, the Patriarch consecrated a chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross in Honesdale, PA, that belonged to a Roman Catholic deacon named Frank Costello who had joined the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Patriarch ordained Castillo a Syriac Orthodox priest on August 6 at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Hackensack. Costello did not remain long in the Syriac Orthodox Church. On Monday, August 15, the Patriarch returned to the Patriarchate in Damascus, passing through London, Rome, and Beirut on his journey.

Recording the Beth Gazo On Saturday, August 23, just before returning to the Patriarchate, the Patriarch began to record on reel tapes the melodies of the Beth Gazo. While hardly mentioned as part of the Patriarch’s visit to North America, this was probably the most significant act of the Patriarch for the liturgical life of the church. Syriac Orthodox sacred music is quite complex. The musical reference does not consist of musical

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notations but of a kind of textbook called the Beth Gazo, or “treasury [of tunes].” It takes years to master all the melodies, and the Patriarch was one of very few who had mastered it, having learned it from Mor Julios Elias Qoro when he was a monk serving in India. Archbishop Athanasius Samuel urged the Patriarch to record the entire Beth Gazo. The Patriarch recorded over 700 hymns in the August heat, probably without air conditioning. These recordings have become the main reference for Syriac liturgical music, and generations have learned church hymnals by listening to them. Clergy from North America would produce two further recordings of the Beth Gazo. In 1987, Fr. Abdulnur (Albert) Samuel recorded the Beth Gazo according to the tradition of Kharput, including many hymns that are absent in the Patriarch Jacob recordings. Fr. Samuel was ordained by Mor Athanasius on December 1, 1963, and assisted with services at St. Mark’s Cathedral. And recently, in 2012, Fr. Alan Shaltan of St. Ephrem, Central Falls, recorded the Beth Gazo according to the tradition of Maarat Saydnaya, which is mostly derived from the Mardin tradition (which Patriarch Jacob recorded) mixed with a bit of the Tur Abdin tradition. In 2018, at the direction of Mor Dionysius John Kawak of the Eastern United States and in collaboration with Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, a mobile app was developed named Beth Gazo Portal, incorporating Patriarch Jacob’s original recordings and many other recordings.

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Archdiocese Consolidated During his visit, the Patriarch set guidelines for an Archdiocesan council based on a constitution set by the Deir Mar Matta Synod of 1930 to help the archbishop administer the church. The council was to consist of the priests in charge of the parishes and elected members who were in good standing. This council would have a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary, in addition to other members and committees. The archbishop would, ex-officio, be its permanent president. Each of the existing six parishes were given two members on the council with the exception of St. Mary in West New York, which was given three members— either because of its size or to appease the parish and to convince it to agree to the new conditions. The parishes of West New York and Worcester rejected the constitution of the council, and Patriarch Jacob threatened to take legal action. As late as 1959, the West New York parish did not intend to join the Archdiocese and intended to remain directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See of Antioch. They planned to send a representative to the next Holy Synod to present their case.1 But the Patriarch’s visit would change the course of events. Bulletin June 1959, Assyrian Apostolic Church of the Virgin Mary (a copy in AYS archive, folder Church Bulletin). 1

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On August 10, 1960, the Patriarch issued an encyclical consolidating the power of Mor Athanasius as head of the Archdiocese. Additionally, the Patriarch signed a legal document appointing Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel as his agent in case a legal battle took place.1 It seems that further negotiations settled the issue: on October 5, 1960, West New York accepted the guidelines set by the Patriarch and signed a document to that effect. The Patriarch assured Worcester in October 1960 that their name would not change.2 Worcester accepted the guidelines on February 10, 1961. Both parishes were permitted to keep their name, but they had to become part of the new archdiocese. During the Patriarchate of Mor Ignatius Afram Barsoum, Mor Athanasius did not have the full support of the Patriarch. The Patriarch used to communicate directly with prominent members of the community and managed the faithful directly even after appointing Mor Athanasius as Patriarchal Vicar. But with the election of Patriarch Jacob, Mor Athanasius now had the full support of the Patriarchate. When one priest wrote to the Patriarch objecting to the appointment of Mor Athanasius as diocesan bishop, Patriarch Jacob replied with the strongest words possible, threatening AYS archive, folder Patriarchal Orders for USA. Worcester Church archive. The patriarch’s letter, no. 302, is referenced in a draft letter from Archbishop Samuel to the parishioners (no date). 1 2

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the priest with excommunication. The West New York parish attempted to set itself up under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch, but Patriarch Jacob would not have it. If West New York and Worcester wanted to remain within the jurisdiction of the Syrian Orthodox Church, they had no choice but to accept the new realities. It would take time for the feuds to subside, but now at least the relationship between Mor Athanasius and the parishes was amicable. Every year, the parish of St. Mary of West New York (later Paramus) would invite the archbishop—in writing—to celebrate Palm Sunday. And every time there was a new election of the board of trustees, they would write to inform him and ask his blessings. Mor Athanasius died on Palm Sunday in 1995 after celebrating the liturgy at St. Mary.

6. Growth of the Archdiocese (1961–1995) With the issues of the 1950s behind him, Mor Athanasius now concentrated on expanding the Archdiocese. For the next 45 years, he would manage the largest Archdiocesan territory the Syriac Orthodox Church had ever seen. Pastoral visits would take weeks and sometimes months. In 1965, for example, he spent two months on a pastoral visit to the West Coast and the Midwest.1 Mor Athanasius would prove to be a loving father to many of the new immigrants who would arrive in the 1950s and 1960s, especially after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Many parishioners remember how he helped countless families immigrate and how he assisted them in finding housing and jobs once they arrived. He used to drive women to do their shopping while their husbands were at work and unable to take them. “He sponsored them, helped them, gave them money,” Martha Redvanly recalled. “He gave them food,

AYS archive, folder 1965, AYS to Thomas Esehak, dated July 26, 1965. 1

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put them in his house.”1 The local community has such good, fond memories of him. 1961

Conventions Since the 1950s, the Archdiocese committee held regular meetings with the archbishop. The committee consisted of the local clergy and representatives of the parishes as set by the regulations of Patriarch Jacob III. During the meeting of April 1961, Fr. Abdulahad Domato of Central Falls suggested that the next meeting take the form of a weekend convention that families could attend.2 It was decided that the parish of the Virgin Mary in West New York, the first to be consecrated in the United States, would hold such a convention later that year. The first convention was held in September 1961 at the parish hall in West New York. The idea endured, and subsequent conventions were held annually. The business meetings discussed topics such as the constitution and by-laws of the Archdiocese, Sunday school curricula, financial matters, and issues related to the clergy. As this body met annually without much oversight between conventions, sometimes popular themes with no Interview with Martha Redvanly on June 21, 1995. J. Meno, “A Brief History of the Annual Archdiocesan Conventions of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America,” in 47th Annual Archdiocesan Convention (2010) p. 31–33. 1 2

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clear solution—such as the future of the youth—tended to be discussed regularly. During the Seventh Convention in 1967, held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, the Archdiocesan constitution was adopted. In 1977, at the Toronto Convention, an Archdiocesan Advisory Council was established per Article XII of the constitution. At the Twenty-Eighth Convention, held in San Jose, California, a unified constitution and by-laws for parishes were adopted. Starting with the Montreal Convention of 1975, the meetings took place in hotels; before that point, the meetings had been held at parish halls. The move to hotels gave opportunities for more activities, such as thematic meetings and lectures. Some conventions were more successful, providing real content, while others simply provided entertainment. The Silver Anniversary Convention was held in Los Angeles in 1986 and was presided over by Patriarch Zakka I. It was agreed during that convention that each parish must provide medical benefits for the clergy. The convention was cancelled only twice: in 1981 for the death of Patriarch Jacob III and in 1995 for the death of Archbishop Samuel.

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Los Angeles We have seen that the Kharput immigrants arrived in California as early as 1906; and shortly thereafter, some settled in Fresno and Los Angeles. We also saw that they were quite active in establishing their own organizations and that they published a newsletter called Assyrian Progress. We hear of them throughout the 1940s, and they communicated with Mor Athanasius during the early 1950s. As early as 1918, the community had established a St. Ephrem Ward. The new St. Ephrem parish was established in a meeting that was held in the Assyrian Hall on 5732 Venice Blvd near La Cienega in 1962,1 where the community had begun to worship. In 1966, they began to look for a location. They approached Mor Athanasius and raised about $6,000 [≈ $47,000 in 2019]. The archbishop contacted the Catholic cardinal, and they found a Melkite church for $40,000 [≈ $311,000 in 2019] on Melrose Avenue. They managed to raise $10,000 as a down payment (according to Adam, an additional $10,000 was obtained as a loan from a parishioner at 5%). The community invited Fr. Fadel Ghazi Fdeil to become their pastor,2 and the church was consecrated in June 1963. 1 Interview with Jacob Adam on Feb 20, 1988, at the house of his father-in-law, Malphono Murad Saliba Barsoum. 2 The amount is $42,000 according to my 1986 account, but I don’t have a source recorded.

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The Los Angeles community consisted mostly of three groups: Palestinians, Syrians from the villages around Homs, and immigrants from Mardin. Another identity crisis brewed in Los Angeles; now the Palestinians objected to “Syrian” and favored “Aramaic” while the Syrians (from Syria) obviously preferred “Syrian.” The community from Mardin remained neutral. A compromise was reached by which the signage on the church building read “Syrian Orthodox Church according to the Aramaic rite.” By the 1980s, the community had outgrown the church building, and the status of the area had diminished: some parishioners would have their cars broken into while they were worshiping. In the late 1990s, St. Ephrem would move to a much larger complex in Burbank. The demography of the parishioners would also change with new immigrants coming from other regions of the Middle East. 1966

Chicago The earliest immigrant that we know of in Chicago was Nasif Hanna Qirmizy. He immigrated from Mardin and lived for some time in New York; then, sometime before 1913, he moved to Chicago. (We have encountered him earlier, in Chapter 2.) We do not know if others lived in or around Chicago at that early period. Patriarch Barsoum, who stayed almost a year in Chicago working at the Oriental Institute between 1927 and 1928 did not mention a

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community. We know that Qirmizy was in Chicago from an article that he wrote for Intibāh encouraging community members to contribute: The community is composed of the four personal pronouns: I, you, he, she. The community expenses are mine, yours, his, and hers… And if you were unable to contribute financially, then contribute by writing… And if you were unable to do either, your love for Intibāh is sufficient.1

It seems that after the 1948 war, a good number of Palestinians settled in Chicago. A parish under the name of St. John the Baptist was formed in 1966 and was subsequently assigned to Fr. Abdulahad Shara, who arrived from Lebanon in the early 1970s. Before then, priests used to visit from other parishes and celebrated the liturgy in people’s homes.2 1967

Liturgy Books Mor Athanasius succeeded in publishing good quality liturgical books. He had good experience in publishing, having served as the editor of the Patriarchal Magazine during the 1930s and 1940s; he had also been involved in the running 1 2

Intibāh no. 45 (1913) p. 4. Fr. John Meno, personal communication.

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of St. Mark’s Press in Jerusalem, where he learned the rules of typesetting and good esthetics. Before the arrival of Mor Athanasius, the local clergy published a few books. The West New York parish had Fr. “Kuruakos of India” translate a Syriac catechism that was “prepared and approved by the Holy Synod Patriarchal [sic]” though no synod had met before 1930! But it seems that the publication was made under the authority of Patriarch Elias III, whose portrait appears in the book along with the portrait of Archbishop Barsoum (either because he consecrated the church in 1927 or because he played a role in composing the Arabic behind the catechism).1 In 1951, with the approval of Mor Athanasius, the West New York church also published an English translation by James A. Kinnear of Patriarch Barsoum’s book on prayer.2 The Eucharistic liturgy was published in English by Fr. A. Carim Karma of Sherbrooke in 1954.3 A prayer book containing the liturgy, hymns, and morning prayers was published by Fr. Peter Barsoum of Worcester.4

Catechism of Christian Doctrine (1929). Severius Ephrem Barsoum, The Golden Key to Divine Worship with Commentary on the Ritual of the Syriac Church (1951). 3 The Order of the Holy Eucharist of the Syrian Church of Antioch (Syriac Rite) (1954). 4 Assyrian Apostolic Church Prayer, Hymn, and Liturgical Service Book (1957). 1 2

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The first major publication of Mor Athanasius was the Sunday Eucharistic liturgy, or Anaphora of St. James. Mor Athanasius recognized that the English translation needed to be checked by native speakers who were academic and familiar with liturgical literature. He first approached Cyril Richardson, Dean of Students at Union Theological Seminary. Richardson did not have time for the task and suggested the Professor of Liturgy Boon Poster, who accepted the task.1 The Anaphora book was a great success and was used for decades. It seems that Mor Athanasius sent a copy to the Syriac Orthodox author, poet, artist, and intellectual Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, who expressed his appreciation:2 It brings back to me all the happy memories of the wonderful Sunday mornings of my childhood when I attended Mass both at our Bethlehem Church and at St. Mark’s Convent in Jerusalem. In particular, I remember when I used to participate as a choir boy, singing all those beautiful hymns which, to be honest, I never understood fully, like most of us in those days. Your book, which explains the liturgy aptly and 1 AYS archive, folder 1966, Richardson to AYS, dated September 20, 1966; AYS archive, folder 1967, Porter to AYS, dated Jan 2, 1967. 2 AYS archive, folder 1969, Jabra to AYS, dated March 6, 1969.

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succinctly, brings out the spiritual and verbal beauty of the holy service and gives an insight into its divine meanings.

Jabra had converted to Islam to marry a Muslim girl and was, therefore, unable to attend church services in Baghdad, where he lived, despite the existence of many active churches there. During the subsequent years, Mor Athanasius would recruit Malphono Murad Saliba Barsoum to translate many service books: baptisms, weddings, and funerals (all published in 1974), the major feasts book known as Mʿadʿdono (1984), the larger Anaphoras containing thirteen liturgies (1991), a shorter daily prayer for the faithful (1993), and a book for the burial of clergy (published posthumously, 2003). Fr. John Meno was involved in the editorial process. These books would become the foundation for future editions by the archbishops who succeeded Mor Athanasius. (Malphono Murad appears on the front cover to the left of Mor Athanasius.) 1968

From Detroit to Southfield We have already seen that in 1937, the Detroit community, mostly immigrants from the Homs area who began to arrive at the beginning of the twentieth century, had grown to about 120 families; and Fr. Steven Durghali arrived from

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Homs and became their pastor. By the 1960s, however, the “old-timers” began to dwindle in number. The second and third generation no longer attended church as much, and many became Episcopalians. At the same time, new immigrants began to arrive from Iraq, and Detroit was a major hub for Iraqi immigrants in general. The church of St. John Chrysostom, which had been consecrated by Mor Athanasius only in the previous decade, was affected by the 1967 Detroit riots, clashes between the African-American community and the police. The church was sold around 1968, and the Iraqi arrivals incorporated in 1963 a new parish under the name of Sts. Peter and Paul. One of the early immigrants, Aziz Behnam Jardak, who came to America from Mosul around 1928, was a successful businessman. He apparently had, with another partner, a 4or 5-acre parcel of land in Southfield. Aziz had only three daughters and no boys, and his brothers also had no boys. Apparently, this was worrisome to their mother: who would carry the family name? When Patriarch Jacob and Archbishop Boulos Behnam visited in 1960, it is said that Bishop Behnam told Jardak, “Your Mom says, ‘Go build a church so that you will be remembered.’” Aziz bought his partner’s share and donated the land to Sts. Peter and Paul.1 The congregation built St. Behnam Hall and began to use it to celebrate the liturgy with Fr. Durghali. After Fr. 1

Interview with Bashar Abdulnur, February 2019.

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Durghali’s retirement in the late 1970s, Fr. Shara took his place as pastor. The hall was rented, and the money was saved to build a church on the same land. During the 1970s, Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, initiated a program to support minorities. One component of that program was funding churches in the diaspora. The community petitioned the Iraq government and obtained a quarter-million-dollar grant [≈ 1.6 million in 2019]. A church was built and was consecrated by Patriarch Zakka in 1981. The Iraqi ambassador attended. While many of the “old-timers” of the early immigration era were no longer active members, some of them joined Sts. Peter and Paul. A few of their descendants are still active. 1968

From West New York to Paramus In 1962, the board of trustees of St. Mary of West New York began planning to move to a new location as the parishioners outgrew the current location. They chose a land parcel of just under four acres on Paramus Road, Paramus, the current location of the parish. Mor Athanasius consecrated the new location on April 7, 1968. It seems that there was a fear that, with the move to a new location, the name issue would be revisited. In a letter to the board of trustees dated December 19, 1965, Mor Athanasius assured the parish that he “will never change or

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influence the name of the Assyrian Apostolic Church of Virgin Mary, presently located in West New York, New Jersey, and with God’s help soon to be located in Paramus, New Jersey.”1 Mor Athanasius also pointed out to the board that “this letter contains nothing new as I have stated my opinion on the matter many times in the past.” The “old-timers” also talk of another aspect of the name change, the introduction of “Orthodox.” Although the term “Apostolic” was used in the early days of the establishment of the Archdiocese, when the final incorporation took place, “Orthodox” was used instead. When the parish moved to Paramus in 1968, “Apostolic” was replaced with “Orthodox.” The same occurred later in Worcester. While this subtle change did not cause any controversy, it was in the minds of the “old-timers” whom I interviewed.2 On October 29, 1967, just two days before official ownership of the West New York church building, the first to be consecrated in the United States, would transfer to the new owners, the parish held a “deconsecration ceremony” AYS archive, folder 1965. Interview with Martha Redvanly on June 21, 1995; interview with Barbara Baba on March 9, 2019; also documents in the Worcester archive reflect that some were worried that “Apostolic” would be replaced by “Orthodox.” 1 2

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at which Mor Athanasius was invited to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.1 Fr. John Koury (shown on the cover photo) succeeded Fr. Sugar as pastor. 1970s

New Parishes in Canada The early 1970s witnessed the creation of a number of parishes. Mor Athanasius appointed Fr. Issa Tabbakh in 1972 as a parish priest for Montreal and charged him with establishing a parish.2 He formed St. Jacques of Nisibis parish, which was consecrated on May 10, 1981. By the late 1970s, the number of Syriac families around Toronto had increased, and a church under the name of St. Barsoum had been established. It was consecrated by Mor Athanasius on August 20, 1978, with Fr. Joseph Tarzi as its pastor.3

1

1967. 2 3

177.

AYS archive folder 1967, Board to AYS, dated October 3, AYS archive, folder 1972. Patriarchal Magazine, Damascus 17 (no. 163, 1979) p. 175–

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Patriarch Jacob’s Second Visit In April 1971, Patriarch Jacob was on a visit to South America; from there, he visited North America.1 First, he visited Los Angeles, where the choir of St. Ephrem received him with hymns led by Malphono Murad Barsoum. On May 10, he travelled from Florida to Jacksonville, where he celebrated the liturgy at an Episcopalian church. (This probably means that the Homs Brotherhood Hall was either no more or too small for the event.) Then he travelled to Miami and celebrated the liturgy in the Episcopalian cathedral. The Patriarch then travelled to New Jersey on April 15 and was welcomed by Mor Athanasius. He visited both St. Mark’s Cathedral in Hackensack and the new St. Mary in Paramus (formerly West New York) where Fr. Alphonse Chaurize and Fr. John Koury welcomed him. The Patriarch paid a visit to the various communities of New England, Central Falls, Boston (where the Malankara community also welcomed him), Worcester (where this time the Patriarch celebrated the liturgy at St. Mary), and Springfield. From New England, the Patriarch then visited Sherbrooke and Montreal, Canada. Then they went to Detroit, where he ordained deacons. Patriarchal Magazine, Damascus 9 (no. 88, 1971) p. 478–487; (no. 91, 1972), p. 52–58. 1

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Drew University bestowed upon the Patriarch an honorary doctorate on April 29. Also during the visit, John Meno was ordained as an Ewangeloyo deacon at St. Mark’s Cathedral by the Patriarch. On May 24, the Patriarch returned to Damascus. He would pay a third pastoral visit in 1976. 1974

New Organizations We have seen how the early immigrants established a bewildering number of organizations in the early 1900s. Once the Archdiocese had been established, though, there was a higher structure in place and there was no longer a need for a multitude of organizations. Very few organizations were established after the formation of the Archdiocese. In 1974, new immigrants of the wave in the 1960s and 1970s established the Aramaic American Association. In April of the following year, they purchased a building in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, where young people would meet to socialize. The Association was active in sports, music, and folklore activities.1 They published Aramaic Times, which was first issued in April 1975 and remained in circulation until at least 1983. A E. Aydin, The History of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in North America: Challenges and Opportunities, M.Div dissertation (2000). 1

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chapter was subsequently established in southern California. The Aramaic American Association was a founding member of the Syriac Universal Alliance in 1983 in New Jersey. Its most successful activity was the Mor Ephrem school, which was established in February 1975 and has been active ever since. The school now meets at St. Mary in Paramus and offers Friday night classes in Syriac for children. It was brought to new life in 1989 by the efforts of Malphono Elias Aykurt and purchased a bus to collect students.1 During the 1990s, Deacon Eli Shabo and his wife Malphonitho Fay Shabo played a major role in running the school. The curriculum was the Herge d-Qeryone series of Abdulmasih Qarabashi. In the 2000s, English editions of Qarabashi’s books were produced by (now Fr.) Eli Shabo. Mention must also be made of the American Foundation for Syriac Studies, established in 1998 with six charter members, among whom were Hanna Issa and Admer Gouryh, at the time an English professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College. It has been quite active in disseminating scholarly Syriac studies material to the wider public on its website; it also published a periodical named Syriac Studies for some years and held lectures for the community by renowned Syriac studies scholars including

Mor Ephraim Syriac School Benefit Party booklet (Aramaic American Association, Oct 19, 1990). 1

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Sidney Griffith, the late Matti Moosa, Susan Harvey, John Joseph, Kathleen McVey, the current author, and others. 1975

Malankara Parishes Starting from the 1960s, some members of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India began to arrive in the United States and Canada.1 Initially, they attended existing parishes that were near them. Fr. Simon was the first priest to serve St. Mark’s Cathedral, as we have seen. But as the number of immigrants from Kerala increased, they began to form parishes of their own under the existing Archdiocesan structure under Mor Athanasius. The first Malankara parish was formed in 1975: the Mor Gregorios Syrian Orthodox Church in Staten Island, NY. With the leadership of Fr. John Jacob, who would later become Mor Philoxinos Yuhanon of the Diocese of Malabar, more Syrian Orthodox parishes were established under Mor Athanasius. The Malankara faithful also began to organize their own associations. They organized Sunday schools for children, a youth association for the young adults, St. Mary’s Women’s League, St. Paul’s Prayer Fellowship, and the Association for Protection of True Antiochian Faith. In order to I am grateful to Fr. Jerry Jacob for providing me with this information. See also http://www.malankara.com/about.html. 1

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administer the growing parishes, a Malankara Council was formed in 1987 with the blessings of Archbishop Samuel. Starting in 1986, the Malankara parishes began to conduct annual conferences in different parts of North America. With the steady growth in the number of Syrian Orthodox faithful from Kerala, a delegates’ meeting held in 1992 in New York and presided over by Archbishop Samuel decided to request that Patriarch Zakka appoint an Indian bishop to assist Archbishop Samuel in the administration of Malankara parishes. The delegates’ meeting held on December 5, 1992, at the St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in Hackensack, New Jersey, proposed the name of Fr. P. G. Cherian to be consecrated as metropolitan and assistant to Mor Athanasius. In 1993, though, the Patriarch established an independent Archdiocese for Indian immigrants directly under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate. All Indian parishes in North America would come under the jurisdiction of this new entity. The Patriarch consecrated Fr. P. G. Cherian as Mor Nicholovos Zachariah on August 15, 1993, and appointed him as archbishop for the new Archdiocese. Under Mor Nicholovos, the Archdiocese grew to about two dozen parishes. In December 2001, Mor Nicholovos, along with two other bishops residing in India, joined the Malankara Orthodox Syrian church, a faction that does not recognize the temporal power of the Patriarch over the Malankara church.

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In the fallout of this conflict, three parishes sided with Mor Nicholavos: White Plains, NY; Detroit, MI; and Damascus, MD. Two other parishes, West Nyack and Staten Island in New York were fought in court and were retained. Temporarily, the Patriarch assigned Mor Julius Kuriakose, his secretary for Indian affairs, to manage the diocese remotely, which he did from December 2001 to March 2002. Then Mor Ivanios Mathews, archbishop of Kandanad, was assigned the Archdiocese as a legate from March 2002 until December 2003 In 2003, the North American parishes chose Raban Yeldho as their next archbishop. Patriarch Zakka consecrated him as Mor Titus Yeldho in January 2004 and appointed him a Patriarchal Vicar of the Malankara Archdiocese in North America. By 2019, he had grown his charge to over sixty parishes. Recently, Whippany, NJ, became the Archdiocesan center. 1980s

More New Parishes The community in Boston was an old one, going back to the late 1890s and early 1900s. Somehow, though, they never managed to form a parish until the 1980s. Mor Athanasius consecrated a church under the name of St. Matthew on September 27, 1981, with Fr. George Durghali as its pastor.

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A parish was established in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada), and named after St. Mark in the 1980s. It was assigned to Fr. Sulayman Yaldo. A community in Portland organized itself under the name of St. Ignatius of Antioch, with Fr. Yacob Shukri as pastor. There also existed a small community of St. Thomas in San Jose, CA, that was served by Fr. Yousif Kallo and Fr. Joseph Tarzi (who had become the pastor of St. Ephrem in Los Angeles) in the early 1980s. The community of St. George in San Fernando was formed by parishioners from St. Ephrem who were originally from Sadad. It was formed in the 1980s, and its first priest was Fr. Nimatallah Faraj. In 1989, a number of families who were originally from Mardin and who settled in Long Island, New York, established a parish named St. Peter. For about five years, the parish did not have a permanent priest and was served by visiting clergy. Fr. Gabriel Adde was assigned to be its pastor in 1994. The community purchased a church building in 2001 in Hicksville, NY. The number of families, which used to be around 60, is now shrinking as some are moving to NJ to be closer to the larger Syriac Orthodox community. By the early 1990s, St. Mark’s Cathedral began to look for a new place as the parish had increased in number. A church was purchased in Teaneck, and the community moved there in 1994. The Turoyo-speaking parishioners of St. Mary, Paramus, especially those from the village of Ain Wardo, petitioned Mor Athanasius to keep the old St.

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Mark’s and establish there a new Turoyo-speaking parish. The community raised funds and purchased the old St. Mark’s in Hackensack; it was consecrated under the name of Mor Gabriel. By 1990, they had already established a Mor Gabriel Association. (The community sold this property and built a larger church in Haworth.) Mor Athanasius parish in Tampa was established in the mid-1990s and then purchased a church building. Archbishop Samuel celebrated the liturgy there once in 1995, but he passed away before consecrating it. Also, a community in Washington DC was organized under the name of St. Ephrem. Both Tampa and D.C. would be consecrated by Mor Athanasius’s successor, Mor Cyril Aphrem (now the Patriarch). 1982

Knanaya Parishes The Knanaya community is an endogamous group within the St. Thomas Christians of India. Patriarch Abdallah II established a diocese for this group in 1910, and immigration to the United States began at the end of the 1950s. We have already encountered Fr. K. M. Simon, who served St. Mark’s Cathedral from 1959 to 1961 and acted as a secretary to Mor Athanasius. In 1960, Mor Clemis Abraham, Metropolitan of the Knanaya community, joined Union Theological Seminary for higher education. He began to hold liturgy for the Knanaya immigrants at Lampman

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chapel in the seminary. The following year, three Knanaya priests, all holding Ph.D. degrees, arrived: Fr. V.K. Thomas Valiyaparambil, Fr. Abraham Thomas Vazhayil, and Fr. A. T. Abraham Alumoottil. By the time Mor Clemis visited in 1982, the Knanaya community had grown. He informally established the North American Knanaya Diocese to administer the affairs of parishes, though technically all parishes remained under the jurisdiction of Mor Athanasius. The following year, a center was obtained in Yonkers, New York, and was later consecrated as St. Ignatius Knanaya church in 1984. Services moved from Union Theological Seminary to the new location, and in 1986 the name of the parish was changed to St. Peter’s Knanaya church. In 1992, the informal Diocese was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and named the North American Knanaya Diocese, Inc.; and Fr. K. M. Simon was appointed as first administrator. To help in the administration of diaspora communities, the Malankara Suriyani (Syrian) Knanaya Association (MSKA) in India, the top administrative entity of the community, decided to establish four worldwide regional administrative units in 2009. America, Canada, and Europe formed one such region, to be administered by a young bishop who had just obtained his Ph.D. from Manchester, Mor Silvanos Ayub. Many organizations were established for Sunday schools, the youth, and the women. An education fund was also established for sending students to St.

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Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers. The diocese also holds an annual family conference (the first of which was in 1982) and publishes Knanaya Chronicles (first issue 2012). Today, the community is 18 parishes strong with over 1,000 families. 1986

Some Statistics During the 25th annual convention, which was held in Los Angeles in 1986, I interviewed the priests in attendance and gained some statistical information about their parishes. The parish of St. Mary in Paramus, formerly West New York, NJ, had 500 families originally from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Palestine and Iraq, and they lived in New Jersey and New York. The original founders of this parish were the early immigrants from Diyarbakır. Its priest at the time was Fr. John Koury (now retired). The Central Falls, RI, parish of St. Ephrem had about 100 families. The original immigrants were from Tur Abdin, Zahleh, and Aleppo, while the more recent immigrants were from Beirut and Homs. Its priest at the time was the late Fr. Abdulahad Domato. The parish of St. Mary in Worcester, MA, numbered 75 families. The original immigrants were from Kharput, but the more recent ones were from Qamishli and other areas. At the time, their liturgy was exclusively in Syriac, with the

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scripture readings and the sermon in English. Its priest at the time was the late Fr. Shamoun Asmar. The parish of St. John Chrysostom in Detroit, MI, has ceased to exist by the late 1960s. By then Fr. Steven Durghali was virtually blind and was celebrating the entire liturgy by heart. A few years later, the parish closed; some members were incorporated into Sts. Peter and Paul of Southfield. Its priest at the time was Fr. Abdulahad Shara (now retired). St. Ephrem of Sherbrooke is the oldest parish in Canada and was established by the early immigrants during the late nineteenth century, but a church was consecrated there only in 1952. The parish’s families numbered 80 in 1986, all of whom are originally from Mardin. Its priest was the late Fr. A. Carim Karma. St. Mark Cathedral in Hackensack, NJ, was consecrated in 1958. It had 250 families in 1986, originally from Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. The cathedral had celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1984. Its priest at the time was Fr. John Meno (now retired), together with three retired priests: Fr. Abdulahad Sarkar, Fr. Albert Samuel, and Fr. Yousef Khoury. The parish of St. Ephrem in Los Angeles was the first to be established on the West Coast in 1963. It had about 300 families in 1986, originally from Palestine, Syria (Fairuzeh and Zeydal), and Mardin, with a smaller number of people from Lebanon, Iraq, and Tur Abdin. Its first priest

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was Fr. Fadel Fdeil, who served until 1982. Then Fr. Niʿmatallah Faraj, who was retired at the time, filled in until the mid-1980s, when Fr. Joseph Tarzi (now pastor of St. James of Serough) was assigned. The parish of St. John the Baptist in Chicago, IL, was formed in 1966. In 1986, it had 60 families, originally from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and Turkey. They were dispersed in various locations around the Chicago area including Hickory Hills, Schiller Park, Glenview, and Franklin Park. The priest at the time was Fr. Gabriel Adde. The parish of St. Jacques in Montreal was formed by 22 families in 1972. They held prayer services at various churches until they obtained a church in 1980, which was consecrated the following year. Its families in 1986 numbered 150, originally from Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Turkey. Its priest at the time was the late Fr. Issa Tabbakh. The parish of St. Matthew in Roxbury, MA, was formed in 1980, and a church was consecrated on September 27, 1981. Its families numbered 50 in 1986, originally from Mardin, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon and living in the greater Boston area. Its first priest was Fr. George Durghali. This means that by the mid-1980s the Syrian Orthodox population in North America was between 1,500 and 2,000 families. If we assume an average of two to three children per family, the community would have numbered at least 6,000 and at most 10,000. (At the time, I was unable to

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obtain data from the following parishes: St. Barsaumo, Toronto, and St. Mark, Hamilton.) 1990s

Disappearance of the “Old-Timers” The disappearance of the “old-timers,” the children and sometimes grandchildren of the first immigrants, was a gradual one. Those who were born in the 1920s were Americans. But with the arrival of large numbers of newcomers during the 1960s and 1970s, the older parishes of Paramus (formerly West New York), Worcester, Rhode Island, Detroit (the old St. John Chrysostom), and Sherbrooke remained parishes of immigrants. The newcomers spoke mostly Arabic and Turkish. “We are the ‘old-timers’,” Martha Redvanly expressed. “We call ourselves ‘the foreigners’ now.” Many no longer felt at home and began to attend churches “around the corner.” 1 Their children joined other denominations, mostly Episcopalian. A few of the early immigrants sent their kids to American churches for Sunday school, but they also had to attend the Syriac liturgy. “I learned many American hymns,” Martha remembers. “But I learned the Abun d-Bashmayo [the Lord’s Prayer in Syriac] from the Assyrian church.” Barbara Baba also remembers attending Sunday school at the Episcopalian church in Worcester: “Then I had to walk down 1

Interview with Martha Redvanly on June 21, 1995.

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the hill to come to our church.” While Martha and Barbara continued to be part of the community, many others did not. This was due to a clash of cultures. Had the old timers produced American-born priests, one could imagine two services on Sunday: one in English for “the Americans” and another in the languages of the immigrants. One of the greatest challenges of the Syriac Orthodox in North America is their reliance on priests brought from the Middle East. If the community wants to avoid the reappearance of this problem, a new strategy needs to be put in place. The second generation was quite active in all of the older parishes, but it was the third generation that disappeared. There is one remarkable case of fifth-generation children who are still integrated within the community: the great-great-great grandchildren of one woman from Mardin named Qedsiyyeh.1 Qedsiyyeh immigrated to the United States in 1911 with her three sons: Elias, Alexander and John. The family first settled in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. They belonged to the Gogé (or Gergis) family and adopted the English last name George; Qedsiyyeh adopted Edsea as an Anglicized 1 [Pamela Ghazal], “The George Family and 100 Years of Saint Ephraim” in St. Ephraim Syriac Orthodox Church, Centennial Anniversary Program (2013), no pagination; interview with Pamela Ghazal, March 18, 2019.

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form of her first name. After a few years, Edsea and her sons settled in Central Falls. The oldest son, Elias, who was born on January 10, 1888, in Mardin, became a door-todoor salesman selling linen. In 1924, Elias married a woman called Shmooneh. Shmooneh was a widow from Aleppo. She immigrated with her young son John to join her brother Jebra Abdulahad, who was one of the five founding members of St. Ephrem parish in Central Falls. Shmooneh had an older son named Abdallah, but he was forced to stay behind in Aleppo because of an illness. It would be thirty-five years until Shmooneh saw her son Abdullah again when she was able to visit him in Lebanon. Shmooneh had three additional sons and a daughter with Elias George, but Elias would die from influenza before his daughter Alicia was born. It is said that Alicia would stand atop a stool to read from the gudo. Shmooneh became a widow for a second time at the age of thirty-six. The family then moved to the parish house and became the day-to-day caretakers of the church. They witnessed the two fires that burned the church to the ground. All three of Elias and Shmooneh’s sons, as well as other young men from the parish, enlisted and served in World War II. In 1956, Richard, Shmooneh’s eldest son, married a “Syrian Orthodox” (i.e. Rum Orthodox) girl named Isabelle Abgrab, who was born in the United States. The couple had three daughters: Elizabeth, Pamela, and Maria. All three girls

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married Syriac Orthodox immigrants. Pamela married Pierre Ghazal, a Syriac immigrated from Lebanon, in 1981. Pamela and Pierre’s children married Syriac immigrants as well. Their children, the oldest of which is merely a teenager now, are altar boys, choir girls, or Sunday school students. Edsea George’s eight great-great-great grandchildren are the only fifth-generation Americans that are known to me. The family has been active at the parish of St. Ephrem in Central Falls for more than 100 years now. What seems to have kept this family within the bounds of the church is that each American generation is united with an immigrant Syriac family. The George family provides a glimpse of hope for today’s immigrants. 1995

Palm Sunday and the End of an Era On April 14, 1995, the New York Times published an obituary of Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel: Archbishop Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the primate of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the United States and the man who obtained the first of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls and brought them to world attention, died last Sunday at his residence in Lodi, N.J. He was 87. The cause was a heart attack, church leaders said.

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The New York Times article went on to talk about the Dead Sea Scrolls that the bishop had brought with him, concluding: Even so, the Syrian church, whose members consider it the mother church of Christianity and are celebrating Easter today, has grown in the United States to 24 parishes, from 2 parishes in 1949, and has 40,000 adherents. During the last years of his life, Archbishop Samuel’s followers sought a way to continue a 2,000-yearold tradition in which an archbishop is buried within his sanctuary. They worked unsuccessfully to gain state permission for his entombment in one of three Syrian Orthodox churches: in Burbank, Calif., Teaneck, N.J., or New York City [sic: Paramus, NJ]. After officials refused such permission, arrangements were made for the archbishop’s burial at a monastery in the Netherlands.

Mor Athanasius had a tradition of celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Paramus (formerly, the West New York church). After the liturgy, he would go home to relax before getting ready for the evening liturgy of the Nahire, or “Lights,” that marks the beginning of Passion Week, at St. Mark’s Cathedral. But he died that afternoon.

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The community mourned the loss of its spiritual leader for almost half a century. As the New York Times article indicated, Mor Athanasius wanted to be entombed in a Syriac Orthodox sanctuary according to tradition, usually seated on a chair rather than lying in a coffin. He worked hard to obtain permission before his death, but neither the city of Teaneck, where St. Mark’s Cathedral was situated, nor the city of Paramus, where St. Mary was built, permitted it. He even tried St. Ephrem in Burbank, California, but that city did not permit it either. Finally, he made arrangements with Archbishop Mor Julius Y. Çiçek of the Netherlands. Çiçek had obtained a special permission from the Dutch queen to create a burial space under a new church that had been built on the grounds of St. Ephrem Monastery in Losser. Mor Athanasius was seated on a chair for the viewing at St. Mark’s Cathedral; but in order to transport his body to the Netherlands, he had to be placed in a coffin. Once in the Netherlands, the body was no longer in a condition that allowed it to be seated on a chair.1 The funeral was led by Patriarch Zakka I and attended by all the clergy of the United States and thousands of people from Europe. I was a student in Cambridge at the time 1 The burial place in Losser was designed for bishops seated on chairs, not laid in coffins. The body had to be moved into a smaller coffin, and even the smaller coffin could not fit properly and was placed diagonally inside the tomb.

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and traveled for the burial service. I remember that dozens of buses arrived from all over Europe for the service. Archbishop Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel left a vast Archdiocese scattered in a huge geographical area. He was the first to be appointed archbishop in the diaspora, and his Archdiocese was the first to be established outside the traditional territorial boundaries of Antioch. He would be remembered as the first and last Archbishop of the United States and Canada.

Epilogue Post 1995 Patriarch Zakka decided to split the Archdiocese of the United States and Canada into three smaller patriarchal vicarates. This would give the Patriarchate more control over the affairs of North America; but it required a synodal decision. The following synod decided to terminate the Archdiocese of the United States and Canada and, in its stead, created three patriarchal vicarates. The United States was split between two Archdioceses, one for the East and another for the West, with the Mississippi River acting as a soft border. Canada became its own Archdiocese. Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan, then the patriarchal secretary, was initially sent to the Eastern Archdiocese for a few months in 1995; he was later assigned the Western Archdiocese. A new, promising young Ph.D. graduate who was a monk and had served the London parish for some time was chosen to become the archbishop for the Eastern Archdiocese. The monk Aphrem Karim was consecrated in Qamishli, his hometown, by Patriarch Zakka I and was named Mor Cyril. Canada was assigned to Archbishop Aboodi and, since 2008, to Mor Athanasius Elia Bahi.

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As stated in the preface, this book covers the history of the Syriac Orthodox in North America until 1995. To do justice to the work of Mor Athanasius’s successors would require much research and another book, hopefully to be written by a younger scholar. What follows is merely a brief summary of the post-Samuel period.

Archdiocese for the Eastern United States On January 28, 1996, a monk named Aphrem Karim, who had just obtained a PhD in Ireland, was consecrated as the first Patriarchal Vicar to the newly-established Eastern Archdiocese by Patriarch Zakka I and was named Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim. The new archbishop inherited by far the vast majority of the Archdiocese of the United States and Canada. In 1992, under the late Mor Athanasius, the cathedral purchased a larger church building in Teaneck. It was opened in 1994 after two years of renovations, but it was not consecrated. The consecration took place in 1996, performed by Mor Cyril Aphrem and assisted by Mor Greogrios Yuhanna Ibrahim of Aleppo and Mar Clemis Eugene Kaplan of the Western United States. The new archbishop began to build upon the existing infrastructure. First, he recognized that there were many small communities dispersed across the country that did not have the numbers to support traditional parishes. He

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created the notion of “flying priests”: priests—mostly monks—who would fly on weekends to celebrate the liturgy at various locations. The program paid off, and many of these parishes with flying priests ended up opening traditional parishes with local priests. Within a short period of time, Mor Cyril established more than a dozen parishes and missions in New Jersey and New York, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC. An important piece of infrastructure that the community lacked was a community cemetery. Until then, the faithful had been buried in different local cemeteries. Mor Athanasius had to be transported to the Netherlands for burial. On November 7, 1998, a groundbreaking ceremony took place for a cemetery that included a chapel dedicated to the martyrs of Sayfo at Laurel Grove Memorial Park in Totowa, NJ. The chapel was designed by Gabriel Hannoush with a burial site for the bishops and priests. If local towns did not allow burial places for the clergy under churches, then churches could be built above burial grounds! During the tenure of Mor Cyril, new life was given to the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocesan Youth Organization (SOAYO), which was initially formed in the 1980s. Mor Cyril was innovative, liturgically. He reintroduced the order of Shubqono, the service that is held at the beginning of the Great Lent, and began an annual liturgy for senior citizens. Most importantly, he concentrated on having parishioners

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participate in the Holy Liturgy—not just listening, but also reciting the prayers that were originally assigned to the congregation and in later years were taken over by deacons. Mor Cyril requested that Deacon George A. Kiraz, the present author, shorten the diptychs and sanctioned the use of the shorter versions across the Archdiocese. The Archdiocesan council of old was reformed to help administer the affairs of the Archdiocese; and after a number of trials, it took the form of the current Archdiocesan Executive Council. The AEC operates with several subcommittees, each responsible for the various functional tasks of running an Archdiocese. By far the largest achievement of Mor Cyril was the purchase and renovation of the property on West Midland Avenue, Paramus, to serve as the center and focal point for the life of the Archdiocese. The five-story building, once a Catholic convent, would house a chapel, conference rooms, classrooms, offices, a museum, a library, bedroom suites, and a dormitory for the youth. Mor Cyril and the parish of St. Mark’s also planned to have a new cathedral built on the premises, along with a multi-purpose hall that could be used by the youth. The new cathedral will be consecrated in 2019. After the ascension of Mor Cyril to the Patriarchate of Antioch in 2014, he left the administration of the Archdiocese in the hands of a Committee of Three: Fr. John Khoury of Paramus, the most senior priest in the Archdiocese, as vicar general; Fr. Joseph Chamoun of the cathedral as

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secretary general; and Deacon George Kiraz as the Archdiocesan office director, with AEC responsibilities as chair of the parishes and clergy committee. Along with the AEC, then led by Semir Shirazi, the Committee of Three ran the affairs of the Archdiocese under the direction of His Holiness the Patriarch until the summer of 2015. During the 2015 Worcester Convention, Patriarch Aphrem II appointed Mor Dionysius John Kawak, then the patriarchal assistant, as Patriarchal Delegate for the Archdiocese. Assisted by the AEC, Archbishop Kawak ran the affairs of the Archdiocese until he was appointed by His Holiness as Patriarchal Vicar. Archbishop Kawak was enthroned as Patriarchal Vicar on May 27, 2016. He is now continuing and building upon the programs of his predecessor.

Archdiocese for the Western United States The Western Archdiocese was assigned by Patriarch Zakka to Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan in 1996, then the patriarchal assistant. This part of the Archdiocese was quite remote from the center of the previous Archdiocese of the United States and North America and only had five parishes: St. Ephraim Cathedral in Burbank, St. George in San Fernando, St. Mary in Orange County, and St. Thomas in San Jose—all in California—in addition to St. Ignatius of Antioch in Portland, Oregon.

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With the wars in Iraq during the 1990s, the number of immigrants would increase tremendously in the Western states. This expanded the geographical area in which the faithful lived, both within the State of California and beyond. Within a few years, Mor Clemis expanded this Archdiocese from the initial five parishes to more than two dozen parishes. California would have its share of newly established parishes in Upland, San Dimas, Victorville, El Cajon, Palmdale, Sacramento, San Diego, Chico, San Luis Obispo, and Bakersfield. Other parishes were established outside of California: in Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Seattle, Washington; and Houston and Dallas, Texas. Many of these parishes have their own resident priests. Others have visiting priests from neighboring cities that visit and celebrate the liturgy periodically. A few of the priests are monks. Until recently, the Western Archdiocese also managed two parishes that are technically in the Canadian territory but close to its border: one in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the other in Edmonton, Alberta. In a similar manner, the Eastern Archdiocese manages the parish of Corpus Christi, Texas, technically within the territories of the Western United States. In addition to parish-building, the Western Archdiocese expanded by establishing a number of organizations: a Ladies Auxiliary, scouts for boys and girls, Sunday schools,

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youth organizations, and a special group for deacons. The Archdiocese also regularly holds retreats for Sunday school teachers and the clergy.

Archdiocese of Canada The Archdiocese of Canada was first assigned to Mor Timotheos Aphrem Aboodi in 1996. He managed it until 2008 when it was assigned to Mor Athanasius Elia Bahi, formerly the Patriarchal assistant to Patriarch Zakka I. During the tenure of Archbishop Aboodi, the parish of St. Behnam in Toronto took root. In 1996, shortly after the passing away of Mor Athanasius Yeshue, St. John the Evangelist of Burlington, Ontario, was established. The Archdiocese of Canada also expanded with new immigrants; most of these new immigrants settled in areas where there were already established parishes. To cater for the new immigrants in other areas, a few parishes were established. Beginning in June 2013 in Windsor, Ontario— just across from Detroit—Fr. Edward Hanna, who belonged to the Archdiocese of the Eastern United States, used to travel literally across the river to celebrate the liturgy for a few Iraqi families. By 2017, the community had grown; and Mor Athanasius Elia ordained Fr. Bashir Putty to serve the community permanently with a parish named St. Matthew.

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A similar situation unfolded on the West Coast in Calgary, Alberta. Fr. George al-Banna, who belonged to the Archdiocese of the Western United States, used to cross the border and take care of the spiritual needs of the faithful. In 2017, Mor Athanasius Elia ordained Fr. Yusuf Yusuf for a new parish named St. Emmanuel. Vancouver, in British Columbia, was also blessed with a new parish called St. Mary; Fr. Bshara Shamani, who had immigrated from Iraq, served as priest. The oldest of all Canadian parishes, St. Ephrem of Sherbrooke, underwent a renewal and was home to about 100 families. Sadly, the “old-timers” from the community are hardly present today, but the new parish is an example of ecumenism. As the Syriac Orthodox parish is the only Middle Eastern parish in town, its 100 family members represent a mixture of Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Chaldeans, Copts, and Rum Orthodox. In 2008, a Dayroyo (monk) named Gabriel Sarkis was assigned to the parish. 2014

A Syriac-American Patriarch After a long illness, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I passed away in Germany on March 21, 2014. He had an extensive funeral service that spanned two continents and three countries. Shortly after the burial service, a synod was held to elect a new Patriarch. Eyes were on the bishops of the United States. Mor Cyril Aphrem of the Eastern United States was

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elected Patriarch and was declared Mor Ignatius Aphrem II. This was the first time that a diaspora archbishop had been elected to the highest office of the Church. Between the election and the installation of the new Patriarch, the Archdiocese of the Eastern United States was buzzing with patriarchal business. The clergy in New Jersey would play a role in the installation ceremony. The text for the service was put together in New Jersey (with contributions by Dayroyo Roger Akhrass, who was at the time visiting the United States on a fellowship at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Minnesota). The running of the installation ceremony was assigned to the present author, a deacon of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Teaneck. Upon arrival in Damascus, a synodal session was held at which I was asked to go through the installation procedure with the Maphrian, the Qoyumo, and the rest of the archbishops. The deacon parts of the liturgy were assigned to the clergy of Qamishli, the birthplace of the Patriarch-elect, and to the clergy of the Eastern United States. The most ancient of all the patriarchal sees, the See of Antioch and All the East, is now held by a Suryoyo-American.

Works Cited Archives Consulted AYS Archive = Athanasius Yeshue Samuel Archive, Mor Aphrem Center, Paramus, NJ. Patriarchal Archive, Maarat Saydnaya, Syria. St. Mark’s Monastery archive, Jerusalem. Worcester church archive = St. Mary’s archive, Worcester, MA.

Interviews Darius and Barbara Baba, Worcester, weekend of March 8, 2019. [Barbara is George Quoyoon’s daughter and the granddaughter of Ḥaji Thomas.] Pamela Ghazal, Central Falls, March 18, 2019. Joe and Martha Redvanly, NJ, June 21, 1995. [Joe is Gabriel Boyajy’s nephew; Martha is George Mardinly’s daughter.] Fr. Abdulnur (Albert) Samuel, NJ, June 19, 1995. [He is Fr. Favlos Samuel’s son.] Thomas and Gloria Saraffian, Paramus, NJ, Jan 26, 2019. [Gloria is Naum Faik’s great-niece.] George Quoyoon, Worcester, MA, April 1988. [He is the son of Ḥaji Thomas.]

265

266

Works Cited

Periodicals Assyrian Progress (Assyrian American Benevolent Association of California, Los Angeles, CA). Beth Nahrin (ed. Naum Faik, Paterson, NJ). Boston Sunday Advertiser. al- Ḥikmat (ed. Murad Fuad Jaqqi [Çakı], Jerusalem). Huyodo (ed. Naum Faik, Assyro-Chaldean National Unity of America, New York, NY). Intibāh (ed. Gabriel Boyajy, College Point, NY). al-Jāmiʿa al-Suryāniya (ed. Farid Nuzha, Buenos Aires, Argentina). Kawkab Madnḥo (ed. Naum Faik, Diyarbakır, NJ). Leshono d-Umto (ed. Abrohom Haqwardi, Beirut, Lebanon). Los Angeles Times. al-Mashriq (ed. Gregorios B. Behnam, Mosul, Iraq). The New Assyria (ed. Joel Warda, New Assyria Publishing Company, Jersey, City, NJ). The New Beth-Nahreen (1st year: Assyrian National School Association of America, Inc.; 2nd and subsequent years: Assyrian New Beth-Nahreen Association, Inc., Teaneck, NJ). Nineveh (The Assyrian Progressive Association, Boston, MA). Patriarchal Magazine, Damascus (ed. Saʿīd Abdulnur, Damascus). Patriarchal Magazine, Jerusalem (ed. Qusṭanṭīn Theodorī, St. Mark’s Press, Jersualem). Shlomo (Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, Worcester, MA). The Union see Huyodo.

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Secondary Sources 55th Anniversary of the Ladies Aid Societies, Dinner (1965). Anson, P. Bishops at Large (Berkeley: Apocryphile Press, 1964). Armalet, I. al-Quṣārā fī Nakabāt al-Naṣārā (1919). Armitage, C.F. 1918 Year Book of the Churches for Covering the Year 1917 (New York: Missionary Education Movement, 1918). Aydin, E. The History of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in North America: Challenges and Opportunities, M.Div. dissertation (2000). Barsoum, A. History of Tur Abdin (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2008). Basmajy, Mazy. “1850–1914: Mereyam Basmajy: A Story of a Great Lady,” from Assyrian Information Management. Retrieved from http://www.atour.com/history/ 1800/20011107a.html. Becker, A. Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015). Brandreth, R.T. Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church, second edition (London: S.P.C.K., 1961). Burns, J. “A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Translation of Genesis Recorded in Mosul, Iraq, ca. 1842…” in Aramaic Studies 5 (no. 1, 2007) p. 47–74. Çakı, M.F. Naoum Faik (İstanbul: Belge Yayınları, 2004).

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Çiçek, J. Mimre d-ʿal Sayfo (Losser, Netherlands: St. Ephrem der Syrier Kloster, 1981). de Courtois, S. The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2004). Department of Commerce. Religious Bodies: 1916 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919). _____. Religious Bodies: 1926 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1929). _____. Religious Bodies: 1936 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1941). A Directory of the Assyrian Population of the United States and Canada (Boston: Yeran Press, 1913). Donabed, N. and S. Donabed. Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006). Donabed, S. Remnants of Heroes (Chicago: Assyrian Academic Society Press, 2003). Donef, R. “The Assyrian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference.” The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies, edited by H. Travis (London: Routledge, 2017). Dinno, K. The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crises then Revival (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2017). Faik, N. Kthobo d-Qeryono d-Suryoyutho (Paterson: 1917). [Ghazal, Pamela], “The George Family and 100 Years of Saint Ephraim” in St. Ephraim Syriac Orthodox Church, Centennial Anniversary Program (2013), no pagination.

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Heinrichs, W. “The Modern Assyrians—Name and Nation.” Semitica. Serta Philologica Constantino Tsereteli Dicata. Edited by R. Contini, F.A. Pennacchietti, and M. Tosco. (Torino: Zamorani, 1993). “History,” from Near East Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.neareast.org/who-we-are. Ibrahim, Y. “Patriarch Afram Barsoum,” in Bayn al-Nahrayn 1 (no. 2, 1973) p. 221–238. Iwas, Z. al-Mashkāh fi Ziyārāt Rāʿī al-Ruʿā (1960). Jaqqi see Çakı. Jastrow, O. and S. Talay. Der neuaramäische Dialekt vin Midyat (Midyoyo), Band I, Texte (Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1994). Kiraz, G.A. ʿIqd al-Jumān (Glane/Losser: Bar Hebraeus Verlag: 1988). _____. “The Credentials of Mar Julius Alvares, Bishop of Ceylon, Goa, and India Excluding Malabar,” in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 7.2 (2004). Khulāṣat muqarrarāt majmaʿ dayr mār mattā (Jerusalem: St. Mark’s Press, 1930). Laurie, T. Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians (Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1853). Meno, J. “A Brief History of the Annual Archdiocesan Conventions of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America,” in 47th Annual Archdiocesan Convention (Teaneck, NJ: Archdiocese for the Eastern United States, 2010) p. 31–33.

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_____. “History of St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral,” in St. Mark’s…Cathedral Consecration Day (1996) p. 24– 31. _____. The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch: A Brief Historical and Doctrinal Sketch ([1984]). Naff, A. Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985). Perry, O. Six Months in a Syrian Monastery (London: H. Cox, 1895). Pew Research Center. A Brief History of Religion and the U.S. Census (2010). Retrieved from http://www.pewforum .org/2010/01/26/a-brief-history-of-religion-and-theu-s-census/. Said, Y. Ḥayāt al-Malphan Mar Gregorious Boulos Behnam (1969). Samuel, A. Treasure of Qumran: My Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1966). Tannous, J. “What is Syriac? Explorations in the History of a Name” (forthcoming). Taylor, W. Antioch and Canterbury (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2006). Trever, J.C. The Untold Story of Qumran (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1965). Trigona-Harany, B. “A Bibliography of Süryânî Periodicals in Ottoman Turkish,” in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 12.2 (2009).

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Yoosuf, A. Assyria and the Paris Peace Conference. Edited by T. Beth-Avdallah. (Mölndal, Sweden: Nineveh Press, 2017).

Index Abajy, Archbishop Yuhanna, 159 ff. Abdalla family, 27 Abdullah II, Patr., 12, 64, 108, 121, 244 Abdulmasih II, Patr., 9, 121 Abdulmasih, Naum, 69 Abdulnur, Abdulahad, 142 Abgrab, Isabelle, 251 Aboodi, Mor Timotheos Aphrem, 256, 262 Abraham, Mor Clemis, 244–245 ACASR, 86 Adana, 48, 83 Adde, Fr. Gabriel, 243, 248 Adiaman, 196 Ain Wardo, 243 Akhrass, Dayroyo Roger, xxi, 264 Albanna, Fr. George, 263 Aleppo, 7, 64, 78, 84, 109, 167, 213, 261, 263, 246, 251 Alexander, Balshasar 21– 23, 31, 89

Alkhouri Nimat, Dayroyo Augeen, xxi Alqas, Elias Boutrus, 110 Alumoottil, Fr. A. T. Abraham, 245 Alvares, Mor Julius, 24 American Bible Society, 212 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 11 American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, 86 American Foundation for Syriac Studies, 239 American School of Oriental Research, 169 Amman, 165 Anaphora, 123, 231–232 Anhil, 84 Ankara, 108 Antep, 14, 21 Anto family, 27 Anto, Archbishop Gabriel, 27, 128, 140 ff. 272

Index Anto, Eline and Carol, 27– 28 Aphrem, Mor Cyril, 244, 256–257 ff., 263; as Patr. Aphrem II, xx, 264 Apostolic Delegate, 129 ff. “Apostolic” vs. “Orthodox”, 235 ʿAqrawi, Matta, 215 Arab Americans, 191–192 Arab Syrian [Sūriyīn], 86 Arabic, xxiii Arabic, 2, 7, 59, 64, 77, 83, 89, 93, 95–97, 123, 138, 145, 147, 150, 159, 189, 191, 200, 230, 249; poems, 62; teaching, 75 Arab-Israeli war, 165, 224 Arabs, 99 Aramaic American Association, xxv, 238 Aramaic Times, 238 Aramaic, xxiii, 2, 7, 77, 91, 145, 189 Arameans, xxvi, 54, 63, 95, 146, 185, 200, Arbo, 8 Archbishop Samuel Trust, 206

273 Archdiocesan General Secretary, 212 Arizona, 261 Armalet, Isaac, 9 Armenian Holy Cross Church, Los Angeles, 33 Armenian: 1895 protest, 8; church, 110, 131, 215; language, xxiii, 2, 7, 33, 45, 49, 63, 86, 89, 97, 188, 191, 193, 218; taking A names, 14 Armenians, 9, 86–87, 99, 105, 108, 141, 189 army 162, ff. Asfar, Said, 128 Aslan family,16 Asmar, Fr. Shamoun, 247 Asouri, 188–189, 191, 193 Association for Protection of True Antiochian Faith, 240 Assyria, 146 Assyrian, xxii ff., 4–5, 22, 36, 38, 60, 79, 101, 103, 113, 146, 150, 167, 180, 185 ff.

274 Assyrian American Benevolent Association of California, 32 Assyrian American Progressive Union, 45 Assyrian Americans, 4 Assyrian Association of Juniors, Los Angeles, 148 Assyrian Benefit Association, 36 Assyrian Boston United Association, 45 Assyrian Charity Association, 22 Assyrian Church of the East, see Church of the East. Assyrian Dramatic Association/Society, 68 ff. Assyrian Five Association, Boston, 41, 101 Assyrian Hall, Hollywood, 227 Assyrian Ladies Society, NJ, 66 Assyrian Ladies’ Church Loving Association, Worcester, 39

Index Assyrian Mar Afram Benevolent Society, Lowell, 40 Assyrian Mar Yacoub Religious Society, Lowell, 42 Assyrian National Association, 100–101, 111 Assyrian National Club, West Hoboken, 50 Assyrian National School Association of America, 47, 145 Assyrian National Union, 45 Assyrian New BethNahreen Association, 145 Assyrian Orphanage and School Association of America, 47 (see also Taw Mim Simkath) Assyrian Progress, 32 Assyrian Progressive Association, Boston, 44, 49 Assyrian Red Cross, 70 “Assyrian” vs. “Syrian”, xxiii–xxvii, 185 ff.

Index Assyrian Young Men’s Association of Boston, 42, 72 Assyrians Junior Association, West Hoboken, 50 Assyro-Chaldean, 194; Paris delegation, 103 Assyro-Chaldean National Unity of America, 95 Astoria, 147, 149 Austria, 153 Aykurt, Malphono Elias, 239 Ayub, Mor Silvanos, 245 Baba, Darius and Barbara, xxi; Barbara, 217, 249 Baba, John, 115 Badal, Yousef, 91 Bahi, Mor Athanasius Elia, 256, 262 Bahosh, Hanna, 86 Bakersfield, 261 Baley, Sanharib, 57, 63, 70, 89, 91, 95–96, 101, 147 Balkan Wars, 21 Bally, Alice, 147 Bally, George, 147

275 Baltimore, 205; Baltimore Medical College/School, 19, 21 baptisms, 110, 134, 232 Barnaba, Mor Malatius, 213 Barsoum, Dr. Abdallah, 104 Barsoum, Patriarch/Archbishop Afram: as Apostolic Delegate, 130 ff.; catechism, 230; conflict with Mor Athanasius, 176 ff.; creates temporary Patriarchal Vicarate, 181 ff.; Dead Sea scrolls, 168; Intibāh, 55; Locum Tenens, 143 ff.; “Assyrian” vs,. “Syrian”, xxiv, 193–195, 198–201; ordaining Elias J. Sugar, 138; Palestine refugees, 166; Paris Peace Conference, 103, 107; poetry, 62; seminary, 163; sends bp. Abajy, 159; sends priest for Detroit, 158; Vilatte, 25; death, 209

276 Barsoum, Fr. Peter, 112, 136, 143, 216–217, 230 Barsoum, Frank, 217 Barsoom, George and Agabab, 19 Barsoum, Murad Saliba, 232, 237 Barsoum, Peter, 174 Basharof, Naum, 57 basketball, 154 Basmajy, Mary, 28 ff. Basmajy, Yousef, 65 Bazaz, S. H., 149 Bedig, Iskandar and Howard, 31 Bedig, Lily, 154 Bedouins, 168 Beethoven, 153 Behnam, Mor Dionysius Jirjis, 213 Behnam, Mor Gregorios Boulos, 210, 212, 214– 215, 233 Beirut, 48, 70, 109–110, 162, 167, 169, 214, 219, 246 Benjamin, Yousef, 91 Beth Gazo, 75, 219 ff.

Index Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 220 Beth Nahrin, xx, 49, 59, 64, 128 Beth Zabdai, 8 d-Beth Aḥo, Nijmeh, 82 Bethlehem, xv, 167, 231 Betlis, 105 Betterbed, Jacob 28 Bible, 200 Bishar, H., 149 Bitlis, 104 Black Sea, 17 Boorujy, Salem, 149 Borough of Manhattan Community College, 239 Boston Public Library, 216 Boston, 10–11, 23, 26, 73, 81, 89–90, 99–100, 109, 112, 115–116, 118, 133, 136, 161, 237, 242, 248 Boyagy, Lutfi, 69, 75 Boyagy, Rose, 110 Boyajy, Bashar, 57, 75, 152 Boyajy, Elias, 152 Boyajy, Gabriel/Jabbur Boyajy, 46, 58, 60, 62, 96 Boyajy, Joe, 62 Bozluolcay, Murat, xxi

Index Bram, farm, 89 British Columbia, 261, 263 British, 103, 194; mandate over Palestine, 165 Brooklyn, 66, 73, 148, 151 Brown University, 216 Burbank, 155, 228, 254, 260; Unified School District, 154 Bureau of the Census, 87, 116 Burj Ḥammūd, 48 Burlington, 262 Çakı, Hanna Sirri, 62 Calgary, 262 California, 20, 22, 30–34, 72, 88, 110, 118, 226– 227, 239 Cambridge, Ohio, 80 Cambridge, UK, 254 Camden, 147 Camp Nineveh, 45, 72 Campbell, Clara, 20 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 20 Canada, xxiii, 26–27, 72, 88, 128, 140, 161, 164 ff., 183, 189, 202, 218,

277 236–237, 243, 247, 262 ff., catechism, 230 cathedral, 211–212 Catholic schools, 28 Catholicos, 121 cemeteries, 258 census: 1916 census, 87 ff.; 1926 census, 116; 1936 census, 156; 1946 census, 156 Central Falls, xxiii, xxv, 52, 58, 89, 90, 100, 111–112, 118, 131–132, 138, 148, 160, 174–175, 183, 189, 191, 202, 209, 215–216, 225, 237, 246, 251 Central Turkey College, 21 Ceylon, 24 Chaldean, 195, 203, 219 Chaldeans, 97–98, 117, 194, 263 Chamoun, Fr. Joseph, 259 Chatham Manor, 149 Chaurize, Alphonse, 195, 203, 237 Chavoor, 202 Chavoor, Elias, 155 Chavoor, Evelyn, 155

278 Chavoor, Joan, 155 Chavoor, Sherman, 154– 155 Cherian, Fr. P. G., 241 Cheringal, William, 147 Chicago, 19, 101, 165, 228– 229, 248 Chicago, University of, xxi, 136, 205 Chico, CA, 261 choir, 151 Chrism, 134 Christ Episcopal Church, Fitchburg, 52, 97, 110, 111 Christmas, 119 Christological controversies, 92 Church of England, 25 Church of the East Assyrians, 62, 69–70, 90 ff., 97–98, 101, 112, 117, 193–194, 196, 200, 213 Çiçek, Mor Julius Y., 254 Cleveland, 74, College Point, 47, 58, 62, 66, 73 community life, 71 ff. Confirmation, 134

Index Congress, 155–156 Connecticut, 29, 72, 74 convention: 1917 at Worcester, 98 ff.; 1918 at Worcester, 100; archdiocesan, 225 ff. Copts, 263 Corpus Christi, 261 Costello, Frank, 219 Court, U.S. District, 116 Croix de Guerre, 82 Cuba, 17, 19 D.C. : see Washington, D.C. Dallas, 261 Damascus, Syria, xx, 139, 167, 219, 238, 264 Damascus, MD, 242 Danhash, George, 48 Darakjy, Jack, 147 Darakjy, Salim, 152 Dartley, Abdulmasih, 57, 89, 91 Dartley, Albert, 147 Dartley, Anton, 57 Dartley, S., 115 Dasho family, 115 Dasho, Sophia, 14 Dasho, Yacob, 115

Index David, Benjamin, 57 David, Yousef, 57 deacons, 52, 110, 152, 237 Dead Sea scrolls, 168 ff., 173, 178, 205 ff., 252– 253 Deir al-Zaʿfarān, 7 Deir Mar Matta, 141 Detroit, xxiii, 34, 58, 74, 102, 118, 133, 156–158, 174, 183, 189, 191, 193, 202, 209, 216, 218, 232– 233, 237, 242, 247, 249, 262 Dinha, Bishop, 68 Dinno, Jamil, 219 Dinno, Khalid, xxi, 79 Dionysus Abdulnur, 109 directory, 72 ff. Diyarbakır, xxiii, 1, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18, 28, 30, 63, 82, 98, 104–105, 114, 120, 131, 189, 191, 246 Dodge, Cleveland H., 86 Dolabani, Mor Philoxenos Yuhanna, 48, 124, 134, 207 Domato, Fr. Abdulahad, 215, 225, 246

279 Donabed, Bishara, 162 Donabed, Margaret, 31 Donabed, Sargon, xxi Dorchester, 74 Douglas, Melvin, 155 drama, 68 Drew University, 238 Duke University, 205 Durghali, Fr. George, 242, 248 Durghali, Fr. Steven, 158, 161, 174, 232–234, 247 Durna, Henry, 116 Durna, Joseph, 70, 115 East Hoboken, 70 East Watertown, 73 Easter, 62, 119, 207 Edessa, 7, 9. See also Urfa. Edmonton, 261 education, 37, 149 Egypt, 82, 207 El Cajon, CA, 261 Elbag, Yacoob Aga, 20 Elby, Selim, 149 Elias III Shakir, Patr.: election as Qaymaqam, 64; enthronement as Patriarch, 65; 103–104, 108– 109, 112, 117, 121, 129–

280 130, 140–141, 143–144, 194, 213, 230 Elias, Ghaṭṭās Maqdisī, 48 Elizabeth, NJ, 58, 70, 91 Ellis Island, 81 eminent domain, 72 England, 3 English language, 10, 28, 49, 96, 136, 143, 147, 150, 200–201, 247 Epiphany, 15 Episcopal church, 52, 97– 98, 110, 237, 249, 233 Eshak, J. H., 147 Esteridge, Sidney, 206 Euphrates College, 19, 29 Euphrates, 159, 210 Europe, 17, 94, 104, 254– 255 Excalibur, The, 170, 174 Fahmi, Yakob, 62 Faik/Palak, Naum, xxvi, 96; Intibāh Association, 53, 101; Intibāh newspaper, 58, 63; letter from Bp. Barsoum, 133; nationalist, 113; on melting pot, 127; on priests, 138; on priests, 150; on

Index union, 94; play, 69; poems, 62; teaching Syriac, 75; uncle of Elias, 152; visit to New England, 89; death & funeral, 128, 140. Fairuzeh, 216, 218, 247 Faraj, Fr. Nimatallah, 243, 248 Fast of Nineveh, 120 fasting, 119 Fdeil, Fr. Fadel Ghazi, 227, 248 Fitchburg, 26, 39, 43, 66, 73, 89, 90, 97, 99–100, 110–111 Floral Park, West Hoboken, 50 Florida, 133, 216, 237, 258 Flower Hill Cemetery, 128 Fordham University, 216 Forty Martyrs, Church of, 139 France, 72, 81, 108 Franklin Park, 248 French government, 108 French High Commissioner, 48

Index French, 28, 103, 107, 194, 201 Fresno California Assyrian Ladies’ Association, 31 Fresno, 22, 30–31, 33, 74, 218, 227 Friends of the Middle East, 217 funerals, 110, 232 Gabriel, Fawlos, 48 Garshuni, xxi, 32, 47, 49, 58–59, 62, 65, 69, 73, 95, 123, 142 Gaziantep, 14 Gehegen, Helen Douglas, 155 genocide, 78 ff. George, G. G., 147 George’s family, Qedsiyyeh/Edsea, 250 ff. Georgia, 258 Gergis family, 250 German, 201 Germans, 77 Germany, 263 Ghazal, Pierre, 252 Gibran, Gibran Khalil, 137 ff. girls, 148; education, 122

281 Glenview, 248 Goa, 24 Gogé family, 250 Gordon College, 112 Gorgias Press, xxi Gouryh, Admer, 239 Greece, 81 Greek Orthodox Church, 215 Greeks, 86, 108, 141 Green Bay, 25 Gregorian calendar, 119, 142, 206 Gregorios Afram of Sadad, 102 Gregorius Gewargis, 24 Griffith, Sidney, 240 gudo, 152, 251 Hackensack, 149, 183, 204, 211, 214, 217, 219, 237, 241, 244, 247 Hadaya, Salim, 216 Haddad family, 27 Hait, Mary, 31, 33 Hallouleh, Bishop Elias, 51 Hamilton, 243 Hammarskjöld, Dag, 215 Hanna, Daniel Khoury, 80 Hanna, Fr. Edward, 262

282 Hannoush, Gabriel, 258 Harding, President, 81 Harpoot [Kharput] Assyrian United Association of America, 45, 93 Harpoot [Kharput] Assyrian United Educational Fund, 42 Harpoot [Kharput] Union, 42 Harpoot [Kharput] United Association, 45 Harvard University, 11, 136, 150, 216 Harvey, Susan, 240 Ḥasakeh, 196 Hasbrouck Heights, 238 Hasstchi, 196 Hatemi, Nilüfer, xxi Hawaweeny, Bishop, 192 Haworth, 244 Hazou, Mariam Khamis, xv, 4 Ḥezwone association, 68 ff. Hickory Hills, 248 Hicksville, 243 al-Ḥikmat, xx, 78, 123 Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, 264

Index Ḥiṣn Manṣur, 55 Hoboken, 149 Hollywood stars, 155 Homs, xxiii, 34, 102, 159, 167, 213, 216, 218, 228, 232–233, 246 Homs Brotherhood Hall, 183, 216, 237 Honesdale, 219 Hotel Plaza, 174 Houston, 261 Hoyen, Aphrem George, 153 Hoyen, Francis E., 196 Hungary, 40 Hussein, Saddam, 234 ḥuyodo, 89, 92, 146 Ḥuyodo newspaper, 95 hymnals, 52, 110 Ibrahim, Mor Greogrios Yuhanna, 257 Idlewild Airport, 214 Immigration Committee, 22 India, 24, 43, 55, 121, 143, 220, 240, 245 Indiana, 258 intibāh, 89

Index Intibāh Association, 53 ff., 90–91, 100–101, 157 Intibāh, newspaper, xx, 58 ff., 190 Intibāh Press, 47, 62 Iraqis, 3, 78, 114, 195, 233, 246–248, 263 ; government, 234 Ireland, 257 IRS, 206 Iskandar, Balshasar: see Alexander Israeli government, 205– 206 Issa, Hanna, 239 Istanbul, 9, 16–17, 22, 29 Italian, 201 Italy, 81 Ittifāq al-Ḥub Association, Boston, 40 Ivos, 18 Jabra, Jabra Ibrahim, 231 Jacksonville, 134, 183, 189, 191, 193, 202, 206, 216– 217, 237 Jacob III, Patriarch, 213 ff., 226, 233, 237; election, 210–211 Jacob, Fr. John, 240

283 Jacobite, 87 Jamʿiyat al-ʾIrtiqāʾ, Detroit, 158 Jardak, Aziz Behnam, 233 Jarjur, George, 26 ff. Jazireh, 55, 80, 159, 210 Jersey City, 115, 174 Jerusalem, xv, xx, 7, 51, 102, 108, 121, 140–141, 157–158, 165, 174, 176, 178, 207, 230–232 Jewish Aramaic, 10–11 Jews, 99 JFK airport, 214 Jilif, Fr. Boulus, 178 Jordan, 165, 248 Jordanian government, 205 Joseph, John, 240 Journalism, 58 Juʿbeh, 218 Judean desert, 168 Julian calendar, 142, 206– 207 Kallo, Fr. Yousif, 243 Kandanad, 242 Kando, 168 Kapanjy, Leo, 147 Kaplan, Mor Clemis Eugene, 256–257, 260

284 Karim, Mor Cyril Aphrem: see under Aphrem. Karma, Fr. A. Carim, 218, 230, 247 Kassis, Dayroyo Saliba, xxi Kawak, Iskandar, 40 Kawak, Mor Dionysius John, xvi, xx–xxi, 220, 260 Kedersha, George, 149 Kedersha, Tooming, 30 Kerala, 241 Kfarzeh, 8 Khandaq al-Ghamīq, 48 Kharput, xxiii, 1, 7, 14, 16, 18–19, 21–23, 29–31, 33–34, 55, 63, 81, 90, 98, 103–104, 108–109, 114, 116, 120, 133, 135, 150, 154–155, 162, 189, 191, 218, 220, 227, 246 Khoury, Fr. John, 259 Khoury, Fr. Yousef¸247 Kinnear, James A., 230 Kiraz, Anton, xxi, 168–169, 205 Kiraz, Barsoum David, 18 Kiraz, Christine, xxii, 4

Index Kiraz, George A., 259–260; installation of Patr. Aphrem II 264 Kiraz, Lousazine, 18 Kiraz, Lucian Nurono, xxii Kiraz, Sebastian Kenoro, xxi–xxii Kiraz, Tabetha, xxii Kiraz-Khamis, Guita, 3 Kirkanni, Malki, 124 Kirkenni, Elias and Mr. Anton, 159 Knanaya, xviii, 211; parishes, 244 ff. Knanaya Chronicles, 246 Kömüre family, 27 Kömüre, Michelle, 164 Kömüre, Rizqallah, 165 Koorie, Fr. Nahum, 64, 75, 109, 139; author, 52, 118; discovers immigrants in Boston, 40; ordination, 51; and 1926 census, 117; and census, 88; and Ladies Society, 66; fund-raising 86, 106; Jerusalem Synod meeting, 118; Worcester

Index corner stone, 132; death, 139 Koorie, Fr. Nahum, 132 Kottayam, 24 Koury, Fr. John, 236–237, 246 Koury, Fr. Yousif, 212 Kurds, 2, 7, 9, 68; aghas 8 Kuriakose, Mor Julius, 242 laborers, 115 ff. Ladies Benevolent Association, Los Angeles, 32 Lake Mégantic, 164 Lampman chapel, 244 Las Vegas, 261 Latins, 108, 141 Laurel Grove Memorial Park, 258 Lausanne, 130, 135 League of Nations, 165 Lebanon, 3, 48, 78, 108, 114, 191, 229, 246–248, 251 Lent, 207 Leominster, 41, 44, 89, 203 Lewis & Clark College, 218 Lewis, Mr. Jobi, 218 libraries, 135 Library of Congress, 205

285 Linotype technology, 95 Little Orchestra Association, 153 liturgy: books, 229; length, 120 Lodi, 252 London, xxiv, 21, 219 Long Island, 29, 67, 147, 149, 151, 243 Los Angeles, 3, 31, 33, 74, 147–148, 154–155, 165, 179, 213, 218, 227–228, 243, 246–247 Losser, 254 Lowell, 42, 73, 87, 89, 99– 100, 153 Maarat Saydnaya, 220 Mʿadʿdono, 232 Malabar, 24 Malabar, Diocese of, 240 Malankara, xviii, 237; parishes, 240 ff. Malankara Archdiocese in North America, 240 ff. Malankara Orthodox Syrian church, 241 Malankara Suriyani (Syrian) Knanaya Association (MSKA), 245

286 Malatia, 18 Malayalam, 136 Malko brothers, 149 Maʿmurat al-ʿAziz, 105 Manchester, 245 Manhattan, 73, 149, 191 Manogaan, L. C., 116 Manoog, Charles, 175, 202–203, 205–206, 217 Maphrian, 121, 264 Mar Aphraim Ward, Los Angeles, 32 Mar Ephrem Society, 101 Mardikian, George, 218 Mardin, xxiii, 1, 7, 9–10, 26–27, 53, 80, 84, 98, 107, 110, 114, 120–121, 136, 139, 150, 164–165, 189, 202, 207, 220, 228, 240, 247–248, 251 Mardinli, Alexander, 147 Mardinly, George, 18, 46, 57, 118, 149 Mariam Anne, 131 Maronites, 93–94; Maronite College,94 marriage ceremonies, 119 Marseille, 17, 29, 158–159

Index Massachusetts Group Supporting the Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch in the United States and Canada, 184, 203 Massachusetts, xxiii, 17, 72, 88, 216, 245, 250 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 149, 153 Mathews, Mor Ivanios, 242 Matthew, Mor Athanasius Joseph, 10 Mayrun, 134 Mazijy, Nasib, 86 McVey, Kathleen, 240 Meno, Fr. John, xx–xxi, 212, 232, 238, 247 Mesopotamia, 10, 113, 192 Miami, 217, 237 Micha, Shammas, 10 ff. Michigan, 133 Midwest, 224 Midyat, 27, 55, 84, 90, 98, 111, 114, 120, 191, 202 millet 1, 7–8, 99, 146 mimeography, 90 Minnesota, 264 Mirza, Fr. (father of Hannah Koorie), 51

Index missionaries, 10 MIT: See Massachusetts Institute of Technology Miyafarqin, 55 Montreal, 26–27, 74, 165, 226, 236–237, 248 Moosa, Matti, 240 Mor Ephrem school, 239 Morgenthau, Henry, 86 Mosul, 7, 53, 78, 121, 141, 163, 210, 212, 233 Mukhtār, 85 Munich, 153 Murad, Khalil, 27 Murshid-i Âsûriyûn, 63 music, 75 My Country ‘Tis of Thee, 62 Nadin, Sam, 57 Nadir, Sam, 91 Nahire, 253 Najar, Margaret, 154 Namen, Gabriel A., 116 al-Naqqār, Micha, 10 ff. Nashmeh, Said, 142 Nashmi, Naum, 157 National Council of Churches, 215–216 nationalism, 193 Netherlands, 254, 258

287 Nevada, 261 New Assyria, The, 61, 63 New Beth-Nahreen, The, 49, 145 ff. New England, xxiii, 2, 22, 30, 33–34, 72 New Jersey xxiii, 2, 14, 18, 30, 34, 72, 88, 118, 154, 174, 183, 214, 217, 237– 238, 241, 246, 258, 264 New York, xxiii, 12, 14, 31, 33, 70, 88, 118, 130, 149, 212, 214–215, 241, 243, 246, 258 New York City, 29, 66 Newark, 66, 115–116, 148 Nisibin, 9 Nineveh publication, 45, 49 Nineveh Association of Greater Boston, 45 Niranam, 24 nomenclature, xxiii ff., 185 ff. North American Knanaya Diocese, 244 ff. North Carolina, 258 Northeastern University School of Law, 116 Ohan, Nishon, 23

288 Ohio, 74, 80, 88 “old-timers”, 3–4 Ontario, 243, 262 Orange County, CA, 260 Oregon, 218, 260 Oriental Institute, Chicago, 136, 228 Oshjy, Yoosuf, 82 Ottoman: Empire, 3, 7, 120; script, 59; Sultan, 53; Ourfa, 104 Ovanis, George, 14 Ovanis, Thomas, 14 Pacasset Cemetery, 23 Palak, Elias, 152 Palestine, xxiv, 102, 114, 165, 176, 246–248 Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, 5 Palestinians, 3, 165, 228 Palmdale, CA, 261 Papaz, Annie, 195 Paramus, xxv, 31, 49, 131, 185, 234–235, 237, 239, 243, 246, 249, 253–254, 259; Paramus: manuscripts, 52

Index Paris, 103–104, 153; Paris Peace Conference, 22, 103 ff., 113, 135, 194 Parry, Oswald, 7, 12–13, 105 Paterson, 29, 50, 57, 63, 66, 70, 73, 75, 82, 86, 148 Patriarchal Magazine, xx Paulos, Mor Athanasius, 24 Pen-League, 137 Perch, Bishara, 23, 71, 43 Perch, Charles, 162 Perch, Henry, 162 Perch, Margaret, 41 Perley, David, 150 Persia, 10, 82, 91 Peter III/IV, Patriarch, xxiv, 8–9, 24 Philadelphia, 19, 20 Phoenix, 261 picnics, 71 ff. plays, 68 poetry, 62 Portland, 218, 243, 260 Portland University, 218 Poster, Boon, 231 Presbyterian church, 215

Index priests, 109 ff., 142, 258; first priest, 50; first ordained in USA, 138 prime minister, 20 Princeton University, xxi printing, 49; lack of print type, 59 professionals, 115 ff. Protestant schools, 28 Protestant, 19, 117, 135 Providence, 22, 31, 58, 74, 89–90, 99–100, 159, 215 publications, 229 Putty, Fr. Bashir, 262 Qamishli, 246, 264 Qarabashi, Abdulmasih, 239 Qasir, Abdullah, 142 Qassar family, 27 Qirmizi, Nasif Hanna, 60, 62, 228 Qoro, Mor Julios Elias, 220 Qoyumo, 143, 264 Quebec, 226 Québec, 74 Quoyoon, George, 14 Quoyoon, N. B., 116 Quoyoon, Nishan, 27 Quoyoon, Thomas, 14

289 Quryaqos, Mor Osthatheos, 210 Quyun, George, 43 al-Rayyis, ʿIsa ʿAbbud, 157 Redvanly, Martha, 115, 224, 249 Reedley, 74 Rhode Island, 72, 89, 131, 143, 215, 249 Richardson, Cyril, 231 Ridgewood High School, 154 Rochester, 90 Rome, 94, 214, 219 Roxbury, 248 Rum Orthodox Syrians, 93, 99, 192, 201, 218, 251, 263 Russia, 82 Russian Quarter, Jerusalem, 178 Rustigian, Mrs. Satenig, 31 Rutherford, 115 Sacramento, CA, 261 Sadad, 243 Safar family, 16, 23, 71, 115 Saffer, Charles Martin, 149 al-Sāʾiḥ, 137 Salmān, Ḥanna, 48

290 Salzburg, 153 Samson, 108 Samuel Trust, Archbishop, 206 Samuel, Athanasius Yeshue: Apostolic Delegate, 166; archdiocese expansion, 224 ff.; archive, xxi; “Assyrian” name, xxiv, 197 ff., 201 ff.; Beth Gazo, 220; Bp. Behnam, 212; Bp. Dolabani, 207–208; cathedral, 211; conflict with Patr. Barsoum, 176 ff.; Dead Sea Scrolls, 168 ff.; death & burial xvii, 226, 252–255; election of Patr. Jacob III, 210; Knanaya parishes, 244 ff.; legal agent of Patr. Jacob III, 221; liturgy books, 229; Malankara parishes, 240; Paramus consecrated, 234; parishes, 236, 242–244; Patr. Jacob III visit, 213 ff.; temporary Patriarchal

Index Vicar, 181; Vilatte, 25; visit to Los Angeles, 213 Samuel, Fr. Favlos, 2, 45, 111, 114, 132, 143, 160, 174 Samuel, Fr. Abdulnur (Albert), 212, 220, 247 San Diego, CA, 261 San Dimas, CA, 261 San Fernando, 243, 260 San Francisco, 30, 218 San Jose, 226, 243, 260 San Luis Obispo, CA, 261 Saraffian family, 17 Saraffian, Thomas, 189 Sarkar, Fr. Abdelahad, 212, 247 Sarkis, Gabriel, 263 Savto d-Oromoye “Voice of the Arameans”, 63 Sawme, Fr. Boutros, 165 Ṣawto d-Oromoye, 95 Sayfo, xvi; memorial, xvi; 1895 Sayfo, 7 ff.; 1915 Sayfo, 77 ff., 195 Schiller Park, 248 Schmierer-Lee, Melonie, xxi

Index school, 159, 239; catholic, Protestant, 28 Scottish, 20 scouts, 261 Seattle, 261 sefer berlik, 77 seminary, 159, 161, 163 ff., 182, sermons, 123 Serpuhee, 29 Serto script, 11, 92 Shabo, Fr. Eli, xxii, 239 Shabo, Malphonitho Fay, 239 Shabo, Fr. Joseph, xxi Shahin, Khalil Eskander, 168 Shalita, Archbishop, 213 Shaltan, Fr. Alan, 220 Shamani, Fr. Bshara, 263 Shammas, Sadoon, 71 Shamsey, John, 147 Shara, Fr. Abdulahad, 229, 234, 247 Shelton, 74 Sherbrooke, 134, 161, 183– 184, 189, 191, 193, 218, 226, 230, 237, 247, 249, 263

291 Shirazi, Semir, 260 Shommet, Rose, 70 Shrewsbury, 72 Shubqono, 258 Shukri, Fr. Yacob, 243 silk weavers 29 Simon, Fr. K. M., 211, 240, 244–245 Sʿirt, 55 Siverek, 55, 68 Sleep, Rev. Frederick H., 97 Södertälje, 82 Southfield, 233, 247 Southgate, 189 Southgate, Horatio, 188 Springfield, 62, 73, 203, 209, 237 Sri Lanka, 24 St. Behnam Hall, 233 St. Ephrem association, 74 St. Ephrem Association, Sherbrooke, 164 St. Ephrem Ward, Los Angeles, 227 St. Ephrem, Los Angeles, 4 St. George Syrian [Rum] Orthodox Mission, 192 St. George, Damascus, 139

292 St. John Chrysostom parish, 158, 182–183, 247, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Paterson, 51 St. Mark’s Cathedral, 4, 183, 209, 213, 214, 216, 237, 238, 240–241, 243– 244, 247, 253–254, 264 St. Mark’s Monastery, 102, 108, 134, 144, 165, 167, 176–177, 183, 230, 231 St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary, 246 Stambol, John, 152 Staten Island, 240, 242 Sterling, 46, 66 Stork, Hannah, xxi students, 75 Sugar, Fr. Elias J., 139, 143, 150, 158–159, 161, 164, 174, 178, 196, 236 Sukenik, E., 169 Summit, 66, 73, 148–149, 151 Sunday school, 149, 249, 252, 156, 240, 245, 261 Sureth, 91, 95, 97 Surma, Lady, 93

Index Suryani American Association, xxv Sweden, 82 Swedish, 136 Switzerland, 130 synod, xxv, 221; 1927 Jerusalem, 117 ff.; 1930 Deir Mar Matta, 141 ff., 151, 159; Patr. A. Barsoum election, 143; 4th Homs, 206 ff.; 5th Homs & Patr. Jacob election, 209 ff.; mixed synod, 122 Syria, 34, 55, 78, 103, 114, 130, 191, 202, 246–248; Little Syria, Manhattan, 191 Syriac: language, 52, 59, 70, 110, 122, 136, 143, 159, 247; alphabet, 59; teaching, 74 ff.; SyriacAmericans 4, 263 Syriac Catholic, 117, 194, 263 Syriac Language Organization, Fitchburg, 39 Syriac Studies, 239 Syriac Universal Alliance, 239

Index Syrian Archdiocese of Antioch, Inc., 184 Syrian Hill, Worcester, 192 Syrian Patriarchate Educational Fund, 188 Syrian Quarter, 192 Syrians, 3, 228 T.M.S.: see Taw Mim Simkath Tabbakh, Fr. Issa, 236, 248 tag day, 87 ṭāʾifa, 7–8 Tampa, 244 Tannourdji, Malak, 169 Taqlab, 62 taraki, 146 Tarzi, Fr. Joseph, 236, 243, 248 Tashjy, Annie, 69–70 Taw Mim Simkath, 29, 34, 47 ff., 58, 62, 66, 69–70, 75, 135, 145–146, 148, 151, 164 Teaneck, 243–254, 257, 264 Terakki “Progress”, 49 Terakkiyât-ı Mekteb-i Süryânî, 46–47 Texas, 258, 261

293 Thouma, Girgis, 124; cf. Touma, Jirjis (same person?) Thumpamon, 24 Titanic, 61 Toomajan, Simon, 110 Toronto, 226, 236, 262 Totowa, 258 Touma, Jirjis, 89–90; cf. Thouma, Girgis (same person?) Trabzon,17 Transjordan, 167, 176 Trisagion (Qadishat Aloho), 75 Tur Abdin, xxiii, 7–8, 78, 83, 220, 246–247 Turkey, xxiii, 8, 82, 84, 86, 114, 121, 196, 202, 246– 248 Turkish government, 105, 108 Turkish, language xxiii, 2, 7, 23, 47, 49, 52, 59, 64, 68–70, 77, 83, 89, 95, 97, 123, 136, 138, 143, 145, 150, 190, 249 Turkish poems, 62

294 Turkish Republic, 108, 121, 124 Turks 3 Turoyo Aramaic, xxiii, 83, 89, 97, 138, 189, 243 UCLA, 154 UNESCO, 215 Union City, 135, 148 Union Hill, 66 Union Theological Seminary, 212, 215, 231, 244– 245 United Assyrian Association of Massachusetts, 45, 72, 116 United Nations, 215 United States; immigration, 9 University of Chicago: see Chicago. Upland, CA, 261 Urfa (Edessa), 7, 55, 70, 112, 120. See also Edessa. Valiyaparambil, Fr. V.K. Thomas, 245 Vancouver, 261, 263 Vazhayil, Fr. Abraham Thomas, 245

Index Venice Beach, 34 Versailles, 103 Victorville, CA, 261 Vienna, 21, 153 Vilatte, Joseph René, 24 ff., 188 Viranşehir, 55 Virgin Mary church; in Diyarbakır, 9 Virginia, 258 Walters Art Gallery, 205 waqf, 12, 124, 144 Warda, Joel, 96 Washington DC, 22, 155, 217, 244, 258, 261 weddings, 110, 232 West Bank, 165 West Boylston, 23 West Coast, 224, 247 West Hoboken, 31, 49, 58, 66–69, 73, 87, 131 West New York, NJ xxiv, 31, 118, 128, 131, 138– 139, 143, 148–152, 158– 163, 174, 178–185, 195– 198, 202–204, 209, 214, 221, 225, 234–237, 246, 249, 253 West Nyack, 242

Index West Roxbury, 203, 250 Whippany, 242 White Plains, 242 Wilson, Woodrow, 86 Windsor, 262 Wisconsin, 25 women, 66 ff., 148, 240, 245, 261; associations, 37 Worcester xxi, xxiii–xxiv, xxi, 14, 18, 21–23, 30, 32, 58, 73, 81, 89, 99– 100, 111–112, 116, 118, 132–133, 136, 139, 141, 143, 155, 161–162, 174, 179, 183–185, 189, 192, 195–198, 202–206, 209, 216–217, 221, 230, 235, 237, 246, 249, 260 World Conference on Faith and Order, 130 World Council of Churches, 216 World War I, 3, 21–22, 68, 76 ff., 82, 92, 99, 103, 193 World War II, 162, 165, 251

295 Yakob, Ḥaji, 12 ff. Yaldo, Fr. Sulayman, 243 Yeldho, Mor Titus, 242 Yeshu, Yacoub, 75 YMCA, 169 Yonkers, 58, 70, 101, 234, 246 Yoosuf, Abraham, 21–22, 36, 89, 103–104, 162 Young Turk, 53, 77 Youngstown, 80 youth, 245, 262 Yuhanon, Mor Philoxinos, 240 Yusuf, Fr. Yusuf, 263 Zachariah, Mor Nicholovos, 241 Zahleh/Zahla, 167, 246 Zahura, 27 Zakho, 11 Zakka I, Patriarch, 212, 214, 226, 234, 241–242, 254, 256–257, 260, 262– 263 Zakko family, 27 Zakko, Rizqallah, 219 Zeydal, 247 zuyoḥo, 128

About the Cover Photo The ground-breaking of St. Mary’s in Paramus, illustrating the transition between the earlier immigrants and the new immigrants. Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel represents the transition from the pre-Archdiocesan period to the new Archdiocese. The woman in the center is Dorothy Boyajy (daughter of George Mardinly). She represents the many women who worked tirelessly with the men to build both the West New York and the Paramus churches. The man to the left of Mor Athanasius is Archdeacon Murad Saliba Barsoum, the Malphono who is behind all the English translations of the liturgies during the Archdiocesan period. Fr. John Koury is now the most senior of the clergy (retired), and he represents the transition from the earlier priests to the new priests who are taking care of the spiritual needs of the parishes.

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