Sacred Textiles: The Hidden Wonders of the Armenian Apostolic Church Collections of Istanbul

The perfection of execution, the rendering of figures, garments and faces is as magnificent as the best embroidery work of any period and any nation.

Kouymjian, 1992

Every Armenian Orthodox church—no matter where it is—possesses valuable artifacts that typify a unique and special collection of material objects that reflect the secular heritage of the lay community. Such objects were never meant to be displayed in a museum, presented as a conference paper, or published in a written text. They were meant to be used in religious celebration as anointed and blessed objects glorifying God and as physical reminders of the devotion of a people who tenaciously maintained a national spirit and religious identity through the objects they produced, donated, and used in the celebration of their faith.

Historical Perspective

The Armenian presence in Istanbul is both long and varied. Much of it, however, was subsumed in the Byzantine world to Greek Orthodox culture, and later in the imperial political culture of the Ottoman world and Ottoman Istanbul. It was only after the establishment of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul in 1461 that the city's Armenian religious culture matured. In a span of five centuries, the Armenian presence in the city grew from a comparatively small number of individuals and families to one of the largest and most valued minorities in the Ottoman capital—approximately 20 percent of the total population in a city that numbered nearly a million inhabitants. By the end of the nineteenth century, Istanbul and its environs boasted fifty-five Armenian Orthodox churches and a central cathedral, the latter associated with a wealthy and influential patriarchy. Sectarian strife, revolution, war, and the collapse of the Ottoman state at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, however, had a profound effect on Istanbul's Armenian population.

As a direct result of these events, many churches ceased to exist. Those that survived continue as the cultural and social center of an aging Armenian Christian population. This decline in the number of churches and, more important, the steady decline in their supportive congregations does not reflect the role the Armenian community played in the revitalization of Istanbul following the Ottoman capture of the city on 29 May 1453. Immediately following this event the Ottoman sultan, Mehmet Fatih, issued a series of edicts in order to restore Constantinople to its former glory (Lewis 1963, Kinross 1977: 112). The city was to be more than the political capital of an extensive and vibrant Islamic state. Mehmet envisioned the city as an ecumenical metropolis: "the welding together of the indigenous cultural traditions of the old Byzantine orbit . . . with the traditions of old Islam" (Wittek 1938, Mantran 1982: 127 ff). Consequently, the city was to be cosmopolitan in nature and made up of an assortment of peoples, customs, and traditions—the majority of which were non-Muslim.

To achieve this goal, the secular and religious needs of the city's diverse population had to be met. This was especially important for the non-Muslim communities, or millet(ler). The traditional view, although not without disagreement, and wrapped in an extensive mythology that supports self-serving traditions (Braude 1982: 74 ff), is that Mehmet encouraged immigration to Istanbul by establishing the "spiritual leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish communities in the city" (Inalcik 1973: 141, Kinross 1977: 113). Greeks, Jews, and Armenians later believed that the sultan had a close personal relationship with their respective leaders, or millet ba¸si. Such views, however, must be taken as a traditional rendering of a confused and exaggerated historiography that finds little factual support for either the collective or individual origins of Istanbul's non-Muslim spiritual leadership, especially those details concerning the Greek Orthodox and...