Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

Leon Tourian (; 1 January 1879 – 24 December 1933) was a cleric of the

Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

. Appointed

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

of the Eastern

Diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

of the

of America in 1931, he was assassinated in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

by his political opponents.

Early ministry

Ghevont Tourian was born 1 January 1879 in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. Tourian was archbishop of

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prom ...

, Vicar Patriarch of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, and later a prelate in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, and, from 1924 to 1931, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, United Kingdom.

North American ministry

Archbishop Tourian was appointed to head the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in New York in 1931. The incident that resulted in a plot to assassinate the archbishop took place on 1 July 1933, in a pavilion for the celebration of Armenian Day at the Century of Progress Exposition in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Archbishop Tourian, upon his arrival to deliver an

invocation An invocation (from the Latin verb ''invocare'' "to call on, invoke, to give") may take the form of: *Supplication, prayer or spell. *A form of possession. *Command or conjuration. * Self-identification with certain spirits. These forms ...

, ordered the removal of the red, blue, and orange Tricolor of the

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

(1918–20) from the stage before he would step out on it.Alexander, Ben
"Contested Memories, Divided Diaspora: Armenian Americans, the Thousand-day Republic, and the Polarized Response to an Archbishop’s Murder"
''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 27.1 From the archbishop's point of view, appearing beside this flag would provoke the wrath of Armenia's

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

government, which was a serious concern, since the church's ultimate seat of spiritual authority lay in the Holy See at

Etchmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is com ...

, within the borders of

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

, and the

Catholicos of All Armenians The Catholicos of All Armenians (plural Catholicoi) ( hy, Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոս; see #Other names), is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Arme ...

felt bound to keep peace with Soviet authorities. However the members of the nationalist

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

(ARF), known as Dashnaks, for whom the flag was a sacred symbol of the Armenian nation, took this as an act of treason. Tourian was soon attacked by five ARF members in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

. Two of the attackers were convicted. After this incident Tourian hired a

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...

Murder

Tourian was murdered on December 24, 1933, when several men attacked him in the Church of the Holy Cross, in

Washington Heights, Manhattan Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defen ...

, at the start of the Christmas Eve service. Tourian’s constant bodyguard, Kossof Gargodian, was sitting in the back of the church certain that there would be no assault upon Tourian in a holy place, on the day before Christmas. When, at the end of the procession, the archbishop passed the fifth row of pews from the rear, he was suddenly surrounded by a group of at least nine men. Two men stabbed Tourian with large

butcher knives A butcher knife or butcher's knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering or dressing of animal carcasses. Use Today, the butcher knife is used throughout the world in the meat processing trade. The heftier blade works well f ...

, and once the archbishop fell, the attackers scattered and mixed with the crowd. Two of the assailants were seized by the parishioners, beaten, and subsequently handed over to the police. The police soon apprehended the other seven assailants, who were all ARF members. On July 14, 1934, after a trial that lasted five weeks, two of them, Mateos Leylegian and Nishan Sarkisian, were found guilty of first degree murder, and the other seven of first degree manslaughter. Leylegian and Sarkisian were sentenced to death, but

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor h ...

Herbert Lehman Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 194 ...

commuted the death sentences to life imprisonment "on account of most unusual circumstances in this case". The other seven were given prison terms of varying lengths, from 10 to 20 years."Tourian slayers condemned to die; Seven Others, Convicted in the Killing of Archbishop, Get Long Prison Terms"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (July 25, 1934)

Aftermath

After the killing, American Armenian followers of the

became split between local churches affiliated with the Catholicosate of All Armenians (

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin ( hy, Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ Էջմիածին, translit=Mayr At’oř Surb Ēĵmiatsin), known in Armenian as simply the Mother See (Մայր Աթոռ, ''Mayr At’oř''), is the governing body of the Armen ...

), located at the time in

, and those affiliated with the Catholicosate of Cilicia, in

Antelias Antelias ( ar, أنطلياس) is a city in Lebanon in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located around 5 km to the north of Beirut. Etymology The name is originally Greek, ἀντήλιος – from ἀντί(an ...

, near

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

, though the liturgy has stayed the same. Individual congregations became either entirely Dashnak or anti-Dashnak in their membership, with forcible expulsions and violent fights in some instances. For decades to come, Armenians of the Dashnak persuasion would hold the nine Dashnak defendants to be innocent scapegoats and Archbishop Tourian to be a traitor to his nation, while non-Dashnak Armenians would consider the nine suspects and the entire Dashnak party responsible for the crime. At present there are two Armenian church structures in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

: the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, which is divided into the Eastern and Western Dioceses of the Armenian Church of America; and the Holy See of Cilicia, which is divided into the Eastern and Western Prelacies of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America.

References

Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Tourian, Leon Primates of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Assassinated Armenian people 1879 births 1933 deaths Assassinated religious leaders People murdered in New York City Male murder victims