Grigoris Balakian (; 1875 – 8 October 1934), was a bishop of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

, in addition to being a

survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

and memoirist of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

Life

Grigoris Balakian was born in

Tokat Tokat is a city of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is the seat of Tokat Province and Tokat District.

in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, and graduated from the Sanasarian College in Erzurum. He had been studying architecture in Germany for two years and got a degree in civil engineering. He became a celibate priest ordained under the

monastic name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should not be "foreign to ...

Grigoris Balakian. On 24 April 1915 he was among the group of 250 leading Armenian figures of Constantinople who were arrested and deported. One group was deported to Ayaş. Balakian was deported to

Çankırı Çankırı, historically known as Gangra (Greek language, Greek: Γάγγρα), is a city in Turkey, about northeast of Ankara. It is situated about 800 m (2500 ft) above sea level. It is the seat of Çankırı Province and of Çankır ...

, north-east of Ankara with the rest of the 190 other deportees from the capital. Only 16 of them would survive. He marched with 48 deportees from Çankırı in the direction of

Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...

in the Syrian desert. On the way Balakian won the confidence of captain of constabulary Shukri Bey and learned about the Ottoman government's plan to exterminate the whole Armenian population. Balakian was able to flee toward Islahie. He joined a group of workers on the Bagdad-railway where Turkish deserters did forced labor alongside Armenian refugees. While Armenian workers between Marash and Bartche were being slain, Balakian fled to another construction site on the Bagdad railway. He was helped by German engineers and finally succeeded – disguised as Herr Bernstein – in escaping from Constantinople to Paris. At the 1921 trial in Berlin against Soghomon Tehlirian, the murderer of Talât Pasha, Balakian appeared as a witness for the defendant together with Johannes Lepsius. Soghomon Tehlirian was ultimately acquitted. Balakian became prelate of Manchester, London and finally bishop of Marseille. Two churches were built under his guidance in Marseille and Nice (St. Mary, 1928) as well as a number of chapels and schools. He died in Marseille. Balakian is the granduncle of literary critics Anna Balakian (an expert on symbolism and surrealism who chaired

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's Department of Comparative Literature) and Nona Balakian (an editor at the New York Times Sunday Book Review and a founder of the

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

) as well as the great-granduncle of Peter Balakian, an Armenian-American writer and winner of the 2016

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award came five years after the first Pulitzers were awarded in other categories; Joseph Pulitzer's will had not ment ...

Achievements

Balakian's memoirs in '' Armenian Golgotha'' are an important eyewitness account of the genocide. He describes his experiences during the deportation. Balakian was one of the few surviving leaders of the Armenian community who gave an account of the deportation. Komitas Vartapet belonged to the same group of detainees as Balakian. His information about the traumatization of the famous composer and founder of modern Armenian

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

are of eminent importance.

Works

*
Նկարագրութիւն Անիի ավերակներուն
' (Description of the Ruins of Ani). Constantinople, 1910. �
view onlinearchived
*''Հայ Գողգոթան'' Armenian Golgotha; Armenian original], vol. 1, Mechitarists, Mekhitarist-Congregation, Vienna 1922; Vol. 2, Imprimerie Araxes, Paris 1959; French translation : ''Le Golgotha arménien'', Le cercle d'écrits caucasiens, La Ferté-Sous-Jouarre 2002 (vol. 1) , 2004 (vol. 2) ; English trans. Peter Balakian (his grandnephew) and Aris Sevag. ''Armenian Golgotha''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. .

Notes

References

Sources

*Rita Soulahian Kuyumjian ''Archeology of Madness.

Komitas Soghomon Soghomonian, ordained and commonly known as Komitas (; 22 October 1935), was an Ottoman-Armenian priest, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer, and choirmaster, who is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of musi ...

. Portrait of an Armenian Icon'' 2001 (p. 116) *Wolfgang Gust ''Der Völkermord an den Armeniern 1915/16. Dokumente aus dem Politischen Archiv des deutschen Auswärtigen Amts'' Verlag zu Klampen, 2005, * Peter Balakian ''Black Dog of Fate'' 1997, , *Grigoris Palakjan ''Das armenische Golgatha'' German article translated from the original Armenian text in ''Pogrom'' May 1980. {{DEFAULTSORT:Balakian, Krikor 1875 births 1934 deaths Armenian biographers Armenian memoirists Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church Armenians from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century clergy from the Ottoman Empire Armenian genocide survivors Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Armenian male writers 20th-century Oriental Orthodox bishops People from Tokat