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Pirkinik in print
Over the years travelers to Turkey visited Sivas and the outlying village of Pirkinik.
Perodically
comments were made about the village in travel books.
The village was also mentioned in some publications of the Roman Catholic
church as several
Roman Catholic Bishops and Archbishops were born in
Pirkinik and there was an obvious missionary interest by both Catholic and Protestants in the area.
These writings were in French, Italian, Latin, German and English.
If you read French, Italian or German
please excuse my translations.
My knowledge of German is very poor. My French is very sketchy.
My Italian is passable.
I used the assistance of Google translation (which, I have to say, is one of
the most helpful things on the Internet.)
Another fabulous Google source is "Google Book" from which most of the excerpts on Pirkinik are taken.
Thank you Google!!
1801
"Nous trouvames le musselim et sa cour au hameau de Pirkinik , a une lieue de Syvas.
Il dormait quand nous arrivames. Il fallut attendre dans la rue. La chaumiere, son asile,
etait
composee d'un grenier et d'une ecurie, remplie de ceux de son parti, qui y tenaient
conseil. Un quart d'heure apres, on nous introduisit. Nous le trouvames fort abattu, et
dans un etat a faire pitie. C'etait un bel homme de moyen age, et qui paraissait fort
doux. Les
ceremonies furent courtes. Il lut nos firmans, les lettres que nous avions pour le
nouveau pacha,
en cas qu'il fut deja arrive, et nous pormit une escorte. Il ajouta qu'il
nous ferait avertir du lieu du rendez-vous. Ce village a un mauvais couvent de
moines grecs.
[We found the musselman and his court in the hamlet of Pirkinik,
a league from Sivas.
He was sleeping when we arrived. He had to wait in the street. The cottage, his asylum,
was
composed of a granary and a stable filled with those of his party, who held
council. A quarter hour later we were introduced. We found him much depressed, and
in a pitiable state. He was a handsome man of middle age, and who seemed very
sweet. The
ceremonies were brief. He read our firmans, the letters we had to
new pasha,
if he had already arrived, and he allowed us an escort. He added that
we would alert the rendezvous place. This village had a poor convent of
Greek monks.]"
Novuveau Voyage de Constantinople a Bassora, 1801
1821
Voyages en Orient, de l'annee 1821 a l'annee 1829 Constantinople, Grece
By Victor Fontanier
"Sivas est peuple de quarante mille habitans, en comptant huit mille maisons
portees sur les registes; sur ce nombre, il y a environ trois mille. Ameniens.
"Les catholiques habitent dans un village nomme Perkinik, et situe
a une lieue de distance. Il y a un couvent qui sert de residence a trois moines
envoyes par le patriarche du mont Liban. Ces catholiques s'occupent d'agriculture,
et sont en general assez miserables. Les Armeniens font le commerce de la noix
de galle que l'on tire de Mossul, du tabac de Malathia, et surtout de cuivre
provenant de mines situees a six lieues, dans les montagnes de Sud. J'ai ve des
eschantillons de ce cuivre, c'etait du cuivre pyriteux et du corbonate bleu.
Il parait que les mines d'ou on l'extrait doivent etre abondantes, d'apres la quantite
qui entra dans le commerce. C'etait autrefois a Tocate qu'on le transportait,
et cette ville avait acquis une grande reputation pour la maniere de la travailler.
Depuis que les communications sont devenues plus faciles, on l'envoie a Cahissarie de
la a Tarsous, et il na'a pas peu cantribue a la prosperite nouvelle de ce dernier pays.
J'ai reconnu aussi que les Armeniaens achetaient a Sivas une grande qualite de medailles,
et je croirais assez que les orfevres du pays occupent a en fabriquer; j'en ai achete plusieus.
[Sivas has forty thousand inhabitants, counting eight thousand houses listed on the registers;
of these, there are about three thousand Ameniens.
Catholics live in a village called Perkinik, located a mile away.
There is a monastery that serves as a residence for three monks sent by the
Patriarch of Mount Lebanon. These Catholics are engaged in agriculture,
and usually are quite miserable. The Armenians are traders "la noix de galle" that are
derived from Mosul, tobacco from Malathia, and especially copper from mines located
six miles in the mountains to the South. I've "eschantillons" of this copper, and copper
pyrite and corbonate blue. It appears that the mines must be abundant, based on the quantity that enters
the trade. It was formerly transported to Tocat, and this city had gained a
great reputation for the "way of working". Since communication has become easier,
it sends an envoy to Cahissarie and from there to Tarsus, and this accounts "not
a little" to the new prosperity of that country. I also recognized that the Armenians
of Sivas have a great quality of medals, and I believe that the goldsmiths of the area are
busy manufacturing; I bought "plusieus"."]
1832
This book uses old German print so I can only get the phrase that
comes with the Google Book preview. My ability to read German is very poor and my
ability to read old German print is nonexistent.
Die Katholiken wohnen in einem etwa eine Stunde entfernten Dorf genannt Perkinik.
Dort ist ein Kloster fur trei ...
[The Catholics live in a remote village about an hour called Perkinik.
There is a monastery for trei ....]
Das Ausland: Wochenschrift fur Lander- u. Volkerkunde, Volume 1; Volume 3, 1830
I think this is pretty much the same as in the French Voyages en Orioent of 1821
1840
En quittant Siwas, le 6 juillet, je pris la
direction du nord-est, pour gagner Erzeroum. Dès qu'on a
dépassé le village de Perknik, distant d'une lieue, qui
présente le phénomène remarquable d'une population
exclusivement catholique au milieu d'une nation encore dissidente, on
reconnait que là finissent les limites de la Cappadoce, et qu'une
contrée nouvelle commence. C'est la petite Arménie qui, de ce coté,
est comprise entre le Kizil-Irmak et l'Euphrate. Des villages entiers sont
arméniens sans qu'il s'y trouve de Turcs. Les femmes et les enfants
ne parlent ni n'entendent la langue de leurs dominateurs. Le sol, nu comme le
désert, est coupé par des chaines de collines ou de hautes montagnes
blanchies par les neiges, qui se croisent et courent dans toutes les directions,
présentant sur leurs flancs d'épais herbages, où s'engraissent
ces beaux troupeaux de moutons qui servent à l'approvisionnement de
Constantinople, et qui font la richesse principale du pays. A leurs pieds
s'étendent des vallées, qui sont plutot des plaines, et où
le froment, l'orge et le seigle croissent avec une abondance égale, mais
à des époques bien différentes,
suivant que le terrain est plus ou moins élevé. De toutes parts s
'échappent du sein des rochers et des entrailles de la terre des sources,
d'une eau si fraiche, si limpide et d'un gout si délicieux, que
véritablement elle fait perdre le souvenir et le regret des
boissons européennes. Un grand nombre d'eaux chaudes, de toutes
les températures et de toutes les qualités, révegrave;lent un
autre genre de richesses que la terre recèle et garde inutilement enfouies,
à cause de l'ignorance ou de l'apathie de ceux qui la possèdent.
L'année se divise en deux saisons : l'hiver, dont le règne est
généralement de huit mois, et l'été, qui vient,
avec ses chaleurs souvent extre
mes, faire naitre, pousser et jaunir les moissons. L'aspect monotone du pays,
où nul ombrage ne repose jamais la vue, inspire un sentiment de mélancolie
indéfinissable; et l'on est peu tenté d'envier le sort de ses habitants,
dont les villes et les bourgades, cachées sous terre, se confondent de
loin avec l'apre nudité du sol.
[Leaving Sivas, July 6, I headed northeast toward Erzurum. Once we passed
the village of Perknik, distant a league, which has the remarkable phenomenon
of an exclusively Catholic population in the midst of a dissenting nation, we realize
that there are eventually limits to Cappadocia, and that a new country begins.
It is little Armenia, this side is between the Kizil Irmak and the Euphrates.
Villages are entirely Armenians with no Turks.
Women and children do not speak nor hear the language of their rulers.
The landscape, naked as the desert, is broken by ranges of hills or
mountains white with snow, which intersect and run in all directions,
presenting their sides of thick grassland where herders fatten beautiful
sheep used to supply Constantinople, which are the main wealth of the country.
At their feet the valleys, which are rather plain, where wheat,
barley and rye grow with equal abundance, but at times quite different,
depending on whether the land is higher or lower.
Escaping from all parts of the rocks and within the bowels of the
earth water sources so fresh, so clear and tasting so delicious that one forgets the
memories and longing for European drinks. Numerous warm waters, of all
temperatures and all the qualities, reveal another kind of wealth
that the earth holds buried because of the
ignorance or apathy of those who possess it.
The year is divided into two seasons: winter, whose reign is generally
eight months, and summer, with its often extreme heat, to be born,
to grow and to yellow harvest. The monotony of the country, where shadowing
is not ever seen, inspires a feeling of indefinable melancholy, and
there is little temptation to envy the fate of its inhabitants,
including the towns and villages, hidden under earth, merge with the harsh nudity of the
landscape.]
Correspondance et mémoires d'un voyageur en Orient,
Volume 1 By Eugène Boré
1842
Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, 1842
"In Pirkinik evvi usa chiesa pubblica cattolica, e compresa anche Sivas,
vi sono circa settanta od ottanta
famiglie assistite da tre, o quattro sacerdoti del patriarca di Cilicia."
page 138
[in Pirkinik (evvi) a public catholic church, which also includes Sivas,
there are about 70 or 80 families "assisted" by three or four priests from the patriarch of
Cilicia.]
1845
The Missionary Herald, Volume 41, 1845,
By American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
Armenian Catholics
Mr. Johnston has communicated the following facts.
I have but little authentic information to communicate respecting this
sect among the Armenians. They are said to number one thousand houses
at Artoin, one hundred at Erzeroom, one hundred at Trebizond,
four hundred at Tokat, fifteen at Sivas, three hundred and fifty at Pirkinik, -
a village near to Sivas, - two hundred at Gurin; and at Angora,
which is their strong hold in Asia Minor, they are very numerous,
though I know not the exact number, perhaps about two thousand bouses.
Nor have I any definite information respecting the origin and growth of
this sect, except that in Tokat they have increased from about one hundred
and fifty to near four hundred houses, since their recognition as a distinct
sect by the Turkish government At Trebizond it seems they have not increased,
or at least have made no proselytes from the Armenians, since their formal
separation. The increase at Tokat seems to have been brought about,
partly by the zeal of educated native preachers, and partly by their
attention to the poor and relief extended to individuals in times of need.
But as a body they have lost their former zeal, have become relaxed
in their morals, and, consequently, have ceased to make proselytes as
they formerly did."
1850
"A few moments afterward an old man, with a bald head, a long white beard,
and a severe countenance, entered. He trembled violently at the sight of the
pacha, as if he though his hour had come.
He was a poor Maronite monk, sent recently by the patriarch of Mount
Libanus to replace the superior of the convent of Perkinik, who was dead.
The pacha had, whilst passing on that day thought this Catholic
village, in the environs of Sivas, wished to make an exaction on this miserable
convent, in which
a few monks, covered with rags, lived by the labor of their hands,
in the midst of a population as miserable as themselves. Djezzar,
unable to extort the money which they had not, had carried off their
superior with him, to detain him as a hostage until the sum demanded was paid."
The monk replies: "I have nothing in the world which thou
canst take from me, but my life."
At which point the pasha shoots him.
Graham's American monthly magazine of literature, art, and fashion, Volume 37, 1850
Note: Djezzar was the name of the pacha in this story.
1855
"Non vi sono in Sebaste, oggidi Sewas, che alcune case cattoliche.
Bisogna far una lega per trovar le altre. Il villaggio di Perknick,
composto di centosessanta case, presenta il singolar fenomeno di non
racchiudere che cattolici in mezzo ad un paese infedele o scismatico.
L'epoca della sua conversione alla vera fede risale al principio dell'
ultimo secolo, allora che si suscitavano a Tokat e ad Angora violenti
persecuzioni contra gli ortodossi, e che il beato Gumida moriva
martire a Costantinopoli. Un cattolico armeno, chiamato Michele,
venne a stanziare in questo villaggio.
La sua vita regolare e piena
di buone opere gli guadagnò la stima e la confidenza degli abitanti.
Siccome era istruito e dotto, egli profittò di questo vantaggio per
dirigere l'educazione de' fanciulli, ai quali insinuò a poco a poco i
principii dell'
ortodossia.
Sendo morto il coadjutore della chiesa, si gettarono incontanente gli
occhi sopra di lui per surrogarlo.
Michele, che credeva di dover adempiere la
missione di cui il Signore lo incaricava visibilmente, accettò
questa dignità, e in breve guadagnò alla Chiesa tutto il gregge.
Perknick divenne apertamente cattolico.
We are in Sebaste, today Sewas, where there are some catholic homes.
You have to go about a league away to find others. The village of Perknick comprising one
hundred and sixty houses, is a unique phenomenon of not containing anything but
catholics in the midst of a county which is either infidel or schismatic.
The time of conversion to the true faith dates to the the beginning of the last century when
there arose a violent persecution in Tokat and
Angora against the Orthodoxes and when the blessed Gumid died a martyr in
Constantinople. An Armenian catholic called Michael came to live in this village.
His ordered
live and his good works earned him the respect
and confidence of the inhabitants.
Since he was educated and literate
he took this advantage to direct the
education of the children to whom he slowly slowly insinuates the
principles of orthodoxy (presumably the Roman Catholic Orthodoxy).
When the the priest of the church died,
their eyes unanimously were cast on him (Michael) to replace him (the priest).
Michael who believed he had to fulfill the mission which the Lord
had visibly instructed him to do accepted with dignity and soon gained the whole flock for the church.
Perknick was openly Catholic.
In que' giorni era nella nazione armena un movimento generale di conversione,
e questo fu il motivo delle persecuzioni di cui abbiamo parlato.
I capi del clero armeno di Sebaste, spaventati del glorioso conquisto
di Michele, lo denunziarono caritatevolmente al muftì o capo della religione
musulmana ed al pascià, accusandolo d'infedeltà verso il gran signore e di
trama coi Franchi nemici della Porta. Queste accuse ingiuste furono
ascoltate, e Michele fu citato in giudizio e poi messo a morie sulla porta
della chiesa di Sebaste, posta sotto la protezione della Vergine Maria.
Le ultime esortazioni falle al suo gregge e l'olocausto del suo sangue,
prezioso davanti il Signore, hanno sparso sopra Perknick una benedizione efficace.
Noi abbiam trovalo questo villaggio irremovibile nella sua fede.
Esso è molto
bene diretto da tre giovani preti usciti, dal monte Libano e assai istruiti.
Noi gli abbiiam trovati che presedevano alla costruzione di una
chiesa che sopravanzerà per solidità e gusto quella degli Armeni.
Essi hanno fatto di questo villaggio come una piccola città cristiana,
le cui eccellenti leggi hanno impresso agli abitanti tal carattere di
probità che li fa distinti sino a Costantinopoli.
In those days there was in the Armenian nation a general movement towards conversion
and this was the motive for the persecution we have mentioned.
The leaders of the Armenian clergy of Sebaste worried by Michael's glorious conquest
"caritatevolmente" charitably?? denounced him to the mufti or Muslim regional leader
and the pasha and accused him of infidelity against the Lord and plotting with the
French enemies of the Sublime Porte. These unjust accusations were
listened to and Michael stood trail and executed at the door of the church
in Sebaste, under the protection of the Virgin Mary.
The last pleas made by his flock and the burnt offering of
his blood, precious to the Lord, have placed a blessing on Perknick.
We find this village immovable in its faith. It is
very
well directed by three young priests who came from Mount Lebanon and are
highly educated. We
fount them presiding over the construction of a Church which is unsurpassed
for sturdiness and Armenian aesthetics.
They have made this village into a small Christian city, whose excellent laws
have imprinted the inhabitants with an honest character that one only finds in Constantinople.
Secondo antiche congetture storiche, essi discenderebbero tutti
dalla famiglia de' Pagratidi, razza reale che gli ha diverse volte governati.
Nondimeno non hanno l'orgoglio aristocratico,
che sembrerebbe almen tollerabile fra loro.
Noi abbiam trovato il fratello
dell'arcivescovo che faceva egli stesso pascolare gl'innumerevoli
greggi che formano l'unica loro ricchezza. Tutti sono allevati nel
rispetto e nella più umile sommissione per la santa sede, segno
caratteristico del vero cattolico.
Non dimenticherò mai,
soggiunge il dotto viaggiatore, l'impressione che mi fece una
vecchia di oltre cent'anni, attorniata da quattro generazioni.
Quando monsignor Scafi, missionario della congregazione de'lazaristi,
che risiede a Costantinopoli e mio onorevole compagno di viaggio,
si fece a lei conoscere qual prete romano allevato a Roma, la
vecchia, udendo il suo nome veneralo fra loro, levò gli occhi e
le braccia al cielo, benedicendolo di aver veduto prima di morire
un inviato del sommo pontefice.
"According to ancient historical conjecture they all descend from the Pagratidi family,
a real people who have ruled several times.
In any event, they do have an aristocratic pride that seems
tolerated among themselves.
We found the brother of the Archbishop who was himself grazing innumerable flocks
that are their only form of wealth.
All are raised in respect and humble submission to the Holy See, a characteristic sign of a
true Catholic.
I will never forget, added the learned traveler, the impression made on me
by a an old lady of over one hundred years surrounded by four generations.
When Monsignor Scafi, a missionary from the Lazzarist congregation who lives
in Constantinople and my honorable travel companion, when it became known to her
that he was Roman priest raised in Rome the old woman,
hearing his name venerated among them raised her eyes and arms to heaven and
blessing him for having seen before her death an emissary from the Supreme Pontiff.
Storia universale della Chiesa cattolica dal principio del ..., Volumes 27-28
By René François Rohrbacher 1855
1865
"A une heure de Sebaste, se trouve le village de Pir- kinik, habitent
exclusivement par des Arme
niens catholiques, au nombre de 3000 environ. Ils ont une assez vaste
eglise en pierre et une residence pour le cure et ses deux vicaires"
[One hour from
Sebaste, lies the village of Pir-Kinik, inhabited exclusively by Armenian
Catholics, numbering about 3,000. They have a fairly large stone
church and a residence for the priest and his two vicars."]
1879
A une heure de Sébaste, se trouve le village de Pirkinik, habité
exclusivement par
des Arméniens catholiques, au nombre de 3,000 environ. Ils ont une assez vaste
église en pierre et une résidence pour le curé et ses deux vicaires. Mgr Khadifian
a été reçu avec allégresse par ses ouailles de Pirkinik,
où il passe ordinairement
l'été et l'automne. La population de ce village est trés-pieuse
et trés-attachée au
Saint-Siége. Elle assiste chaque matin à la messe et le soir
aux vêpres.
L'école, soutenue par une confrérie qui vient d'être fonde, est
fréquentée
par 200 éléves. Pirkinik a beaucoup souffert de la guerre. Les
habitants sont
cultivateurs ou muletiers. Ceux-ci, renommés pour leur fidélité,
traversent toute
l'Anatolie. On peut leur confier, en pleine sécurité, toutes sortes
de valeurs;
les voyageurs, et surtout les missionnaires catholiques, aiment à voyager avec eux.
Pendant la derniére guerre, les commandants des armées
turques d'Asie ont réquisitionné leurs mules, et Pirkinik a
été ainsi
grandement appauvri. Il est entouré d'un grand nombre de villages
habités par des Arméniens non unis, mais fort doux de caractére.
Quand
Mgr Khadifian traversait ces villages, tous les habitants allaient à sa
rencontre et lui oiTraient la table et le logement. Si l'école de Pirkinik
pouvait prendre un plus grand développement, et si une école poulies
jeunes
filles y était établie, peu agrave;
peu la foi catholique renaitrait dans ces villages,
et Pirkinik deviendrait, je crois, chez les Arméniens grégoriens,
le centre
d'un grand mouvement d'union avec l'église romaine. Les prédicants
prolestants,
forts de leurs ressources pécuniaires, ont déjagrave;
pris pied dans cette province,
et ils cherchent à gagner é l'hérésie les Arméniens non unis.
["One hour from Sivas, lies the village of Pirkinik, inhabited exclusively
by Armenian Catholics, numbering about 3,000.
They have a fairly large stone
church and a residence for the priest and his two vicars.
Bishop Khadifian is
received with joy by his Pirkinik flock, where he usually
spends the summer and fall.
The population of this village is very pious and very attached to the Holy See.
They attend Mass every morning and vespers in the evening.
The school, supported by a brotherhood that has just been founded, is attended by
200 students. Pirkinik has suffered greatly from the war. The inhabitants are
farmers or muleteers.
These, renowned for their honesty, traverse the whole of Anatolia.
We can give them, with complete safety, all sorts of valuables:
travelers,
especially the Catholic missionaries, like to travel with them.
During the last war, the commanders of the
Asian Turkish army commandeered their mules, and thus Pirkinik was greatly impoverished.
It is surrounded by a large number of peaceful un-united Armenian villages.
When Bishop Khadifian passes through these villages,
all the people go to meet him and offer board and lodging.
If the school
at Pirkinik were enlarged, and if a school for young girls
was established it would gradually revive the Catholic faith in these villages,
and Pirkinik would become, I believe, home of the Armenian Gregorian, the center a
great movement for unity with the Roman Church. The Protestant preachers,
with strong financial resources, have already gained a foothold in the province,
and they seek to convert if the Armenians do not unite.]
Aprés trois jours de séjour à
Pirkinik, Mgr Khadifian s'est acheminé vers Gurine,
ville en partie habitée par des Arméniens catholiques.
Il était accompagné de M.
l'abbé André Alexandrian, un des secrétaires de S. B.
Mgr Hassoun, qui se
rendait en congé agrave; Gurine, son pays natal, pour y voir ses
parents aprés plusieurs
années d'absence. Les habitants de Pirkinik ont accompagné leur pasteur,
pendant deux heures de marche, jusqu'à la montagne Kardachicar, prés d'une
fontaine célébre. Lagrave;, Mgr Khadifian leur adressa une touchante
allocution, et, aprés
les avoir bénis et avoir appelé sur eux les bienfaits du Ciel, il prit
congé, au milieu
de leurs larmes. Ces bons Arméniens ne quittérent le sommet de
la montagne que
lors qu'ils
eurent perdu de vue leur évoque. Le trajet de Pirkinik à Gurine fut
plein de tristesse.
En traversant ces vallées semées de villages musulmans ou schismatiques,
Mgr Khadifian
se sentait le coeur' navré. Dans ce vaste district, illustré
autrefois par tant d'évêques,
pas un seul catholique.
[After a three days stay at Pirkinik Bishop Khadifian headed
toward Gurine, a village partly inhabited by Armenians Catholics.
He was accompanied by Abbe Andre Alexandrian, one of the secretaries of S. B.
Bishop Hassoun, who was on leave to visit his homeland of Gurine and
to see his
parents after years of absence. The inhabitants of Pirkinik accompanied
their pastor for two hours walking up the mountain Kardachicar, near a famous fountain.
There, Bishop Khadifian gave a touching speech, and after having blessed them and
called upon them the blessings of heaven, he took leave in the middle of their tears.
These good Armenians left the summit of the mountain until they had
lost sight of their bishop. The way from Pirkinik to
Gurine was full of sadness. Crossing these valleys dotted with Muslim or
"schismatiques"*
villages
Bishop Khadifian felt sad of heart.
In this vast district, from which so many bishops had come, not one Catholic.**]
Les Missions Catholiques: Volume 11 - Page 63
By Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Catholic Church. Pontificium Opus
*I am not sure of the interpretation of the word "schismatiques". I could refer to Protestants and/or Apostolics.
**Literally "In this vast district, formerly illustrated by so many bishops, not one
Catholic."
Bishop Gabriel Khadifian was the Armenian Roman Catholic bishop of Sivas and Tokat. He was
consecrated in Pera, Constantinople in 1877 in the presence of delegates from the
Holy See in Rome. He made his first official visit to his dioceses in 1879. The above
description of Pikrinik was made at that time.
To see images of the Armenian muleteers go to
Armenians in Turkey, Customs, Dress and Food
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