History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume I.Anderson, Rufus
Religion
History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume I.
Anderson, Rufus
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Missions -- Eastern churches
The fire had separated the missionary almost entirely from the
Armenians, and being thrown into the midst of the Greeks, he
established several Greek Lancasterian schools, with the New
Testament for a class-book. In most instances the copies were
purchased by the parents. To furnish himself with competent
instructors, he made arrangements for a normal school among the
Greeks of Galata, a central place in which many children were
begging for instruction, and he was evidently encouraged by the
smiles of heaven upon his labors.
Not long after, he called upon the Armenian Patriarch, a man of
dignified manners and venerable appearance, and asked his
cooeperation in establishing schools among his people on an improved
plan. The Patriarch declared, with even more than Oriental
politeness, that he loved Mr. Goodell and his country so much, that
if Mr. G. had not come to visit him, he must needs have gone to
America. After numerous inquiries, he assented to the introduction
of the new system of instruction, and promised to furnish suitable
persons to learn it; which promise, however, he failed to remember.
Mr. Dwight joined Mr. Goodell, with his family, on the 5th of June,
1832, intending to devote himself wholly to the Armenians, and to
labor for them chiefly through the Armenian language, though he
afterwards acquired also the Turkish. The Rev. William G. Schauffler
arrived in the following month, as a missionary to the Jews.
The Armenians at Constantinople were estimated at one hundred
thousand. As a body, they were intelligent, ingenuous, and frank;
and many were found who regarded the ritual of their Church as
encumbered with burdensome ceremonies, unsustained by the
Scriptures, and of no practical advantage. The outset of the
Armenian mission was in some respects unlike that to the Maronites
of Syria, among whom the converts were at once excommunicated, and
treated as outlaws. The object of the missionaries was not to break
down the Armenian Church, but, if possible, by reviving the
knowledge and spirit of the Gospel, to reform it. They were content
that the ecclesiastical organization remain, provided the spirit of
the Gospel could be revived under it. They regarded the ceremonies
of the Church as mere outworks, not necessarily removed before
reaching the citadel; and believed that assaults upon these would
awaken more general opposition, than if made upon the citadel
itself, and that, the citadel once taken, the outworks would fall of
course. They felt, therefore, that as foreigners their main business
was to set forth the fundamental doctrines and duties of the Gospel,
derived directly from the Holy Scriptures.
This early position of the mission is stated merely as historical
truth. When their converts were excommunicated, after some years,
the case became changed, and of course their methods of proceeding
were greatly modified, so far as the hierarchy was concerned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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