«THE WORLD IS A SEA, AND PEOPLE ARE TOSSED BY ITS WAVES»…
(AGAIN ABOUT THE «BROTHERHOOD OF THE VALIANT») – PART A
In the course of a history of millennia, as a result of the political and economic storms faced by the Armenian world, a large part of the Armenian nation has been forced to part from the Homeland — settling in various countries.
The Armenians scattered in those new settlements, with the concern not to lose their national character — have striven to preserve the native traditions as much as possible in the communities they formed.
And those «torn-off branch» fragments, separated from the «mother tree», scattered on foreign shores — in order to face the ruinous consequences of emigration, organized their intra-community life.
Among the multifarious unions are the «Brotherhoods of the Valiant», coming from the most ancient times and acting on the principle of the «Brotherhood of Mithraism», concerning whose activity various materials have been preserved from various centuries, of course, adapted to Christianity — at the dictate of the time.
On the model of the «Brotherhoods of the Valiant» active in Ani, Karin, Van, Yerznka and elsewhere, the sons of Armenia who reached Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary later also formed similar organizations.
The «Definition and Canons», written by Hovhannes Yerznkatsi for the «Brotherhood of the Brethren» created in Yerznka in the year 1280, which has been preserved in manuscripts No. 2329, 652 of the Mashtots Matenadaran of Yerevan, was studied and published in the year 1951 by the historian L. Khachikyan.
The young men united on the foundations of mutual aid and support were led by the «Manktavag» («mankti» — in the sense of «youth, young man, soldier» and «avag» — «leading person»): The said word is also met in the materials kept in the State Archive of Ukraine — proving the activity of the «Brotherhood of the Valiant» in that region as well.
According to the statutes of the «Brotherhoods of the Valiant» of the cities of Kamenets – Podolsk and Yazlovets in the 16-17th centuries — with the participation of unmarried young men they organized social life and daily life — maintaining good-neighbourly relations with the neighbouring peoples, and in case of necessity they also defended the city of their residence by armed struggle.
«Besides Kamenets, «Brotherhoods of the Valiant» also existed in the Armenian colonies of several other Ukrainian cities. From an ecclesiastical chronicle written in Armenian in Lviv we learn that on November 10 of 1690 the archbishop of the Armenians of Poland, Vardan, by a special encyclical confirmed the «Brotherhood of the Valiant» of Stanislav, which had been founded by the notorious archbishop Nikol Torosovich»,- writes V. R. Grigoryan.
…«The world is a sea, and people are tossed by its waves, every misfortune is possible,- it is said in one of the canons of Yerznka,- and if any of the «brothers» falls into misfortune, it is the duty of the others to hasten to his aid — both materially and morally».
This same thought is repeated in different words in the other statutes too.
(‘And if anyone falls into infirmity and into the pain of illness of the body,- we read in the canons of Yerznka,- let the brotherhood go every day to visit him and console the one who has fallen ill, and let them be of help with medicine and with physician»):
«Let the elder brother admonish with sweetness and the younger listen with obedience», – we read in the statute of Yerznka. The same is repeated in the canons of Yazlovets too, but in other words…
Naturally, those statutes, created at different historical times and in different countries, which are noticeably adapted to local conditions, have particular differences compared with one another and with the statute of Yerznka»…
«The statute of the Armenian «Brotherhood of the Valiant» of Yazlovets, which is published for the first time, is a valuable primary source not only regarding that remarkable organization and its structure, but also regarding the governing bodies and individual figures of the whole colony.
As in Lviv, so in Yazlovets the organization of young men was subordinate to the council of elders of the colony. The leaders and spiritual figures of the colony took part in the elaboration and approval of its canons»…(V. R. Grigoryan, «The statute of the «Brotherhood of the Valiant» of the Armenian colony of the city of Yazlovets»).
To be continued…
