When my father passed away in 2022, it left a void I wasn't quite prepared for.
Every day at the shop, I’m surrounded by his legacy. Our business is built on tradition, family, and heritage, so his presence is everywhere. Occasionally, a long-time customer will walk through our doors and ask how my dad is doing. I still have to pause, catch my breath, and tell them he’s gone. It never gets easier.
In the wake of losing him, I found that digging into his past was one of the few things that helped me heal. It became a way to stay connected to him, and honestly, to get to know him as a man—not just as my dad.
Growing up, my father didn't talk much about his early years. He kept things simple. He’d tell us about growing up in Lebanon in a small Armenian neighborhood called Hadjin, and how he worked with his father at their small grocery store, and later at the bakery. To us, his youth sounded quiet, centered around family and hard work.
It wasn't until a few years ago that a totally different story surfaced.
I learned that when he was just sixteen years old, his life was threatened by locals. He was caught in a dangerous situation just trying to survive.
As you can imagine, this was a complete shock. My dad had never mentioned it. Not once. My mom hadn't either. To realize that the quiet, hardworking man I looked up to my whole life had carried that kind of weight in silence left me with a lot of questions. Why would anyone target a sixteen-year-old boy working in a bakery? What was actually going on in Lebanon back then?
I decided to dig deeper. What I uncovered was a history far bigger and more complex than I ever imagined—a story tied to a deep historical divide that stretched back decades.
Part 1: The Historical Backdrop (1887–1958)
The Ideological Roots
The geopolitical split in the Armenian diaspora originated in the late 19th century under Ottoman rule, driven by two distinct political movements that emerged to defend the Armenian population against imperial oppression:
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The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hnchags / SDHP): Founded in Geneva in 1887 by Marxist student intellectuals, the Hnchags aimed to achieve an independent, socialist Armenia. They relied on organized labor strikes, peasant uprisings, and armed resistance.
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The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Tashnags / ARF): Founded in Tiflis (Tbilisi) in 1890, the ARF emerged as a nationalist socialist party. They quickly became the largest, most disciplined political organization across the Armenian provinces, advocating for Armenian self-defense through armed struggle.
While both parties fought against Ottoman massacres, they developed a bitter rivalry over ideology, tactics, and political dominance within the Armenian community.
Understanding the Historical Church Structure
To understand how political rivalries turned into a religious schism, it helps to examine the traditional administrative structure of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Unlike Western churches with a single papal center, the Armenian Church historically maintained two major administrative centers due to centuries of invasion, migration, and imperial borders:
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The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Established in 301 AD in the historic homeland (modern-day Armenia), Etchmiadzin is the original, supreme seat of the Church, led by the Catholicos of All Armenians.
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The Holy See of Cilicia: Established in the 12th century when hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled foreign invasions in the Caucasus and built the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia in southern Turkey. Its headquarters were long located in the city of Sis (modern Kozan, Turkey).
When the seat at Etchmiadzin was restored in 1441, the See of Cilicia was allowed to remain active to serve Western Armenians living under Ottoman rule, while Etchmiadzin served Eastern Armenians under Persian and Russian rule. Both seats shared identical theology, dogma, and liturgy, operating as regional administrative centers.
The Genocide, Sovietization, and the First Great Rift
During the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the Ottoman state evicted Catholicos Sahag II of the See of Cilicia and destroyed his headquarters at Sis. Following the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the Tashnags declared the First Republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918—governing under a red, blue, and orange tricolor flag.
In December 1920, the republic was annexed by the Soviet Red Army. This event split the surviving diaspora into two hostile camps:
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The Anti-Soviet Tashnags: Exiled by the Bolsheviks, the ARF viewed Soviet rule as an illegal occupation and preserved the 1918 tricolor flag as the ultimate symbol of free Armenia.
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The Pro-Soviet / Pragmatic Coalition: The Hnchags (out of Marxist affinity) and the Ramgavars (Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, representing liberal merchants and professionals) accepted Soviet rule. They argued that a Soviet-backed state was the only shield preventing Turkey from completely annihilating the Armenian nation.
Meanwhile, Catholicos Sahag II spent a decade wandering as a refugee bishop until 1930, when the See of Cilicia purchased a former American orphanage site in Antelias, Lebanon (just north of Beirut) to serve as its new permanent headquarters. At this stage, Antelias was purely a humanitarian and spiritual haven for genocide survivors, not a political counterweight to Soviet-controlled Etchmiadzin.
The 1933 Catalyst: Assassination in Manhattan
In North America, all parishes originally belonged to a single administration: the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (established in 1898), which answered directly to the Catholicos at Holy Etchmiadzin in Soviet Armenia. To manage growing populations, this jurisdiction was eventually divided into an Eastern Diocese and a Western Diocese (established in 1927).
In traditional church structure, a Primate acts as the chief bishop or regional leader governing a diocese. In July 1933, Archbishop Ghevont Tourian—the Primate of the Eastern Diocese—attended "Armenian Day" at the Chicago World's Fair. Upon taking the stage, he saw the 1918 independent tricolor flag hanging next to the American flag. Fearing that appearing beside the nationalist flag would provoke the Soviet government and endanger Holy Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Tourian ordered the flag removed before he would step on stage.
To the Tashnags, removing their sacred flag was national treason. Tensions escalated until Christmas Eve, December 24, 1933, when Archbishop Tourian was walking down the aisle during services at Holy Cross Church in Manhattan and was stabbed to death by a group of men. Nine members of the ARF were subsequently tried and convicted in 1934.
The assassination permanently tore the North American diaspora apart. Tashnag-aligned parishes broke away from the original Diocese structure (which remained loyal to Etchmiadzin under Western Primate Bishop Yeghishe Simonian and new Eastern leadership), leaving two rival community structures operating side-by-side in nearly every major American city.
The Cold War Frontline: Lebanon (1950s)
By the 1950s, the center of diaspora gravity had shifted to Lebanon, where the Cold War turned Armenian refugee neighborhoods into proxy battlegrounds:
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The Tashnags aligned with Lebanon's pro-Western Maronite President, Camille Chamoun, and supported the anti-Communist Western bloc.
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The Hnchags, Ramgavars, and Armenian Communists aligned with Arab nationalist, pro-Soviet opposition forces supporting Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1956, the election for the Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon triggered an explosion. Desiring an independent church platform free from KGB influence in Soviet Armenia, Tashnag partisans surrounded the monastery and forced through the election of Catholicos Zareh I. In 1957, Catholicos Zareh I agreed to accept the breakaway, Tashnag-aligned "Prelacy" parishes in North America and around the world under the jurisdiction of the See of Cilicia. Thus, an ancient refugee church seat in Lebanon became the canonical authority for Tashnag churches globally.
When the 1958 Lebanese Civil War erupted, it triggered a fratricidal war between Armenian political militias in Beirut districts like Bourj Hammoud. Checkpoints were established, neighborhoods were strictly segregated, and neutral or anti-Tashnag families were targeted. Young men were routinely threatened, kidnapped, or forced into party militias—driving a massive wave of emigration out of Lebanon to North America throughout the late 1950s and 1960s.
Part 2: Three Close Calls—My Father’s Story Through My Aunt’s Eyes
To really understand what happened to my dad in 1958, I reached out to my Aunt Zarmig. She’s the youngest of five siblings. Back then, she was just ten years old—very jarbeeg (witty and sharp, as the youngest usually are). My dad was sixteen, the second youngest, and he acted like a second father to her, always looking out for his little sister.
She remembers 1958 as a time when neighbor turned against neighbor. In their neighborhood of Hadjin, political factions—the Hnchags and the Tashnags—were at war. My grandfather Boghos was technically a Tashnag, though not hard-core. They simply went to the local church and attended community gatherings. My grandmother Shnoreek was a practical nurse at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the unofficial neighborhood nurse in Hadjin, giving medicine and shots to anyone who needed help.
Despite her kindness to the community, fear took over the neighborhood. People were disappearing, and everyone knew they were likely being killed. The family was scattered and nervous. The two oldest daughters, Anahid and Marijan, were away at school and living in nearby towns. That left my grandparents, my dad (known then by his Armenian name, Harout, before he legally changed it to Henry in the US), his sister Tsovig, and little Zarmig at home.
My aunt recalled three specific events from that year that shook my father to his core:
1. The Escape on the Handlebars
One day, a group of armed men grabbed my sixteen-year-old dad off the street and brought him into a room filled with other young boys. Being a kid, he didn't fully grasp what was happening, but he knew he was in deep trouble. While he was sitting there, a friend happened to ride by on a bicycle and spotted him through the window. Recognizing the danger, his friend didn't hesitate—he pulled up, yelled at my dad to jump on his handlebars, and pedaled away as fast as he could. That friend likely saved my dad's life.
2. The Neighbor Across the Street
On another day, my dad was standing outside his father's store in Hadjin, probably just bored. Across the street, a neighbor looked out her upstairs window and spotted a man crouched nearby, aiming a rifle. She followed the line of sight and realized the barrel was pointed directly at my father. She sprinted downstairs, grabbed my dad, and ran him into his house just in time. Saved again.
3. The Midnight Escape to Middle East College
The tipping point came one evening when a local neighbor—whose husband belonged to the opposing faction—came running to my grandmother. She warned her that at a political meeting earlier that night, they were discussing who to target next, and my dad's name was on the list. "You need to get him out of here right now," she urged.
That night, my grandparents packed my dad into the car and drove him to Middle East College, forty-five minutes away, where his older sister Anahid was studying. They met with the college director and begged for help. The director took my dad in. For the next year, he lived on campus with his sister. The school built a custom curriculum for him, including woodworking classes. My dad fell in love with woodworking during that year in hiding—a passion he carried his whole life, and one of the main reasons I love woodworking today.
Eventually, the hostility in Hadjin reached a breaking point. The opposing faction gave all Tashnag-aligned families 24 hours to leave or be killed. My aunt remembers loading everything they owned into the back of a truck, terrified, driving toward a small bridge that separated hostile Hadjin from Bourj Hammoud, the safe zone. She still vividly remembers the anxiety of waiting in that truck, hoping they would cross the bridge alive.
Honoring a Legacy
Looking back at what my father endured at just sixteen years old gives me a completely different perspective on the man he became.
He never complained. He never carried bitterness. He came to America, built a life, raised a family, and passed down a legacy of hard work, quiet strength, and love. Every time I roast coffee, every time I work with wood, and every time I share a story across the counter, I feel connected to him and the incredible sacrifices his family made just to survive.
Cheers,
Hrag
Academic References & Further Reading
For those who wish to research this history further through primary documents, trial records, and academic analysis:
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Bakalian, Anny. Armenian-Americans: From Being to Feeling Armenian. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1993. (Detailed sociological examination of how the 1933 split structured social clubs, churches, and family dynamics in the U.S.)
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Alexander, Ben. Contested Memories: The Armenian Diaspora in America and the Cold War. Academic research articles & monograph studies. (Detailed breakdown of the 1934 trial, police records, and press coverage of Archbishop Tourian's assassination.)
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Migliorino, Nicola. Rethinking Identity: The Armenian Diaspora in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008. (Explores the 1956 Cilician election crisis, the 1958 clashes in Beirut, and neighborhood territoriality among Armenian factions.)
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Nalbandian, Louise. The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The Development of Armenian Political Parties Through the Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963. (The standard historical reference for the 19th-century origins, Marxist ideologies, and revolutionary tactics of the Hnchag and Tashnag parties.)
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Panossian, Razmik. The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. (Comprehensive history explaining the geopolitical balance between Holy Etchmiadzin and the Holy See of Cilicia throughout the 20th century.)
