Armash, Ottoman Empire

Armash (Armenian: Արմաշ) was a small Armenian-populated town located in the Ottoman Empire, near the Sea of Marmara.

With its seminary and monastery of Charkhapan Surb Astvatsatsin (Warder-off-of-Evil, Holy Mother of God), Armash served as the spiritual center of Armenians in western Asia Minor until 1915, when its inhabitants were rounded up and sent on death marches to the Syrian desert by orders of the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress party.

[4] Despite recurring political upheavals within Ottoman society toward the end of the nineteenth century that impeded the operation of the Armash monastery, in the decade prior to the first World War the Holy Mother of God church remained a popular destination of Armenian pilgrimage, where visitors sought to view its Italian painting of the Holy Virgin Mary, which was thought to heal the ailments of believers.

[5] The Armash compound hosted numerous live peacocks, an ancient symbol of divine immortality and the all-seeing eye of providence, as well as a flock of small chickens and pigeons.

[7] According to Vrej Nersessian, a great number of graduates from the monastery who "had become the primates or diocesan bishops in the provinces of Turkish Armenia" also perished during the death marches.