About the Protestant Church

The Protestant Missionaries had a long history in Diyarbekir prior to opening up this Protestant Church.  As conversion of Muslims was forbade by the government (for a time under the death penalty), missionaries targeted Christians of the empire for conversion (West, 1875, page 536).  The first Protestant missionaries, Dr. Grant and Mr. Homes, appeared in the city in 1839 (Dwight, 1861, page 306; Anderson, 1872, page 83; Dr. Grant, 1840, page 128).  Soon after Dr. Grant arrived at the end of May, panic broke out in the city over the great defeat in the Battle of Nezib, and some of the Muslim populace sought to kill all Europeans in the city, forcing Grant and Homes to leave only 40 days after Grant arrived (Dr. Grant, 1840, page 129). The city was visited by missionaries Hinsdale and Mitchell in 1841 and Laurie in 1842 (Anderson, 1872, page 83).  By 1848, a large number of Bibles in Ashkharhapar Armenian were distributed in the city (“Erzeroom”, 1850, page 127).  In 1849 it was visited by Mr. Peabody, who saw some people following Protestantism; he reported that one Protestant man was recently beaten by the Armenian metropolitan for discussing religion with the priests without the proper qualifications (Anderson, 1872, page 83; “Erzeroom”, 1850, page 127).  Mr. Schneider visited the city in spring 1850 and helped create the roots of Protestantism in the city (Dwight, 1861, page 307; Anderson, 1872, page 83).  He saw up to 100 people in attendance.  Interestingly, he saw during this time disproportionately more Assyrian followers than Armenian.  Schneider reports that the work of the missionaries was strongly disapproved of by the Armenian and Assyrian clergy; he reported strong protestations by the Armenian metropolitan and Syriac Orthodox patriarch, which led him to appeal to the vali:

He received me politely, and as I found him entirely alone I had a very favorable opportunity to communicate with him. Before went, fourteen individuals gave me their names to hand to the Pasha as Protest- ants, if necessary. The results of my interview with him, thus far, have appeared very favorable. He tacitly gave me permission to preach here, these Protestants have been virtually acknowledged by him, and this number of individuals have been fully and publicly committed to Protestantism. (“Aintab”, 1850, page 268)

Fletcher reported that one Armenian clergy of the city said the following:

Why do these people come here to overturn our old churches and to alter our customs, which we have maintained since the days of the Apostles!  We do not deny them the title of Christian, nor do we wish to meddle with their way of serving God.  It may do for them, but we prefer to hold by the ancient customs, and the writings of the Holy Fathers.  We do not send missionaries to America, though perhaps we may think they need them. (Fletcher, 1850, page 253-254)

Sandreczki reports a similar incident in 1850, when speaking with the leading Vartabed of the city:

Suddenly his gaze focused sharply on our friend from Aintab, who had joined us without any special request from our side and had modestly taken his seat (on the floor) at the lower end of the room among the Vartabed’s people. “Who are you,” he asked him slowly, as if inquiringly or suspiciously? “I am an Evangelical—Avederanlü [Protestant]— from Aintab,” our friend answered calmly. But these few words—this one word, I must say—summoned up a storm that I will not soon forget. With a contemptuous and piercing glare, he began to pour out his indignation about this foreigner of the American missionaries and about them and their heresies in the most violent scolding words directed at us. Why did they come and throw the stone of contention among the people? Whether they believed that the Armenian Church did not exist able to instruct the people in Christianity, etc. (Sandreczki, 1857, page 200)

His conversation with the Syrian Patriarch went somewhat differently:

Today, in the morning, we paid our respects to the Syrian Patriarch, who was presently here. His lower garment was scarlet red, but the upper garment was bright salmon red; in addition, he wore a dark violet-blue turban, which tapered off into a rather narrow cone at the top. He received us in a very friendly manner, as there was much gentleness in his whole being. The conversation was conducted alternately in Turkish and Arabic, and he himself directed it to subjects that must reveal our different views. They talked about churches, seats of faith, abuses, images, saints, about reform and missionaries. He thought that people in Europe knew too little about his church and therefore might have misunderstood or misrepresented some things. I assured him that our learned theologians, ecclesiastical and other historians and also other researchers were at home in this field and were well acquainted with the language, the confessional writings and literature in general, as well as with the conditions of the past and the present. Then he raised the objection that missionaries should only be sent to the heathen, which is often enough the case even in Europe. We pointed out (Revelation John III:1) that a Christian church could well get into a condition that would require a renewed proclamation of the truths of salvation that had been suppressed or, as it were, lost.

The whole conversation was held as if between friends. (Sandreczki, 1857, page 242)

He also reports on the actions apparently instigated by some Armenian clergymen against a Protestant meeting:

Towards evening there was another prayer meeting, in which I read and applied Matth. 10. In the meantime, a bunch of Christian children had lined up in front of the house and were shouting all the time, throwing stones over the outer wall and banging on the gate. Such things belong to the weapons with which the priests want to “fight down” the “new doctrine,” because we soon learned that these are the instigators. One really does not know which one should consider greater: the malice or the stupidity.

On our way out, the clerical forces retreated; but we heard their noise again immediately afterwards and decided to put an end to the mischief as soon as possible, because the poor Protestants were really in danger; for heavy stones had flown into the courtyard, some even as far as the assembly hall, and in the crowds even worse things could happen to them. (Sandreczki, 1857, page 213-214)

In fact, Sandreczki got a far more friendly reception from the vali, who promised to issue warnings against causing disturbances for the Protestant missionaries (Sandreczki, 1857, page 236-237).  In spring 1851, Mr. Azariah Smith founded a small church in the city, attended by Armenians and Syriac Orthodox (Anderson, 1872, page 83).  Many of the Assyrians of the church wanted to make admission of members into the church less strict, and opposed the missionary leadership, however Dr. Smith convinced them of the necessity of those restrictions in order to prevent people living selfishly (Anderson, 1872, page 83).  Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore arrived in November 1851 with an Armenian preacher Stepan (Anderson, 1872, page 84).  Stepan led the church because Mr. Dunmore couldn’t speak Turkish well (Anderson, 1872, page 84).  By 1852, the church had 22 members (“Diarbekir”, 1853, page 137).  Dunmore also reports a change in position of the Syriac Orthodox; he reports that their bishop allowed the reading of the Turkish-translated Bible in the church at the request of the congregation and “admits that Protestants have the truth” (“Diarbekir”, 1853, p. 137).  It was around 1852 that Tovmas Boyajian, the future pastor, converted from Apostolic Christianity to Protestantism:

Tomas, who had long been vacillating, boldly declared himself a Protesant, and though his bishop offered him the monthly reward of two hundred piastres for two years, paid in advance, if he would leave the Protestants, his reply was: “Go tell the bishop that I did not become a Protestant for money, and that I will not leave them for money, even should he give me my house full of gold.” Tomas was then nineteen years of age, and had an orphan brother and two sisters dependent on him. He had been a prosperous silk manufacturer, but after he became a Protestant, both nominal Christians and Moslems refused to trade with him, and he was impoverished. It was decided to send him to the Bebek Seminary. (Anderson, 1872, page 85; “Arabakir”, 1855, page 76)

The Rev. Henry Lobdell, M.D. visited the city in April 1852 (Anderson, 1872, page 86; Tyler, 1859, page 142).  Lobdell and Dunmore were persecuted by the local inhabitants:

I never went into the streets without being saluted with the cry of “Prote [Protestant],” and seldom without receiving a shower of missiles. Several times, while walking for exercise with Mr. Dunmore, on the roof of his house, I was hit by stones flung from the roofs of adjacent buildings. The women screeched and threw dirt; the boys hurled stones and brick-bats; while the husbands and fathers stood by cheering them on in their diabolical work. The Saturday before I left, we happened to be walking through the open court of a mosk [the Ulu Câmi‘i], and stopped to look at the tall Corinthian columns of marble raised around it by ancient Christian hands. A crowd of forty or fifty gathered round us, and though all classes of the citizens pass daily through the court, we were foreigners and Protestants, and it was a good time for the Moslems to wreak their vengeance. They at first attacked me, but when they saw I would offer no resistance, they fell upon Mr. Dunmore; he tried to parry their blows with his cane, but was seized by the throat, and I feared he would be strangled. It would have been madness for me to rush to his assistance; I tried to pass quietly away, but a part of them turned upon me, seized and hurled away my hat, and, though now in the open street, we both felt that it was quite uncertain whether we should escape alive. They at length began to throw stones; one of two pounds’ weight hit my side, and I picked it up as a witness against the offenders. The missiles came so thick, and the mob was so fierce, that we were obliged to run with all our might. We found temporary safety in the bazaars, and soon after effected our escape to Mr. Dunmore’s house. We were thankful for deliverance from such a death, but we deemed it expedient to make a complaint to the Pasha; we were refused redress, and were even told by the Pasha that he did not believe a word we said! Such is justice and toleration in Diarbekr. (Tyler, 1859, p. 152)

Mr. Dunmore describes the same incident:

As we were standing in front of it, in the public highway, examining its architecture, several lads came up and began to insult us and to order us away.  We did not notice them, but went further from the mosque, and stopped to examine some old marble pillars.  Soon, however, we found a rabble about us, who began to jerk our garments.  I then turned and spoke to them, and they instantly rushed upon us like tigers.  They seized Dr. Lobdell’s hat, threw it into the air, and began to beat him.  One ruffian seized me by the throat.  By main strength I loosed his grasp, and was moving off, when two men tried to wrest my cane from me, but did not succeed.  We retreated as fast as possible, but when we got out of the reach of their hands, they resorted to throwing stones, some of them weighing two or three pounds.  One hit Dr. Lobdell in the side, and we saw no alternative but to run for our lives.  We went immediately to the Pasha, taking one of the largest stones with us, and made a statement of the facts in the presence of the council.  He refused to do anything more than to send a man to inquire who was in fault, the ruffians, or we!  He said he knew nothing about us. (Anderson, 1872, page 86)

It appears that by around 1853, the Protestants came to be led by a man named Shemmas, a candle maker apparently native to the city (Dunmore and Walker, 1854).  By 1853, the congregation reached 200 people with 28 members, but in 1854, it decreased to 11 members—5 men and 3 women; four of the men were former deacons in the Syriac Orthodox (Meryem Ana) church (Anderson, 1872, page 88-90; “Diarbekir”, 1853, page 137).  In 1854, the missionary activity faced multiple roadblocks.  First of all, the vali started requiring extra taxes for Protestants (against the orders of the Sultan), which the congregation refused to give; Shemmas was tortured at the stocks for this infraction (Dunmore and Walker, 1854).  In addition, the members again protested against the restrictions on membership—specifically that only members and their children could be baptized (Anderson, 1872, page 91).  Rev. Dunmore, Rev. Augustus Walker, and Rev. Nutting were accompanied by Mr. Marsh and Dr. Lobdell to reorganize the church in the city (Anderson, 1872, page 92; “Arabakir”, 1855, page 75).  After the arrival of the British Consul R. Holmes, Esq. in November 1854, the Protestants enjoyed much more protection, and by 1855 their congregation grew to around 450 people with more members being added, both from the Armenian and Syriac Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church (Anderson, 1872, page 93; “Arabakir”, 1855, page 75).  It is reported that during this time their place of worship was “near a khan [likely Hasan Paşa Hanı] and near the markets” (“Diarbekir”, 1856, page 205).  Tovmas Boyajian also returned from the Bebek seminary in late 1854 and began preaching in the city (“Arabakir”, 1855, page 76).  Many of the Armenians and Syriac Orthodox wanted to convert their whole churches to Protestantism; the Syriac Orthodox pressured their priests to read in Turkish or Arabic instead of ancient Syriac:

The people demanded that the Bible in Turkish or Arabic should be read in the church, instead of the ancient Syriac, which is to most of the people a dead language; and the Bishop was forced to yield to the request.  But finding at length that this was rapidly undermining his influence and that of the priests, they secretly removed the Scriptures from the church. But they have found that the Word of the Lord is not bound. The deacons or readers carry their own Bibles, and when the Bishop and priests lecture upon the duty and efficacy of picture worship and prayer to the Saints, the deacons will read Jer. xliv. 9-20, and Matt. iv. 10. If they enjoin the strict observance of their appointed fasts, the deacons will read 1 Tim. iv. &c. When the Patriarch who resides at Der Zeifran sent recently for his accustomed annual donation, they refused to give anything, returning word that if he attempted to compel them, they as a body would become Protestants, and renounce all subserviency to him. (Walker, 1855, page 207; Anderson, 1872, page 93)

Rev. George C. Knapp was appointed leader in the city in April 1856 (Anderson, 1872, page 99).  By that time, the church had regular services:

There were four services on the Sabbath. At the first, an hour after sunrise, fifty persons assembled for prayer and praise, and the meeting was conducted by two native teachers; one reading his own translation of Doddridge’s “Rise and Progress” in Turkish; the other, after having read through Dr. Goodell’s “Notes on Matthew,” and a volume of his sermons in Turkish, had commenced reading discourses of his own. The second was at the time of “noon cry” from the minarets, when Mr. Walker or Baron Tomas, now returned for a time from Bebek, preached to about two hundred persons, who listened more attentively than most American congregations. At the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) Baron Tomas met a Bible-class of sixty or eighty of the more intelligent Protestants. The last preaching service, at the tenth hour, was usually attended by a hundred or a hundred and fifty persons. From forty to seventy persons were present at the Friday evening meeting. The monthly concert was well attended, and with increasing contributions. Mrs. Walker had a Wednesday afternoon meeting for the women, at which from twenty to forty were present. (Anderson, 1872, page 100)

It appears that by 1856, the strict suspicion of the Armenian clergy towards the American missionaries had softened somewhat.  Rev. C. N. Righter mentions a positive reaction from the Armenian bishop on the distribution of Bibles:

I also called upon the Armenian bishop. He was a venerable old man, with a flowing white beard, and received me with the greatest politeness. I expressed to him the desire of the American Bible Society to furnish every family with the Bible in the modern language, which all can understand. He replied, “It is eyi, chok eyi [iyi, çok iyi]” — good, very good. “The bible teaches us the way to heaven. There is one Saviour for English, Americans, and Armenians. Through the blood of Christ we all find salvation, and we are brothers in Christ Jesus.”  He says, “It is a shame if every family who can read does not have the Bible.”  As we leave, he presses us warmly by the hand, and remarks, “In Christ, I hope we may meet in heaven.” (Samuel Irenaeus Prime, 1859, page 243)

Around 1856-57, Garden notes that there were 39 members of the church, 200-300 consistent congregation including around 60 women, and three missionaries, who were all married (Garden, 1867, page 192).  Mr. Knapp left Diarbekir in May 1858 (Anderson, 1872, page 104).  In that year, the congregation ranged from 70 on the week days up to 200 on Sundays and 300-600 on special occasions (“Diarbekir”, 1859, p. 175).  By the end of 1859, the members reached 73 people (Anderson, 1872, page 105).  After the British Consul Holmes left his position in Diyarbekir in 1860, his former house was bought by the Protestants and converted into a church; it cost 1000 Turkish pounds, with 300 being paid by the congregation, 420 from donors in America, and 280 from the American Board (Anderson, 1872, page 105; “Recent Intelligence”, 1860, page 316).  By 1861, the Protestants were led by Rev. Augustus Walker and preached to by Tomas Boyajian, and Protestantism appeared to be much more widely held and accepted, according to the missionary Mr. Dwight (Dwight, 1861, page 306; Anderson, 1872, page 73).  The congregation was around 400 people at that time, and they were addressed in Armenian (Dwight, 1861, page 307).  By 1862, there were 84 members (Anderson, 1872, page 227; “Mission to Eastern Turkey: Station Reports”, 1862, page 217).  In 1863, Tomas Boyajian was officially ordained and appointed pastor of the church in the city in the former consulate, the first meeting attracting over 1000 people (Anderson, 1872, page 228; West, 1875, page 496).  In 1865, a new missionary, Tarakçı Toma, was appointed to the city, and Tomas Boyajian left; Mr. Walker also returned to the city in November (“Diarbekir—Station Report”, 1866, p. 209; “Diarbekir”, 1867, p. 205; Walker, 1866, page 109).  The mission also started competing with a Ritualistic Episcopalian pastor in the city, appointed by the Bishop Gobat in Jerusalem (“Diarbekir—Station Report”, 1866, p. 209; “Fruits of the Ritualistic Movement”, 1873, page 368).  A second meeting place (with a building in the shape of a cross) was also bought for 12500 piatsres and opened up near the Meryem Ana Syriac Orthodox Church due to the overcrowding of the former consul building, annoying the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch (“Diarbekir—Station Report”, 1866, page 210; John Horace Savile, 1867, page 386).  Walker passed away in 1866 of cholera (“Diarbekir”, 1866, page 382).  In 1866, a meeting of the Harpoot Evangelical Union was held in the city (Wheeler, 1868, page 245).  When Boyajian returned in 1867, he struggled to obtain deeds for the current building (the former house of the consul) from the American missionaries in order to build a new church due to the dilapidated state and small size of the old building (“The American missionaries and the Armenian Protestant community”, 1869, p. 59).  He then left for America in order to raise money for the new church, which the American Board strongly disapproved of, because they believed that the money should go to more needy churches (“Harpoot”, 1868, p. 120; “Misrepresentations Corrected”, 1870, page 86).  In around 1872, a new mission chapel—the Surp Prgich Church—was built, the largest Protestant Church in Turkey holding up to 2000 people, with 250 attending the first session (West, 1875, page 506; “Geïllustreerd zendingsblad voor het huisgezin; orgaan van het Java-Comité en van het Centraal-Comité voor de Oprichting en In Stand Houding van een Seminarie Nabij Batavia, 1872, no 9-10, 1872”, 1872, page 124).  It appears that by 1877, the congregation increased significantly, up to 800-1000 people—around 90% Armenian and the rest Assyrian (Cutts, 1877, page 106; Geary, 1878, page 210).  Around this time Boyajian separated the congregation from the American missionaries and became closer to the Church of England (Cutts, 1877, page 106).  Cutts notes:

Many of the congregation feel the irregularity of their ecclesiastical status. They would gladly be members of a reformed Armenian Church; but they feel that to go back to the Armenian Church as it is would be in some respects a backward step in their religious life, while, probably, the Church would not receive them back without concessions to which they could not submit. On the other hand, they repudiate much of the teaching and discipline of the modern American missionaries. This body of Protestants looks with strong sympathy to the Church of England. (Cutts, 1877, page 107)

Boyajian had taken much influence from England, most likely after visiting England to gain support for his work; he dressed like an English clergyman, taught the doctrines of the Church of England, and even had an English wife (Henry C. Barkley, 1891, page 275; Birks, 1895, p. 242).  Apparently, Boyajian wanted to have his congregation completely subordinate to the Church of England in Jerusalem, however the local population prefered their independence from foreigners (Birks, 1895, page 260).  Nevertheless, Boyajian still held great hopes of the reformation of the Armenian Apostolic Church by the laity (Birks, 1895, page 262).  By June 1886, the congregation of these “English Protestants” was around 300 families (“Annalen van het Genootschap tot Voortplanting des Geloofs; behelzende brieven van de bisschoppen en missionarissen van de missien der onderscheidene werelddelen, mitsgaders alle berigten, betrekking hebbende tot de missien en het Genootschap tot Voortplanting des Geloofs, 1887, Deel: negen en vijftigste deel, 1887”, 1887, page 316).  However, in January 1887, Dr. Barnum, Miss. Bush, and Miss. Seymour were able to bring Boyajian’s faction back into the missionary church (“Reconciliations at Diarbekir”, 1887, page 150).  In 1897, the church was visited by Mr. Browne and Miss. Bush; they reported high attendance at the church:

Such a sight as met my eyes as I entered our big, beautiful church on the very first day; every seat full, and the aisles and all around the pulpit, women seated on the floor and many in the galleries! And so it was every day. On Monday of this week the house was fuller than ever. I cannot give you the number, but there were at least 500, and the pastor says many more, but I doubt it. (“Diarbekir”, 1897, p. 276)

However, in 1901, Browne reports that the church was in disarray due to the absence of pastor or preacher:

To say we found this church in a deplorable condition, torn by factions, jealousies, etc., would express inadequately their need of missionary visitation. Perhaps this can be expressed in a more realistic way by saying this is our fourteenth week of labor here and the end is not yet (“Eastern Turkey Mission”, 1901, page 157)

By 1902, the Church was aparently still functioing and was preached to in the Armenian language (“Der christliche Orient : Monatsschrift der Deutschen Orient-Mission”, 1902, p. 36).  As of 1907, the church was led by pastor Rev. Vartan Amirhanian, evidently an Armenian (“Eastern Turkey Mission”, 1907, page 447).

Dağtekin describes the layout of the church:

Unlike the other Armenian Churches in Diyarbakır, the structure was planned as a closed Greek cross (Fig. 5.). The narthex is located in the north-south direction to the west of the structure. There are three naves in the church, while the center was the timber framed dome, the sidewalls comprise flat roof on wooden beams. . . . In addition to the main entrance at the west, the church also has entrances in the north and south directions.  The abscissa of the church is externally emphasized and internally rounded. The bema podium built in front of the abscissa is accessed by a two-stepped staircase. There is a wooden gallery floor rotating the western, northern and southern wings in U shape. The wooden stairs leading to the gallery floor are built in the northwest and southwest of the naos. On the north of the church, there is a lead-covered bell tower. (Dağtekin, 2019, page 138)

Aykal, Arslanboğan and Hillez, and Haspolat also describe the architecture (Haspolat, 2013, page 339; Haspolat, 2015, page 67; Sonay Arslanboğan and Semra Hillez, 2011, page 405).

Current Location: Diyarbakır İli Sur İlçesi Muallak Sokakta 32 pafta, 246 ada, 1 nolu parsel