BY DAVID ARAKELYAN
Mkrtich Khirmian stands as a giant among the religious leaders of the Armenian nation. His name is inseparable from our people’s struggle for national liberation. Khrimian was called Hayrik (diminutive for ‘Father’) by the Armenians, who saw in him a devoted shepherd who could guide his flock through the difficult terrain of Ottoman and Russian politics during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. It was a decisive period in our people’s history, which saw increased oppression suffered by the Armenian population in these two empires and the emergence of an armed struggle that aimed to counter that oppression. A revolutionary in a religious garb, Mkrtich Khrimian saw the moral and spiritual revival of the Armenians as a precondition for freedom and worked tirelessly to get the first Christian nation to embrace the proper interpretation of the religion of its forefathers. That interpretation rejected subservience, condemned tyranny, and validated the righ
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