TOUR SKILLS

LITTLE RED DOT

这些波斯亚美尼亚人后来定居在印度，然后移居到爪哇和马来半岛。

1819 年，英国东印度公司在新加坡建立贸易站后不久，来自槟城和马六甲等附近地区的亚美尼亚人开始抵达。

到 1821 年，三名亚美尼亚人——马六甲的阿里斯塔克斯·萨基斯、阿拉通·萨基斯和另一人——在新加坡开设了公司。1

抵达新加坡后，亚美尼亚人迅速建立了各种企业，并为社会做出了重要贡献。 1845 年 7 月，Catchick Moses 吉哲摩斯从一位破产的亚美尼亚商人那里购买了印刷设备，并与来自孟买的英国记者 Robert Carr Woods 一起创办了《海峡时报》和《新加坡商业日报》。2

1887 年，Sarkies 沙基四兄弟——Martin、Tigran、Aviet 和 Arshak——租用了一栋现有建筑，并将其改建成莱佛士酒店，此前，他们于 1884 年在槟城建立了东方酒店。3

商人兼贸易商 Parsick Joaquim 于 1840 年左右从马德拉斯来到这里。他的女儿 Agnes Joaquim 于 1893 年培育了杂交兰花 Vanda Miss Joaquim，该兰花被选为新加坡的国花。4

亚美尼亚教会的成立
虽然亚美尼亚人无疑是精明的商人，但他们也非常虔诚。公元 301 年，基督教被宣布为亚美尼亚国教，能够定期礼拜对新加坡的波斯亚美尼亚人来说非常重要。

当他们第一次来到这里时，这个小社区由牧师 Eleazor Ingergolie 服务，他住在槟城，但后来前往新加坡主持礼拜。然而，这里的亚美尼亚人最终想要自己的常驻牧师，1825 年，他们写信给波斯的大主教，要求派一位牧师来这里。5

两年后，牧师 Gregory ter Johannes 来到这里，第一次礼拜在莱佛士坊的 John Little & Co. 的后屋举行。随后，礼拜在 Powell & Co. 的一间小出租屋里举行，位于所谓的“商人广场”。支持牧师、租用场地和员工工资的费用每月为 63 美元。6

但最终，社区想要自己的专用建筑。 1833 年，他们致信新加坡驻地议员 Samuel Bonham，希望得到“位于植物园、面向‘希尔街’的公共道路”的一块土地。1834 年 7 月，批准了这块土地，并委托 George D. Coleman 设计该建筑。1835 年 1 月，从波斯赶来参加此次活动的 Thomas Gregorian 牧师和当地牧师 Johannes Catchick 牧师为该建筑奠基。这座建筑的成本高达 5,058.30 美元（其中科尔曼作为建筑师和工程师获得了 400 美元）。7

最后，1836 年 3 月 26 日，亚美尼亚 圣格雷戈里启蒙者使徒教堂

Shèng géléi gē lǐ qǐméng zhě shǐtú jiàotáng由

约翰内斯牧师主持奉献仪式。8 在仪式后的布道中，他告诉会众：“弟兄们，今天早上看到你们聚集在这个屋檐下，心中充满喜悦，我感到非常高兴，因为上帝的殿堂比我们的居所更适合敬拜；在那里，我们享受身体的休息；在这里，我们享受精神的享受；正如我们的救世主所说的那样——灵魂比身体更有价值。”9

  (Talisman Publishing, 2021).

Singapore’s Armenian Church Survived Close to 180 years Singapore’s Original Armenian Community Did Not Never large, Singapore’s Persian Armenian community barely survived the war. Then came the demographic collapse.

The Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator as seen from the south, 2024. Photo by Jimmy Yap.

The Straits Times. The Raffles Hotel. The Vanda Miss Joaquim. These quintessentially Singaporean icons are associated with a community here that somewhat remarkably never exceeded 100 people – the Armenians.

To be clear though, while usually referred to as Armenians, the people who arrived in Singapore in the early decades of the 19th century did not come directly from Armenia, a landlocked country bordered by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. The early migrants were, instead, descendants of a population that had been resettled from the Armenian city of Julfa to Persia (present-day Iran) in the early 16th century. These Persian Armenians later settled in India, and then migrated to Java and the Malay Peninsula.

Very soon after the British East India Company established a trading post in Singapore in 1819, the Armenians from nearby places like Penang and Melaka began arriving.

By 1821, three Armenians – Aristarchus Sarkies, Arratoon Sarkies of Melaka, and another – had set up firms in Singapore.1

Once in Singapore, the Armenians quickly established various businesses and made important contributions to society. Catchick Moses bought printing equipment from a fellow Armenian merchant who had gone bankrupt, and launched the Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce with Robert Carr Woods, an English journalist from Bombay, in July 1845.2

In 1887, the four Sarkies brothers – Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak – leased an existing building and turned it into the Raffles Hotel, after previously establishing the Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Penang in 1884.3

 Merchant and trader Parsick Joaquim came from Madras around 1840. His daughter Agnes Joaquim cultivated the hybrid orchid Vanda Miss Joaquim in 1893, which was chosen as Singapore’s national flower.4

Founding of the Armenian Church

While the Armenians were certainly astute business people, they were also very religious. Christianity had been declared Armenia’s state religion in 301 and being able to worship regularly was important to the Persian Armenians in Singapore.

When they first came here, the small community was served by Reverend Eleazor Ingergolie, who was based in Penang but travelled down to Singapore to conduct services. However, the Armenians here eventually wanted their own resident priest and in 1825, they wrote to the Archbishop in Persia asking for a priest to be posted here.5

Two years later, the Reverend Gregory ter Johannes arrived and the first services were held in a backroom at John Little & Co. in Raffles Place. The services were subsequently held in a small rented

room at Powell & Co. located at what was known as "the Merchant's Square". The cost of supporting the priest, renting the premises and staff wages amounted to $63 a month.6

Eventually, though, the community wanted their own dedicated building. In 1833, they wrote to Samuel Bonham, the Resident Councillor in Singapore, for the piece of land “lying at the Botanical Gardens facing the public road called ‘the Hill Street’”. Approval was given in July 1834 and George D. Coleman was commissioned to design the building. The foundation stone was laid in January 1835 by the Very Reverend Thomas Gregorian, who had come from Persia for the event, and the local priest Reverend Johannes Catchick. The cost of the building came up to $5,058.30 (of which Coleman received $400 as architect and engineer.)7

Finally, on 26 March 1836, the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator was consecrated by Reverend Johannes.8 In his sermon that followed the service, he told the congregation: “It now affords me uncommon pleasure to see you, brethren, assembled this morning under this roof, with joy in your hearts, because the house of God is much more fitting to worship in than our places of abode; there we enjoy bodily rest; here spiritual; as our Saviour observed – The soul is more worth than the body.”9

Photo of Agnes Joaquim on a locket that once belonged to her, with an inscription of her name on the reverse side. She cultivated the hybrid orchid Vanda Miss Joaquim in 1893, which became Singapore’s national flower. Courtesy of Linda Locke.

Galvanising the Community

The church was an important part of Armenian life in Singapore. It was where the Sunday service – known as the Divine Liturgy – was celebrated, where major feast days were observed, and where life events such as baptisms and weddings were held.

The church was also important for fostering a sense of community. Unlike the other immigrants such as the Chinese and the Indians, the Armenians tended to come to Singapore in family groups. Weekly church services would have allowed the men, their wives and their children to meet others of the same cultural and religious background on a regular basis. Friendships were formed, children grew up together and business opportunities were discussed. Run and maintained by the community and volunteers, the church was where community ties were strengthened.

Historian Nadia Wright noted that various members of the congregation raised money to pay for modifications to the roof and dome in the 1840s and 1850s: “Over the years, generous individuals further contributed to improvements and additions. For example, in 1861, Peter Seth donated the bell in the steeple, although this was not hung until the 1880s. In that same decade, Catchick Moses paid for the back porch and a new fence around the compound.”10 However, the original dome and turret were deemed unsafe, and both were replaced by a square turret by 1847. The problem persisted, and around 1853, the turret was removed and the pitched roof replaced with a flat one.11

With the generous support of Seth Paul, the church and parsonage became the first church in Singapore to enjoy the comfort and convenience of electricity on 18 January 1909.12

Of course, the volunteers did more than build up the physical infrastructure. They were involved in other ways as well. Among her many talents, Agnes Joaquim was also skilled in needlework and she embroidered a beautiful altar cloth for the church.13 The tight-knit Armenian community also organised non-religious activities. The tragic events of the Armenian genocide in 1915 galvanised the community. Church trustees H.S. Arathoon and M.C. Johannes launched an appeal for funds on 16 October 1915 to relieve the plight of the Armenians. (They

themselves donated $500 each.)14

By 1931, there were 81 Armenians in Singapore, the highest figure reported by the census. But some time after this, the numbers appeared to decline. One indication was the last full service by a resident priest in 1938, which suggests that the community was too small to support a full-time resident priest by then.

 Dwindling Population

The onset of World War II and the Japanese Occupation accelerated the decline of the community. During the Occupation, 19 Armenians who were British subjects were incarcerated. Civilians were interned in Sime Road Camp, while those who served in the Singapore Volunteer Corps or Local Defence Volunteers were interned in Changi Prison.15

The church itself took enemy fire during the war as its grounds had been requisitioned by the British Army. When the Japanese started dropping bombs on Singapore, some fell near the church, which loosened masonry and timber while the roof of the parsonage caved in. Subsequently, the building was looted by the Japanese who removed the crystal chandeliers and carpets from the church, and furniture and paintings from the parsonage; these were never replaced.16 During the Occupation years, the church was used by other Christian denominations – the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and Geylang Methodist Church – for their Sunday services.17 After the war, the population of Armenians in Singapore continued to fall as a result of emigration and as people died. In the 1947 census, which was the last to report the Armenians as a discrete category, there were just 62 of them.18 In December 1949, Arshak C. Galstaun, a trustee for the church, told the Straits Times that there were only about 40 Armenians left in the community.19

Because of the small numbers, the community found it hard to maintain the church. Four years after the end of the war, the Straits Times described the church as being “in a worse way than any other house of God in Singapore. Plaster is crackling and peeling from the walls, roof timbers are falling, white ants have made such inroads on the gilded centrepiece of the ceiling that you can break off chunks, like stale bread”.20

Official compensation for war damage was paltry and church funds had to be used for repairs. Eventually, the parsonage was repaired with personal contributions from Walter, Robert and Looleen Martin.21

The small numbers also made it harder to keep regular church services going. In 1953, the Straits Budget noted: “Walking into the Armenian Church of St Gregory, the Illuminator in Coleman Street you will find every Sunday that the altar candles are lighted and the liturgy stands open. But there is no service. At nine every morning, the Churchwarden, ex-Japanese P.O.W. Mr Joannes, reads players [sic] to the steadfast remanant [sic] of the faithful.”22

The first Divine Liturgy to be served after the war was on 9 May 1954. It was an important moment for the Armenian community because the last time the Liturgy had been celebrated in Singapore was some 16 years earlier. “Armenians have bought a new altar cloth (the one old having rotted away). They have scrubbed the floor and whitewashed the walls,” reported the Straits Times. “The church is fragrant with fresh flowers, candles are lighted and a choir of seven have been practising hymns unsung here since 1938.”23

This was not the start of regular services though. In fact, the priest who came, the Surabaya-based Father Aristakes Mirzaian, was only able to be in Singapore after an Armenian woman in Surabaya established a fund to enable him to travel outside his parish to serve Armenians in the region.

Three years later, in May 1957, the Straits Times reported that the first Divine Liturgy in 30 years to be celebrated by a bishop would take place. Monsignor Tereniz Poladian flew in from Beirut to do so. “On Sunday, the Colony’s community of about 70 will attend a long-awaited pontifical service. The church which has been renovated at the cost of about $20,000, has just been completely refurnished. A choir of eight has been practising for the past two weeks for the big occasion.”24

Preserving the Church

Although the Armenian community in Singapore was small and the church suffered because of the lack of funds to maintain it, the church, to the Armenians, was and still is a sacred space. But from the 1950s, there was a growing sense in Singapore that the church building was not just a sacred space, but an important part of Singapore’s history.

In May 1954, a local group began to advocate publicly for its conservation. The Straits Times reported that the “Friends of Singapore, a cultural society, plans to rescue the old Armenian Church in Coleman Street because of its historical interest. It also plans to save the house of its architect Mr. Coleman… the society will make local Armenians an offer of help in the rehabilitation of the building”.25

 The church was indeed fixed up, though apparently without using funds from outside. This meant that it was done on a relatively small budget.

The results of the restoration did not please everyone. In a commentary in April 1956, Straits Times contributor Stanley Street criticised the community’s restoration efforts that had left the church, in his opinion, unrecognisable. Street wrote: “Had they possessed the means to carry out the long-delayed repairs while still preserving the charm and irreplaceable craftsmanship that has been lost, be sure they would have done so. But the community wished to restore their church from the slender funds at their disposal. Offer from other sources to help in this endeavour were declined, and for that we must respect the Singapore community of perhaps the oldest church in Christendom.”26

In response, Arshak C. Galstaun, the church trustee and warden, wrote that his “first reactions to the article… were violent and I have, therefore, waited a few days to simmer down and to consult my church board”. He noted that the parsonage had been completely repaired through the generosity

of the Armenian Martin family and that the church spent several thousand dollars about five years ago to ensure it was structurally safe. He ended his response with a strongly worded reminder to the writer. “I would impress upon Stanley Street that the Armenian Church is private and sacred. We desire to be left alone to manage our own affairs as we think fit.”27 Yet, this view that only Armenians had a say over the church was increasingly untenable as the 1960s unfolded. In addition to being an Armenian property and a consecrated space, the state was beginning to recognise it as a heritage building with great historical value, especially to a new nation.

In 1969, it was reported that the government was looking into setting up a national monument trust to preserve buildings of historical importance and the Armenian church was on that list.28 In 1970, the Preservation of Monuments Act was passed, and in July 1973 the Preservation of Monuments Board gazetted the church as a national monument alongside seven others.29

The church trustees now had to balance this status with that of a consecrated space for the practice o f A r m en i a n Christianity. It was not easy, especially since the church in the 1970s and1980s was thinly used as the population continued to dwindle. The Straits Times reported in December 1978 that “the Armenian community now barely raises the required quorum of 12 at the church’s annual general meeting to keep the church going as a registered society”.30

This tension came into sharp relief following a piece written by Australian architect Peter Keys in the Straits Times. After a visit to the church in September 1981, he had obviously been enamoured with the buildings and the grounds, and suggested ways in which they could be used.

The grounds, he wrote, “could be opened more to the public, mainly for passive recreational uses, although the odd fete-like occurrence would notbe objectionable”. He also suggested that the church itself could be used for a variety of purposes. It could be “one of the central spaces for people to congregate when exploring their city, with a large model and photographs” and for “small and intimate performances of music and drama”. The building, he noted, is “too entrenched in our history for its preservation and conservation to depend on a few funds and the love and care of a few dedicated Armenians”. “The buildings and their grounds are for us all to enjoy and take pleasure in. As such, their use should be carefully considered,” he added.31

Church trustee Art Baghramian pushed back against these well-meaning suggestions. “First, I would like to point out that the Armenian Church is and has always been supported and maintained solely by private sources,” he wrote. “Therefore, the use of the church and its grounds is not open to public debate. Second, and more important, is the fact that though religious services are not held at the church on a regular basis, it maintains a sacred and holy place. As such, it is not maintained for profane or secular use.”In the quest to maintain the church as a sacred space and also allow it to be enjoyed as part of Singapore’s heritage, the church accepted a proposal from the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (now Singapore Tourism Board) in 1985 to allow the premises to be used as a wedding venue for Japanese tourists.

“Wedding bells will ring again at the Armenian church next month when visiting Japanese couples walk down the aisle as part of a newly launched holiday package for Japanese honeymooners,” the Straits Times reported. “The couples will go through a simple ceremony at Singapore’s oldest Christian church, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.”33 At that point, the church served about 20 Armenians still living in Singapore.

This proved to be a short-lived engagement though. Only one such wedding eventually took place before things went awry. “Church elders objected on grounds that marriage is a serious affair and should not be treated lightly.”34 Although the Straits Times did not elaborate, it did report that the plan had been to allow Japanese newly-weds to tie the knot again in “mock church weddings”. It was a popular custom among Japanese honeymooners to go abroad to get “married” and have photos taken in a picturesque church, even though they had already undergone a traditional wedding back in Japan.

The Last of the Armenians

By the late 1980s, the Persian Armenian community had shrunk to about a dozen people. A 1988 report by the Straits Times said that there were just four “pure Armenians”: Mackertich Zachariah Martin, Rita Poon, Mary Christopher and Helen Metes. (It is not entirely clear what the newspaper meant by the term “pure Armenians”.) At 39, Mrs Rita Poon was the youngest of the four. She had been born in Iran but married a Chinese Singaporean. In addition to the four, the paper wrote that there were about a half-dozen half- Armenians and about 20 or 30 expatriates.35

Helen Catchatoor Metes, the last Persian Armenian in Singapore, died in 2007. After that, what was left comprised a handful of people who only had a distant Persian Armenian connection, perhaps a last name, but who were no longer Armenian Orthodox, and who no longer spoke the language.36

Among them was Loretta Sarkies, who was profiled in the Straits Times in September 2015. Then 74, she was the oldest daughter of James Arathoon Sarkies, who ran the Happy World Cabaret in the 1940s, and Mae Didier. Her granduncle was Tigran Sarkies, one of the four brothers who set up the Raffles Hotel. One of Loretta’s daughters, Debra, eventually decided to change her last name from Aroozoo (Loretta had married Dutch-Eurasian civil servant Simon Aroozoo) to Sarkies at the suggestion of a visiting Armenian Priest in an effort to keep the Sarkies name alive.37      

Although the Persian Armenian community was shrinking, it was somehow able to find the funds to restore the church in the mid-1990s. The roof was waterproofed, the electrical system upgraded and the termite-infested windows replaced. The walls were also replastered and treated to prevent dampness. The building was restored in 1994, just in time for  a service by visiting Armenian Orthodox Bishop, Oshagan Choloyan. According to the news report, the conservation project had been financed by the church.38

The restoration of the church came just in time because even though the number of Persian Armenians was getting smaller, the community of Armenian expatriates was growing. There were Americans and Australians of Armenian descent in Singapore. There were also Armenians from Armenia, especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. (Armenia had come under Soviet domination after World War II.)

While this influx boosted numbers, the newcomers were culturally different from long-time Singapore Armenians. For one, there was the issue of language. The newcomers, especially those from Armenia, could speak Armenian while the descendants of the Persian Armenians in Singapore could not. In an oral history interview, Jessie Sarkies, the sister of Loretta Sarkies, described how she felt left out at an event because everyone was speaking Armenian and she couldn’t:

“I would say the Armenian people are nice, but they are very proud of whom they are. They are, on Saturday I found out, when I was told that I have to know to speak Armenian. Yah, and it’s like there’s distinction, and then I felt oh, I was so left out after that. Because I couldn’t mingle with everyone, because everyone down there all talks Armenian... So there’s this distinction between me and them, because they all talk Armenian. I felt very down.”39

The newcomers did rejuvenate the community though. In 2010, violinist Ani Umedyan and her musician husband Gevorg Sargsyan, vocalist Gayane Vardanyan and pianist Naira Mkhitaryan formed the Armenian Heritage Ensemble to bring the Armenian culture to the people in Singapore. The ensemble plays music by Armenian composers in the church four times a year.40 In 2011, some 60 Armenians gathered to commemorate the Armenian genocide and also to celebrate Easter.41

 At one point, according to a 2017 news report, a priest from Myanmar would come to Singapore five to six times a year to celebrate the Divine Liturgy here. In that report, Umedyan, who is also a regular church volunteer, said that when she first started worshipping at the church, there were only about 20 or so people. “Now that more expats have come, there are more people and we are happy to see the church crowded with about 40 to 50 people at each service.”42

Another boost to the community and its profile  came in May 2018 when the $1.2 million Armenian         Heritage Gallery, housed in the historic parsonage building, opened.43

 Today, there are about 100 people in the community, a quarter of whom are from Armenia while the rest are from the diaspora. While small, the community is determined to keep its culture and traditions alive.

On 27 March 2022, the Divine Liturgy resumed for the first time following Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings.44 The Liturgy was celebrated most recently on 9 June 2024 by Archbishop Haigazoun Najarian. The Ambassador of Armenia to Singapore – Serob Bejanyan, who is based in Jakarta – attended the service.

According to church trustee Pierre Hennes, the church is now committed to the construction of a community reception hall next to the parsonage.“The hall will serve as a unique venue for community gatherings, wedding receptions, and other cultural outreach programmes hosted by the church and community,” he said. Work has already begun on building this hall.

Hennes added that he saw the role of the church as being a “beacon for all Armenians and Singaporeans – whether visitors or residents – that serves as a platform to expose, maintain and advance the Armenian religion, culture and heritage”. Not just a religious centre, the church was also a physical space for "connecting with each other and reinforcing the culture, highlighting our contributions to Singapore’s past and present, and to be a part of the fabric of Singapore’s future”.45 

Alvin Tan is an independent researcher and writer focusing on Singapore history, heritage and society. He is the author of Singapore: A Very Short History – From Temasek to Tomorrow (Talisman Publishing, 2nd edition, 2022) and the editor of Singapore at Random: Magic, Myths and Milestones

NOTES

1            Charles Burton Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, vol. 1 (Singapore: Fraser & Neave, 1902), 283. (From National Library Online)

2            Chantal Sajan,“The Straits Times Marks178Years As Region’s Oldest Newspaper,” Straits Times, 15July2023, https://www.straitstimes.com/life/ home-design/the-straits-times-marks-178-years-as-region-s-oldest-newspaper.

3            “Untitled,” Straits Times, 26 November 1887, 33. (From NewspaperSG)

4            Nadia Wright, Linda Locke and Harold Johnson, “Blooming Lies: The Vanda Miss Joaquim Story,” BiblioAsia 14, no 1 (April–June 2018): 62–69.

5            The signatories were Johannes Simeon, Carapiet Phanos, Gregory Zechariah, Isaiah Zechariah, Mackertich M. Moses and Paul Stephens. See Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, 283.

6            Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, 283.

7            Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, 283.

8            Buckley, An Anecdotal Historyof Old Timesin Singapore, 283–85; Nadia Wright, “ATaleof Two Churches,” BiblioAsia 13, no. 3(October–December2017): 36–39.

9            “Consecration of the Armenian Church,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 31 March 1836, 4. (From NewspaperSG)

10          Wright, “A Tale of Two Churches.”

11          Nadia H. Wright, The Armenians of Singapore: AShort History (George Town, Penang: Entrepot Publishing, 2019), 111. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSING 305.89199205957 WRI)

12          Wright,“ATaleof Two Churches”; Wright, The Armeniansof Singapore, 111–12.

13          Wright, Locke and Johnson, “Blooming Lies: The Vanda Miss Joaquim Story.”

14          “Armenian Relief Fund,” Straits Times, 16October1915, 9.(From NewspaperSG)

15          Nadia H. Wright, Respected Citizens: The History of Armenians in Singapore and Malaysia (Middle Park, Vic.: Amassia Publishing, 2003), 52. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSING 305.891992 WRI)

16          Derek Drabble, “Church With Doors Closed,” Straits Times, 25 December 1949, 6. (From NewspaperSG)

17          “Church Services,” Shonan Times, 19 June 1943, 2. (From NewspaperSG)

18          Wright, Armenians of Singapore, 9.

19          Drabble, “Church With Doors Closed.”

20          Drabble, “Church With Doors Closed.”

21          Wright, Armenians of Singapore, 113.

22          Stanley Street, “Notes from a… Malayan Diary,” Straits Budget, 2 July 1953, 6. (From NewspaperSG)

23          “The First High Mass in 16 Years,” Straits Times, 9 May 1954, 3. (From NewspaperSG)

24          “So Long, But Now Bishop Is to Take Service,” Straits Times, 24 May 1957, 9. (From NewspaperSG)

25          “The Friends Plan to Save a Church – And Its Architect’s Home,” Straits Times, 29 April 1954, 11. (From NewspaperSG)

48

26                        Stanley Street, “Lament for Old Landmark,” Straits Times, 7 April 1956, 6. (From NewspaperSG)

27          Arshak C. Galstaun, “No Lament for a Landmark,” Straits Times, 4 May 1956,

8. (From NewspaperSG)

28          William Campbell, “Singapore Plans to Save Its History,” Straits Times, 7 February 1969, 12. (From NewspaperSG)

29          Chia Poteik, “Govt to Keep Eight Landmarks,” Straits Times, 8 July 1973, 5. (From NewspaperSG)

30          “No Resident Priest Since End of World War Two,” Straits Times, 30 December 1978, 1. (From NewspaperSG)

31          Peter Keys, “It’s Simply Charming,” Straits Times, 18 October 1981, 10. (From NewspaperSG)

32          Art Baghramian, “Church Open to Public But Not for Recreation,” Straits

Times, 1 November 1981, 11. (From NewspaperSG)

33          Christina Tseng, “Tourists to Wed in Armenian Church,” Straits Times, 12 April 1985, 13. (From NewspaperSG)

34          Maylee Chia, “STPB Plan for ‘Mock-Weddings',” Straits Times, 24 July 1988,

19. (From NewspaperSG)

35 LeeSiewHwa,“LastoftheTribe,”StraitsTimes,10July1988,1.(FromNewspaperSG)

36          Wright, Armenians of Singapore, 11, 28.

37          Cheong Suk-Wai, “Proud of the Legendary Sarkies Name,” Straits Times, 17 September 2015, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/proud-of-the- legendary-sarkies-name.

38          Geraldine Kan, “Singapore’s Oldest Church Is New Again,” Straits Times, 25 December 1994, 17.

39          Jessie Sarkies, oral history interview by Nur Azlin bte Salem, 28 July 2011, transcript and MP3 audio, Reel/Disc 8 of 9, National Archives of Singapore (accession no. 003479), 242–45. For an interview with Jessie and Loretta Sarkies, see also Jamie Ee Wen Wei, “Sisters Are the Last of Sarkies Clan in S’pore,” Straits Times, 19 July 2009, 14. (From NewspaperSG)

40          Cheong Suk-Wai, “‘A Night Out Is Not About the Food, But Music or Theatre’,” Straits Times, 17 September 2015, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ a-night-out-is-not-about-the-food-but-music-or-theatre.

41          “Armenian Church of Singapore Celebrates Major Anniversary,” Orthodoxy Cognate Page, 24 May 2011, https://ocpsociety.org/news/armenian-church- of-singapore-celebrates-major-anniversary/.

42          Camillia Deborah Dass,“Church Richin Armenian History,” Straits Times, 18May 2017, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/church-rich-in-armenian-history.

43          Melody Zaccheus, “Armenian Community in Singapore Tells Its Story With New Museum,” Straits Times, 24 May 2018, https://www.straitstimes.com/ singapore/armenian-community-tells-its-story-with-new-museum.

44          Armenian Church Singapore Instagram, 28 March 2022, https://www. instagram.com/p/CboEn4JBdMK/?img_index=1.

45          Pierre Hennes, email correspondence, 23 July 2024.

Penang’s Armenian church was demolished in the early 1900s while the one in Singapore still thrives. Nadia Wright looks at the vastly different fates of these two churches.

The Armenian Church in Singapore as it looks today, with major alterations made around 1853 by George Maddock – the new steeple, new east portico and the flat roof. Courtesy of the Armenian Church.

In Penang, the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator was consecrated in 1824; nearly 12 years later in Singapore, another church bearing the same name was consecrated.

The futures of these two churches could not have been more different: while the Penang church was demolished in 1909, the Singapore church continues to exist to this day as the focal point for a small but thriving Armenian community, besides being a tourist attraction.

The Armenian Church in Penang

Around 301 AD, Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as the state religion after the apostle Gregory converted its king, Tirdates III. This would cause much strife in later years as Armenia stood between two great Muslim powers: Persia and the Ottoman Empire. In the early 16th century, in his war against the Ottomans, the Persian king Shah Abbas razed the Armenian city of Julfa and deported some 25,000 Armenians to Persia (present-day Iran), mainly to his new capital Isfahan. He resettled most of the Armenians in an area that became known as New Julfa.

It was the descendants of these Persian Armenians, renowned for their acumen as merchants, who subsequently settled in India and later, Java, Penang and Singapore.¹ As religion was integral to their lives, these diasporic merchants built churches in their new settlements as soon as they had the means. Penang and Singapore were no exception.

In 1786, Francis Light acquired the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC) and established the settlement of George Town. The colony soon developed into a bustling entrepôt and attracted Armenian merchants from India and Java. Initially, these Armenians used the services of the Catholic and Anglican clergy for worship; however, as their numbers increased, they felt the need to have a church of their own.

In February 1821, an Armenian delegation met the British Governor of Penang, William Phillips, who asked for a plan and an estimate of costs. The sum needed was $7,000. Armenian philanthropist Carapiet Arrackell bequeathed $2,000 of this amount, and the community raised another $2,000. As they were short of $3,000, the Armenians petitioned Governor Phillips for a donation in 1822.

Phillips was of the view that hardworking Christian people would be an asset to the colony and to encourage more Armenians to settle in Penang, he donated $500 on behalf of the EIC, while recognising that this amount was much less than what the Armenians were anticipating. Indeed, this was a paltry sum compared with the $60,000 the EIC had donated towards the building of the Anglican St George’s Church in Penang. The directors of the EIC readily approved the donation seeing that it would encourage these hardworking and peace-loving people to settle in Penang.

The Armenian merchant Catchatoor Galastaun not only made good the shortfall, but additionally purchased a plot of land in September 1821 at Bishop Street between Penang Street and King Street. Construction of the church commenced under the supervision of British merchant and shipwright, Richard Snadden, and, in 1822, Bishop Abraham of Jerusalem officiated the laying of the foundation stone. In May 1824, the community bought the neighbouring site that had housed the government dispensary, thus enlarging the church compound and providing space to build lodgings for the priest.

On 4 November 1824, the church was consecrated in a service led by Bishop Jacob of Jerusalem and assisted by Reverend Iliazor Ingergolie, Penang’s first fulltime Armenian priest. The church was officially named the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator. The local press described the church as the project of a “public spirited individual” (in reference to Galastaun), proclaiming it to be “one of the best proportioned and most elegant” buildings in Penang, adding that it “reflects much credit on the Armenian population”.²

Galastaun and his peers must have envisaged a much larger Armenian community settling in Penang when they pressed for a church. But this, unfortunately, did not materialise: Armenian numbers in Penang never surpassed more than 30. The success of rival Singapore spelled the end of the Penang church. After Singapore became the capital of the Straits Settlements in 1832 and surged ahead as its commercial centre, there was little incentive for Armenian entrepreneurs to sink their roots in Penang. The community shrank as members left, and the remaining few struggled to support the church.

Despite Penang’s tiny Armenian congregation, priests were sent out from Persia approximately every three years until 1885. After that, church services were held only when a priest visited Penang. The last was conducted in 1906 by Archbishop Sahak Ayvatian from the Mother church in Isfahan. On his visit, Archbishop Ayvatian discussed the future of the deteriorating church building with key members of the Armenian community. Whatever their decision, the church’s fate was sealed in February 1909 when decaying beams caused the collapse of a major balustrade, and large sections of the walls caved in. There was no option but to raze the building, retaining only the churchyard and parsonage.³

A postcard featuring the Armenian Commemorative Monument in Penang, c.1909.

As a memorial to the church, Armenians Joseph Anthony and Arshak Sarkies commissioned German architect Henry Neubronner to design a commemorative monument that was erected in 1909.⁴ Over the years, the monument as well as the garden surrounding it and the tombstones in the graveyard became neglected, leading the press to report that this made a mockery of those who had erected the memorial.

Arshak Sarkies (pictured here), along with Joseph Anthony, commissioned German architect Henry Neubronner to design a commemorative monument for the Armenian Church in Penang. The monument was erected in 1909. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

In the late-1930s, the trustees of St Gregory’s Church in Singapore sold the site, on the instructions of the Mother church in Persia, and the monument was demolished. In August 1937, the 20 Armenians buried in the churchyard were re-interred in Western Road Cemetery (Penang’s municipal cemetery at the time) in a service conducted by Reverend Shamaian from Singapore.⁵ The money received from the sale of the church land was invested in the Catchatoor Galastaun Memorial Fund and managed by the church trustees in Singapore. The church’s silverware and its foundation plaque dated 1822 were given to the Armenian church in Singapore.⁶

Unfortunately, no image of the Armenian church in Penang has been found even though the building survived until 1909. Presumably it displayed all the customary features of an Armenian church – built of stone, with a vaulted ceiling, a dome and an east-facing chancel − as does the one in Singapore.⁷ References to the church building are scarce. Writing in 1839, Thomas Newbold commented that the Armenian chapel was one of the principal buildings in George Town, while James Low described it as “handsome”.⁸ Today, not even a marker indicates where this church once stood.

The Armenian Church in Singapore

The fate of the Armenian church in Singapore took a different trajectory altogether. Within a year of the establishment of a trading post in Singapore in 1819 by Stamford Raffles, Armenians began arriving. Initially, Reverend Iliazor Ingergolie travelled from Penang to conduct services for the Armenian community in Singapore. But after the community grew to around 20 in 1825, the Armenians wrote to the Archbishop in Persia asking that a priest be sent to serve their spiritual needs. In 1827, Reverend Gregory Ter Johannes arrived in Singapore.

View of Government Hill, the English Burial Ground and the Armenian Church in Singapore, in 1840. This view shows the original dome of the church with the gold cross on top and the pitched roof. Courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board.

At first, Reverend Ter Johannes conducted services in the premises of an Armenian merchant named Isaiah Zechariah, but soon, as in Penang, the community wanted its own church. In March 1833, Zechariah began petitioning Samuel Bonham, the Resident Councillor in Singapore, for a grant of land. Eventually a suitable site was agreed upon at the foot of Fort Canning. This land had earlier been granted to Dr Nathaniel Wallich to establish an experimental botanical garden, but this particular site facing Hill Street was left unused.⁹

Bonham sent the request for land along the bureaucratic path to Thomas Church, the Acting Governor in Penang, who then forwarded it to the government in Calcutta (Kolkata), hoping it would be approved as the Armenians were “peculiarly docile and diligent and in every respect desirable colonists”.¹⁰ In July 1834, approval for the land was granted; the welcome news reaching Singapore in September, whereupon the Armenians sprang into action.

The leading British architect of the time, George D. Coleman was commissioned to design the church and oversee its construction. Work commenced at a rapid pace. The foundation ceremony was conducted on 1 January 1835 by the Very Reverend Thomas Gregorian who travelled from Isfahan for the occasion, and the local priest Reverend Johannes Catchick.

The total cost of the construction, as well as accessories and regalia for the priest, amounted to $5,058.30. While the Penang church benefited from two wealthy donors, Singapore was not so fortunate. A public subscription was launched and, by mid-1836, some $3,120 had been donated, mostly by local Armenians. This left a shortfall of nearly $2,000 as well as the further $600 that was required to build a parsonage.

The paucity of donations from non-Armenians led to a sharp rebuke from The Singapore Chronicle newspaper, which had hoped that the meagre $370 donated by the Europeans and others would be supplemented; after all, Armenians had generously donated when the call was made to raise funds to build St Andrew’s Cathedral.¹¹ But the plea largely fell on deaf ears. Fortunately, the 12 or so local Armenian families managed to raise the money, and also promised to cover ongoing costs.¹²

On 26 March 1836, the church was consecrated and dedicated to St Gregory, sharing the same name as the Penang church – the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator. The Singapore Free Press declared it as one of Coleman’s “most ornate and best finished pieces of architecture”. The paper reported in glowing terms:

“This small but elegant building does great credit to the public spirit and religious feeling of the Armenians of this settlement; for we believe that few instances could be shown where so small a community have contributed funds sufficient for the erection of a similar edifice.”¹³

A painting of the Armenian Church in Singapore by John Turnbull Thomson, 1847. This view shows the original chancel and the second turret. All rights reserved, Hall-Jones, J. (1983). The Thomson Paintings: Mid-nineteenth Century Paintings of the Straits Settlements and Malaya (p. 43). Singapore: Oxford University Press. (Call no.: RSING 759.2 THO).

Indeed, the church relied on a very small community (which never numbered more than 100 at its peak) to maintain it, as well as pay for the services of a priest. The burden of supporting the church was one continuously faced by the Armenians in Penang and Singapore. In Penang, the Anthony family supported the priest for many years, while in Singapore in the 1930s, that task was taken on by Mrs Mary Anne Martin.

In the 1840s and in 1853, the Singapore community raised money for major modifications to the roof and dome. Over the years, generous individuals further contributed to improvements and additions. For example, in 1861, Peter Seth donated the bell in the steeple, although this was not hung until the 1880s. In that same decade, Catchick Moses paid for the back porch and a new fence around the compound.

As in Penang, the priest lived in a parsonage within the church grounds. The original small building paid for by Simon Stephens was replaced in 1905 by a splendid Edwardian edifice commissioned by Mrs Anna Sarkies in memory of her husband, John Shanazar Sarkies.

The church, parsonage and grounds were damaged during World War II when the British military occupied the premises. After the war, the church trustees requested compensation to pay for repairs, but in the end the War Damages Commission paid only part of the claim. In the meantime, the church and parsonage deteriorated further. Local and visiting Armenians did their best to raise funds for renovations, their efforts augmented by generous donations from the Martin family and from church funds.

The last full service by a resident priest was held in 1938, although services were led by a deacon until the onset of the war in 1942. After the war ended, arrangements were made for priests to fly over from Australia, but these visits became more infrequent as the Armenian community shrank over the years. This did not mean the church lay idle. Since 1946, other Christian denominations have been allowed to worship at the Armenian church, while occasionally a visiting Armenian cleric would conduct a special service for the community.

By 1970, the congregation had diminished to about 10 people and the church was in dire need of repair. The government decided that the church was worth preserving and gazetted it as a National Monument in June 1973, thus securing its future. Augmenting this sense of permanence was the arrival of Armenian expatriates from America and Europe from the 1980s onwards who were posted to Singapore for work. Breathing new life to the small and ageing Persian Armenian community, these newcomers took an active interest in the church. The church was spruced up for its 150th anniversary in 1986 ( FROM 1836) , and Archbishop Baliozian from Sydney and Armenians from the region took part in the celebration. Over the years, the church has remained in the public eye through articles in the media and postage stamps released in Singapore (1978) and Armenia (1999).

After the 1990s, the size of the congregation further increased as Armenians, especially from Armenia and Russia, began to settle in Singapore. In 2016, the church trustees arranged for a priest to regularly visit from Calcutta to conduct services. The church also organises cultural events and has continued the practice of allowing weddings to be celebrated in its premises for a donation. All these activities, plus a steady flow of tourists, ensure that the church maintains a high public profile.

Unlike Penang’s Armenian church which has disappeared from living memory, its counterpart in Singapore is a national monument and tourist icon. More importantly, it remains the functioning church of one of Singapore’s smallest minorities.

Dr Nadia Wright, a retired teacher and now active historian, lives in Melbourne. She specialises in the colonial history of Singapore and Armenians in Southeast Asia. Her book, William Farquhar and Singapore: Stepping Out from Raffles’ Shadow, was published in May 2017.