RTE No 20 Interior - Road to Emmaus Journal

FAITH UNSEENAnas of 795 AD still held: Mohammed the Prophet had decreed that apostasyfrom Islam was punishable by death.The uncertainty lasted for five years, the hierarchs justifiably uneasy overthe arrest and imprisonment of several Armenian crypto-Christians residentin Turkey, who had openly declared their religion at the time of thedecree. This also occurred in Trebizond, where, in 1843, an ArmenianChristian still awaited trial.In Kromni and other crypto-Christian areas, however, the mullah-priestswere under pressure to clarify the situation. Kromni was now filled withbeautiful churches built by the professed Christians but the crypto-Christianscould not visit them, and reluctantly continued to pray in their undergroundchapels. In 1843, the Kromneans insisted that Mullah Molasleyman, now 83years old, but still active, in good health, and the acknowledged spokesmanfor the crypto-Christians of Kromni, go to Trebizond to meet secretly withMetropolitan Konstantinos III to discuss the matter.At this time the governor of Trebizond was another Osman Pasha (1839-1843) – not the one who had saved the Christians in 1921. MullahMolasleyman arrived in the city around Pentecost, staying with his brotherin the Trebizondan neighborhood of Molos. The metropolitan was notifiedof his arrival, and at their meeting the mullah explained that the crypto-Christians were becoming impatient, and he could not answer for theirsecrecy much longer. The metropolitan and the mullah agreed to wait forthe verdict in the approaching trial of the Armenian; in any case, theKromneans would do nothing until the mullah’s return. On Pentecost, themullah served liturgy in the secret chapel of the house in Molos, attended bythe families of his two brothers and crypto-Christian relatives fromTrebizond. He gave them Holy Communion and advised everyone to go tosleep early, because, according to custom, on the following day, the Mondayof the Holy Spirit, it was forbidden to sleep the entire day in honor of thedescent of the Holy Spirit.On Monday morning, the mullah, who intended to serve liturgy at thehome of his other brother in Kemerkaya, was awakened, as was the rest ofTrebizond, by town criers calling out the news that the poor Armenian hadbeen condemned to death the night before. Osman Pasha, it was said, hadtried to forestall the verdict, but was pressured (or blackmailed) by theMufti members of the Islamic court, and had finally yielded. At dawn, on theFeast of the Holy Spirit, the Armenian was hung.Pontic embroidery of Resurrection, 1910.43