{"id":135009,"date":"2011-10-13T13:06:04","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T08:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=135009"},"modified":"2011-10-13T13:06:04","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T08:06:04","slug":"surp-giragos-armenian-church-in-diyarbakir-prepares-for-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2011\/10\/13\/surp-giragos-armenian-church-in-diyarbakir-prepares-for-liturgy.html","title":{"rendered":"Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbak\u0131r Prepares for Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once one of the largest churches in the Middle East, Surp Giragos Church in Turkey\u2019s southeastern province of Diyarbak\u0131r will be reopened on Oct. 23 for a religious ceremony, Today’s Zaman reports<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Renovation started at the end of 2009 after the Diyarbak\u0131r Surp Giragos Armenian Church Foundation undertook the restoration project of the church.<\/p>\n

Erg\u00fcn Ay\u0131k, the head of the foundation, said the Surp Giragos Church is in a complex that encompasses more than 3,200 square meters and includes a chapel, a meeting room, a school, a dining hall and rectories.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestoration of the church, which makes up about 85 percent of the complex, is secured. But the restoration of the rest of the complex depends on more funds,\u201d Ay\u0131k said of the project, which has cost $2.5 million and has been provided mostly by the foundation.<\/p>\n

Ay\u0131k also added that while the Diyarbak\u0131r Municipality had provided about one-third of the total renovation budget, other state institutions had not contributed even though the foundation had requested more funding. \u201cThe rest of the renovation of the complex can be completed in three or four months if funding is secured,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The church was seized by the German army during World War I, and in 1918, it was converted into a textile warehouse of S\u00fcmerbank. After the Armenian population of the area made an application in 1952 asking for its return, the church was given back to the community. However, because of the lack of a congregation, it had been neglected since 1980.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in ruins,\u201d Ay\u0131k said. \u201cIts opening will make moral, economic and social contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ay\u0131k said that on the evening of Oct. 22 there will be a service at the church to consecrate it, and on the next day, which is a Sunday, there will be a religious service.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, this is a very important church from an architectural point of view. Second, it symbolizes the past. This is one of only seven Armenian churches in the city,\u201d he said and added that there had been “about 40,000-45,000 Armenians” living in Diyarbak\u0131r prior to the mass deportation of Armenians in 1915.<\/p>\n

Since the Surp Giragos Church in Diyarbak\u0131r belongs to the church foundation, there are no restrictions on when a service can be held.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is open to everybody who wants to be here,\u201d Ay\u0131k said. The service will be headed by Archbishop Aram Ate\u015fyan, the deputy patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate based in \u0130stanbul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once one of the largest churches in the Middle East, Surp Giragos Church in Turkey\u2019s southeastern province of Diyarbak\u0131r will be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[33390,11777,20373,33389,14274,21483,33388,10222],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}