The story of the work of the Church of the Nazarene among Armenians begins with the Armenian genocide. Between 1895 and 1915 an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred in Turkey with hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives. Many of those who fled found new homes in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. The Krikorian family circa 1960.

Samuel Krikorian was born in Turkey in 1893. While much of his family died in the genocide, Samuel was spared. His aunt, Rebecca Krikorian, was in the United States raising money for a Christian mission and for relief assistance for the Armenian victims. In 1909, she successfully got Samuel out of Turkey and into the United States. Rebecca eventually sent Samuel to Pasadena College. In 1917, Samuel graduated and joined the Church of the Nazarene.

Sensing the call of God on his life to minister among the Armenian people, in 1919 Samuel requested and was granted assignment by the Foreign Missions Board of the Church of the Nazarene to begin the work of the Church among Armenians in Jerusalem. Until retirement in 1958, he and his wife, Hranoush, served faithfully as missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene in the Middle East.

Over the years, the church in landed in the middle of an international political crisis, making the work difficult and dangerous.

In spite of these challenges, the church was established and produced a number of outstanding Christian leaders.

Krikorian's friend and co-laborer, Rev. A. H. Kauffman, offered the following words of tribute at Samuel Krikorian's funeral in 1969:

'Brother Krikorian did far more than labor, preach, and pray. He endured great hardships. He lived dangerously. Across the years, sniper's bullets were fired, bombs were thrown, and dynamite exploded in the area where Brother Krikorian worked. Rioting mobs wrought destruction and death in Jerusalem while he lived there. Often curfew had to be declared. War came. But God marvelously protected Brother Krikorian through many years of hostility and bloodshed ... In character and conduct, in word and in deed, he was a worthy example of one who is cleansed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. His life and work were marked by wisdom and courage, by understanding and compassion. His ministry to needy, troubled, and suffering people brings to mind the words of our Lord in Matthew 25. A multitude will rise up at that day to call him blessed, and Jesus will say to him, 'You did it unto Me.''

Ron Benefiel is president of Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.