The name of amateur poet Francis Scott Key would not have gone down in
history if it not were for his poem “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which
later became the U.S. national anthem. Equally, the name of amateur
poet Nahabed Rusinian would have not reached us if not for his popular
poem “Cilicia,” which later became a cherished song. Rusinian was born
in 1819 in the village of Efkere, a few miles northeast of Caesarea
(Kayseri). He received his primary education in his birthplace, and at
the age of ten he moved with his father, who was a palace painter, to
Constantinople. He attended the Armenian school of Scutari, one of the
suburbs of the Ottoman capital, where his interest for Armenian
language, history, and culture flourished. However, his father’s
premature death forced him to leave school and get a job as a
translator for a Turkish pasha.
The promising Rusinian had gone under the radar of wealthy Armenians,
such as Garabed Balian (the imperial architect who built the renowned
palace of Dolmabahçe) and writer Krikor Odian’s father, who helped him
financially to pursue higher studies. He traveled to Paris, where he
attended medical school at the Sorbonne and also followed courses of
literature and art as an auditor.
The environment of Paris in the 1840s nurtured Rusinian with the
elements to develop his interests in language, arts, and philosophy,
but also shaped his liberal views, particularly with the 1848
revolutionary wave that swept over Europe. After obtaining his medical
degree in 1851, Rusinian returned to Constantinople and, along with his
daily work and his teaching duties at the university became an active
participant in the political life of the Armenian community. His
penchant for free expression and democratic participation threw him
into the struggle for democratization of Armenian life in the Ottoman
Empire. He joined efforts with his comrades from Paris, Stepan Voskan
and Krikor Odian, to put forward the project of a National Constitution
(Azkayin Sahmanatrutiun), a legal instrument that would
establish the grounds for internal administration within the community.
It would also reflect the need for modernization and democratic change
that was the driving force of that generation.
As part of his quest of modernization, Rusinian was also very active
in the promotion and development of the Modern Armenian language (ashkharhapar) as a written language instead of Classical Armenian (krapar). He was a member of the Armenian Educational Council in 1854 when he published his textbook “Orthology” (Ughghakhosutiun), where he made quite radical proposals for the grammar of the language. The heated debates between the partisans of krapar and ashkharhapar would continue for several decades.
In 1855, the Armenian Patriarchate forbade the use of Rusinian’s
textbook, as well as of his other book, “Calendar of Feasts” (Donatsuyts), because of their eccentric proposals which modified radically both Armenian grammar and calendar.
Nahabed Rusinian was among the group of seven intellectuals who
drafted the Armenian National Constitution, which was finally approved
by Sultan Abdülaziz in 1863. Rusinian passed away in 1876, at the age
of 57, victim of a cerebral hemorrhage.
The song “Cilicia,” which he wrote and was later put to music by
Kapriel Yeranian, has become a cherished song for Armenians from
Armenia to the latest corner of the Diaspora. It has also become,
unofficially, a hymn of sorts of the Catholicate of the Holy See of
Cilicia.
As a side note, Armenian scholars have shown a long time ago that
“Cilicia” was strongly inspired by French composer and songwriter
Frédéric Bérat’s (1801-1855) poem “Ma Normandie,” written in 1836,
which incidentally has been used as the semi-official hymn of Jersey,
one of the islands of the British Channel, and sometimes as an
unofficial hymn of Normandy, in France.
For the French text of the song and its English translation, click here.
To hear Cilicia (Giligia) rendered by the Chamber Choir of Yerevan
with the Alan Hovhannes Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Krikor
Pidedjian, click here.
