Khrimian Hayrik near Etchmiadzin, Aivazovsky, 1895

Ivan (Hovhannes) Aivazovsky, “Catholicos of All Armenians Khrimian Hayrik near Etchmiadzin”, 1895. Oil on canvas. Kept in Crimea, at the Aivazovsky Picture Gallery in Feodosia. The painting shows a white-bearded clergyman in a dark robe with a cross on his chest, standing beside sheep and a goat, with snow-capped mountains behind.

Mkrtich I Khrimian (1820–1907) was Catholicos of All Armenians from 1892 to 1907. The respectful name “Hayrik” means “father”. During the mass killings of Armenians in Western Armenia in the 1890s he wrote repeatedly to Russian politicians and even to Nicholas II, asking them to intervene and stop the massacres. He personally helped Western Armenian refugees and sheltered them in Etchmiadzin, and raised donations to settle them in Eastern Armenia. Because of these same massacres, Aivazovsky threw his Ottoman decorations into the sea and sent their ribbons to the sultan.