Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church is a significant Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington Heights,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at 580 West 187th Street. It occupies the former second location of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

church of The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, established in 1897 as a mission church of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and built in its second location at West 187th Street. The church building was built between 1925 and 1926 at a cost of $30,000 to designs by an architect Stoyan N. Karastoyanoff of 220 Audubon Avenue. The Lutheran congregation moved into their parish house after the Great Depression and the church and the

Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

took over the church in 1929. On December 24, 1933, a group of assassins attacked Eastern Diocese Archbishop Levon Tourian as he walked down the aisle of Holy Cross Armenian Church in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City during the Divine Liturgy, and killed him with a

butcher knife A butcher knife or butcher's knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering or dressing of animal carcasses. Use Today, the butcher knife is used throughout the world in the meat processing trade. The heftier blade works well f ...

. Nine Tashnags were later arrested, tried and convicted. The incident divided the Armenian community, as Tashnag sympathizers established congregations independent of

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin ( hy, Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ Էջմիածին, translit=Mayr At’oř Surb Ēĵmiatsin), known in Armenian as simply the Mother See (Մայր Աթոռ, ''Mayr At’oř''), is the governing body of the Armen ...

, declaring loyalty instead to the Holy See of Cilicia based in

Antelias Antelias ( ar, أنطلياس) is a city in Lebanon in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located around 5 km to the north of Beirut. Etymology The name is originally Greek, ἀντήλιος – from ἀντί(an ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. After the assassination, the church was reconsecrated, with a new crypt added in 1934 to designs by

Manoug Exerjian Manoug Exerjian (August 20, 1892 or 1888 – November 5, 1974) was a Nassau County, New York architect, who came to Great Neck, New York, in 1923. Biography A native of Constantinople, he graduated from the Royal School of Architecture in Is ...

, who also refaced and renovated the church between 1952 and 1953.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church (New York City) Armenian Apostolic churches in the United States Armenian-American culture in New York City Lutheran churches in New York City Washington Heights, Manhattan Churches in Manhattan Churches completed in 1926 Former Lutheran churches in the United States