Identification and Identity: Quest for the Armenian Martyrdom Sites in the Modern Times

Abstract

The article deals with the role of Armenian Christian martyrdom sites and interrelated issues of national-religious traditions and identity formation around them in the modern period. As in the case of other Christian traditions and nations, the Armenian martyrs have been honored and become a part of national-religious identity. This article is an identification of the problem field and an attempt at an interdisciplinary examination of the questions mentioned above. Accordingly, some commonly Christian and Armenian regulations concerning the veneration of martyrs’ relics and martyrdom sites in the context of canonization, the source and place identification of the Armenian genocide martyrdom sites, as well as the martyrdom issues around Lenin-Stalin repressions are the scopes for examination in the present study.