Misak Misakian (later Father Khoren) collection - Athens
19/04/23 (Last modified 19/04/23) - Translator: Simon Beugekian This page was prepared collaboratively with the “Armenika” periodical of Athens.
Misak Misakian was born in Manisa, in 1906. In 1922, he and his family settled down as refugees in Greece, initially in Thessaloniki. After staying in this northern Greek city for a few months, the family moved to Athens, where they settled down in the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood. As a teenager, Misak served as an acolyte in the Saint Krikor Lousavorich (Gregory the Illuminator) Armenian church of Athens, and later as a deacon.
Misak was arrested on August 9, 1944, when German forces and collaborating Greek militia surrounded the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood of Athens and launched a punitive operation (blocco). Like many others, Misak was taken to the Haidari concentration camp near the city. Then, from there, he was sent as a forced laborer to Germany, where he was interned in Geislingen. He survived the war and returned to Athens.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) Vrej [“Vengeance”] youth group of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood. On the very right, wearing the light-colored suit, is Misak Misakian. The three adults seated in the center are, from left to right, Kapriel Lazian, a reverend of the Armenian Evangelical Church (name unknown), and Mihran Papazian.
Misakian was ordained as a priest in 1953 and was styled Father Khoren. He served as the pastor of the Saint Garabed Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood.
Father Khoren married Sara Zakarian. The couple had two sons, Manoug and Serko/Sam.
He died on February 20, 1964.
February 25, 1945. Misak Misakian, photographed in Geislingen during his detention in Germany. A tag bearing the number 147 can be seen on his coat. This was probably Misak’s prisoner number.
The blanket used by Misak Misakian during his internment in Geislingen. Upon his liberation, he brought this blanket back to Athens with him.
A certificate issued by the Red Cross, dated September 15, 1945. The document states that Misak Misakian was detained by German forces, interned in Germany as a political prisoner, and returned to Greece on September 11, 1945.
A certificate issued by the Red Cross, dated 1983. It states that Misak Misakian was sent to Germany on August 16, 1944, and while there, was interned in Geislingen. The document also states that he returned to Greece on September 11, 1945.
Outside of the Saint Garabed Church of Dourghouti/Fix, built of wood. The belfry is visible in the background. The clergyman in the photograph is Father Khoren Misakian.
Leading the row of acolytes on the right side is Misak Misakian, when he still served in this capacity in the Saint Krikor Lousavorich (Saint Gregory the Illuminator) Church of Athens. In the foreground, the man wearing the miter and with his back to the camera is Archbishop Garabed Mazlumian, Prelate of the Armenian Church of Greece. The photograph was taken in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
The H.M.E.M (Homenetmen) football team of Fiks (Athens). First row, seated in the center: Misak Misakian.
1956. Inside the Saint Garabed Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood, built of wood. The church acolytes. Back row, in the center, wearing ecclesiastic headgear, is Father Khoren Misakian.
The Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood of Athens, 1958. Father Khoren (wearing the dark spectacles) with guests.
Father Khoren Misakian, in 1953, photographed in his office in the Saint Garabed Armenian Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood.
Father Khoren Misakian, photographed in 1954 outside of his home in the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood.
1955. Outside Father Khoren’s home in the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood. Seated, left to right: Arous Bchakdjian, Father Khoren Misakian, and Sara Misakian (nee Bchakdjian). Standing, a relative visiting from the United States (name unknown).
In the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood, 1960. From left to right: Manouk Misakian, Arous Bchakdjian (Sara’s mother), and Sara Bchakdjian.
Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood, 1957, Diocesan elections. Seated, in the center, is Father Khoren Misakian (bearded). To his right is Nerses Hagopian, and to his left is Zaven Knouni.
1954. A baptismal ceremony performed by Father Khoren in the Saint Garabed Church of Athens.
Arous Bchakdjian (left) and Sara Misakian (nee Bchakdjian; right). Photographed in the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood in 1950.
1960. Preparing the madagh on the occasion of the commemoration of the Battle of Hadjin, organized by the Hadjin Compatriotic Union. Standing, on the very left, is Father Khoren Misakian. To his right is Archbishop Sahag Ayvazian. The man slaughtering the sheep is Vahak Sahatdjian.
Preparations for and the blessing of a madagh in the courtyard of the Saint Garabed Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood. The event was organized by the Hadjin Compatriotic Union, to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Hadjin. The clergymen, from left to right, are Father Madteos Paraghamian, Father Nerses Khoshorian, and Father Khoren Misakian.
A wedding ceremony in the Saint Garabed Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood. Father Khoren Misakian is first from the left.
Dourghouti, #12 Katsimias Street. Based on the caption of the photograph, these must be the neighbors of the Misakian family.
A receipt for 270 drachmae, dated July 15, 1983. The sum covered the membership dues of the Misakian family to the Phinikas [Phoenix] Association, which was a pan-Greek union of individuals who had suffered under German occupation.
The commemoration of the Battle of Hadjin, organized by the Hadjin Compatriotic Union in 1960. The clergymen in the center are Father Khoren Misakian (left) and Archbishop Sahag Ayvazian (right).
1960. A religious ceremony inside the Saint Garabed Church. The clergymen are Father Khoren Misakian (right) and Archbishop Sahag Ayvazian (left). The tall youth clad in white is Serko, one of Father Khoren’s sons.
1969. Preparations for a madagh (sacrificial meal) at the Saint Garabed Armenian Church of the Dourghouti/Fix neighborhood.
1960. The Armenian Catholic school of the Dourghouti/Fix (Neos Cosmos) neighborhood of Athens. Left to right: unknown woman, Father Khoren Misakian, Archbishop Sahag Ayvazian (Prelate of the Greece Diocese), Kapriel Varjabedian, George Mardigian, Levon Kayan, Archbishop Hovsep Khantsian (Prelate of the Armenian Catholic Diocese of Greece), probably George Mardigian’s wife, Naz/Nazenig, Father Hovhanness Kouyounian, and Nerses Hagopian (chairman of the Armenian national council of Greece).
1960s. May 28, the anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of Armenia, in the Kendrikon Hall of Athens. Left to right: Father Nerses Khoshorian, Archbishop Sahag Ayvazian, Father Khoren Misakian, Archbishop Hovsep Khantsian, and Father Hovhannes Koyounian.
