ARMENIANS by William Saroyan A Play in Two Acts THE PEOPLE FATHER KASPARIAN, priest of the Red Brick Armenian Apostolic Church REVEREND MUGGERDITCH KNADJIAN, 48, minister of First Armenian Presbyterian Church REVEREND PAPAZIAN, 44, minister of Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church ALMAST, octogenarian woman from Moush, helper to Fr. KASPARIAN SEXTON, of the Red Brick Church, Markar by name DOCTOR ARSHAK JIVELEKIAN, 58, from Boston, educated at Harvard FARMER, 74 years old MAN FROM BITLIS MAN FROM MOUSH, Baghdasar Der Kaprielian by name MAN FROM VAN MAN FROM HARPOOT, Giragos Arpiar Der Havasarian, oriental rug seller VASKEN, a man from Harpoot MAN FROM ERZEROUM MAN FROM DIKRANAGERT MAN FROM GILIGIA THE PLACE The Office of the Red Brick Church (Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church) on the corner of Ventura at M Street, Fresno, California. The Armenian Patriotic Club facing the church on Ventura. THE TIME A morning in the Spring of 1921. Note - The play was written in one act with twenty-one scenes in Fresno between November 10 and 30, 1971. The New York production divided into two acts corresponding to the natural change of setting. ACT ONE PAPAZIAN, KASPARIAN, KNADJIAN in the office of the Red Brick Church on Ventura at M Street in Fresno, 1921. Slowly easily, thoughtfully, with considerings of what has been said until the KEY is established and the reality is being supported by the audience. KASPARIAN I trust we may all stand rather than sit. KNADJIAN I prefer to stand, also. PAPAZIAN Perhaps you will not mind if I relieve the pain in my right ankle by taking this chair. KASPARIAN A sip of cognac is surely in order. PAPAZIAN No thank you, I do not drink. KASPARIAN And you? KNADJIAN On occasion. KASPARIAN Let this be such an occasion. My hours are long. I have been up since before daybreak. KNADJIAN May I propose that we drink to harmony among all of us. KASPARIAN Very well, harmony, then. Ah, that was good. Another. KNADJIAN Very good, but no more for me, thank you. KASPARIAN This second sip for me, and now, who will speak first? PAPAZIAN Let us be good Americans first, and then Armenians. KASPARIAN Good or bad? PAPAZIAN If we are good Americans, we will be good Armenians, as well. KNADJIAN My church has always felt close to the Mother Church. PAPAZIAN We are certainly all Christians. Our disputes are not religious, they are political. KASPARIAN Is it political to pray that Armenia will continue to be an independent nation? PAPAZIAN Was an independent nation. Perhaps you have not seen this morning's Examiner from San Francisco. Independent Armenia is now a part of the New Russia. KASPARIAN I was informed by telephone from New York last night. The Russian invaders were driven off once before. PAPAZIAN I don't know what to say. The suffering of the people who are there must lie beyond imagining. Hunger, cold, homelessness, fear, pain, sickness, madness, despair. Isn't it enough? KASPARIAN There will be more -much more, I'm afraid- whether Armenia is free or part of Russia. You seem distressed. KNADJIAN I am. I had heard rumors of this tragic development but I hoped. . . . PAPAZIAN Not tragic. It may be our salvation. KASPARIAN How? Please tell me how? KASPARIAN Let us agree not to argue, at any rate. We haven't got that much time. Let us also agree that we shall be very patient about our people in the home country, and very helpful to our people right here. There is the matter of our boys and girls growing up unable to read and write Armenian. And many marry members of other nationalities. And of course many of our young people either refuse to come to this church, or even to your church, or to yours, and if they do come, they are bored, and they even tell jokes to one another during the services. PAPAZIAN Yes, it is true. What shall we do? KASPARIAN We must work on the parents. If they do not teach their children to be Armenian, we can do nothing to improve the situation. KNADJIAN My wife is an Englishwoman, and so my children are only half-Armenian. I must confess I have not been able to make them love Armenia. PAPAZIAN And that is precisely how it is with me, too. KASPARIAN Well, forget your own children, then, but do not forget the children of Armenia, itself. And now I must say good-day, gentlemen. PAPAZIAN Let me sit a little longer, and then help me up, please. KNADJIAN As you say. Is it really a condition, or did you make a point of sitting in his presence because of his robes and the difference between his Christianity and yours? PAPAZIAN His Christianity is quite all right, it's his air of authority I find a little unacceptable. He thinks we are fools. KNADJIAN I frequently think so, too. PAPAZIAN Think for yourself. I don't think I am a fool at all. The Americans respect me. KASPARIAN Well of course Father Kasparian doesn't speak English, so the Americans don't know him. PAPAZIAN They know he doesn't speak English. He has no right not to learn to speak English. KNADJIAN But your ankle, is it sprained or what? PAPAZIAN It is nothing, but I will not do the bidding of a man who believes the strange things that that man believes. KNADJIAN Christianity? PAPAZIAN No, I'm thinking of his politics. KNADJIAN I rather admire his politics. He does not want Armenia to disappear from the face of the earth. He believes it is important for Armenians to maintain their identity. PAPAZIAN That is a decision for God to make. KNADJIAN He wants to help God. PAPAZIAN That is not necessary. KNADJIAN I have always believed it is the one thing that is always necessary, but never mind, will you get up now? PAPAZIAN A moment longer. Where did he go so abruptly? KNADJIAN Oh, he has chores of many kinds, both ecclesiastical and secular. I believe he is making house calls this morning. PAPAZIAN What in the world for? KNADJIAN The sexton was speaking of it to an old friend when we came in. The old friend's wife is dying, and the sexton said, He will go with you in a moment. Didn't you notice? Didn't you hear? We stood there together. PAPAZIAN I was deep in thought. I noticed nothing, heard nothing. KNADJIAN Well, then, take my hand, I'll help you up. I must return to my study. PAPAZIAN What do you do when you go to your study? Sleep? KNADJIAN Oh, no. Plenty of time to sleep, at home. I wouldn't think of sleeping when I am in my study, the place I love best in this whole world. PAPAZIAN Is that so? Why? KNADJIAN I find that I am most myself there, I am most real there, I am most deeply Armenian when I am in my study. And of course I proceed with my work. PAPAZIAN Church work? You prepare your next sermon? KNADJIAN That, too, but I prefer to make up my sermon as I go along. When I am in my study my work is to write. PAPAZIAN What do you write? Love lyrics. So many preachers are secretly very amorous- at least in the head. KNADJIAN No, I write history. Well, at any rate I write what I have experienced, what I remember, what I was told, what I have felt, and of course I also invent out of these things a kind of truth which I think is greater than factual truth. PAPAZIAN And what truth is that? KNADJIAN Creative truth. The truth of art. Of passion of mind and spirit. Armenian truth. PAPAZIAN Are you all that Armenian? KNADJIAN Yes, I am. And you? PAPAZIAN I'm not sure. Sometimes I believe I am more English, but in the end, it seems, I am no such thing. I am only Armenian. KNADJIAN Only? Do you think there is something better to be? PAPAZIAN Possibly. KASPARIAN Gentlemen, are you still here? PAPAZIAN Alas, my ankle pains me. KASPARIAN Shall I have somebody telephone for an ambulance? PAPAZIAN Oh, no no, I will be all right. KASPARIAN Then, shall I have the woman bring tea. I take tea now, before I go back to work. KNADJIAN I think a cup of tea will be just fine, and it will give me an opportunity to say that I am in deep sorrow about conditions in Armenia. PAPAZIAN And so am I, but we must not make them worse. The people have suffered enough. Let us be patient. KASPARIAN Perhaps, but not for tea. Almast, please pour for three. KNADJIAN And who is Almast? KASPARIAN A woman of the neighborhood, who helps with such things. PAPAZIAN Isn't the name Kurdish? Almast? KASPARIAN The woman is Armenian - from Moush. PAPAZIAN In my congregation there are no people from Moush. KASPARIAN They are devoted to the true church, which as you know is Armenia itself. Here's tea, then. Help yourselves to sugar and lemon. Almast, these are the pastors of the Congregational Church, and of the Presbyterian Church. ALMAST Do you really believe? PAPAZIAN Of course we do. We are Christians, just as you are. ALMAST That's good. Then, believe, and perhaps all will be well. KNADJIAN Yes, yes, in time all will be well. ALMAST We shall all die, but before we do perhaps all will be well. PAPAZIAN Thank you, thank you. KASPARIAN She is more than eighty years old, but still as alive as a young woman. KNADJIAN And she has a very strong mind. KASPARIAN The mind of a woman of Moush. PAPAZIAN Come to think of it, you yourself are from Moush, are you not? KASPARIAN I am. PAPAZIAN A villager. KASPARIAN Yes, and you? PAPAZIAN I am from Aintab, but I studied in Istanbul, one of the leading cities of the world. KASPARIAN I only saw it once, from the deck of a ship, but I have never been there. And you? KNADJIAN I am from Marsovan. KASPARIAN I passed through Marsovan. My friends, the church in our country was the nation itself until the arrival of the missionaries. I do not know why you two became students at the missionary schools, but I am sure your reasons were sensible. They were the best schools with the best teachers, and in addition to everything else you studied and learned English. PAPAZIAN Also French, and a little German. KASPARIAN I read and write and speak only Armenian, as you know. 1 met all of the missionaries in Moush as a boy and I found them strangely unacceptable. They were Christian but they were not Armenian, that was what made the difference. And you are Christian, but you have each of you lost a little of that part of yourselves which was entirely Armenian. PAPAZIAN We are men of the world. The Christian world, of course. KASPARIAN That is true. I have heard about the sermons you have given in the English language, which have been heard by many Americans. KNADJIAN Since we are in dispersion it is desirable and necessary for us to become members of the society in which we find ourselves. KASPARIAN No doubt, but do you forget Armenia instantly? Can't you wait just a little? Give us a little time? KNADJIAN We need at least twenty years. PAPAZIAN At the very least ten. KASPARIAN No, gentlemen, we need a hundred years, at least. PAPAZIAN Let me thank you for asking us to come and visit, and also for this excellent tea. What kind is it? KASPARIAN I wanted to see you both, I wanted to have you see me, I wanted to exchange a few words with you, I wanted to find out if there is anything that we may expect from either of you. PAPAZIAN And the tea? KASPARIAN It is tea from the store. Lipton's. Ten cents. But Almast adds cloves and cinnamon and other things. KNADJIAN And I thank you for having me come to visit. As for the matter of what we may expect from one another, that is indeed something we are eager to learn--all of us, all our lives, but I wonder, do we ever learn, do we ever really find out? PAPAZIAN I expect from you a continuation of your traditional ecclesiastical procedures, in accordance with your training and the expectations of your congregation. Perhaps you will accept that volunteered statement, and then perhaps you will tell me what you expect of me. KASPARIAN Yes, that is only fair, but the expectation I am thinking of is not quite so superficial. Of course I shall do my work as I have been trained to do it, and you shall do yours as you have been trained, but there are other areas of expectation that I am concerned about. KNADJIAN What may we expect of one another not as men of God, if I may put it that way, but as men of the world, of the human race, of the nation, of the family? KASPARIAN Yes, that is coming nearer to the expectation I am thinking of. PAPAZIAN As a man I believe I may be counted on to take a neutral stand in all matters of politics. KASPARIAN Well, that is certainly a clear statement, but do you really believe it is possible tor any man, let alone a man who gives guidance and instruction to hundreds of other men, to be neutral. Is there such a thing as neutrality? PAPAZIAN I believe there is. For instance, I am aware that you do not cherish the arrival of the Russians into the life of the new Armenian nation. I believe you have a perfect right to that feeling. Isn't that neutrality? KASPARIAN I don't know, but whatever neutrality is, it is not very useful to anybody, and time is running out, if we do not do useful things whenever it is possible or necessary to do them, we shall soon be totally departed from the human scene, and forgotten, or remembered only for having disappeared. Armenians are too vital to be permitted to throw themselves away in neutrality, comfort, well-being, satisfaction, and so on and so forth. KNADJIAN I believe I understand what you are saying. Please tell me what you would like to expect from both of us, or each of us, one at a time. What can I do for Armenia? We are nine thousand miles away from Armenia, and the Russians are there, what can I do at the First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno, at Santa Clara and J Street? KASPARIAN Yes, you have every right to ask me, to ask yourself, to ask him that question. You can do precisely what you are obliged to do in the conduct of your duties, but you can add to all of that the powerful belief that Armenia, although occupied by the Russians, is Armenian, not Russian, and that the Armenian people will become more and more Armenian with time passing and more experience and wisdom of the world coming to them, and that furthermore Armenians in dispersion all over the world, but especially here in California, in Fresno, will continue to be Armenians, they will not become so foolishly American that being also Armenian will even be an embarrassment to them, and something to forget as quickly as possible, by marrying foreigners and bringing up children who neither know nor care that they are Armenians. PAPAZIAN I can't understand your excitement. It makes you say things that I'm not sure make sense. KNADJIAN I'm sure you do understand, for I do, and we both have children who are not interested in being Armenians. SEXTON Father, have you forgotten? They're waiting. KASPARIAN Ah, thank you, Markar. The funeral, is that correct? SEXTON No, Father. This is a baptism. KASPARIAN A boy or a girl? SEXTON Two boys, twins. KASPARIAN We don't often have twins. SEXTON The father is Irish, it's the mother who is Armenian. KASPARIAN And the father wants his sons baptised in the Armenian church? SEXTON He insists on it. KASPARIAN Who is this man? SEXTON The name is Michael Miggins. He will be able to say a few words to you in the Armenian language. KASPARIAN That is very interesting, I must say. And the mother, who is she? SEXTON Alice Bashbanian. KASPARIAN Bashban. Alice Bashbanian. And what are the names of the boys? Michael? Patrick? Something like that? SEXTON No, Father. Aram. Dikran. KASPARIAN Amazing. Aram Higgins. Dikran Higgins. It has a strange ring to it. Gentlemen, please keep your places, enjoy the tea, if you want anything, I will send Almast. Do not go. Wait for my return. KNADJIAN May I be present at the baptism? KASPARIAN Of course. I'm sure you know the ritual. KNADJIAN Yes, and I use it now and then. PAPAZIAN Please forgive me if I remain seated. My ankle. KASPARIAN Rest easy. Oh, Almast, please ask Reverend Papazian to have more tea and cakes. ALMAST Please let me fill your cup, and please have another cake. PAPAZIAN Thank you, and how long have you been serving the good Father? ALMAST Oh, just these few years. I have nobody now, these few years. PAPAZIAN Something happened? A loss? ALMAST Yes, several losses. PAPAZIAN If it is not too painful, perhaps you won't mind telling me about them. ALMAST They have all died. They were all killed. PAPAZIAN During these past few years? Who was it? Where did it happen? ALMAST Well, it was all of them. I am alone, except for the good Father, and the other people who come to the church. PAPAZIAN Being alone is sometimes a good thing, but it is also a very bad thing. I hope you have become at home within yourself, alone. ALMAST No, that has not happened. It is now six years since I lost them all, but I have not become at home within myself. PAPAZIAN You have God. ALMAST Yes, He is here in the church, always. PAPAZIAN And you have Jesus. ALMAST Well, I don't know about Jesus. I know we say we have Jesus, but I don't know. I know we have God, but I don't know Jesus, I really have no experience of Jesus. PAPAZIAN We are Christians, of course you have Jesus. ALMAST Yes, sir, if you say so. PAPAZIAN Our whole nation has Jesus. ALMAST Our nation is lost, and I lost all of my family in our loss of the nation. I do not blame Jesus, but I don't know if He has ever helped us. PAPAZIAN What you say is very strange for an Armenian. It was for Jesus that so many of us died. ALMAST But we did not, you and I, did we? Perhaps we don't care for Jesus very much. PAPAZIAN You are a very strange woman, I must say. ALMAST The good Father does not think so. We have talked about this many times, and he has never said that I am very strange. KASPARIAN Well now how is your foot? PAPAZIAN Better, thank you, Father, but it is not my foot, it is my ankle. KNADJIAN You should have seen the twins. One is blonde with blue eyes, the other is black haired with dark eyes--but they are brothers. PAPAZIAN I had a very interesting chat with your housekeeper, Father. KASPARIAN Will you have a drop? I need a drop. PAPAZIAN No, Father, thank you very much. I do not drink. KASPARIAN It might do your foot good. PAPAZIAN But they say alcoholic beverages are the very cause of gout. KASPARIAN Your gout is caused by something else, perhaps a drop will cure it--at least for a moment. PAPAZIAN The point is, I don't believe Almast is a Christian. KASPARIAN She is a woman, and a good woman. PAPAZIAN But this is a Christian church. KASPARIAN And Almast is a very important part of this church. PAPAZIAN But she doesn't believe in Jesus. KNADJIAN Take a sip of this fine rakhi, it will do you good. PAPAZIAN I do not believe in the use of alcoholic beverages under any circumstances. KNADJIAN Take a sip without believing. PAPAZIAN That is not possible for me. Is it possible for you? KNADJIAN Yes, I accept certain things without knowing very much about them. PAPAZIAN Such as? Are you speaking in riddles, parables, and proverbs? KNADJIAN Oh, no. But I don't know very much about anything, and yet I have everything that I have in this kind of ignorance and faith. PAPAZIAN I like to know what I have and what I don't have, and why. KASPARIAN I am renewed. PAPAZIAN By the alcohol? Is that what you are saying? KASPARIAN By the variety that is in as few as three or four people. The inexhaustible variety of the human race. Of the Armenians. Of one family of Armenians. And perhaps by the inexhaustible variety in only one Armenian. PAPAZIAN Which Armenian is that? KASPARIAN Any Armenian. Yourself, for instance. PAPAZIAN I am consistent, and uncontradictory, there is no variety in me. KASPARIAN Perhaps, or is it that yon don't know about yourself, your consistency, your contradictions, and your variety. PAPAZIAN I am a steadfast Christian. But that is an established fact. The whole world knows that. I share the pulpits of many churches in this city. I am written about in both of the daily newspapers. KASPARIAN I have heard. What do you say in your sermons? PAPAZIAN Well, of course that depends on the topic, doesn't it? On Mother's Day I speak of mothers. On Father's Day I speak of fathers. I tell the world to be like Jesus. KASPARIAN Yes, that is a good thing to tell anybody. Again, I must tear myself away from such good company and such good talk. Almast is here to remind me of my next chore. ALMAST This is an emergency. Akob Dudu's dying. She wants you to give her the last rites. Her granddaughter has come to fetch you. The little girl will take you to their house. It isn't far. KASPARIAN Very well, and thank you, gentlemen. Please come again and let us continue our discussions. KNADJIAN Thank you, Father, but I hesitate to intrude and take up your valuable time. KASPARIAN No, no, come any time you like, if I'm not here, I will be soon enough. And you, be sure you come here any time you like. I enjoy our talks. PAPAZIAN I don't seem to make any impression on you, however. You don't seem to mind at all if somebody who works in your church is not even a Christian. KASPARIAN I mind, but I mind other things, too. Good day, gentlemen. KNADJIAN Then, let me help you to your feet, and back to your church. PAPAZIAN Do you have a carriage, to take me? KNADJIAN No, but I can support you as we walk. It's only four blocks. In the old country we ran four miles as if it were nothing. PAPAZIAN This is not the old country, and we are no longer boys, we are men, and old men at that. KNADJIAN I do not consider myself an old man. But up, now, lean on me, up, what's the matter with your ankle? PAPAZIAN Both of my ankles have gone bad. First one and then the other. I don't know what it is. I am forty-four years old, is that your age, also? KNADJIAN I see, I see. I am even older than you, I am forty-eight, and I do not consider myself an old man, at all, I consider myself nearer to boyhood than to senility. Why should your ankles go bad? PAPAZIAN I wish I knew. I really wish I knew. KNADJIAN And your doctor, what does he say? You have gone to a doctor, I presume. A man of your character does not neglect bad ankles. An Armenian doctor, because when a man is in pain he likes to speak the family language. PAPAZIAN Yes, yes, your understanding is quite good. I went first to the Americans - to three different doctors, the most famous ones - and then I went to the old Armenian. KNADJIAN Jivvy? PAPAZIAN Do you call him Jivvy? KNADJIAN Jivelekian is an old friend, and we have always spoken to one another as if we were still boys in the old country. He calls me Mugo, for Muggerditch of course. Jivvy is not only a good doctor he is a good man. And what did he prescribe to relieve the pain? PAPAZIAN He didn't prescribe anything. Ah, well, how shall I put it. He told me to pray. Imagine the impertinence of such a suggestion. Praying is my profession, medicine is his. I went to him for medical help, he turns around and tells me not to get ecclesiastical help. He tells me to pray. KNADJIAN Jivvy's very wise. PAPAZIAN Well, of course I did not let him know I was annoyed. After all, I consider myself a man of some refinement. KNADJIAN Speak of the devil. Dr. Jivelekian, what are you doing here? JIVELEKIAN Gentlemen, gentlemen. The priest sent for me. It seems somebody is dying. Where is the priest? PAPAZIAN He's gone to the dying woman's bedside. Look here, Dr. Jivelekian, my ankles are making a terrible fool of me. Surely there are pills I can take to restore the ankles to their proper strength. JIVELEKIAN Aspirin. I suggest aspirin to everybody, for everything. Are you taking aspirin? PAPAZIAN No, Doctor. Aspirin is for headaches. It is my ankles that hurt. JIVELEKIAN Take two aspirin every time you remember that your ankles hurt. Before you know it they won't hurt any more. Your feet and your ankles and your legs, and for that matter your whole body seems to be quite sound. A couple of aspirin now and then is all you really need. Who is dying? PAPAZIAN An old woman. An old woman. JIVELEKIAN Well, I must get to her. Who is she? Where is she? KNADJIAN Akob Dudu. Do you know where she lives? JIVELEKIAN Yes, of course, I've been there many times. PAPAZIAN Poor woman. KNADJIAN Why are you sitting down, Dr. Jivelekian? JIVELEKIAN I can't help her. KNADJIAN What is her illness? JIVELEKIAN I don't know. The same as the good Reverend's ankle trouble. Who knows? KNADJIAN Let us go across the street to the Patriotic Club and have a small coffee apiece. Here, hold onto me, you'll be all right. PAPAZIAN Thank you, thank you, friendship is a fine thing. JIVELEKIAN And a game of cards, too. Agreed, Mugo? KNADJIAN Agreed, Jivvy. End of Act I