The Armenian Church at Chinsurah remains locked round the year, even when the churches of different denominations celebrate Christmas on 25 December.
Armenian Church at Chinsurah
The Armenian Church at Chinsurah remains locked round the year, even when the churches of different denominations celebrate Christmas on 25 December. During the “Armenian Christmas” season, the major events that are celebrated are the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem and His Baptism in the River Jordan. The day of this major feast in the Armenian Church is 6 January.
A ceremony called “Blessing of Water” is conducted in the Armenian Church to commemorate Christ’s Baptism. On 6 January, the Armenian Church gate at Chinsurah opens for the traditional celebration. At present, there are no Armenians in Chinsurah, hence Armenians, mostly students from Kolkata visit the church at Chinsurah. No outsiders are allowed in the church.
Local people gather in large number outside the church to have a glimpse of the proceedings going on in the church on 6 January. The Armenian Church, the second oldest Christian church in Bengal, was erected in 1695; the foundation stone was laid by Khojah Johannes Margar of Julfa.
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The church was completed in 1697 by his brother Joseph/Hovsep and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, in memory of the deceased brother Johannes. Khojah Johannes Margar died on 27 November, 1697 and his mortal remains are interred inside the church he had built. When the church was built, it had no steeple.
The present spire, which serves as a belfry, was erected in 1822 through the munificence of Mrs Sophia Bagram, a pious Armenian lady of Kolkata, in memory of her husband Simon Phanoos Bagram. Although Armenians flourished at Chinsurah between 1695 and 1868, there are no more than hundred graves within the church, twenty eight of them being inside the “Armenian Christmas”, as it is popularly called.
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