Death of Fr. Alexander Madikian (November 14, 1930)

Fr. Alexander Madikian was a distinguished member of the Mekhitarist Congregation of Vienna with remarkable contributions to Armenian Studies, yet whose life was cut short prematurely. He was born Taniel Madikian on 18, 1886, in the village of Krman in the Khodorchur region of Western Armenia. At the age of fifteen, he went to study at the Mekhitarist School of Smyrna (Izmir), and a year later he left for Vienna with four schoolmates to continue his studies. In 1906, he became a member of the Mekhitarist Congregation and took the name Alexander. After completing his studies, he was ordained a celibate priest in 1910.   

He then pursued further studies at the University of Vienna, earning a Ph.D. in Theology in 1917. He was a contributor to Handes Amsorya, the congregation’s scholarly journal, and was as its editor-in-chief from 1912 to 1920. He later directed the congregation’s seminary and taught theology there until his death. He was twice elected to the congregation’s governing board.   

Fr. Alexander Madikian published three works based on his articles in Handes Amsorya: The Anonymous or Pseudo-Sebeos (1913), The Origin of Religion and Mythology according to Comparative Religious Science (1920), and Ara the Handsome: Comparative and Critical Study (1930). The latter is considered his most important study.  

He was sent to Beirut in 1930 to explore the possibility of opening a Mekhitarist school there. Following a month of negotiations in the Lebanese capital, he returned to Vienna, but contracted malaria, and his weakened body could not resist the illness. He passed away on November 14, 1930, at the age of forty-four.