In the empty Armenian church in Bangladesh, a lone Hindu worshiper Religious News

Unfaithful to ministering and praying, the Armenian church in Daca has one last parishioner: the Hindu pastor.

Unfaithful to ministering to the priest and praying, an Armenian church in Bangladesh has the last parishioner: the Hindu guardian is fulfilling his “sacred duty” to preserve the relic of the city’s former commercial elite.

Shankar Ghosh makes the sign of the cross before opening the white building that was built 240 years ago in the capital Dhaka and that is striking.

Hundreds of Armenians then lived in the city, diaspora, the roots of the Muslim-majority nation in the 16th century. He attacked them for centuries and eventually became important merchants, lawyers and civil servants.

The last descendant of this known community left Bangladesh a few years ago, but not before giving the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Resurrection to Ghosh, who had already lived half his life.

“I love this job. I think it’s a sacred duty, “the 61-year-old told AFP.” Whether it’s a church, a temple or a mosque, I think they’re all for one God. “

About 40 years ago, Ghosh worked in a jute factory, an industry owned by many Armenians in the region, and formed a friendship with the family there.

Through them, he met the patron saint of the church, Michael Joseph Martin, and invited Ghosh to be his assistant. The young man moved to the church residence in 1985 and never left.

“It’s God’s house and I thought no other job would suit me,” Ghosh said.

His 30-year-old son was born in the building and serves as a local historian.

When Martin moved to Canada in 2014, he gave his patron the keys to the church.

Ghosh became a full-time guardian after Martin died at the age of 89 last year, and is now assisted by overseas Armenians, led by the Los Angeles Arslanian businessman who keeps the church running.

“The Ghosh family has a special place in our church,” Arslanian told AFP.

In this photo taken on February 11, 2021, people are visiting the Armenian Church in Daca [Rehman Asad/AFP]

Inside the churchyard, the cacophony of traffic branches disappears and the singing of birds rises from a small garden. Young people and students gather under the trees in the garden, sharing quiet moments in the shade.

Every morning, Ghosh walks out of the building where he lives with his wife and two children to open the church doors and light candles on the altar.

He prays without confession on behalf of the 400 Armenians – who were once prominent members of the Dacian community and are now buried under neat rows of tombstones next to the building.

Several helpers help him maintain the church and help him feed half a dozen dogs that live on the ground.

The church has not held a baptismal or weekly mass for several decades.

But the church lives on Easter and Christmas when a Catholic priest attends ambassadors located in Dacan.

Ghosh often walks around the tombstones, the first dating back to 1714, a decade before the church was built.

Laying a flower in the grave of Martin’s late wife Veronica – the last Armenian to be buried in 2005 – Ghosh hopes her husband’s remains will be returned to Dacara.

“He’s here in this beautiful place,” he said, adding that he hoped he was buried.

“I pray that I will have a similar treatment to what I was giving with these (graves).”