Armenian cross stolen from Baghdad church recovered in Texas
After being stolen from a church in Baghdad, an Armenian cross has been found and recovered in Austin, Texas, IraqiNews.com reported, citing a report by Time Warner news channel.
The cross had made its way from the Armenian Church in Baghdad to a pawn shop in Florida before its value was discovered by UT Austin linguistic professor Mihran Aroian who translated the inscription on the back of the cross.
The inscription reads, “Serop Ohanian gifts the Armenian church of the Theotokos in 1945 Baghdad.”
Aroian has called the pawn shop in Florida and asked them to ship the cross to Austin, and the pawn shop agreed to send it to reside in Austin until it can be sent back to its rightful owner in Iraq.
“This cross; though it’s a small little silver item, has a huge meaning for the Armenian people in Iraq,” says Aroian.