Armodoxy: Ancient Faith for a Modern World

At Epostle, our work centers on a simple conviction: the oldest Christian tradition on earth still has something vital to say to people living today. We call that message Armodoxy.

Armodoxy is the mystical and spiritual “weapon” that has delivered the Armenian nation and brought tranquility to the souls of a people. Coined by Fr. Vazken Movsesian, the term describes Armenian Orthodoxy understood not as a relic but as a living system to live by, an ancient and mystical faith polished up for today.

For the past six millennia, the Armenian people have inhabited the land at the base of Mt. Ararat, at the “Cradle of Civilization.” Armenia is a war-torn, land-locked country sitting at the crossroads of three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. Armenians have endured the mass destruction of their land, homes and lives by barbarians, conquerors, and most recently the Genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Despite countless perils, natural disasters, atrocities and suffering, and without military strategy or a large military presence, the Armenian story is one of survival, rebirth and growth. Armodoxy is the spiritual force that delivered this nation, holding the key components of love, faith and hope for all of humanity.

At its heart, Armodoxy is the power of the spirit to transform the profane and establish peace: a peace for the soul with applications for the world.

The message of Christ is timeless, but it comes through words and language that take shape in a particular world. We may not understand grains of wheat or vineyards, or the metaphor of a Samaritan. If the scriptures were recording Jesus speaking to us today, we might hear instead the metaphors of an elevator, a calculator, or a piano. The story of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10) would surely be adapted to people at odds with one another. Make the Samaritan a Black man who assists a white man left for dead, and the point lands distinctly for racists or supremacists. Have the hero be a Palestinian who tends to an Israeli, or a Turk who helps an Armenian, and it drives home emphatically that we are invited to seek the “neighbor” in everyone, even a foreigner or a so-called enemy.

Armenian Orthodoxy is the oldest Christian tradition on earth. It has withstood the test of time and the ravages of attack, and through it all has delivered a simple message of love through Christ. Armodoxy is our challenge at Epostle: to bring that message home to people of the 21st century while preserving the integrity of the Christian Gospel of faith, hope and love.