Fr. Vazken Movsesian was ordained into the sacred priesthood of the Armenian Church in 1982. He was assigned to the Armenian Church of the Santa Clara Valley. By 1986 the parish was flourishing and was named after St. Andrew, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. The Santa Clara Valley too was being transformed and renamed to the “Silicon Valley” in homage to the growing hi-tech industry.

• St. Andrew is known as the “Nakhagoch” or “First Called” Disciple of Jesus Christ.

As the pastor of the Armenian Church in the Silicon Valley, Fr. Vazken saw the merging of the ancient spiritual presence of the Armenian Christian experience with the potential of offered by the computer industry as a natural connection for evangelization.

Early in the 1980s Fr. Vazken developed Armenian fonts for use with Apple computers. He also experimented with the modems and telecommunications. In 1988 with the Kharabagh Movement in high gear and the devastating earthquake in Spitak, Armenia (December 7) he launched the first electronic bulletin board system named SAIN, that is, “St. Andrew Information Network.” People could dial up and connect with information about all things Armenian and Armenian Church.

In the Armenian Church, St. Andrew is known as the “Nakhagoch” = “The First Called” for Scripture attests Jesus first called Andrew to “follow me.” Accordingly, Fr. Vazken has considered St. Andrew as his patron saint, reminding himself of the challenges in being the first are always outweighed by the opportunity to share the Gospel and Good News. Early video broadcasts were made under the title, “A Few Minutes with Der Hayr” and are now archived on YouTube.

• …the challenges in being the first are always outweighed by the opportunity to share the Gospel and Good News

With a move to Pasadena in 1997, Fr. Vazken brought the electronic connection for the Armenian Church to Southern California. Regular weekly broadcasts of church news and a message from Fr. Vazken in both Armenian and English was delivered via the Internet and local television. In the year 2000, with a grant by Japonica Partners in New York, the first stream of the Holy Divine Liturgy (Badarak) took place on Easter Sunday. On that occasion the name “Epostle” was used for the first time.

In 2003, with a move to Glendale and the establishment of the Armenian Church Youth Ministry Center, Fr. Vazken expanded Epostle to a full-blown electronic ministry, with regular sermons, messages, prayers, news and streams delivered to a world-wide audience via the Internet. The cornerstone of Epostle is the podcast, “The Next Step” which first came out in 2008. It has been produced for a worldwide audience, without fail, once-a-week since 2008 by Suzie Shatarevyan.

In 2022, Eric Esrailian approached Fr. Vazken lending his support and enthusiasm expand Epostle beyond its reach. On September 25, on the 40^th Anniversary of Fr. Vazken’s ordination into the priesthood, Epostle.net was launched.