Alpha Omega – Day 8 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: Alpha Omega

The person of Jesus Christ is central to our Armenian Church and everything that we do within our Church. To fully engage in the Lenten season and the spiritual exercises that are tied to the season, it is essential to understand this very basic premise.

We began this second week of Lent, yesterday, Expulsion Sunday, with the reading prescribed for the day from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus pronounces, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill …”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” (Revelation 22:13) Or, in our vernacular, the A and the Z, the Ա (ayb) and the Ք (keh).

The Lenten season and the exercises are about connecting to the fulfillment and the completeness of life. Our journey takes its first turn today, from the foundation and fundamentals to the applications.

Today’s exercise involves gaging your acts of charity. Turn within to question your motives and your feelings in doing unto others. Do you feel comfortable with those motives and feelings? Or, should there be something more.

Fast today from motivated giving. Give without any expectation in return, including your own personal satisfaction. Is that possible?

The week begins with a recipe for Almond French toast (below).

We pray, from St. Gregory of Narek, (44)  As the soul is for the living beings and
thought for the rational beings, as radiance is for glory, and form for substance,
as caring for life, and mindfulness for mercy, as giving in charity, and resolve in salvation,
as abundance in generosity, flow in continuity, as fullness for perfection, richness in inexhaustibility,
as long in forbearance, exalted in unreachableness, they are one perfect trinity,
of three persons, blessed forever. Amen. (Translated by Thomas J. Samuelian)

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 8: Almond French Toast

Expelled Again – Day 7 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: Expelled Again – Day 7 of 40

This first Sunday of Lent is called “Expulsion Sunday” as it recalls God expelling humankind from Paradise as presented in the Book of Genesis. While it’s tempting to discuss the dynamics between God, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, it also defeats the purpose of Lent. That is, since it is not to be taken literally, the details of the story are not as important as the message it conveys. The essence of the story is that humanity walks away from the rules of God. By looking at the message of the story we put ourselves into the equation and understand ourselves to be the ones who break the rules.

God says love one another, we say, not everyone. God says care for one another, we say, only to those that give us something in return. God says love your neighbor as yourself,  we say, we’ll build bombs and ensure that our weapons are big enough to fend them off. God says, value the family and value life, and we say, the dollar can buy us more. God says, enjoy the life I have given you, we say, I will with drugs, alcohol and wastefulness. God say, take care of the world I gave you, we say, who cares, pollution and dwindling resources are problems for the next generations to worry about it. God says, worship Me, and we say, I’ve got better things to do. God says, know Me, and we ask, where’s the profit?  

You see, the story of Expulsion, or that of Adam and Eve, is about humanity going against the natural flow of life that is created by God. We ourselves, with our actions are the reason for our expulsion from Paradise.

May today’s charity begin at home: Listen to the words of God and do them. Fast from desires that move you away from God.

Now treat yourself to today’s meal, Mushroom Ragu, the recipe is in the show notes.

We pray from St. Gregory of Narek, (24) What am I worthy to ask of you in prayer? May I pray for paradise, from which I have strayed? your magnificent glory, which I am denied? your everlasting life, from which I was rejected? … O living Word, so that reconciled through you the Holy Spirit might return to me. Through you and the will of the almighty Holy Spirit,
may I be cleansed and presented to your Father, so that I may, with him and by your grace,
through the breath of salutation, be inseparably united with you. Amen. (Translated by Thomas J. Samuelian)

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 7: Mushroom Ragu

Shadows Away – Day 6 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: Shadows Away – Day 6 of Lent

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. – James 1:17

One of our Church Fathers remarked that when facing the Sun, we see no shadows. It is only when we turn away from the sun that we notice shadows.

The Sun is the source of light and energy for our planet. Even in the shadows there is enough light to energize us and all of life. This is a testament to the power of the Sun.

Jesus is the Light of the World. He illuminates the darkness. We find no shadows nor places to hide when we turn toward him. And on those moments when we turn away, and so notice the shadows, He is still energizing us and all of life.

Fast today, from all that brings darkness. And practice charity by turning toward the light of Sun, and the Light of the Son. They both illuminate and they both offer warmth. At that point, think of the words of the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.” (46:10)

It sounds simple, as is today’s recipe of roasted veggies, found in the show notes.

From Gregory of Narek, we pray (18): O kind Son of God, have compassion upon my misery. Hear the sobbing of my agitated voice. Bring me back to life with the dew of your blessed eyes as you brought back your friend from breathless death. In a dungeon of infirmities, I am captive, bitter and in doubt. Give me your hand, sun that casts no shadows, Son on high, and lift me into your radiant light. (translated Thomas J. Samuelian)

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 6: Roasted Veggies

Lenten Vestry – Day 5 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: The Lenten Vestry

Every Sunday, before the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, in the vestry of the church, the priest offers a group of prayers to prepare himself for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Each article of clothing – from the crown on his head, to the ornate robes and vestments that surround him, to the slippers on his feet, have special significance and meaning, which are articulated in these prayers. The word “celebrating” the Liturgy may not share the fact that these prayers were prayed during times of disaster and war, lighting the darkness by focusing on the Glory of Christ, which illuminates the darkness.  Without this preparation, without these prayers, the Liturgy is incomplete.

The Lenten period is your time in the vestry of life. A place where you take an inventory of all the beauty that surrounds you. The ornaments that give your life meaning, from head to toe. With the difficulties that surround your life, focus on the beauty, and if the darkness is great remember the generations that “lit one candle rather than curse the darkness.” This is an exercise that allows you to focus on the blessings and see them as victories over your pain.

Practice your charity today by sharing a goodness in your life as a lit candle with someone who has darkness surrounding them. And fast today from something that bothers you and causes you feelings of negativity.

You’re in the vestry preparing for the reset of life. Take some time to enjoy a helping of sweet potatoes with cranberries and pecans, today’s recipe, share in the show notes.

We pray, a prayer from the vesting of the priest, “Put, O Lord, upon my head the helmet of salvation to fight against the powers of the enemy, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 5: Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries and Pecans!

 

Try the Phone – Day 4 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: Try the phone – Day 4

Your phone is acting up. You’re trying to run an app and it’s not responding. Press on it and nothing. No response. You remember that earlier it was running painstakingly slowly. You are frustrated and adding to your frustration is the fact that you can’t get off the screen! Swipe, push, you’re ready to tap it on the table, as you would do to old mechanical devices if they malfunctioned, but you’re not ready to risk cracking the screen. Should you call tech support? Well, you would except that your phone is locked up and you can’t make a call. You open your laptop to Google a fix. Just then your kid comes by and asks why you’re pounding on the keyboard. You look up and you don’t lose it but you’re also ready to dismiss his question with a shrug, but you go ahead and mention that your phone is locked and isn’t functioning. Your kid reaches over, pushes the two buttons and suddenly the screen goes blank. You panic. Is the phone broken? He looks at you and tells you to wait 30 seconds and restart the phone. You wait, you do and within a minute you’re up an running with speed and ease that reminds you of the day you got your new phone.

It’s called a reset. After a while your phone gets cluttered with junk from apps, ads and emails. Resetting cleans out the junk. Restarting is a new start.

I’m not giving you tech advice today, merely making the analogy to the Lenten period. With the beginning of Lent you’ve turned off your phone. The days of Lent what you’re in now, are the 30 second wait period and on Easter Sunday, you’re going to turn life on again.

Your act of charity today is geared toward yourself. Turn off your phone. Wait a while and turn it back on. You now have a reset phone.

Try a spinach salad with passion fruit dressing and maple-glazed almonds. The recipe is at the bottom of this page.

We pray, “Lord, I thank you for the gift of forgiveness. Knowing you forgive sins and your forgiveness is complete, I reset my life and thank you for the opportunity to start anew. Amen.”

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 4: Spinach Salad with Passionfruit Dressing and Maple-Glazed Almonds

Ashes – Day 3 of 40

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Armodoxy for Today: Ashes – Day 3

The Ash Wednesday custom is the beginning of Lenten Season in the West, two days after its start in the Armenian Church. The ash cross that is smeared on a person’s forehead is an outward sign and reminder that the Lenten season is a period of contemplation, a time to reflect on life. As the ashes are administered, the officiant clergy says, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,” as a reminder of our mortality. In the Armenian Church Tradition, at the burial service the priest blesses the earth with similar words pointing to the creation story in Genesis (3:19), “for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

So today, the Christian world of the West joins us in the season of Lent. And whether it was the ashes, or the practice of one act of charity, one expression of the fast and one prayer, as we prescribed, the tone has been set for Lent.

Today’s act of charity is the simplest you will do this entire season. It’s a monetary donation. Make a donation to charity – a check or an offering in a collection plate, moving your treasure, grounds your heart for Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Try Spicy Peanut Noodles for your meal today and realize that there is goodness in less.

Welcoming our brothers and sisters from the Western traditions, we offer this prayer on today, “Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer)

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 3: Spicy Peanut Noodles

Foundations – Day 2 of 40

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Armdoxy for Today: Foundations – Day 2

One act of charity, one suggestion for fasting, and one prayer make up the Lenten Trilogy, for this 40 day period.

St. Gregory of Narek, one of the mystics of the Armenian Church, is known for his prayers which reach into the depths of the heart in talking with God. In 2015, Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, for his profound theological confession of faith, making him only the 36th designee of that title.

St. Gregory of Narek, or Narekatsi writes, Faith is honored in a glorious trinity with charity and hope. For if you view these three as distinct aspects of one and the same mystery, you shall forever be magnified in God. And if you believe, you shall love and through love have hope in his unseen rewards.   (Lamentations Prayer 10, Translation: Thomas J. Samuelian)

Charity is love expressed. We begin with this definition, only to build on this foundation in the days to come.

Likewise, fasting can simply be expressed as abstinence, which, again, will be more meaningful in the days and weeks ahead. We lay these foundations today so that the Lenten journey we are on will have sound footing on which to grow.

Try mushroom fried rice, according to the recipe linked below.

We pray, the morning hymn of St. Nersess Shnorhali. Aravod Looso

Morning Light, Sun of Righteousness, shine into my soul. You that flows from the Father, flow from my soul, words that are pleasing to you. Amen.

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 2: Mushroom Fried Rice

Lenten Trinity – Day 1 of Lent

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Armodoxy for Today: Lenten Trinity

Welcome to Lent. Today begins a forty-day period of self-examination and introspection that prepares you for the awesome Resurrection of our Lord Jesus at Easter, and in so doing, to live life more fully as Christ intends us to. At Epostle.net we have several Lenten programs that are available in our archives. This year, we present to you the “Lenten Trinity” – Forty days of simple guidance of a prayer, an act of charity and an element of fasting, based on the Instruction given to us by Jesus Christ.

Let’s read Matthew chapter 6, excerpts from the Sermon on the Mount.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. When you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you… do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  that your charitable deed may be in secret…

And when you pray… go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place… Do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words… For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him… 

When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting…

This passage is read in its entirety at the beginning of Lent in the Armenian Church. In its direction, it dispels the common misconception that Lent is a time of “giving up” foods and/or behaviors. The Church Fathers point us to this passage on the Sunday before Lent to direct us to heighten our Prayer life, engage more fully acts of charity and the discipline of fasting.

This Lent, I will present you with daily messages that accent each of these areas. Each day, I will share with you a Prayer, an act of charity you can engage in, and a fasting exercise, including a recipe for a vegan meal which will be linked to the show notes. Today’s first meal is “Cream” of Asparagus Soup, and before you hit the buzzer claiming “cream” implies animal product, take a look at the recipe and try it. Each of the Lenten recipes are provided by Deacon Varoujan, carefully manicured for your taste.

Welcome to the first day of Lent. I ask you to read the entire sixth chapter of Matthew that I excerpted. You’ll find the prayer that was taught to us by our Lord Jesus,

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

 

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 1: “Cream” of Asparagus Soup

Patience

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Armodoxy for Today: Patience

This week we’ve been taking a look at time and timing. Directly connected with the measurement of time is one of the virtues, patience. Patience is understood as an essential quality for leading a fulfilling and balanced life and tops the list of virtues.

Expectations are the cause of our disappointments. Expectations are built on our perception of time. We expect certain things to happen – to get something, to be accepted into a school, to fall in love, to receive a promotion, to have a wrong corrected – and when those expectations are not realized we, at the very least, are disappointed. Expectations are built on our self-imposed time-tables and patience is thrown out the door when we impose those restrictions. If you think about it, it is the disappointment and the discouragement that leads to the large numbers of depression and mental anguish in our day, caused from a society that is based on immediate gratification. Walk into a store, or go up to a vending machine, put your money in or hand it over, and you are gratified. And note, that I didn’t say satisfied. As we develop patience, expectations are reduced, hence disappointment and frustrations are eliminated from our life.

Next week, the Lenten Season begins. It is a time to grow in Faith and to strengthen out of our weaknesses. It is a time where patience can be developed through the dietary and disciplinary practices imposed on us by the Church.

Lent begins on Monday. The Sunday before Lent, this coming Sunday, is referred to as “Poon Paregetan” or “Boon Barekendan” depending on which side of Ararat you come from. The word translates to Good Life or Good Living. It is a day of indulging before the Lenten practices kick in.

The duration of Lent is forty days. But the real purpose of Lent are the 325 days that follow the forty. The skills, the discipline and patience that are learned in Lent are what help us in our everyday life. Armodoxy is about training the self to be at peace with his or her world, developing the virtues that build relationships that are cornerstone for a world of peace and understanding.

Celebrate the Day of Good Living this Sunday and then join me on Monday as we begin the Lenten Season.

We pray, Lord Jesus Christ, you gave yourself for the salvation of the world. On the Holy Cross you endured the suffering and persecution of your Creation. Your patience on the Cross was defined by Your Love for us. Help me to understand my limitations and build the virtue of patience to overcome my challenges with the tool of Love. Amen.

God’s Time

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Armodoxy for Today: God’s Time

This week we’re exploring timing: how events, large and small, take place over the course of time. Time marches slow when you’re young. You can’t wait to get older, to walk to school by yourself, ride a bike, later a car. To date. To stay out. You can’t wait to get older. Time is slow. And the older you get, time seems to be rushing through at too fast of a pace. You want to pull the breaks, but there’s no way to slow it down.

Time is in fact, relative, not on because of any complex Einsteinian equation but by simple mathematics. For a child of two years, a year is a half a lifetime! For a person of 70 years, that same year is 1/70th of a lifetime. Of course it goes by fast!

Sometimes to cut our anxiety and temper our impatience we refer to “God’s time,” an idea that God has a predetermined time for events to happen, and that it may differ from our own sense of time. In non-religious terms, we say, “In due time.” God’s time is beyond our measurements. In the passage where Jesus is tempted by the Devil, it says, “In an instant he showed him all the kingdoms on Earth.” (Luke 4) That instant might be understood as outside of time.

In Armenian churches throughout the world the symbol of “է” (pronounced ‘eh’) is found atop altar tables, on khatchkars (stone carvings of crosses) and on ornamental vestments. The “է” is the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet, seven being the number of universe, or completeness, that is, the combination of four (for the corners of the earth) and three (the number of the heavens as in the Trinity). In the Armenian language that symbol/letter is the verb to be in the present tense. It is. It is, is the name of God. No He was, not He will be, but He is. He is the eternal present. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Exodus (3:14), God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the People of God: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” And before Biblical times, throughout Armenia, near the base of Mt. Ararat, at the cradle of civilization, markings and symbols point in temporal terms to the eternal truth of living in the moment. That’s Armodoxy. That’s “O.G. Christianity.” In Jesus’ experience, “in an instant showing all the kingdoms of Earth.” As we grow in faith we align more and more with the Eternal and with eternity, with the “է”.  Aligning with “է”, finding God, is the purpose of good religion and certainly the call made to us by Christ. There, we find that God’s timing is perfect.

We pray, from the words of St. Peter, (2Peter 3:9) Lord, You are not slow in keeping Your promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, You are patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. Keep me strong in my faith and in my love for You and all my brothers and sisters. Amen.