The Primer

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: The Primer

There is one word for love “սէր” (pronounced sehr) in Armenian and in this one word, the erotic (eros), brotherly (philia), and unconditional (agape) elements of love all come together, remarkably, but not surprisingly.

In science and specifically in the field of physics attempts have been made to describe all the fundamental forces and the relationships between elementary particles in a single theoretical framework. A unified field theory has been the quest of many great physicists. During my youth I was fascinated by the notion that everything might be explained in a unified field theory. I carried my interest and curiosity for an answer with me into seminary. If there exists one explanation, if there is a unified field theory, I thought, why must it be limited to the physical world? A true unified field theory would also pertain to the emotional, psychological, and spiritual world and therefore be explained as a part of religion. From a religious vantage point, particularly a Christian one, the unified field theory would also account for God. The problem there, of course, is that God has to be greater than the words that can contain or describe Him. And so, I thought, is it possible that God is the Unified Field Theory? But, who in the scientific community would entertain such an assertion?

Throughout the years as I contemplated this puzzle, I was fascinated by the work of physicists who pondered the question and came up with theories. I would dive, even if shallow, into experiments with particle accelerators and the latest with Higgs boson or Higgs particle, especially when the term “The God Particle” was assigned to the work.

Something was missing. There was a missing piece to everything I was absorbing. I needed a primer – a piece of the puzzle that would give meaning to everything else. And then it happened! One Sunday morning as we were singing the Hymn “Aravod Louso” a verse that I had sang a thousand times before jumped out at me. St. Nersess Shnorhali writes, in the 36 verse hymn, in the 29th verse, the words, “The name of love is Jesus.”  It clicked! From that moment on, I saw something very clearly, that relied on the truth of pure logic, that is, if A = B and B = C, then A = C. If God = Love and if Love = Jesus, then God = Jesus. In other words, the primer opened the world of understanding by expressions of equality. God, Jesus and Love could be used interchangeably.

I went ahead and tested this discovery. Jesus makes a statement, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” This has caused isolation and rejection of Christianity by people who only had a superficial understanding of the terms. Testing began. I interchanged the word “Love” for Jesus. Can we now agree – everyone agree – that Love is the way. Love is the truth. Love is the life? It works! It was remarkable but not surprising. Jesus Christ, is the fulfillment of the law and the profits, the Alpha and the Omega. The Way is a person, the Truth is a person and Life is a person. They are Jesus Christ. The primer works! It connects the story of Jesus Christ to all of eternity, to the beginning and end of time. Armodoxy makes this bold proclamation, and everything we teach is based on this solid foundation, that there is only one element from the beginning of the universe to the end, and that is love. It is the strongest element in this universe. It is the beginning and the end.

Let us pray, O Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way, the truth and the life. Help me to walk in your path of love. Guild me to proclaim boldly the name of Jesus Christ and inso doing, may I carry this message to the hurting world. Amen.

Love Defined

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Love Defined

The statement made by Christ is John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son” has been referred to as the “Gospel in brief.” It is recited and re-recited by the young and old so frequently that many would be pressed to explain its meaning.

God sending His Son is the reason given as a demonstration of His love for the world. The statement presupposes that we know how the story is going to pan out, namely that Jesus will be Crucified. It is the Crucifixion that gives meaning to the statement, “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son.” The fact that God gives up and sacrifices His Son is the qualifier for His love. In other words, we understand that God must love us so much that He sacrifices His very best. Without this sacrificial act, the statement is empty.

In Armenian Orthodoxy the symbol of love is the cross. Quite different from the Western symbol of the red-heart made popular by Hallmark and candy companies vying for your dollars on Valentine’s Day, the Cross is true romance because in the symbol there is pain and suffering that is voluntarily given out of love.

Reflect on your own circumstance, on your own life… Who are the people that sacrificed for you? If you can think of a person then you are also thinking of the person who loves you. Love is painful because sacrifice hurts. Love is beautiful because sacrificing is the ultimate expression of beauty. The Cross is set apart as a symbol of magnificence because in it we understand, albeit only partially but still enough, that God’s love for us is the ultimate expression of caring, compassion and affection for us, because He gave His very best.

The Greeks use many words to describe Love, but three of them have been popularized in the Christianity, namely eros, philia and agape. Eros is the physical or sexual love. Think of the word erotic. Philia is the love between siblings, between friends. Think of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Agape is the God-love. It is unconditional. It is sacrificial and therefore, sacrificial love, as in “God so love the world…” is unconditional.

Armodoxy goes one step further. In the Armenian language, there is only one word for love, “սէր” (pronounced sehr) In this one word, the erotic, brotherly, and unconditional elements of love all come together, remarkably, but not surprisingly. Join me tomorrow as we continue with Armodoxy for today.

Let us pray, the prayer of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, All the greatest pains become sweet for whoever looks at Jesus Christ on the Cross. Amen.

Caduceus

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Caduceus

The Gospel of John begins with a “nativity” narrative that traces Jesus’ origins to the beginning of time. “In the beginning was the Word,” says the evangelist, from where he brings Jesus to the first century Middle East. Within the first few chapters we are introduced to Jesus, the Lamb of God, the one who changes water to wine, and who speaks about transformation by being born from above, or more commonly expressed as “born again.” Following a dialogue between him and a religious ruler, Jesus makes the proclamation that, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Within Jesus’ statement he references a story that was all too familiar by his audience, referring to Moses, a serpent and the wilderness. It comes from the Biblical book Numbers, with the people of God walking and complaining. “And the people spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.’ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.  Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” (21:4-8)

Looking at the staff with the serpent on it was their means of salvation from the venomous snakes. When Jesus says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life,” he is referring to this story of the poisonous snakes but is also cautiously alluding to his own Crucifixion. In fact, he was “lifted up” for everyone to see and witness. Remember, that when this Gospel was written in the latter part of the first century, the Crucifixion of Jesus was an event known by the community of believers. So, with this statement Jesus is inviting the listener to focus on the Crucifixion as a means of salvation.

The Crucifixion is what gives meaning to the statement “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son.” We will see how, as we continue tomorrow on Armodoxy today.

Let us pray with the words of St. Paul, who says, “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Amen (Galatians 6:14)

3:16

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: 3:16

We see the numbers here and there, at football games, on the bottom of soft-drink cups, on keychains, on graffiti and bumper stickers: John 3:16. It is so well known in pop culture that just the numbers “3:16” are enough to trigger a response, and act as a suffix on names of people, places and groups. Some call John 3:16 the Gospel in brief. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Indeed, it summarizes the purpose and intent of the Gospel, but thank God, we’ve been given so much more.

During the annual cycle of the Armenian Church, there is only one day on which this passage is read as the Gospel selection of the Divine Liturgy. It falls on this, the third Sunday after Theophany.

The Gospel of John, as you will remember, presented a Nativity narrative different from the traditional narratives that include the virgin birth, visits from angels, the manger, stars, kings, the inn, and the sort. St. John connects us to the very beginning of time. Today we find the other side time continuum, namely the connection to eternity. Listen attentively to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:13-21)

This passage is, in fact, the continuation of the Nativity narrative offered to us by St. John. The message here is timeless. It applies to all times. During the next couple of days we will explore these words in depth. For today, let us pray the prayer of the 16th hour by St. Nersess Shnorhali, “O my God, who opens Your hand and fills all things living with Your bounty, to You I commit my soul. Do care for me and provide for the needs of my body and soul forever. Amen.

The Message

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: The Message

When we proclaim our faith about Jesus Christ, we often do so about the person and inadvertently forget a fundament element of the faith, namely the message he preached. In the Nicene Creed, adopted in 325AD by the Church and recited in churches throughout the world every Sunday, we proclaim our belief in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the exclusivity of the Holy Church. We have shorter forms of the profession of faith, one of which is confessed by the godfather during baptism in the Armenian Church. In the Western churches, such as the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, the Apostles Creed is pronounced. In St. Nersess Shnorhali’s prayer of the 4th hour, we read an even more abbreviated form about Jesus, the Son of God, “Who descended from the bosom of the Father, and took flesh of the Holy Virgin Mary for our salvation, who was crucified and buried, and rose from the dead and ascended to the Father.”

In all of the Creeds and professions of faith, the person of Jesus, the Son of God, is defined. What is missing is his message, or even more simply, mention or reference of his message. I use the word “missing” rather than “omitted” or “forgotten” because I believe the development of these creeds were products of the times and societal needs. In the case of the Armenian Church, her constituency during the early centuries was homogeneous. The people attended church and shared common values and so it wasn’t necessary to reference the message in a creed.

Armodoxy is about taking that ancient faith and placing it in today’s world and society. In a globalized society, where many different messages are vying for your attention, Jesus’ message can easily be dismissed, omitted or even forgotten because of the zealous efforts to proclaim Jesus as superior to other choices. Mature faith understands that it is Jesus’ message, that is unique and superior to all else. In his message we understand the fulness of the statement that God is love. Jesus’ message is what connects us to the beginning of time, and therein we find the Divinity of Jesus as the Son of God. “I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.” (John 7:28)

Let us pray St. Nersess Shnorhli’s prayer of the 4th hour, with addendum, “Son of God, true God, who descended from the bosom of the Father, and took flesh of the Holy Virgin Mary for our salvation, who taught the message of true love and compassion, with his words and his life, who was crucified and buried, and rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before You, remember me like the robber when You come into your kingdom. Amen.”

Location

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Location

Every good real estate agent can tell you that the number one rule in real estate is location, location, location. Repeating it three times emphasizes its importance. Identical homes can increase or decrease in value due to their location. So choose location wisely when purchasing.

The same rule holds true in life with the exception that in life only one of the three locations is chosen by us, the client, while the other two are more of chance landings. We are all born into this world – into this life – without our consent. We have no choice as to when or where we are born. On the other end, we may feel we have more to say about our death, but often it takes place without our consent. The only location that we have control over is the third one, which is the life spent between birth and death.

This three location reality is best understood by glancing at a gravestones. Most of them have three symbols etched on them. The first is the person’s date of birth. We have no control over when or where we are born. The second location is the date of death. The third symbol is the dash that separates the date of birth from the date of death. That dash represents our lives and is the only section of life that is mostly in our control. Some dashes are short others are long, but the real quality of the dash is its thickness.

Life and how we live it is up to us. It is the dash – the life we live – that has meaning

Once a young seminarian in a monastery, in a display of youthful pride, decided to play a trick on the one of the oldest and wisest monks. He held a butterfly in his hand and brought his fingers together to cover the small insect. He asked the monk if the butterfly was dead or alive? He thought to himself, if the elderly man answers alive, I will crush the butterfly and prove him wrong. If he answers dead, I will open my fist and the butterfly will fly out. Either way the monk will be wrong and humiliated because the young student had shown him wrong.

Approaching the monk, the young man held the captive butterfly in his fist behind his back. “Old man, tell me, is the butterfly I am holding, dead or alive?” The old monk, not to be tricked replied, “The answer is in your hand.”

Maturity of Faith, which is the theme of this week, requires us to take responsibility for our lives, to recognize that God has entrusted us with our lives and it’s up to us to be part of the answer to, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” We are the ones who fatten the dash – the life between our birth and life – and we take the responsibility on whether the butterfly flies or is crushed.

Let us pray, Lord help me to understand your love through the trust you have put into our humble efforts.  tremendous trust you have in me and in humanity. Give me the strength to stand responsibly before you as I follow your commandments and do that which is pleasing in your sight. Amen.

Cleansing

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Cleansing

During this week, the Scriptural reading given to us by the Church follows the first miracle – the water into wine – which we encountered yesterday. John 2:12-22, shares the story of Jesus cleaning the temple.

Jesus found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 

In the synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – a story similar to this appears as Jesus makes his final entry into Jerusalem, the day traditionally referred to as Palm Sunday. In the Gospel of John, we read the story at the beginning of his ministry. Building on the topic of “Maturity of Faith” from yesterday’s Armodoxy lesson, we may assume that the cleansing of the temple was not a singular event.

The Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus, is distributed and received every week. The repetitive nature of the Divine Liturgy and Holy Communion is an expression of Jesus coming into our lives, not only once, but always there to remove and cleanse all that does not belong in the sanctity of our lives.

The Gospel continues, So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. “Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

The Cleansing of the Temple is a scene right out of the movies. It speaks to people on many levels. It is the man-of-principle going up against the corporate machine. It is the individual versus the institution. Most importantly, it is Jesus Christ entering our temple, our lives. Once there, he is ready to clean house, to remove the hatred, the laziness, the envy and jealousy that are doing business there. It is up to us, as is the case in the story, whether we argue with him, stop him from doing so, or open ourselves to the cleansing he provides.

Let us pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, you enter the Temple in Jerusalem to clean out all who do not belong there. Come into the holiness of my temple and wash me thoroughly from my sin. Rid my life of pride, envy, anger, laziness, gluttony, lust and covetousness, and should they return may your Holy Body and Blood be forever cleansing me, into your Kingdom. Amen.”

Maturity

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Maturity

The first miracle of Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of St. John, “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (2:1-11)

This is one of those stories that makes for great illustration by Sunday School students for their coloring assignment. The visual is a powerful one, and crayons help accent the clear water transformed to red wine. As a priest, I’ve had many people who have offered me a glass of wine, and thinking they are revealing a great riddle to me, they say, with a snicker, “Go ahead, after all Jesus changed water into wine.” They say it such a way as if I would not have indulged had Jesus not done this little bit of magic. And sometimes with a wink, they try to imply that Jesus was interested in the inebriating characteristics of the drink.

St. Paul writes, When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. (I Corinthians 13:11) Unfortunately, when it comes to religion and issues of faith, often our understanding of God comes from childhood memories of these fascinating and sensationalized miracles of Jesus. The story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana is read in the Armenian Church following the Theophany to bring our attention the offering made by Christ. It is the steward at the wedding feast who notices first that the wine that Jesus offers is better than any other wine that was served.

Today our call is to take a deeper and more mature understanding of our faith. There are many dimensions to this story that speak to us once we “Put away childish ways.” In fact, many stories have so much more to offer when we can accept the sensational as normal. For instance when Jesus walks on the water, rather than searching for the stones that might be supporting him, accept that this is the One who created the water, who is lord of the water. Once we do this, then we understand the words that he speaks are from the author of Life. Then, the words, “Love your neighbor,” “Pray for your enemies,” “Judge not, lest you be judged,” are understood as coming from the Ultimate Source of Life, not only worthy of our attention, but demanding our attention. Armodoxy is the view that the Creator is speaking, and so when He says, “Courage, the victory is mine, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), it is final and definite.

Let us pray, Lord our God, You changed the water into wine in Cana of Galilee, I pray you, change the doubt to faith in my life. Let me partake of the goodness of the new wine, and accept your love, to guide and direct me, always. Amen.

 

Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

/0 Comments/in ,

Armodoxy for Today: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

John the Baptist, was the forerunner to Jesus. His message was a prophetic one. He spoke to the times by pointing to the current conditions and sharing a message from God, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

In the 1950s and 1960s, in the United States, a young pastor of a Baptist congregation spoke to the times that were wrought with discrimination and prejudice. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a kindred spirit to John the Baptist, in that he understood the power of the One who could change even the heart of the hardest racist. His was a prophetic call to peace through justice. He led the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. with a keen focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, advocating for change through non-violent resistance.

He was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35. He was even younger when he led 250,000 people in the March on Washington to deliver the memorable “I have a dream” speech.

With all of his academic and personal achievements and with all of the accolades granted to him, he would insist that his first and foremost calling was that of a minister to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a master orator, articulating the power of the Gospel to liberate with love.

A prophetic voice “calling in the wilderness” is the descriptor of St. John the Baptist. The prophet points us to Jesus Christ. Rev. King was a voice in the wilderness of hatred and intolerance during the 20th century. In one of his most important writings, from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, (imprisoned for civil disobedience) Rev. King penned a letter to the Christian leadership about the importance of the Church as the Body of Christ and the need to adhere to the Gospel message. He wrote,

“Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

“There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But they went on with the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven” and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment…

“Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.”

Rev. King, called people to the higher standard – the extreme standard – of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote in the same document,

“But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . .” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime–the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”

A week after Theophany, with the joyous news Christ is revealed, the Armenian Church celebrates birth of John the Baptist. A week after that, in the United States we celebrate the birth of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The spirit of extremism, the voice crying out in the wilderness, the message of peace from the Christ Child, continues to be heralded. It is the message from our Creator, “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.”

A prayer offered by Rev. King, 1953, “O God our eternal Father, we praise thee for gifts of mind with which thou hast endowed us. We are able to rise out of the half-realities of the sense world to a world of ideal beauty and eternal truth. Teach us, we pray Thee, how to use this great gift of reason and imagination so that it shall not be a curse but a blessing. Grant us visions that shall lift us from worldfulness and sin into the light of thine own hold presence. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.”

 

Rev. King, his work and writings about non-violent resistance, justice and peace are one of the cornerstones of the In His Shoes ministry. Since 2004 we have held annual retreats that explore Rev. Kings teachings and the deep connections and parellels between the plight of the African American community and the Armenian American community. For more information, search the archives at Epostle.net or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

Maturity of Faith

/0 Comments/in , ,
Next Step #761 – January 12, 2023 – Wish for the new year: Maturity of Faith. Putting aside childish ways (ICor 13) and cultivating faith that works in life. Christianity, the teachings of Jesus with applications to Artsakh and the blockade. Avoiding the folly of relying on politicians taking care of your troubles. Breaking the cycle of hate.
Newsweek “Ethnic Cleansing” in Artsakh 
Theophany Sermon by Fr. Vazken
Cheap Grace https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/423945-cheap-grace-means-grace-sold-on-the-market-like-cheapjacks
Goodness of God – Cece Winans
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for Epostle.net
Subscribe and listen on demand on your favorite pod-catcher!
We’re on Stitcher, Pandora, Spotify and Apple Podcasts