Post-Genocide: A Global Calling

/0 Comments/in ,

Post-Genocide: A Global Calling

Next Step #773 – April 27, 2023 – Post Genocide Remembrance edition. 108 years removed from the Genocide, what are the take-aways of remembrance and commemoration? The Armenianness of Genocide and the Global calling: Can we take a serious look at our approach to remembrance and exploit the message? Some after thoughts on the commemoration. Critical Mass needed, and set backs.
Open Wounds, Really?
Free Speech? Really?
World Vision “Famine” – 20 years later
Let there be Peace by Vince Gill
Cover: “Two Dimensional Mourning” 2023 Fr. Vazken
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for http://Epostle.net
Subscribe and listen on demand on your favorite pod-catcher!
We’re on Stitcher, Pandora, Spotify and Apple Podcasts

20 years ago: Helix, Church & State

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: Helix, Church & State

Armenians were the first nation to accept Christianity. It is a historical fact which may not always translate into expressions by the people.

In 301, St. Gregory the Illuminator converted the King of Armenia to Christianity and who then proclaimed Christianity as the official state religion of the Armenian Nation. Armenians are aware of the “First place” acknowledgement of history and will accept the recognition. “We were the first Christian nation!” is often expressed as a badge of honor. As to how that Christian identity is expressed is up for grabs.

Armenian Christianity is cumbersome because it is tied to religion, culture, and national identity. For instance, the Armenian alphabet was invented for the sole purpose of translating the Holy Scriptures into Armenian. So, the logic follows that because of the Church’s need, the Nation received an alphabet that developed its literature and culture. Hence, the development of Armenian consciousness was directly connected to the Church.

On the practical side, there are many examples of this interconnected relationship between Church and State. When Armenian land was occupied, the Church functioned as the representative of the people. The heads of the Church have been revered as a head of state in the absence of a government. In many ways, the intertwining of Church and State for the Armenian people twists and turns through history and in defining identity in more a complicated manner than the DNA double helix molecule. Unraveling it leaves you with the components that you may try to retwist to your liking, but it never yields the complete gene sequence.

The United States constitution, in its Bill of Rights, specifically forbids an event such as the conversion of Armenia, in America.  In fact, it clearly states that there cannot be a state religion or forbidding one religion officially over others.

That first year of the Youth Ministry Center it was difficult to explain this nuance to parents and grandparents of the students. Conflict between Church and State is a bigger problem than might be imagined within the Armenian community, especially across generational and educational lines. When we opened the Youth Ministries Center, parents saw the importance of having their kids vaccinated against the materialism that was so prevalent around us. But they saw the priest, namely me, as the “Official Christian” in that it was his (my) responsibility to buck the system.

I remember a group of parents questioned me about prayer in school, and they were shocked when I told them that I was against it. What? Why would a priest be against prayer? I had to explain that if I, an Armenian priest, pray, then tomorrow the Rabbi will be invited, the next day the Imam would offer a prayer and everyone else who has a religious title and following. Sure there are many things we can agree on, but I’m not that confident that I could agree on all across the board.

The Youth Ministries Center was a place where a prayer could be offered. Many of the kids would come after school and on Sundays for prayers. I was pleased that they were coming not because of coercion but of their own free will. It was the beginning of changing the mindset.

Let’s continue tomorrow where we left off today as we continue with more untold stories and miracles from 20 years ago today. I invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you can hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

Cover: Surreal rendering of Armenian Church wrapped in a double helix molecule. 2023 Fr. Vazken

20 years ago: Famine to Feast

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today:

Between the years 2003 and 2016 we ran an experiment in an area of Glendale, California known as “Ground Zero,” a place that Armenian organizations had ignored and forgotten, a place where education, identity and prayer came together. These are the untold stories from the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center.

Today’s Episode: Famine to Feast

World Vision is an organization that I connected with in the late 1990’s. It has a very simple premise of following the Matthew 25 invitation of seeing Jesus in the “least of my brothers and sisters.” It was only natural that we develop a closer bond between this group and our newly formed “In His Shoes” mission.

One of World Vision’s programs, at the time, was called the “30 hour Famine.” It was a planned famine to give young people (read all of us) an understanding of hunger, study the causes and raise much needed funds to feed the hungry of the world. I had two years of experience organizing this famine while at the St. Gregory Church in Pasadena. The formula was simple, each participant had to find sponsors, for instance $1 an hour, who would donate according to  the participant’s ability to remain hungry. We organized the event inside the church hall.

An organized famine is foreign territory for an Armenian community, especially for a group of people hurting from displacement from wars and political upheavals. We turned over the collected money to World Vision and they in turn used the money to provide for children and families in some of the most impoverished areas on earth. The first year, we had about 25 kids participate. We had to expel (call their parents) three of them who snuck out at night for a bite to eat. When they returned, it was the smell of heavily onion-seasoned Armenian kebab that betrayed them! 30 hours of fasting is no easy feat, but I was proud that the majority of them kept their side of the bargain, and it was a success. We raised funds, but even more, we raised awareness for hunger and our response to others in the world.

Trauma scars people to various degrees. The Armenian Genocide, in a sense the trauma of traumas, has left a very large scar on the psyche of the entire Armenian nation. There are many wounds that have to be healed, or at the very least, addressed. Armenians have been on the receiving end of tragedy, from Genocide to Soviet occupation, to civil wars and political upheavals in their new adopted lands (Middle East). So, it was understandable when we received complaints about sending the money on those outside our Armenian community. Or maybe I read too much into it and it was simply that the money was going outside of controlled boundaries.

Moving from Pasadena and opening the Youth Ministries Center, we started with a clean slate. We invited kids to participate. We had them collect money. While World Vision provided Bible Study material as activities during the “famine,” I took the liberty of tailoring the lessons to our In His Shoes platform, namely, to connect the dots with the Armenian Genocide and the plight of the Armenian people who were labeled in the post-Genocide period as the “Starving Armenians,” by National Geographic, no less (circa 1935).

We held the first “famine” at the Center with a couple of dozen kids. We camped out in the church – sleeping bags on the floors and pews. A few parents came to help my wife Susan and I with chaperoning the younger ones. The participants ranged in age from 13 to 30. We set a buy-in amount, that is, participants would have to raise a minimum amount. I believe it was $50.

I invited friends of the ministry to come and speak about Christian charity. Among them were my sister Anush Avejic, businessman David Mgrublian and attorney Christopher Armen. In between lectures, we had wellness checks, made sure people were drinking water, and moving with mild exercises. In the evening we watched “Lillies of the Field” with 1963 Oscar winner Sidney Poitier, followed by a discussion on the film as well as an assortment of topics.

Hosanna Aroyan was the student leader. She was a natural organizer and articulated herself well. She reported to me that we had collected almost $10,000 in pledges from the community. We had a couple of anonymous donors who said they would match our funds. With those matching funds we started the 30 Hour Famine with about $30,000 in pledges. I was checking World Vision’s website that weekend and reading about matching funds. That night they posted a 6-to-1 and a 5-to-1 grant.

Sunday morning. We woke the kids up in the church. Sleep didn’t help their hunger and they were tired and exhausted. A few were light-headed. The 30 hours was to finish at 12 noon with the reception of the Holy Communion, the sacred Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. We were getting ready to start services when I received an acknowledgment from World Vision, our collected funds had been matched with a few different funds and we got creative by offering the matched fund totals to our anonymous donors. We were at half-a-million dollars! I could not control my emotions and shared the news with Hosanna. We both burst into tears.

I can never forget that day. The church was filled with the parents and the curious. What were we going to announce? To the amazement of the congregation and the participants I announced that our collection exceeded a $500,000!

It was Easter Season, and the sermon just flowed. Here we were, children of the those labeled as “Starving Armenians” now we were feeding the starving of the world! We could not find a more profound expression of resurrection following crucifixion, than what was given to us that morning. We demonstrated Jesus’ challenge, “if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:10)

We continued to hold the “30 hour Famine” annually and it became a standing program of the In His Shoes ministry. It became more popular through the years, and eventually we were given space at Glendale Community College to hold the event and sleepover there. But that first year will always be special. We made a video that was shared with other youth groups at Armenian churches, but unfortunately the idea of a planned famine intruded on the comfort level of too many.

In 2009, while visiting the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in Armenia with my son Varoujan, we were using backpacks that were given to us by World Vision. Someone spotted the logo on the packs and they pointed us to a seminar that was being held for Sunday School teachers, in a building adjacent to the Cathedral. It was organized by World Vision at the invitation of the Catholicos of All Armenian, His Holiness Karekin II. There they were, World Vision, at the Center of our Armenian Church. We went in and introduced ourselves and couldn’t feel prouder that goodness was spreading.

We continue tomorrow with more untold stories and miracles from 20 years ago today. I invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you can hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

Note: The image which appears on the cover, “Peacock with ‘eh'” was created at the Famine under the direction of Anush Avejic. Years later it was donated to the St. Mark Episcopal Church in Glendale and hangs prominently in their sanctuary to this day.

Mission for All

/0 Comments/in ,
Not just a greeting: A way of life, a mission for all
A few weeks ago, we heard the message that has shaken humanity for the last two millennia. This was the first gospel, the Good News, which the disciples exclaimed to one another: Christ has risen! 
Faithful to their apostolic commission, they ventured off into the world. Thaddeus, we know, came to Armenia and a few years later his brother in Christ, Bartholomew followed. From this group, Thomas took the Gospel all the way to India (about 52 CE), sharing the blessings of the Resurrection along the way and in India establishing the Church.
 
The Indian Orthodox Church is one of a handful of churches that are in communion with the Armenian Church. Along with the Ethiopian, the Coptic and Syriac Churches, we profess the faith of the universal Church as expressed the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus. 
In the early 1990s, while serving as the Parish Priest at the St. Andrew Armenian Church in Cupertino, California, I was approached by a group of Indian Orthodox asking if they could use our church sanctuary while their church was being built. With the permission of our Primate, they, the priest and congregation, would come to our church every Sunday for worship. When the building process on their church sanctuary was completed, their Catholicos (the chief bishop) traveled from India to dedicate and consecrate the building. I was invited to the ceremony. 
 
At the new church building, I took a seat in the back, making sure not to interfere with the dedication proceedings. Suddenly, I was approached by one of the priests who asked me to come forward and meet the Catholicos. I was not expecting this honor and felt the anxiety of the moment. I greeted His Holiness and in respect I kissed his hand which donned his pontifical ring. They directed me to sit on a chair next to the Catholicos.
 
What happened next is something which I cannot and will never forget. It became a turning point for the direction of my ministry, and I hope, today, it will serve as a message and a direction for all of us within the Armenian Church. 
In front of hundreds of parishioners gathered inside the new church, His Holiness took off his ring – the ring of authority – and handed it to me. Puzzled, I looked at him for an explanation. He then asked me to read the inscription inside the ring. To my surprise, it was written in Armenian! Engraved in Armenian letters, it said that it was a gift given to him by the then-Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Vazken I (of blessed memory). Even more puzzled, I looked at him for an explanation. 
 
The Indian Catholicos said he wore this ring given to him by his “brother-in-Christ” because it is a constant reminder of the plight of the Armenian people. He went on to explain that the Indian Orthodox had always enjoyed the respect of the maharajas, the royals and the elite in India. The Indian Orthodox church and its people had a place of honor in their country. “We have never known Christianity through suffering,” he confessed to all of us assembled in that church, “We have always celebrated our faith with joy.”
And then he continued by pointing to me and thereby to the Armenian Church, saying, “The Armenians, on the other hand, have never known Christianity without suffering!”  And then, in a strong tone that only a father might invoke to stress the importance of what he was about to say, he leaned down from the altar area and exhorted his parishioners, “Learn from the Armenians. Theirs is a story of suffering, of sacrifice on the road to victory. They have struggled to maintain and live their faith. Theirs is the story of the Cross of Christ. And for this reason, I wear this ring, to never forget that the Cross of Christ is at the Center of our Faith.”
 
Those words struck me hard. He was saying something we only casually acknowledged, that it was an honor and a privilege to belong to the Armenian Church. This was no ordinary moment. It was the Apostolic Church exclaiming: Christ has risen! Imagine, 2000 years ago, two brothers leave Jerusalem, one went to Armenia and other to India. Imagine 2000 years later these two brothers find each other and they share the story of their travels and experiences over those 20 centuries. One of the brothers gifts a ring to the other brother, who wears that ring as a constant reminder that the Cross of Christ is at the center of our Christian faith and should not and cannot be avoided!
 
And today, the simple and humble gesture by His Holiness Vazken I is still talking to us. His voice is very clear. We, as an Armenian Church have a unique mission, yes, to our children, but also to the world. We are the witnesses of Christ-resurrected because we are the witnesses of Christ-crucified. Imagine that! Our suffering is not a reason to attract the pity by others, rather it is our compliance with the Divine Teaching, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)  
 
Because we have known suffering, we look at life in a very different manner. We do not reject suffering but embrace it on the path to resurrection, for in fact, there is no resurrection without a crucifixion. And we are the living example of that resurrected people. 
 
When we – the Christian Church – speaks to the world about resurrection, who can understand that? Like Thomas who could not believe his Lord was alive, who among us, can comprehend a person dying and coming back to life? But when we, members of the Armenian Church, talk about crucifixion, then the entire world can understand. Because the cross has been a reality in our lives, and we have overcome it as a resurrected people. 
 
On a personal scale, your health, your family relationships – with parents, with children, with spouses – financial difficulties, anger, disease, depression, loneliness are all crosses we bear. Our Lord Jesus, on the cross felt anguish, felt the loss of friends, loneliness, the loss of loved ones, betrayal and hatred. He gave us the power to overcome the cross, “In this world you face persecution, but courage, the victory is mine. I have conquered this world.” (John 16:33)
 
Our world today is in disarray. Death to the innocent and disorder all around are realities. We see shootings, we hear of disease, wars and the loss of children. Here in this country, we struggle with intolerance, racism, and hatred. Who, if not we Armenians, know the dangers of that intolerance which led to the ultimate example of racism, namely Genocide, in 1915 and continuing last year (and today) in Artsakh and Armenia? The US border is filled with young children, estranged from their parents, crying out for a safe haven, for a chance at freedom. Who, if not we Armenians, know the power of those cries for safety and freedom, after being terrorized for centuries under Ottoman rule? We understand the Cross and we also know the Resurrection. We have been homeless and hungry, but we know the streets were not where humans belong, we did not let hopelessness rule us. We know and have the language of pain. Today the pandemic has led to despair. Anxiety and depression are taking their toll. In that despair, a feeling of hopelessness leads to escape. Our faith points to the greater victory that we experience by looking at life, at family, at art, music and dance as expressions of the human spirit. Yes, we Armenians have known difficulties, but our Christ-centeredness makes us know that beyond crucifixion there is resurrection.  
 
When we look up at the Cross of Christ, we see the ultimate terms of innocence and therefore injustice when we witness the Son of God, giving his life. The Cross looked like an end, but he conquered! He overcame the Cross with the ultimate power of goodness, namely Love – giving, sacrificing and caring for others. It is to that Cross that we are called to witness!
And so, when we greet one another: Christ is Risen, this is not merely a page from our past, it is the expression of the life we live. More than a greeting, it is our calling. It is our ministry. And we accomplish our ministry using the tools given to us by Jesus Christ himself: faith, hope and love. By living in love, we express faith and offer hope to a hurting world. Pronounce the message “Christ has risen” with your mouth, understand it through the witness of our Holy Church, and live it all the days of your life.  

20 years ago: One of us

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: Untold stories of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center

Today’s Episode: One of us

Finding yourself and seeing yourself in the Gospel message is part of Christian introspection. There is a much different relationship you have with what is known as the Old Testament. Those are historic stories and therefore stuck in time. In the Gospels, you are invited to see yourself in Christ’s parables, such as the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son. Not so with Old Testament stories. For instance, it is a mistake to console yourself by comparing your sufferings with Jobs, rather, understand his story as maintaining faith despite difficulties.

The words of Christ are timeless, that is, they transcend time, whether in a parable or in his messages. In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) Jesus’ says,  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” These words are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. They are spoken from God.

Our “In His Shoes” mission was adopted early at the Armenian Church Youth Ministries was taking off and becoming popular among the students. In Genocide commemoration, held on April 24, In His Shoes was a sensible alternative to yelling and protesting in front of empty buildings, plus it provided positive exposure to the plight of the Armenians. And the best part of it was that it was in step with the Gospel message of love, light and goodness. We were walking in the shoes of others.

We were looking for opportunities to demonstrate how love can be a new means of expression for Genocide awareness. That first year, April 24 was marked with a blood drive in the basement of our building. The American Red Cross came out and we lined up donors. The message we proclaimed was simple, “In 1915 we gave blood against our will, today willing we give blood for the sake of saving lives.” The students were quick to get on board. Though some could not donate because of their age, they brought in relatives to fill our quotas.

This was something new in the community. We had done the April 24 blood drives in Cupertino and Pasadena, but the number of Armenians in Glendale, especially around the Center, prompted discussions and questions.

Q: Who will get this blood?

A: It will go into the community blood bank collected by the Red Cross to be used by those who need it.

Q: You mean non-Armenians might receive this blood?

A: Yes! In fact, it is possible that a Turk might need blood and your blood will go to him or her!

Now, we are truly talking about walking in the shoes of others. Now “love your enemies” starts making sense – helping someone because they are a child of God. And, on a personal level, what better payback can there be than to have a Turk walking around with Armenian blood?! We collected blood and reached out with other programs as well.

At the time, recording artist Joane Osborne’s song, “One of us” was getting a lot of airtime. We adopted the song for the Youth Ministries. It helped us articulate what we discovered and were trying to practice with the students: to recognize God as “The least of His brothers and sisters.” (Matthew 25)

We would sing this song during those early years as a mantra for us, our relationship with others and our expression of faith. “If God had a name, what would it be? And would you call it to His face? If you were faced with Him in all His glory? What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, God is great, yeah, God is good.

What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us?  Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?

With this song, we were celebrating accessibility. Jesus’ teaching was revolutionary because through him God was accessible to us all. He invited us to engage with God. And we were witnessing the miracle at the Center – here were young kids, coming to an Armenian Church and understanding themselves as participants is God’s Kingdom. It was a time of celebration, in this forgotten area of Glendale, kids were waking up to God’s glory by seeing it in the love they expressed to others.

We continue tomorrow with more untold stories from 20 years ago today, and invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you can hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

Cover: Old man smoking in Thailand, Envato Elements

20 years ago: In His Shoes Formation

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: Untold stories of the Youth Ministries Center

Today’s Episode: In His Shoes

Thankfully April 24 only comes around once a year. It’s a super-charged day of Armenianness. It is the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide which began with a round-up of intellectuals and leaders of the community on April 24, 1915. It was the beginning of a systematic program of annihilation of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire. By the time it was over, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered – men, women, and children – and about the same number were exiled from their historic homeland creating the Diaspora, with Armenians in all corners of the world and in every country.

The Genocide is a very personal story with me because all four of my grandparents were Genocide survivors. All four of my wife’s grandparents were Genocide survivors. We grew up with the stories of atrocities that were so horrendous that they often told with silence and tears.

As far as I can remember, on every April 24 we would attend a commemoration activity of the Armenian Martyrs. In 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the Genocide, a small group of men got together with the vision of creating a monument to honor the Martyrs. My father was one of those men. As a little boy I remember him going to meetings, the events, fundraisers, and finally the opening of the monument, the first one on public property in Montebello, California. It was a small but meaningful way in which we honored the memory of those who perished. A few years ago they placed a plaque on the monument with the name of the committee members. Seeing my father’s name there swelled pride in me, and reminded me of commemorations from years past and what they have deteriorated to today.

Fifty, Sixty, Seventy, and even eighty years after the Genocide we would have survivors at these events who would share their eye-witness account of the mayhem their experienced in their homes, during the most tender years of their lives. Today, these events are filled with a demand for justice (from Turkey) and rhetoric that often is forgotten on April 25. I’ve always maintained that the easiest day to be Armenian is April 24, and the hardest day is April 25 and the 364 that follow.

At the Youth Ministry Center, kids were coming in because of the sign out front. They knew it was a place where both their Armenian ethnic identity and their Christian faith would be nurtured and grow. I wanted the reality of the Easter experience – Christ has risen – to resonate in their experience as Armenians whose ancestors, now three or four generations ago, had experienced Genocide.

We organized an overnight retreat in Santa Clarita, California. I asked my friends Linda Maxwell and Jose Quintanar to help me facilitate the discussions. As always, they lovingly obliged.

This group of 20 young people, ages 14-18, contemplated the meaning of being the grandchildren (the term was use generically to denote either great or great-great grandchild) of Genocide survivors in the middle of America today with all the amenities and comforts they enjoy.

There was really only one choice at the time if you didn’t want to stay home on April 24, you would attend a march, usually kicked off with a group of clergy reciting a prayer, then they’d pass out banners and posters “demanding” justice for crimes committed against your ancestors and you’d march through the streets of Hollywood to the Turkish Embassy. Once, there, you’d participate in a rally with loud speeches demanding justice from the Turks. No one was sure if the there was anyone listening or if anyone was even in the Embassy building. On top of it all, the math didn’t figure either. The number of Armenians in the entire world was less than the number of people on Los Angeles freeways on any given day of the week. In other words, we lacked critical mass.

The students of the Youth Ministry deliberated and discussed. They prayed and discussed some more. At the end a reading from Scripture opened their minds and their path. From Matthew 25, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…. When you did it to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.”

They came up with a very simple and clear definition of Armenian-Christian identity for children of the new millennium: To be an Armenian means you learn and grow from your history, and feel the pain of others who suffer the same fate. Remembering the past makes sense in defining your present. And so, this small group of young Armenian-Americans, distanced from the Genocide by almost a century, came up with a simple formula: Walk in the shoes of others. Because we have suffered, we have an obligation to help others who suffer. Our Christian imperative to love and help others is accented by our Armenian history.

And so the In His Shoes mission was born of the Youth Ministries Center. Through the years, they have organized rallies for justice in Darfur, collected funds – $500,000+ to aid the hungry in Africa, delivered a forgiveness conference in greater Los Angeles, and met with Gov. Schwarzenegger and were part of an effort that divested California and the UC Regents from the Sudan to the tune of $6Billion, just to name the larger products.

Now, if you’re thinking miracles only happen with thunder bolts and lightning, consider how much greater the flash is with this. Consider these are the grand children of a generation that they tried to annihilate, these were people that were not supposed to be here, but they’re here, living, thriving and providing for others. Christ has risen! And so have we!

We continue tomorrow with more untold stories from 20 years ago today, and invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you can hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

Cover: First logo of In His Shoes, created by Varoujan Movsesian, 2003

20 Years Ago: And the kids came

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: Untold stories from the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center

Today’s episode: And then the kids arrived.

Following the Resurrection of Jesus, that is in the first Eastertide season, the Church grew fairly rapidly with regular converts. Christianity was an underground movement, and the Church remained underground until the 4th Century. Very simply, the powers to be were not happy with the Church and her growth. The growth of the first century Church is documented in the book of the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, which follow Acts in the Biblical canon.

A reading of the Gospels will make it clear that Jesus’ popularity and following did not sit well with the established religious community of his time as well. Why else are we here in the Easter Season? His deeds and teachings sentenced him a torturous and slow death on the Cross, and the Resurrection is the mark of the triumph of Truth. Life won out over death as Love proved stronger than hatred.

The purity and absolute Truth of Jesus Christ was his calling card. This is why the disciples, one-by-one left family and home to follow him. This is why the landscape of the Sermon on the Mount was packed and why there were tens of thousands who needed to be fed in the loaves and fish story. (Matthew 14)

What we were doing with the Armenian Youth Ministries Center was an experiment. We were building on the Faith and Teaching of the Church. Since the earliest days of my ministry as a deacon and as a priest I never understood nor appreciated the bait-and-switch approach to ministry. We’ve heard it often: Come to church, we have a great basketball court. Once you get there, surprise! They have you in a Bible Study. I cannot understand how this is supposed to promote goodwill between the youth and the church. Obviously, the kids that come want to play ball and sit through a Bible Study if it means some time on the court. But what does that entire bait-and-switch operation really saying about the church? Do we feel that our main “product” is so defective or unappealing that we have to trick people into coming? Ideally, you want bring people in on the basis of your Faith – your main product – and afterwards celebrate with fellowship – whether with hoops, on a bowling alley, at a picnic ground.

The truth of the matter is that the YMCA or the local high school have better basketball courts than the church. But there is no one who has a better understanding of the Christianity and the articles of the Faith than the Apostolic Church, the Body of Christ, the one that was there at the time of Christ. And that became the platform on which we built the Youth Ministries Center. Let’s combat the evils that were before us, whether drugs, loneliness, violence, gangs, whatever they may be, let’s combat them with the Love that Jesus Christ offers.

The kids started coming.

After that first Easter word got out that we were on the corner in Glendale. There was no magic to bringing kids in. We left the doors open and curiosity did the rest. It was a quiet haven for those who wanted to get out of the afterschool hustle-bustle. We had a church upstairs and a large multipurpose room downstairs where many kids would come after school just to hang out, do their homework or wait for a parent pick up. There was no covering up that this was a church. In the sanctuary, Bibles were available for the taking. We’d talk about issues. Weekly Bible Studies were attended by the kids and their parents. We had our social activities, but they weren’t the reason, rather they were the places where fellowship took place.

And then came April 24, only 10 days after our opening and four days after Easter. With all the positive energy we were putting out there for our Ministry, the switch to mourning, sorrow, and victimization was not the turn I wanted to take. We had addressed these issues at my former parishes, but this was Glendale. We were in the largest concentration of Armenians outside of Armenia. If there is one thing Armenians all rally around, it’s recognizing the atrocities committed by the Turks against the Armenian Nation culminating in Armenian Genocide. One-and-a-half million Armenians were murdered, and over that amount of people were exiled from their historic homeland.

This was very personal for me. My grandparents are survivors of the Armenian Genocide. I grew up with stories of the Genocide heard firsthand. I resented people who turned on their Armenianness on April 24 and forgot about in on April 25. Further, as a priest, I felt a hypocrisy in celebrating the victory of Life on Easter and tossing the euphoria out the window days later to mourn a crucifixion. If we are the inheritors of the title “First Christian Nation” and “First Genocide of the 20th Century” then we have to come up with a response that reflects both the Resurrection and the horrors of Genocide. We had done it at my parishes in Cupertino and Pasadena, now Glendale was going to feel the power Gospel expressed.

We continue tomorrow with more untold stories from 20 years ago today, and invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you can hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

20 years ago: Kharizmah!

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: Untold stories of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center

Today’s Episode: Kharizmah!

The 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” popularized the phrase, “If you build it, they will come.” It was a magical film, as the saying might imply. Voices were telling the Kevin Costner character that “If you build it, he will come,” referring to Shoeless Joe Jackson of Chicago Black Sox fame.

The truth is, it takes more than a building, it takes more than a location and more than a personality to bring people together. And then, it takes even more to keep the people there.  That “more” is what we call in the Church, the Power of the Holy Spirit, or what sometimes might be referred to as “charisma” Dr. Dekmejian would call it out with its Greek inflection, “kharizmah” (χάρισμα).

Dr. Deacon Hrair Dekmejian, who was my mentor going into this project and a co-founder of the Youth Ministries, was a professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California. He had studied theology and graduated Columbia University with his Ph.D. He was well versed in the history and development of the Church, and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge about the Armenian Church liturgies. He was recognized for his humility and led the choir accordingly. He’d often spoke about the kharizmah and we probably didn’t understand it well at first but as the years went on it sunk in as we started seeing miracle after miracle unfold. The word itself has a few meanings, including a favor with which one receives without any merit of his own, the gift of divine grace. This would fall into the understanding of agape love often discussed by Christian theologians. But the one definition of kharizmah which Dekemejian pointed to was the graces or gifts denoting extraordinary powers, distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ, the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating on their souls by the Holy Spirit.

We realized early on, that if this Youth Ministry Center was to be effective, life-changing, and have an impact on the young people, it wouldn’t be by ordinary or conventional means.

We opened on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2003, to a packed house. We had clergy, dignitaries and locals all assembled with a basic curiosity of what was happening. We were convinced that, if we had a product (think of the Field of Dreams quote), people would support it. Maria Hamparian, a friend and capable organizer came on board to handle donations and ensure that the program would be funded and sustained. She stayed on as the financial officer for all our projects and shared her talents with and at the Center diligently to the end.

That day, I spoke as did Mr. Mehrabian and our then Primate, Archbishop Vatché Hovsepian, of blessed memory. It was a get acquainted moment. People came up to me and shared their concerns for the youth. This was an area that Armenian organizations wrote-off and ignored. In Armenian, there is a phrase we became familiar all too quickly, “Chaylami hokepanutiun” (=Ostrich psychology) – Stick your head in the sand and your problems disappear. Armenian organizations didn’t want to deal with the reality of Armenian gangs, drugs, drug addictions, suicide, domestic and outright violence and the worst problem of all, materialism and the conviction that it was a solution to their problems. Yes, this would require kharismah. We announced that the first Divine Liturgy would be celebrated on that Holy Thursday, four days later. Remembering the monumental work in front of us, I wanted the first Liturgy to correspond with the feast of the Lord’s Last Supper.

Everything was in place for the opening. From the palm crosses to the decorations on the altar, from the curtain to the oil lamp, everything was glistening. It was a very humble offering of everyone who participated. For instance, the pews were well-worn and in need of refinishing. Mr. Mehrabian had them all taken to his Kia dealership, where they were sanded and painted dark brown in their body shop, and returned for the opening. Every part of this building reflected that type of donation which came from the heart.

What was left? The Vemkar. The Divine Liturgy can only be celebrated on a consecrated altar. In the event there isn’t one, a vemkar, a consecrated stone, is placed on the table and the chalice and the Holy Sacrament are consecrated atop it. Throughout history, when Armenians have defended themselves against enemies, they have gone into battle armed with the Body and Blood of Christ. On the battlefields, a vemkar is used. How appropriate, I thought, we were going into battle against some of the nastiest evils of our times – drugs, violence, materialism – and we would begin with a Liturgy celebrated on a vemkar.

Archbishop Vatché obliged us by consecrating a flat marker stone carved with a cross on it. Until the church was consecrated the following year, we celebrated the Holy Badarak atop that vemkar. The stone was consecrated with Holy Miuron, or chrism. It is a holy oil made of the essence of 40 different fragrant flowers and is renewed every seven years by the Catholicos. He blesses it with the Holy relic containing the bone of St. Gregory the Illuminator’s Right hand, with the Holy Gevart, the actual spear that lanced the side of Jesus on the Cross as recorded in the Gospel of John (19:33-34) and added to mix is miuron from the previous batch. In other words, there are molecules in the muiron from the time of the Illuminator and in fact, from the time of Jesus Christ, but that explanation we will save for another time. We now had a vemkar that connected this church on the corner with the history of the Armenian Church and Armenian people.

It all came together nicely, and as one of the earliest miracles of the Ministry we shared the Holy Body and Blood of Christ with the new congregants of this small church on the corner. We lived only with hope that we were arming ourselves with the right weaponry, the love and power of Christ, as we began the Armenian Church Youth Ministry.

We continue tomorrow with more untold stories from 20 years ago today and invite you to join us. If you missed earlier episodes, you may hear them on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

20 years ago: Resurrecting Presence

/1 Comment/in ,

It was 20 Years ago today: The untold story of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center

Today’s episode: Resurrecting the Presence

The days that followed the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ were days of organization. An event unparalleled in history had taken place and it was necessary to carry on the momentum experienced by the witnesses of that Miracle of miracles. The celebrations we hold today, 2000 years later, minimizes exponentially the magnitude of the actual resurrection event. Bunnies, eggs, Easter bonnets and baskets, are hardly as shocking and awe inspiring as witnessing a person be critically wounded, assaulted, and killed and then finding that person not only alive, but engaging in conversation and in full power, so much so that he is calling the shots for the newly created Church.

In the Gospel we read that Jesus appeared to the Disciples and breathed into them the Holy Spirit giving them authority over sins. (John 20:21-23)

Not only was he alive, but he was organizing and empowering those who witnessed the resurrection. And to those who did not see him, such as the Disciple Thomas, he offered an opportunity to interact. We read in the Gospel of John (20:24-29)

Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples and this time Thomas was with them. Jesus said to him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

And there, Thomas made a complete confession, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

It’s easy to label Thomas as a doubting personality, but in fact, he is like people around us today, and like most people who have come to Christ over the last 2000 years. We all have our doubts. The Resurrection was not an event described by bunny rabbits and colored eggs. This was an earth shaking, history making reality. Humanity would come to split the calendar by this event into BC and AD.

Like Thomas, all people need is a little confirmation of the events. Thomas wanted a tactile feel of the Risen Lord, instead it was his other senses which gave him the bravery to commit “My Lord and my God.” Read the story; Thomas never touches Jesus, he only confesses Jesus as his Lord and God once he has been touched by the presence of the Living Resurrected Lord.

The Armenian Church, as an Apostolic Church, is the Body of Christ. It must reflect the Resurrected Lord in all that it is. In other words the Body of Christ should jar its people to understand that they are in the presence of the Resurrected Lord.

The Youth Ministries’ Center began during the Holy Easter Season. Mr. Mehrabian had given me the keys to the Center at the beginning of Lent. He quickly instructed his team to renovate the church building to bring it up to code and standards of an Armenian Church. Plumbers, electricians and contractors were moving walls, wires and pipes. I was blessed with a team too, they had the tools to transform on the spiritual side. We had 40 days to present the Resurrected Lord on this corner in Glendale.

My family, always part of the ministry equation, went into action, with Susan sewing beautiful banners draping across the newly converted altar area, showing the loaves and fish, and the holy chalice. My youngest, Christaphor, started “sewing” together crosses out of palm branches. My older two, Varoujan and Sevan, had taken up woodwork as a hobby and were only too anxious to create ornamental fans (kushots) out of a wide array of materials.

We tore out the altar area with its adult pool and replaced it with an area where the Liturgy would be celebrated. Mike Geragos, a designer and architect, built an Armenian style altar. Tamar Khatchadourian (nee Papirian), a faithful member of our Bible Study, scoured streets of  downtown looking for items to decorate the church and its altar as closely as we could to an Armenian church. She was quite innovative in her selections, going through Catholic supply stores and mom-and-pop curios shops, finding cloths, candle holders and everything that should belong there. She made it happen.

Day-by-day the old dilapidated building was turning into a church. Very much like Jesus’ body, this building was being resurrected. In the end, we had a church which looked, smelled, sounded and felt like an Armenian Church. The people who came in that week, entered and came in contact with the presence of Christ. No wonder it was special and sacred space. It was from here that the miracles came pouring out.

Join me tomorrow as we continue with the untold stories of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center which began “20 years ago today.”

If you missed earlier episodes, you can binge listen on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.

20 years ago: Tearing Prejudice

/0 Comments/in ,

It was 20 years ago today: The untold story of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center.

Between the years 2003 and 2016 we ran an experiment in an area of Glendale, California known as “Ground Zero,” a place that Armenian organizations have ignored and forgotten, a place where education, identity and prayer came together.

This is a series about the miracles that we witnessed at this small church on the corner with a worldwide ministry. This is part of the Armodoxy for Today podcast series about the Armenian Church now, patterned after the ancient Apostolic Church, then.

Today’s Episode: Tearing Prejudice

Not everyone was happy that we had established the Armenian Church Youth Ministries on that special corner in Glendale. About a week or two after we had moved in I was visited by a member of the Glendale School Board. He was the only Armenian member at the time and he was the only one who expressed his dissatisfaction with our presence. His demeaner wasn’t stern, as much it was confusing. “You had no business starting this Youth Ministries without asking me!” he ordered. Because he was talking to an Armenian priest he figured I was someone who had no knowledge of the country and its laws. I looked at him with a you’ve-gotta-be-kidding expression and he responded with a sad delusional look. It was obvious the seat on the School Board had gotten to his head and he thought he was the gatekeeper. He left my office that day unhappy. I began my work understanding that the town had an old-boys network and I had crossed one of the lines.

The place where it mattered, though, was the school itself. Mrs. Hasmik Danielian was the principal of Hoover High School. She not only welcomed me but embraced my arrival by extending an invitation to Catalina Island for an overnight retreat for the Senior class. Linda Maxwell and Jose Quintanar from We Care for Youth were running the retreat to deal with prejudices, especially among the school’s minorities: Hispanic, Armenian, Asian and African American.

I was honored to be asked to attend. In a time when the conversation about separation of church and state was reaching its peak, here I was, an Armenian priest, invited to a public school event, where issues of social and ethical concerns were being discussed.

Catalina Island is an hour-and-a-half boat ride from Los Angeles harbor. We got to an area of the island that was secluded and away from the touristic area. Linda and Jose had organized different panels and discussions for the students to express and speak. Danielian, a few other administrators and I went along as a “support crew.” I was intrigued and was content observing and learning.

During that time, tensions ran high inside the high school between the different ethnic groups. Street fights were common after school, and the number of expulsions became evident by the kids hanging out on the street corners during the days.

At the evening activity Linda and Jose did their magic. They handed out large sheets of paper – poster size – and had students write their prejudices. No holds were barred. “Mexicans are lazy,” “Armenians are filthy,” “Asians are high-achievers,” “Black people are not bright.” And so on… some were brutal. All around us, in this large room, the posters hung as a reminder of how hurtful and disgusting prejudice comments could get.

And then the magic happened. One-by-one Linda and Jose went around the room challenging the prejudiced with hard fact. Fact, not from a book, but from the audience itself.

There an Asian student stood up. She was a C-average student and had failed to get into the university she had chosen. High achiever? Not a chance.  An Armenian young man stood up. He was well groomed, even at this outdoor retreat, the antithesis of “dirty and smelly.” A young Mexican girl spoke of her accomplishment academically while maintaining employment for the last three years. Her key to success, she admitted, was hard work. And a black student attested that he had picked up a scholarship in mathematics at UCLA, for his achievements in the physics club at school. One-by-one, the prejudices written on the posters were destroyed and accordingly, the students destroyed the posters. They tore them up!

It was as easy and as simple as communicating, learning, knowing, talking and establishing a dialogue with your neighbor. It may sound like a lot of work, but these are all manifestations of love, which is the starting point.

The trip back to the mainland was quicker – we had dumped our prejudices at the island. Some might have thought that because we were lighter, the trip was faster. I think it was because we wanted this magical weekend to last longer.

Prejudices, whether they are among ethnic groups, students, or even a School Board member looking at a young priest, are built on ignorance. They are overcome by the knowledge which comes from education. It’s the basic education given to us by Jesus when he taught that we all are chosen by God. Each of us, not a special ethnic group or financial status defines us in front of God. As the song says, “Yellow, red, black and white, we are precious in His sight.” You may think it’s a child’s song, but children already know that. It’s the rest of us that need to learn.

After those couple of days, we felt our place on the corner was ordained, sacred, special and unique, because we, the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center was now a part of the education process to promote peace.

Join me tomorrow, as we continue the journey which began 20 years ago today.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can binge listen on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.