Sermon/Wish for the New Year: Courage

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Last sermon for 2020 and a Wish for the New Year: Courage
By Fr. Vazken Movsesian
Based on a sermon delivered on 27 December 2020 at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church in Pasadena, California on the Feast of St. Stephen. The video of the sermon in Armenian and English is shared below.

 

Courage is the topic of today’s sermon. It is timely on this last Sunday of the year as we look forward to the New Year. We have all heard the complaints about 2020 and the wish that it would hurry and go away. We want to banish the year into memory with the expectation that somehow and someway 2021 will be better than the past year plagued with pandemic, racial unrest, political chaos and for us as Armenians, war, which has crippled us physically, morally and spiritually. And while the start of the year 2021 might seem like a convenient place from which to measure time, we should know that viruses and feelings of intolerance don’t follow calendars. Change comes about when we work and actualize change. It takes courage, to accept the current conditions and opt to bring about change.
We are in the season of Advent – preparing for the Christmas message that Christ is born and revealed. Courage is required to fully accept and act upon that message, because that message was one which has and can change our world toward something better.
In talking about courage, we remember that yesterday our Church celebrated the feast of St. Stephen the first deacon and the first martyr of the Christian Church. Unfortunately, our people have turned into a people consumed by topic of martyrs and martyrdom (and tragically we are back at it in the aftermath of the War). It is unfortunate because we forget the reasons for the sacrifice in martyrdom, namely, we have lived life and lived it in a productive manner.
Rather than look at St. Stephen’s ministry, I’d like to focus on the descriptor “first” in his title. To be the first at anything requires courage. It requires going against the rules. It means you’re charting a new course. In our church we ascribe the title “Nakha” to those who were the first, for instance, St. Andrew is called the “Nakhagoch” or the “First-called” disciple of Christ (John 1:40). He was the brother of Peter the fisherman. You can only imagine the courage it took for him to tell his brother, “We have found the Lord…. Come let’s follow him…” Courage is found when you are committed to your beliefs, without wavering. Andrew put it out on the line – risking being mocked and even being on the receiving end of anger.
To be the first requires courage because you will be up against the strong current to maintain the status quo. Generally, people want change, but without a cost, that is, without discomfort. Courage is necessary to bring about change because you have to be strong in your commitment and you must be devoted to it completely, and full-heartedly. This is where your faith has to be strong, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Certainly, St. Stephen was committed to his Faith, because he paid the ultimate price for his faith. You don’t give up your life for things that you don’t believe. Courage comes when you are committed to your faith, when you’re willing to take the first step in the dark knowing and trusting that the staircase is there. And it is with this commitment to our faith in God that we embark on the New Year and accept the message that Christ is born and revealed!
Today’s Gospel message came to us from the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 19. It’s a story that many of us have heard but perhaps not in the context of courage. It’s about a wealthy man who gives three of his servants a considerable amount of money for them to use while he tends to business in another land. (This is pre-pandemic time, when travel was allowed and Zoom meetings were not necessary to conduct business.) And when the man returned, he asked for an accounting from those three servants. The first had taken the money and multiplied it by 10 and was awarded rights over ten townships. The second had multiplied it fivefold and was awarded rights over five townships. But the third servant was so scared to use his money that he wrapped his money in a handkerchief and returned it to his employer. Now mind you, he had not squandered it, nor lost it, but he did not use it! He is referred to in the parable as a “wicked” servant. In the Armenian grabar (ancient and original translation) he is called “anhavad,” that is, “without faith.” Yes, we note the connection between wickedness and being without faith.
Now think of this parable in terms of where you are in life. You’re looking for change toward the good. God has given you so much more than money. He has vested you with life, with love, with compassion. How are you using gifts? Courageously? To be courageous means you have faith and invest toward the change that brightens your life and the lives of others. Jesus concludes the parable by saying that the little that the wicked servant had was taken from him and given to the other, to which the parable ends with this disturbing verbal exchange: “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.  But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” (Luke 19:25-27)
It is disturbing on the face of it because we think in terms of material wealth and gain. No, this is not Jesus advocating for the capitalist dream of wealth accumulation. It’s a simple proclamation, that if you’re courageous enough to exercise your faith, you will find more faith.
My prayer for all of us is that we find the courage to live out our Faith, by sharing the goodness of life with others. During this period of Advent we prepare for the message of Christ is born and revealed. In fact, His Birth and Revelation is not about an event 2000 years ago, but about the possibilities as he’s born and revealed in our lives today, in a hurting world where courage to live, love and share is called for. May the New Year be filled with the expressions of our Faith and courage. May the blessings of the Christ Child push us to these expressions which make Christmas an event every day of our lives.

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Saints, Artsakh and the Power Within

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Sermon by Fr. Vazken Movsesian, 1 November 2020

St. Leon Armenian Cathedral, Burbank, California

English translation notes from the sermon

Ամենայն սրբովք զորս յիշատակեցաք ևս առաւելապէս, զՏէր աղաչեսցուք…

By all the saints whom we have commemorated, let us ask of the Lord… (from the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church)

Yesterday was All Saints Day in the Armenian Apostolic Church. Today is All Saints day in the West and in particular in the Roman Catholic Church, hence yesterday was the Eve of All Saints or All Hollow’s Day or Hollow’s eve, commonly referred to as Halloween.

Saints are perhaps the most misunderstood features of our church. Protestants criticize the intercession of the saints on several grounds, one of which being that the saints are dead people. We in the Armenian Church do not believe life ends at the grave, in fact, we believe that the soul is eternal. Just as we ask a friend or a family member to pray for us, we may also turn to the saints to pray for us, with the assurance that they live with us. This is why during the Liturgy we remember several saints, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the teachers and some of the saints we remember by name, for instance the Kings Abgar, Constantine, Tirtads or the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, and of course the Holy Mother of God, the Asdvadzadzin. We ask that they pray with and for us.

By rejecting the saints, we miss a very real opportunity to connect with the Divine. As a Christian, I hold as my highest ideal Jesus Christ. When he says, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48) it’s a standard that is very difficult, perhaps even impossible to achieve. We hold Jesus as the primary example of that perfection; however, we must remember that he is God. But the saints are people like you and me. Every one of them has a will, desires, wants, has dealt with envy, pride and all that define us as human. Every one of them has been challenged with the realities of everyday life and its hardships and have confronted that life with imperfections of the human selfhood. But, somehow, they have managed to rise above the situation. They have risen to a place of goodness that inspires us. This, then, is the power of the saints in our lives. They are people. They have faults. And with their faults they have overcome life’s challenges. In other words, they are realistic examples for us. Look at their lives, we know that we too can rise from our human nature and our situation. So how did they do it? By having Christ, the Christ-force, inside them and by tapping into that power.

I’d like to talk to you about the power especially today as we realize what we all have known and have now rediscovered: We Armenians are alone! The attack on Artsakh is not a border skirmish, it’s a backdoor entry by our enemy to finish what they attempted in 1915. They are ready to finish us off. This is the existential threat – the threat to end Armenia and the existence of Armenians. And when we look around us, we see ourselves alone on the world stage.

We have heard the story of Khirimian Hayrik in Berlin. In the mid 1800’s he went there to participate in a conference with other nations. He writes a poignant letter to the Armenian people, describing the meeting as nations huddled around a pot of heriseh (a porridge made with meat and grains, thick being its noted attribute). Khirimian writes that all the other nations came to the table with the clanging swords and dug deep into the heriseh with “iron ladles” and pulled out their portion. However, then the turn came to Khirimyan to pull out the portion for the Armenians, he had no swords or guns, but a letter in his hand. He called this the paper ladle, which easily flopped by the weight of the heriseh. He tells the Armenian people, when you return to Armenia arm yourself with weapons, weapons and more weapons. “People, understand above all else that you must put the hope of your freedom upon yourself, on your brains, the might of your fist…  Man, for himself, must work for his deliverance.”

That Berlin story is over 150 years old. And here we are, once again in 2020, standing on the world stage with our hands stretched out asking for others to assist us. Why have we forgotten the words of Khirimian Hayrik? Even more important, why have we forgotten from where his strength came? And our Primate, Abp. Hovnan, expressed it so concisely the other day, “Armenia cannot stand with the crumbs given by foreigners.”

Khirimyan was a priest of the Armenian Church. He became Catholicos. He was so loved that they referred to him as hayrik, yet under all the titles and layers, he was a priest, a priest of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like, when we speak of the composer and musician Gomidas, we speak of his musical prowess or his genius, but we forget that first and foremost he was a priest of the Armenian Church, he was Fr. Gomidas, a priest of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And today, in our world with all of our materialism and egocentric culture – with all the things we buy and sell – things that we claim to have “value,” we have forgotten, we have laid to one side, the strength that we have within us. We have forgotten that we were born of the font of baptism and drink from the fountain of immortality – connecting us to Jesus Christ. As the Apostle says, If God is with us, who can be against us? (Rm 8) When we think of Artsakh and the threat to Armenia and to our being, we look for strength, for assistance, and ultimately to be save? Why are we looking outside of ourselves? Why are we not looking within? Khirimian Hayrig, Gomidas Vartabed were the beginning of a long line of clergy – church leaders – from Mourapekian, Gevork Catholicos, Chorekjian and in our times the greats such as Vazken Vehapar, and in his shadow the bishops that we have today, from our Catholicos to our Primate who were his students. Against all the odds and with huge obstacles before them, they took us from the Yeghern of 1915 to Sardarabad, through the communist era, to the Karabaghian-sharzhum, to the independence of Armenia, with the Gospel message: Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies it remains a single seed, but by dying it produces a harvest. (Jn 12) All the time, they connected us to the power of Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ was the first non-violent revolutionary. I am convinced that Tirdat the King, who was the king of Armenia in the 4th century, who had armies (plural!) under his command, who understood strength and diplomacy, who understand military strategy… I am convinced that Tirdat accepted Christianity because he saw it as power for victory and not for surrender. He saw the strength of Faith, based on the message of Jesus Christ, was about overcoming the evil with the power of love. He understood the power of resurrection over death!

This is the basic Faith that we have had throughout the centuries, that our Church has preached through its priests before we came to America and were filled with distorted understandings of religion that are tied with material wealth. This is the faith the Church preached whether Khirimian or Gomidas, Shnorhali or Datevatsi, or today in the trenches of Artsakh where our soldiers make the sign of the cross, are baptized and go into battle to defend the lives of their loved one.

This then is the power and the message of the Saints. It’s the connection with the Source of Life, connecting not with the manger in Bethlehem but with all of eternity – In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God! … He came to his own and his own did not accept him, but to those who believe he gave the power to be Sons of God.

Yes, WE are the children of God. We are the people of God. The SAINTS understood this. This is why and how they accomplished their miracles. This is how we have stood up and won against every enemy. …To those who believe he gave the power to be Children of God.

Israel is not a piece of land in the Middle East – it literally means “Triumphant with God!” the People of God!  It isn’t enough that the Garden of Eden is in Armenia (Gen 2:10) and Noah’s Ark lands in Armenia (Gen 8:4), it isn’t enough that we were the First Christian Nation, but each of us who is baptized of the Holy Font of the Armenian Church, each of us who is born again from our Holy Mother, as we come out of the water of Baptism, and the confirmation of the Holy Miuron – the priest sings, “We are called the New Israel! In Christ and we are a portion and joint heirs of Christ! (Նոր Իսրայէլ կոչեցաք ի Քրիստոս, եղաք բաժին Տեառն և ժառանքակից Քրիստոսի)

What power!!! We are connected to the Revolution that Christ started! Do you understand now? Every story in which Jesus give the sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and life to the dead, he caps with the words, “Do not be afraid.”

The Saints, are the connection to the Divine. They have been through this path. They have reached out of their humanity and have been able to tap into Divine because Jesus Christ has been at the center of their being and the expression of their being. With all due respect to our brothers and sisters who have come and created new denominations, that reject and find little to know value in the saints, they have kept you away from the source of life. They have kept you from the HOLY MIURON! From that life-energy that ties you with all the SAINTS. That ties you to Christ, who is there from the beginning, and lives in the saints, Asdvadzadzin, Thaddeus and Bartholomew, Hripsime and Gayane, Loosavorich and Tirtad, 40 Martyrs of Sebatia, Shoushan and Santoukh, Datevatzi, Naregatzi, Shnorhali, in the Holy Martyrs of the Genocide, and on the front line in Artsakh and in all of us! The New Israel.

Let’s not look elsewhere. Return to the Church that connects us to the power of Christ. The Church with its Miuron from the time of St. Gregory the Illuminator and spread on the forheads of the soldier on the front line in Artsakh. We are called to march with the saints. We are called to come to Armenia’s defense with the weapons that we have always had. You are the new TRIUMPHANT in God! Pack with you the weapons of thought, speech, writing, aid, business, and money. Jesus Christ ushered in the Revolution and we have been connected to it. Today is the day to realize that the invitation is there for you to answer. Christ is in each of us. If you write, write, If you cook, cook, if you sew, sew, if you pray, pray, if you are a doctor, heal, if you are a person, have compassion, share that compassion and just see how, you can tap into the Divine.

God bless you, the Armenian People, the Armenian nation and Armenia. Amen.

 

 

A Bishop’s Anniversary through the Carpet

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The Carpet in the Church: Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of Srpazan’s priesthood
By Fr. Vazken Movsesian
My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever changing view
A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold, a tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold
-Carole King
Sitting in the chancel area of the church can be a lonely place, especially during a coronavirus epidemic. There are chairs, a clear view of the altar area, oriental rugs on the floor and opportunities to be still and meditate. It is here that you contemplate your world on the outside: hatred, disease, hunger, bigotry, wars and try to reconcile those pains with the concept of celebration – whether the Badarak or an Anniversary. This morning I had a chance to think of both.
Last Sunday was the Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin. Our Primate, Hovnan Srpazan was celebrating the Divine Liturgy at the St. Leon (Ghevondyants) Cathedral. It was a day for personal testimony as well. His Eminence was celebrating the 40th anniversary of his ordination into the Sacred Priesthood and 30th anniversary of consecration as a bishop of the church. During his sermon, Srpazan reflected and emotionally recalled the day when he knelt before the altar of Etchmiadzin and accepted the Call from God to serve the Church. The Venerable Catholicos of Blessed Memory, His Holiness Vazken I, consecrated the young deacon and bestowed upon him the holy order of priest of the Armenian Church.
As the sermon continued my eyes focused on the ornate oriental rug in front of me.
Forty years! So much has taken place during those 40 years. Following ordination the young Fr. Hovnan traveled to Europe and was educated at Oxford. He was appointed to Canada, rose to the rank of bishop, shaped the Canadian Diocese before accepting the call to the Western Diocese 17 years ago. He saw to completion the building and consecration of the St. Leon (Ghevondyants) Cathedral and the expansion of Diocesan ministries.

 

Forty years ago perhaps the carpet that was lying in front of me was just being created. Single threads of different colors were coming together. One ornate pattern was leading to the next. Each pattern represents a space in time and has a unique story. Each pattern is a testament to the will and determination of a rug weaver.  A flower on one row connects to a swirl above it and to a shape below it. Each dyed thread compliments the colors around it so much so that it is obvious that one master weaver has put this tapestry together in harmony and joy.  The stories of the weavers we do not know, much like the goodness that is spread by a priest following his call and living his ministry.
The Archbishop continued his reflection and recounted how during the forty years, his love and loyalty to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin was always at the center of his actions. It was a love for Etchmiadzin that he felt as a young seminarian arriving in Armenia (1976). It was at Etchmiadzin that he met, grew and learned in the shadow of the great patriarch Vazken I (Catholicos from 1955-1994).  Those early feelings matured and kept him connected to the efforts to build the Armenian Church of the 21stCentury. From the youth rallies to the 1700th Anniversary of Christianity in Armenia to the 100th year of the Genocide and now the renovation of the Mother Cathedral, Srpazan has left an imprint on the life of the Armenian Church that is accented in its harmony and completeness. At each assignment the Love of Christ was expressed in the outpouring of goodness and assistance to the communities – to the people who were part of the hurting world.  Only God knows the how many have seen the wonders, have been helped by the outreach programs and have been inspired to do likewise in this hurting world.
As Srpazan spoke that morning, so did the rug. Viewed up-close, you might imagine that each pattern on the rug is a creation of a person and a place in time. How can it connect so perfectly to the other patterns on the carpet? Viewed from afar, the rug is one complete carpet that tells a story of people, of determination, of focus, of beauty and intertwined expressions. It’s obvious that there is a common thread that the master weaver has used to bring all of the elements together to form one complete display of beauty.
Indeed, it was exactly 40 years ago – in 1980 – on the Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin that Hovnan Srpazan was ordained. On this feast we celebrate the descent of Christ as expressed in the word etch-miadzin in the vision of St. Gregory the Illuminator (303AD). Christ is the thread that runs through the life of the Church, the one constant in the life of the people and clergy, bringing it all together to form the tapestry of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The Church, brought together and tied by Christ is beautiful and complete. It is the functioning Body of Christ in this world.
During the last 40 years, Hovnan Srpazan has served the Holy Armenian Church. Each of the events and experiences he has worked through have come together to present a beautiful tapestry of sacrifice and love. Look at it as a whole and you see Christ working through His Church, Holy Etchmiadzin, which is the complete vision as seen by the Illuminator thenand the expression of beauty today. In this vision and expression we can find the etch-miadzin – Christ descending into a world that is hurting, that suffers from hatred, disease, hunger and pain. For those few minutes sitting in the chancel of the church, I had a chance to see bits and pieces of two lives, our Srpazan’s and the art piece woven into a carpet. While we can appeal to so many different means to tend to the wounds and pains of this world, it is the human heart that needs to be mended. The elements to do so are all there, they are the dyes, the threads, the life, the events, Etchmiadzin and Christ active in our life.
With warm wishes for health and strength to our Primate, we say “Asdvadz Oknagan Srpazan” – May God be your helper, Srpazan.

Pentecost: Language after Asphyxiation

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Pentecost: Language after Asphyxiation
 
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian
Excerpts delivered at St. James Los Angeles, California, 31 May 2020
This morning, I came to this church with a lot on my mind. As I was preparing for my message for today – a message about the Pentecost and our lives today – the events of last night unfolded. Just a few days ago George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis and people have taken to the streets in protest. Unfortunately, some saw the opportunity to loot businesses and burn buildings.
George Floyd makeshift memorial in Minneapolis
Cause of Death: Asphyxiation “I can’t breathe.”

Now, I should mention that I was born in Los Angeles. This city is home to me. I should also mention that throughout my life I have been an activist and taken to the streets on many occasions to protest the inequality or injustice that we have witnessed. But last night, the sounds of protest were diverted by the violence, the rioting and the looting. This morning to get to church I took those same streets that hours ago were trashed, torn and set on fire. This is my home that they are trashing. But I back up a bit and I see that it is in my home – in the United States of America – that racism still exists. It is here where we watched a man pinned down to the ground, begging for his life, saying, “I can’t breathe!” and left to die. And this morning, the world has taken notice.

Today is Pentecost. Exactly 50 days after Easter. In Armenian we have a better and more descriptive name for this feast, we call it hokegalust which literally means the coming of the spirit. We read in Scripture (Acts 2) that on this day Jesus’ Disciples were assembled and dealing with the uncertainty of the times. This was the group of Disciples who only a few weeks earlier had witnessed their friend captured and beaten. They heard his plea as he gasped for air during the last torturous moments of his life on a cross, while authorities – both local and state officials – looked on, some with pleasure. After his death they pulled him off of the cross, not before pronouncing the cause of death: Asphyxiation.
Just when the Disciples had lost all hope in goodness, they heard that Jesus had resurrected from the dead. On that Pentecost – just a few weeks after those horrendous events –  they were assembled and waiting for a message from their Lord.
Yes, we know that in this world there are different manifestations of evil. There is hatred, there is prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, racism, and injustice. These were present, at the time of Christ as they are now.
On top of everything else, we are in the middle of a pandemic. Along with the virus, there is fear in the air. We have been confined to our homes with this fear in our heart for several months now, our life and lifestyles have been disrupted.
When we feel uncomfortable because we have had to stay indoors, it is important to remember that this is only novel for us. Throughout the world there are so many different types of lock-downs. Our brothers and sisters in Syria right now have been in fear of their lives for the last several years, triggering a massive refugee problem throughout the world. Many of our families coming from the Middle East today have had to stay indoors because of a revolution here or a civil war there. In other countries, if it’s not COVID-19, it’s malaria. If not malaria it’s typhoid. And the list goes on. It is tempting to say these are unusual times, but not so when you look back on the history of the world. During the Genocide years (1915-23) it was not only okay to kill Armenians but it was the law to kill them.
Our church service today, with only a priest and a deacon – no choir, no music, no people –   may seem unusual but in fact, the early Christians all celebrated the Holy Eucharist in similar quarantined circumstance. Today we are distanced from the Divine Liturgy because of the COVID-19 virus, but the early centuries of Christianity witnessed the viral infection of hatred and intolerance toward people of the Christian faith. In our history as Armenians we have had to celebrate the Badarak in secret – hidden – because of the invaders, their prejudices, intolerance of our differences and ultimately because of hatred.
Celebrating the Badarak continually has been our salvation. Through it we have kept our focus on the most important truth of all: That is, life is much more than this physical existence and all the goods and things that fill up our space. Perhaps that is why it bothers me when I hear people complain about simple matters such as missing a basketball game or a gathering at a comedy club, claiming that they are “missing out on life.” There are people who are missing out on life because of prisons imposed by dictators, unjust laws or economic conditions in their home lands. And, what is being made very clear this week is that there are people who are missing out on life and missing from life because of the color of their skin.

We Armenians were in the same situation not too long ago. During the Genocide people were exiled from their homes, hunted down and killed with no trial, no defense, just killed in cold blood. We as a nation yelled out “We can’t breathe” and the world just looked on with no response. In the United States of America, in the Fresno area after the Genocide, Armenians had to take the ‘ian’ off their names just so they could find work, make a living and support their families. And the examples are many, all the way up until today from the outskirts of Artsakh to the inner city of Glendale. We have seen prejudice. We have been on the receiving end of injustice. And tragically, the world looked on and did not care. And if we stay quiet at this moment, we are no different than anyone else. If by chance you think that by pressing on the little thumbs-up LIKE button on Facebook is a way of showing your concern, sorry, don’t fool yourself. It’s not only not enough it’s just contributing to big data collected by the company.

No, if we’re going to do something let’s do it in a manner that is fitting of the title “First Christian Nation.” Today is Pentecost. It is a Christian Feast. It is the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is the event that empowered the Disciples to become Apostles. They were students who had learned from Jesus and were now in charge of the taking the message to the four corners of the world. According to the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave the Disciples the gift of language. Imagine that. Jesus wanted the world to hear his message. He didn’t send the Holy Spirit to empower these men with guns, weapons, political power, or a sword. Instead he gave them a tool by which they could spread the message of love, namely, language. In other words, he gave them the tool to communicate and share a message of hope with others.

I ask you… what is necessary in our world today? What’s the tool that we need on our streets today? We need to talk. We need to learn to communicate with one another. Not hate, not hit, not hurt, not tear-down, but communicate with one another. It has been said that communications is the glue that holds society together. It brings order to chaos.  It’s the basic lesson our moms taught us when we were young: Don’t fight, talk it out. When did we lose sight of this basic lesson?
That’s what happened on Pentecost, on hokegalust, on the feast of the coming of the Holy Spirit, we received the one tool that can unite us. It is a language with which we can tell one another, I understand your pain. I am with you.
In Armenia there is a beautiful expression that the people use. It’s an expression which let’s the other person know that you empathize with them. Dzav’t tanem. It literally means, “Let me take your pain.” Let me understand your pain. Let me walk in your shoes so I know what its like to be you.
Today Armenians have a mission. We can stay in our small little corner or we can get on the world-stage and tell people that yes, we have been there. We have done that. Our entire history is one of overcoming the worst odds. We have survived prejudice and intolerance that have manifest themselves in the form of barbarism, imprisonment, massacres and even Genocide. We have flourished without military might, without weapons of war, without diplomatic strength. What we have had is faith. We have had the tool – the ability to articulate and communicate with the world on many levels and in many forms.
Back in 1965 the world-renowned cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead proposed to the United Nations and to the world that Armenian should be adopted as an international language. But as we all know, it didn’t make it. Politically we weren’t there. English is an international language today as are the Chinese and the Russian languages. Why? Not because they are any purer than Armenian but because politically, their host countries are at the forefront of international relations. If I heard Margaret Mead’s call I would immediately go out and learn this most incredible language. But I certainly would not stop there because the entire purpose of that language is to communicate. It is the means by which we can get things done and therefore I will adapt the tool that will help to bring about my work, namely, to bring about peace and harmony.
The Holy Spirit came and gave the Disciples the gift of language so that they could go out to the four corners of the world and spread the message of Love. To Thaddeus and Bartholomew was given the gift of speaking Armenian so they could take the Gospel to Armenia. And to each Disciple a different variety of that gift was given, and they took that gift – that tool – to spread the message of love. Thomas went all the way to India, Andrew to Scotland, Peter to Rome and so on.
Each of the Disciples went to a different part of the world, speaking a different language but preaching the same message: Love one another! Take care of one another! And whether it is a pandemic or the riots on the streets instigated by hatred and intolerance, there is only one message that needs to be spread: Love one another. The languages are different, but the message is the same. You can overcome anything including hatred with the gift God has given you. It is love. Not with more hatred but love.
I leave you with this message today on this Pentecost as we are watching our cities go up in flames and intolerance and hatred escalating: Counteract evil not with more hatred but with love. Let your love begin by understanding. Put your foot in the shoes of others. Then communicate a simple message of love and friendship. This is sharing the love of God.
We will now conclude today’s service with a requiem (hokehangist). I will be including the name of George Floyd in those for whom we offer prayers today. George Floyd is, of course, the man who is at the center of all the protests. In other words, what I’m doing now is adding the name of a man who was killed because of racism, who was not Armenian, whose skin color is different than ours. He will be remembered today in this Armenian Church in the city of Los Angeles in an Armenian prayer. It is not the end of our problems, but it is a start. Every first step is taken when we extend ourselves. It is a way of saying we have different languages but only one main message. We will not allow his death to be in vain if at the very least we can learn to talk, communicate, and share some understanding and love with one another.  

Sasnashen

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INTRO TO THIS POST:

This is an archive for four articles which were written in 2018 and 2019 about Sasnashen, the USAirforce C-130 shoot down, and the challenges for the day. They were originally published on the Western Diocesan website and are presented here in chronological order.
– Fr. Vazken
  • 14 September 2018 – REFLECTIONS ON THE US AIR FORCE C-130 60528 SHOOT DOWN OVER SASNASHEN, ARMENIA
  • 25 July 2019 – DISCOVERING SASNASHEN VILLAGE, TOWN OF TALIN
  • 3 October 2019 – OPENING SASNASHEN YOUTH CENTER
  • 8 November 2019 – VETERANS DAY MESSAGE FROM SASNASHEN ARMENIA
REFLECTIONS ON THE US AIR FORCE C-130 60528 SHOOT DOWN OVER SASNASHEN, ARMENIA
Published – 14 September 2018
By Fr. Vazken Movsesian
(Photos courtesy of Pat Morrow)
“Kahanayk yev joghovort” are the first words of the requiem service of the Armenian Church.  The words translate to “the priests and people” referring to a gathering of those who remember the dead in prayer. And there we were, the priest and people, in solemn remembrance of 17 men who perished 60 years ago to the day. I was singing the hymn but this gathering was not in any Armenian church. Far from one, we were standing in the middle of America in Bellevue, Nebraska, near the Offutt Air Force Base. The gathering? Sixty years ago, in the height of the Cold War, a United States Air Force C-130 was shot out of the sky by the Soviet Union.  The plane crashed in the village of Nerkin Sasnashen, Armenia (about 60km Northwest of Yerevan).
It was interesting that I sang the hymn in Armenian and no one in the audience understood the language, yet everyone knew very well what was happening. We were connecting as people. We were uniting the remote village of Sasnashen with Bellevue. Armenia was uniting with Nebraska and all of this to attest that a group of men were united with eternity.
Like many Armenians, or many people in general, I had not heard of this shoot-down incident. We grew up in the Cold War fearing the worst, with duck-and-cover drills executed in our school hallways on a regular basis. But who knew that the Cold War was being played out with a shoot-down in Armenia? We should have known for in fact, this major international incident was the most publicized confrontation between the Soviet Union and the U.S. military during the Cold War!
On September 2, 1958, four Soviet MiG-17 pilots attacked and shot down an unarmed US reconnaissance aircraft after its crew inadvertently flew into Soviet airspace over Armenia. Seventeen United States Air Force airmen were killed in the crash at Sasnashen. The incident was covered up until the break up of the Soviet Union –  and then some – when the remains of the C-130 60528 Crew were excavated from the crash site and interred on the 40th anniversary of the shoot-down, with a headstone identifying the members of the Crew* at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.
Fortunately, the details of the incident, the cover-up, the years of denial, the reconciling with the facts up to the present day have been meticulously documented by Larry Tart and have been published in his book, “The Price of Vigilance: Attacks on American Surveillance Flights” (2001 with Robert Keefe). The book and detailed information can be found at Mr. Tart’s website, www.LarryTart.com. He has also prepared a short briefing video (which was shown at the Bellevue gathering) where the main details of the incident are outlined: https://youtu.be/RDqjaKCln_4
One of the eye-witnesses to the event was a young man, Martin Kakosian, a college student on a field trip in 1958. Kakosian, a skilled sculptor, later collaborated with the villagers to create a memorial — a khatchkar— honoring an unknown American crew that had died unceremoniously at the edge of their village. In late August 1993, Sasnashen village commemorated the 35th anniversary of the shoot-down during the unveiling of the khachkar.
Keynote
Mr. Tart, on behalf of the Prop Wash Gang, the organizers of this gathering, wrote to both the Eastern and Western Dioceses of the Armenian Church asking for a priest to offer the requiem prayer at this 60th anniversary. Archbishop Hovnan Derderian assigned me to this event. As mentioned, the incident was news to me; however, not for long. I was engaged in the story from my first reading of the account. After a few conversations with Mr. Tart, the PWG asked me to offer the Keynote Address for the Commemoration.
This invitation was a true honor for me on many levels. As a priest I was there to offer the prayer and even to reflect, but it was a personal experience at the time of my father’s death over 25 years ago that connected me directly to the story that was unfolding before me. My father was a veteran of the Korean War. I remember vividly to this day the overwhelming emotions that surged in me when at his funeral military personnel presented the flag of the United States to my mother, and said, “On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army and a grateful Nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your husband’s honorable and faithful service.” I remember being moved to tears when realizing that great men are defined by the sacrifice they make. People in service to others truly define greatness. In the church we speak of martyrdom as an expression of sacrifice. As a priest I share the Gospel of Christ, and His words, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13) While Jesus refers to his own death in this passage, he also gives an opportunity for us to understand our service and sacrifice to others. It was the expression of that devotion and sacrifice that was moving the direction of the message I wanted to share.
Furthermore, as an Armenian, I wanted to also emphasize the diverse set of circumstance which have contributed to Armenian history and to the events of the shoot down. As history will attest, Armenia and Armenians are often caught in the middle of battles not by our choosing. The US Air Force plane took off from bases in Eastern Turkey, that is, occupied Armenia. The plane was shot down over Armenia, occupied by the Soviets. (And yes, the plane was shot down by a Mig-17, named after Migoyan.) In every way Armenians are the by-standers to this particular history; nevertheless, Armenian have a message to share that can lead to healing.
The day arrived and we met with people from throughout the United States. They had all come to commemorate, to remember, to re-connect with a story and with others who shared the same values and understanding of the sacrifice made by these 17 men.
The acting President of the Prop Wash Gang, Chief Lonnie Henderson, emceed the program. He had set up a “Missing Man Table” at the center of the banquet hall. The table was set on a white tablecloth, containing 17 red roses in vases and a place setting for one – one representing them all. A shaker of salt next to the setting was a bitter reminder of what had transpired. There, the names of the 17 men were written along with the poem “We See the Eagles Fly.”
Tom Giroir, offered the invocation and introduced me as an Armenian priest. In referencing to my background he pointed to our ministry of “In His Shoes,” that is, those who have suffered evil have a unique responsibility to take action against injustice to others. It was on this premise that I shared my thoughts for the evening with the group.
With a quick look at history, I spoke of the rich story of the Armenian people and the land. I spoke of the Armenian Genocide as an event but also as a spring-board to addressing the despicable reality of Genocide that continues to take place in our world. Most especially, I shared with the group the need to stay ever-vigilant in their resolve to remember the sacrifices of their fallen brothers. Vigilance and remembrance must have manifestations today in our actions to combat evil on all fronts.
After I offered the ancient requiem prayer of the Armenian Church and remembered all 17 of the fallen servicemen by name, Chief Lonnie honored me in a manner I will forever remember. On behalf of the Prop Wash Gang he presented a shadow box with an actual piece of the downed-plane. Here I would have a tangible reminder of the sacrifice made by these men and the ever-essential necessity to stay vigilant against injustice. He also gifted me Larry Tart’s book, “The Price of Vigilance” signed by the author. These are the treasures, coupled with the stories I heard, that I return to the Diocese to share with Armenian men and women of all ages.
I confessed that in all my travels to Armenia I have never been to Sasnashen. Now, I don’t think I can go back to Armenian without visiting Sasnashen. I hope to do so in October of this year. There, I promised the group, I will take the spirit and the energy that was brewing in this room on September 2, 2018. It was a powerful and moving spirit.
Finally, with the recitation of the poem, “We See the Eagles” the Commemoration on the 60th Anniversary of the Shoot Down came to an end.
A plaque with the names of the 17 men and this poem was presented to me.
This evening we connected on a human level. We were there to honor sacrifice – the expression of love by these 17 men. We connected Bellevue Nebraska mystically to Sasnashen, Armenia.  This evening we understood that the most fundamental of all human expressions – to extend ourselves to others, to love and share is essential. It is the legacy that has been left to us by the 17 men who were shot down giving themselves for something greater than themselves, for our country and ultimately for humanity. And we accept the challenge to perpetuate and share this legacy beyond this evening.
WE SEE THE EAGLES FLY
We see the eagles fly…
lookin’ north
toward the Caucasus Mountains
‘bout nine in the morning
Warm September day
Clear
No clouds
We see the eagles fly…
…effortlessly
riding the currents
Soaring above all
Majestic
Supreme
We see the eagles fly…
…and those eagles
look a lot like
The Prop Wash Gang
September 2, 1997
The 17 services men of US Air Force C-130 60528 who were shot down on September 2, 1958 in Sasnashen, Armenia were A2C Joel H. Fields, A2C Gerald H. Medeiros, A2C James E. Ferguson, Jr., A2C Gerald C. Maggiacomo, Capt Paul E. Duncan, SSgt Laroy Price, 1Lt John E. Simpson, TSgt Arthur L. Mello, A2C Robert H. Moore, Capt Edward J. Jeruss, MSgt George P. Petrochilos, A2C Clement O. Mankins, 1Lt Ricardo M. Villarreal, A1C Robert J. Oshinskie, Capt Rudy J. Swiestra, A2C Harold T. Kamps, A2C Archie T. Bourg, Jr.
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DISCOVERING… SASNASHEN VILLAGE IN THE TOWN OF TALIN, ARMENIA A PLACE FOR KIDS TO FEEL WELCOME, SHARE AND EXPLORE OPTIONS TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL
Published – 25 July 2019
By Fr. Vazken Movsesian
Main Photo Caption: At the Crash site monument: Fr. Vazken, Anna Galachyan (assisting Fr. Vazken), Yeretsgin Hripsime & Fr. Tade with one of their daughter’s Tatev.
Last summer, our Diocesan Primate Archbishop Hovnan Derderian assigned me to an event at the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. I was to deliver the keynote address at a gathering commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the shoot-down of US Air Force C-130 #60528. The hosts and organizers of the event were members of the Prop Wash Gang. Before going any further… let’s get the obvious questions out of the way: Why a priest of the Armenian Church? … at a US Air Force base? …to hundreds of servicemen and their families? So first, let’s back up 60 years…
In 1958 – during the height of the Cold War – a United States Air Force C-130 flying a reconnaissance mission on the Turkish/Armenian border was shot down by the Soviets. The plane crashed in the village of Sasnashen, Armenia and lost its entire crew of 17 servicemen. The Soviets did not admit to the severity of the tragedy until after the fall of the USSR and by 1992 – some 34 years after the incident – the remains of all 17 men were returned to the United States for proper recognition and committal. Since that time commemorations have been taken place, including the placing of a khatchkar (cross stone) and a monument at the crash site with visits by U.S. military and government officials.
Now… on the evening of September 2, 2018, exactly 60 years to the date of the crash I stood before the servicemen and their families. I explained that in 1958 Armenia was completely occupied, that is, the place where the C-130 took-off (Van) was in Armenia occupied by the Turks and that where the plane crashed was occupied by the Soviets. After speaking about Armenian history and our faith as Christian, there in Nebraska, I offered the requiem hymn and prayer of the Armenian Church for the souls of the 17 victims of the shoot-down.
The group honored me by giving me a framed piece of the tail of the fallen plane. Then, spontaneously they took up a collection and asked that I use the money to benefit the children of Sasnashen. Here, I had to confess that I did not know where Sasnashen was but I also promised that from this point on I would not travel to Armenia without visiting the village which had brought us and tied us together 60 years after the tragedy.
On October 25, 2018, I made it to the village of Sasnanshen – about 65km out of Yerevan toward the Northwest border of Armenia. The closest town is Talin (about 10 kms away) with a population of about 4,000. Through our Armenian Church I connected with Fr. Tadé Tamazyan, the priest of the Talin and a number of villages that surround the Town, one of those villages being Sasnashen (population 750). My deacon Hrayr Nalbandian, drove us up to there and together with the priest we climbed a rocky road to the crash-site where a monument stands in this remote and obscure corner of the world. It is a tall standing memorial with a plaque written in both Armenian and English:
September 2, 1958
We must never forget that freedom is never really free. It is the most costly thing in the world.
Freedom is never paid in a lump sum. Installments come due in every generation.
All any of us can do is offer the generations that follow a chance for freedom.
There, under the open skies and the silence of the village we offered a prayer for the 17 fallen servicemen as well as a prayer for peace.
In Sasnashen, beyond the economic challenges of village life, there are few, if any, opportunities for young people to advance in education, or even to explore and exploit their potential. There are government schools but after school-hours and on weekends the children end up on the rural roads without supervision and/or guidance. Father Tadé has access to the schools and offers weekly classes to children in the village schools and is known and recognized youth. We decided to use the Prop Wash Gang funds to further opportunities for youth in the Sasnashen village by creating a Center for after school-hours, where young people can feel welcome, share and explore options to maximize their potential in life.
With the encouragement and blessing of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, the Primate of the Western Diocese we quickly began work on organizing this program called “Sasnashen Youth Center.”  The Catholicos of All Armenians, HH Kareken II gave a small house directly across the street from the Talin church with the understanding that it would be used as a gathering place for youth. The collected funds were used to bring the house up to standards for a meeting place. We repaired the plumbing, installed a kitchenette, lavatory and new windows.  We have been monitoring the renovation process via pictures and videos sent to us by Fr. Tadé.
On July 18, 2019 I personally made a trip to the area to monitor progress and meet with Fr. Tadé and others to discuss the program. I also met with the head of the Aragatsotn Diocesan, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan to assure a proper working relationship between all of our parties. He officially pronounced the name of this project as Sasnashen Youth Center and we are scheduled to open on September 29, 2019. It will be dedicated in the name of the servicemen who perished in the village in 1958. A framed piece of the plane will be presented to the Center at that time.
This is a place where young people can first and foremost feel welcome, safe and loved. It is a gathering place to study, to learn, or merely congregate after school.  We furnished the room and provided computers with internet connections so that we can visit remotely. Fr. Tadé plans to bring speakers and mentors with specialties to direct and share time with the kids.
If successful, this can be a pilot project which can be replicated in villages for a low cost and can take advantage of local resources – personnel and physical spaces – which are often overlooked. In this case, those resources were found in the apartment/house which was vacant and unused because of its condition and a priest who has unique access and connection to the young people.
Opportunities to help others are God given. Our Church is the vehicle by which we do our work. I thank Archbishop Hovnan for giving me this opportunity to engage with brothers and sisters in Christ in the village of Sasnashen. From the grave tragedy of the 1958 shoot-down a new beginning and opportunity for education is extended to the children of that village. Before leaving the village we had an opportunity to pray together at the church in Talin. There, we also offered prayers for the repose of the souls of the servicemen as well as Deacon Hrayr Nalbandian, who shared in our first connection with the community.
—————————————————————————————–
OPENING OF SASNASHEN YOUTH CENTER
Published – 3 October 2019

(Photo Caption: from Left to Right) Yn. Talin and Fr. Haroutiun Tachejian, Yn. Susan and Fr. Vazken Movsesian, Fr. Tadé and Yn. Hripsimé Takhmazian in front of the plaque with the names of the fallen service man and a framed piece of the plane which was shot down on September 2, 1958.

By Fr. Vazken Movsesian
On September 29, 2019, with the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, we ventured off to the town of Talin for the opening of the Sasnashen Youth Center. This was the culmination of a year’s worth of planning and organization across the globe, with limited resources, difficult communications and the challenges of a cold winter that put our work on hold for several months. Nevertheless, the power of prayer, the joy of helping children and our commitment to the project made it a labor of love that was celebrated by a community in this remote part of Armenia.
I have been writing and speaking about the remarkable chain of events that brought about this project. Quickly, the story begins at the height of the Cold War, mid 20th century and picks up when this Armenian priests makes a connection at the US Air Force base in Nebraska with members of the Prop Wash Gang. We shared the story of the US Air Force C-130 60528 shoot down, when in 1958, seventeen servicemen perished as their plane came down in Sasnashen, Armenia. For a refresher on the details, check out my blog from last year.   https://armodoxy.blogspot.com/2018/09/reflections-on-sasnashen-shoot-down.html
Then came a proposal by the members of the Prop Wash Gang: Here’s an amount of money we have collected. Can you see to it that the kids in Sasnashen are helped in some way? I have to admit, when they asked me I had no idea where in Armenia to find Sasnashen. In fact, so obscure is this village of 700+ inhabitants that I could not find anyone, especially taxi drivers in Yerevan, who knew where to locate it either. Finally, thanks to Google maps and my deacon, Hrayr Nalbandian, we made it there. Sasnashen is about 10km outside of the town of Talin, which is about an hour’s drive out of Yerevan. Calling on an Armenian priest,* Fr. Tadé Takhmazian, who serves the population of Sasnashen and nine-other villages, I began to learn about the needs of the community, people and especially the youth. We decided to work on creating a youth center – a safe place for young people to feel belonging, learn, grow and mature in faith as productive members of the community.
*I cold-called Fr. Tadé from a number given to me by one of my clergy brothers who had met him only months early. Note: I don’t believe in coincidences or in chance. I believe in blessings, which I have defined as luck, without the element of chance. Fr. Tadé is a blessing.
We found a house in Talin owned by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The house was in need of major repair, but at least it was a space which would serve our purposes. Between Fr. Tadé, myself and a handful of local volunteers we cleaned, renovated, painted and bought furniture to make this house conducive for our youth-center purposes. In July, I went and oversaw the final touches.  At the time I presented an update: http://www.wdacna.com/news/1632/Discovering…-Sasnashen-Village-in-the-Town-of-Talin,-Armenia-A-place-for-kids-to-feel-welcome,-share-and-explore-options-to-maximize-their-potential
And now… September 29, we held the opening of the Sasnashen Youth Center in Talin.
Along with a contingent from our Bible Study group in Glendale we made the journey, 12 time-zones away, to celebrate this new project. We joined the St. James pilgrimage organized by Fr. Haroutioun Tachejian, visiting many of the historic and spiritually significant sites in Armenia. Together, with the St. James group, about 25 of us from America attended this opening.
I was honored to celebrate the Divine Liturgy that morning at the Holy Asdvadzadzin church in Talin. It was the feast day of the Cross of Varak and so I offered an ookhdi badarak and so directed my sermon to the needs of the community and the crosses we all carry.
Following the service in church, Fr. Tadé led us to the newly renovated house and we officially dedicated and opened it as the Sasnashen Youth Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony.  I offered the warmest greetings of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian who has set the vision for our involvement in Armenia at this level. In turn Fr. Tadé thanked the local primate, His Grace Bishop Mkrtich Broshyan, for granting this opportunity for expansion.
For this occasion the Prop Wash Gang sent a shadow box which contains a piece of the wreckage of the C-130 that was shot-down by the Soviet Union. As part of the dedication, the shadow box and a plaque listing the names of the 17 servicemen who were killed on September 2, 1958 now adorns the wall of the Center as a permanent reminder of the tragedy.
We were honored to have with us Maksena Haroutiunyan, widow of the late internationally renown sculptor Martin Kakosian. As an 18 year-old young man, Martin Kakosian was an eye-witness to the shoot down. He was instrumental in the dedication of the original khatchkar which stood as a marker for the tragedy until later, when he designed and constructed the current monument which stands on a hill near the crash site in Sasnashen. Mrs. Haroutiunyan shared a stirring account of what had transpired, recollections that her husband had shared with her, and spoke of the need to never forget the tragedy that befell the servicemen on 1958. She brought pictures and was available to the attendees to discuss the circumstances of the shoot-down.
The one man who initially connected me with the shoot-down of the C-130 60528, the Prop Wash Gang and ultimately with Sasnashen is Larry Tart, author of “The Price of Vigilance” (2001) and “Freedom through Vigilance” (2010).  I’ve never met him in person yet feel a kindred spirit in him. He signs his emails to me “In Brotherhood” and on this day that fraternal bond became very real and concrete. During the opening ceremony I know he was with us. I took advantage of the attentiveness of the group and gave some background to the people on the importance of Mr. Tart’s personal vigilance in this story.
With much excitement and joy we dedicated the house to the education and elucidation of the village children and youth. Fr. Tadé has a magnetic personality and has won the hearts of the children in the villages. Every week he visits the students in Sasnashen and nine other villages in the area. He shared his vision with us; the Center will be a place where children can learn, play, explore their options, and most importantly share and talk with other young people and mentors. We donated and installed computers in the Center to make e-chats possible between the kids there and young people in America. Fr. Tadé is in the process of organizing a line-up of mentors, educators, leaders, workers, businessmen and priests to come to the Center on a regular basis to work with the youth. His enthusiasm was contagious and inspired some of the guests to donate toward the goals of the Center.
Following the opening ceremony, the group travelled the 10km ride to Sasnashen, where we visited the crash-site and the monument. There, we offered a requiem prayer to the 17 servicemen and also remembered Martin Kakosian and Deacon Hrayr Nalbandian in our prayers. May God rest their souls.
We arranged with one of the with one of the local village families to host a lunch/celebration. Inside their house we truly celebrated with food, wine, song and dance. Today, from the midst of tragedy, a new chapter was being opened in the life of the village and in the life of young people wanting an opportunity for a better life. Many of the villagers suffer immense economic hardships. Education and building up self-worth are the cornerstones of this project.
The opening ceremony, with transportation and meal was sponsored by the In His Shoes ministry. If you would like to aid the young people of Sasnashen through the Center, you may make a one-time donation or sign up for a monthly pledge by visiting our website and pressing on the “Donate Button.” Funds earmarked for the Sasnashen Youth Center will be transferred entirely to the Center.
To learn more and to follow along on all of our outreach programs, sign up for the In His Shoes newsletter, and/or follow us on Instagram and Facebook for pictures and comments about the opening. The Center will soon launch its own FB page and can be followed there as well.
I take this opportunity to thank all those who made this day a reality: Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese, Larry Tart and the Prop Wash Gang of the US AirForce, Fr. Tadé & Yn. Hripsimé Takhmazian of Talin, members of our Bible Study group in Glendale and the In His Shoes Mission, with the Next Step listeners – for their donations and most importantly for their prayers. God bless you all. We look forward to the good works and achievements of the youth, with growth in a spirit of love.

Encountering Anew: Vazken I

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by Fr. Vazken Movsesian
When His Holiness Vazken the First was elected in 1955 to head the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenia was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union. The Cold War was in full swing and the Iron Curtain was more than a convenient metaphor. It very definitely separated East from West. The notion of a Church – a sacred and established religious institution—surviving in a system which preached atheism sounded absurd to many. But there, in the shadow of Biblical Mt. Ararat and in the place where Jesus Christ descended to mark the spot where the first Christian Nation would build the first cathedral, the Armenian Church was overtly being driven by the power of the Holy Spirit. During the 39 years that followed, Catholicos Vazken led the Armenian Church with wisdom and divine grace against the internal and external threats that were beating on an already fragile church. In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the proclamation of Armenian Independence, the first papers of citizenship, most deserving, were given to this Venerable Patriarch. He had overcome obstacles, met challenges, delivered the Church to the doorsteps of the new millennium and in so doing, managed to inspire generations of us.
During the years as Catholicos, to many of us living in the United States – as well as in most parts of the Diaspora – His Holiness Vazken I was the embodiment of the Armenian Church. Think not in terms of the 100+ years that have removed us from the atrocities of 1915, rather imagine a time when only a few decades separated us from those memories. It was common to attend an Armenian gathering and sit side-by-side with a survivor of the Genocide – to hear her story or see his pain. It was a time when a survivor from Van would share his story with another from Kharpert or Izmir, and yet another from Tomarza. Improbable as it may sounded – the ideas that survivors of a Genocide, pulled from the homeland by mass exiles and marches, would find themselves on the other side of the globe meeting and visiting with others who shared their plight – it was happening. And the most common place where these meetings took place were under the domes of the Armenian Churches which decorated the diaspora landscape.

 

His Holiness expressed himself about the Diaspora while Independence was only a dream and a hope, while Glasnost and Perestroika(remember those words?) were yet to enter the Western lexicon.

 

… In the future, the framework for a return to the Homeland may be established. And, in fact, it is likely that such programs for repatriation will be organized. As the Catholicos all Armenians, we will be the first to offer prayers and rejoice on the occasion. … The existence of the diaspora should not be a source of fear and despair. On the contrary, destiny has thrust upon us the diaspora – a challenge which we must confront with courage and honor, structuring our life on a firm and enduring foundation of today, tomorrow… the strongest, the safest and the most reliable foundation upon which the structure of the entire Diaspora can be built today is and always will be the Armenian Apostolic Church – our Mother Church. (Paris, 1979)
 
ACYO Central Council 1960, San Francisco
I have many memories of the great Pontiff as do many others. I was honored to be given his name as a crown upon my ordination. But my first encounter with His Holiness would not be remembered had it not been for a very special photograph. I was four years old and my parents were in ACYO when His Holiness made his first visit to the United States in 1960. The ACYO Central Council had an audience with His Holiness in San Francisco and I was there. A shutter clicked and I had my first memory. My parents framed and placed that picture prominently in our home. His Holiness was larger-than-life, and the photograph would fortify that largeness every time I looked at it. His kind face was contrasted by the long black robe he donned, overshadowing the four year old little boy next to him. This was the beginning of the 1960s. A few years later, this decades was to be defined by protests, distrust for government and institutions. Individual identity was being defined along ethnic lines, Civil Rights were being demanded for all, and that picture of Vazken the First was something I could point to and claim as ours.

 


In the Los Angeles area, as well as throughout the world, we were coming to terms with our living in the diaspora and the ugly reality which caused the diaspora phenomenon. We heard the stories of mass atrocities from our grandparents and collectively we demonstrated for justice. In Montebello, the  Armenian Genocide Martyrs Memorial Monument was being planned. My father was on the building committee for this structure and as children we were there for all the milestones: groundbreaking, fundraisers and endless speeches. Then in 1968, the Monument was to open to the public. His Holiness Vazken I was there from Armenia. His presence, his charisma, his mannerism and his words said in a united voice for All Armenians: the Armenians have arrived. There is no hiding the truth! The Genocide will never be forgotten.
 
My dad gave me a small camera that day to photograph the scenes. He was busy with the organizing efforts involving thousands of Armenians and dignitaries who had come  to pay respect to the past but also to celebrate the presence of the leader of the most ancient Christian tradition on Earth.  To this day I remember that camera – a Mansfield using 127 film. I snapped away and with each click of the shutter I was building a library of memories that would serve as the platform for my future ministry. His Holiness had given the community a booster shot to stay vigilant in the quest for justice. But for this young boy, it was among my first major dose of the vaccination against apathy and indifference. Even going to school during those days was a pleasure because I didn’t have to search for current events: I was living through history.
 
By the early ‘70s I had felt the call to enter the priesthood. After completing my undergraduate work my studies continued at the Seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin. During that time, I took it all in. Travel to Armenia was limited. There was also a sense of isolation and loneliness being there. 1977 technology included a broken-down phone system in Armenia which made my reliance on the postal system the only hope of connecting with family and friends. A letter would take about a month to get to America and another month to get back, and of course, envelopes arrived opened, read and sometimes missing items such as the coveted powdered coffee sent to me by my mom.
With my sister, January 1978
 
But His Holiness was sensitive to my plight. Even as head of the worldwide Armenian Church, he was always available for a fatherly talk. He approved my bishop’s request to ordain me into the diaconate and even arranged for my sister to visit while I was on Winter break. During the school year he taught a class in psychology. I was blessed to sit in on those classes. Considering psychology was my undergraduate degree I was in awe of how current and relevant His Holiness’ lectures were, how he engaged students in the learning process and challenged us with his assignments.
 
Easter Week 1978
After returning from Etchmiadzin I continued my graduate studies at USC until the time came for my ordination. September 26, 1982 on the feast of the Holy Cross of Varak, I was ordained into the sacred priesthood by Archbishop Vatché Hovsepian and given the name Vazken. It turned out, said Archbishop Hovsepian, that it was exactly 27 years to the day that His Holiness Vazken I was ordained and out of respect to him he ordained the youngest priest with that name. In fact, the honor was to be mine; it was an honor of a lifetime to be named after a living hero of the Armenian Church and the Armenian people.
 
The 60’s and 70’s were times of change, of revolution and understanding ourselves as the agents of change. The music called us to activism and the atmosphere called us to reach out to one another to improve the world we had inherited and borrowing from our children. His Holiness Vazken the First was a mentor and a living example of an activist for justice. He was a revolutionary who understood the value of diplomacy and knew well how to exercise his options for the betterment of his people.
Blessing in San Francisco 1987
The last time I saw His Holiness was in 1987 when he made his third and final pontifical visit to the United States. By this time Susan and I had our first son Varoujan. He blessed us as a family. Coincidently we were once again in San Francisco for this blessing. Click. I keep that picture hanging in our home as a reminder and inspiration of what the Church must be and can be through its leadership.
If ever there is an overt display of the Holy Spirit guiding the Holy Church, it was during the pontificate of His Holiness Vazken the First. He led the Church during the Cold War. He was attacked by atheist ideologies from the outside. From the inside, party factions and the ugliness of divisiveness ate away at him. The church was being played as a pawn in a game but he met each challenge with love in his heart – love toward God and toward every one of his children in the Armenian nation. Without discrimination he cared about all of his children. As he ascended to the Apostolic Seat of St. Thaddeus and the Holy Throne of St. Gregory the Illuminator he kept firm to his Faith and his calling. He led with courage and valor. He articulated the primary goal of the Armenian Church “is to be the true messenger of the Gospel and to herald the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Armenian people.” He did not compromise himself nor his principles.
Twenty five years have passed since his passing. Today we invite you to Encounter Anew Vazken the First of Blessed Memory.
 

For Michael Collins, Andrew and dad

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July 17, 2019 – Yerevan.
 
Some people perform miracles. Others facilitate them. Both are necessary to make miracles.
 
Today is my dad’s birthday. He was born humbly in the Diaspora to parents who had escaped the Armenian Genocide. He had a desire to see Armenia and even articulated that it was where we belonged. But life, being what it is, kept him busy tending to the needs of our family.
The python hold on his namesake
In 1988, after the Armenian Earthquake, he applied for his passport. He was a pharmacist and physician by profession. It would have been his first time leaving the United States – the country which had given him home, opportunity, the country he had served with his life. But the calling to serve the needs of a hurting country and people were overwhelming. He knew he had to go. Sadly, with passport in hand, conditions did not allow him to travel and he passed away shortly thereafter.
My dad was a facilitator of miracles. He wasn’t the main show, but without him the show wouldn’t go on. He and my mom created a life out of nothing, a fairly huge miracle by all accounts considering the plan of Genocide precluded the survival of any – even one – Armenian. In my dad’s case the miracle wasn’t mere survival but thriving, with culture, art, song and dance. As a facilitator of dreams, he made it possible for so many others to enjoy the true miracles of life and happiness.
Facilitating a session of duduk play
Fifty years ago, three men launched from Earth to visit our closest celestial neighbor. We all remember Neil Armstrong this week, for his “small step” and his “giant leap” on the surface of the moon. We might even remember Buzz Aldrin, who followed and danced on the moon. But few will remember the third member of the team Michael Collins, who facilitated the lunar landing. He sat in the lunar orbiter, circling and waiting for just the right moment to insure the safe return home of his party of three. Michael Collins wasn’t the main show but without him there would be no moon-dance.
Throughout life we are inspired by stories, the trials, tribulations and accomplishments of men and women who have done seemingly impossible feats – performed miracles – and all the while we miss the opportunity to celebrate the unsung heroes who lifted the curtains for the performers, sewed the space suits for the astronauts or laid the foundation for the brilliance of thought.
Statue of Garegin Njdeh – inscription:
“God, Nation, Fatherland.
Live and work only for those things
that are worth dying for and dye
only for those things that
are worth living for.”
One of my heroes from scripture is the St. Andrew. He is known as the first-called disciple of Christ. He humbly followed and served God. In the narratives we read that he was the one who introduced the boy with the fish and loaves to Christ. Andrew: he wasn’t the main act, but without him there was no “feeding of the 5,000.” (John 6:1-15) Miracles don’t happen without facilitators.
So I sit here in Yerevan, Armenia – a country of miracles – across the statue of Garegin Njdeh and salute the unsung heroes in our lives. The ones who touch the moon without landing, the ones who can’t cook but feed thousands and the ones who plant the seeds for us to nurture and ensure their sprouting. Happy Birthday dad, you made it.
The sound of the rest note

 

The bow screeches the string
as we note the sharp descension from life’s song
Critical critic finds disharmony
twist noes, written and played
The bow screeches the string
downstroke,
downstroke,
up
All that is meant to be played is written
1971 – taking a leap
at Dorthy Chandler Pavilion
L.A.

We have disguised the song

It’s not the tune we want
Nor the one we’ve heard.
Day turns to night
Abundance must be paid for
Fiddler on the edge of traffic’s lane
Needs to provide us with song and dance
We set the beat and count the notes.
Skip the rest one
Whole or half
giving becomes obsession
as critic searches for consistence
finding no concert
Finale.
The bow glides on the string
Four strings sing as one
Paganini sleeps to a pure tone tune
We awake to a song
From beginning to end
it is our song.
-vk
 
 

 

Darkness: Living Without the Light

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Sunset at Lake Sevan – 2014

Sermon at the “Service of Darkness” 
Holy Thursday, 18 April 2019, St. Leon Armenian Cathedral, Burbank, California
at the invitation of His Eminence Abp. Hovnan Derderian, Western Diocesan Primate

by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

From the Father of Light: 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. … He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. (John 1)
 
This evening, through this “Order of Darkness” service we recount the Passion of our Lord. Tonight we read the Gospel narrative – from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – of how our Lord was betrayed, denied, falsely tried, convicted, tortured, suffered and ultimate took his last breaths on the Cross.  As we follow the Gospel accounts we confront ever type and manner of human emotion. In this story there is:
 
• Fear and doubt – In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus ask that this cup may pass away… what is inside that cup is overwhelming, hurtful and poisonous.
• Betrayal – Beginning with Judas’ kiss and continuing through the night until almost everyone deserted him – his friends, family, acquaintances, followers.  
• Loss – Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” (Matthew 26:31)
• Misunderstanding – I have been in your midst healing and preaching and yet you come as if I am a thief… You call me “King of the Jews” – those are your words not mine.
• Denial – Simon, the one that our Lord named “Peter, the Rock” was shaken. He was asked “Were you with him?” And his answer was, “I don’t know him!”
• Hurt – “Could you not stay awake with me?” Not only the physical pain from being whipped and tortured, but our Lord endured the spiritual pain, from a group of people he loved and cared for, who could not even stay awake with him during his hour of tribulation. 
• Abandonment – The same people who, only four days ago, had lined the streets of Jerusalem singing “Hosanna” and ushered him into the Holy City, were now yelling, “Put him on the Cross! Crucify him!” Only Mary Magdelane, Mary His Mother and John continued with him to then stand at the foot of the Cross
• Mockery – Placing a robe on his back and a crown of thorns to mimic his kingship and covering his eyes and beating him saying, “Hey prophet! Tell us who hit you?” 
• Loneliness – From the Cross we hear his voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 
• Injustice – What was his crime? Where was justice this evening? They could not find any crime and so they fabricated, made up, wove together their lies and came up with criminal charges!
 
Yet, against these horrors, against every human feeling and emotion, Jesus answers as only God can. He gave a Divine response to the human pain. He demonstrated:
 
• Love: “Greater love has no man than this… that he lay down his life for his friends.”
• Faith: He prays, “Not my will but Thy Will be done.”
• Forgiveness: Because “They do not know what they are doing.”
• And perhaps the most precious demonstration of Mercy: to the guilty, convicted and crucified felon, he promises “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
 
There are no words to describe the events of this night. They are beyond the understanding of our human comprehension, therefore we refer to it as a mystery. 
 
The great theologian and patriarch of our Church, St. Nersess Shnorhali (12th century) authored the sharagan “Aysor Anjar” which we sang this evening. Within this hymn we can only begin to come to terms with the enormity of the Passion of our Lord and the profoundness of the message therein. Here, Shnorhali juxtaposes the human expressions next to the Divine commentary. The Hands which had taken the earth and created man, were now being nailed to the cross by the same man He had created. The same face that the angels would protect with their wings was now being slapped and spat upon by His creation. The same One who gave the Law are now being convicted by a Lawless people. Shnorhali gives example after example of the cruelty imposed upon our Lord in terms that emphasize the enormity of this very special evening in history. It is in this context that we come to understand how great and awesome the Mystery the Passion of our Lord is. How horrendous and unspeakable is the betrayal of God, who comes to save the child He once created and now this child not only rejects Him, but beats Him, spits upon Him and tries to do away with any memory of Him. The creation did not want – rejected – its Creator! Everything came into being through Him but the world refused to accept Him! He was the Light of the world, but the world preferred to live in darkness!
 
Yes, we proclaim this in our Church: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is of the substance of the Father. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten and not made; of the selfsame nature of the Father, by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… for us He [was betrayed, denied, tried and convicted] suffered and was crucified…
And what was his fault? What was the reason for his conviction and sentence to the Cross? 
He loved! He spoke of love. He proclaimed love. He love us so much that he even gave his life for us!
 
And this evening, when we recount this story with prayers, sharagans and gospel readings, it may be easy – and perhaps tempting – to blame someone else for this injustice. Who is to blame for what happened to our Lord? Who is the betrayer? Judas? Who sentenced him to death on the Cross? The Jews? Pilate?  The Romans? Who? This is the fundamental question for which the Armenian Apostolic Church gives us the Order of Darkness this evening! This evening we are in deep mediation about the Passion of our Lord and within our thoughts we find that there is no one else to blame but ourselves! We cannot look anywhere else but within. We are the ones who betray Christ, we reject the Light and therefore we are betrayed to darkness!
 
In this physical darkness we are brought to the realization of what life is without Christ! What is life without God! It is in this darkness that every type of evil takes place. It is in this darkness that the seven-deadly-sins take place: pride, envy, anger, sloth, covetousness, gluttony and lust. In this darkness the seven-deadly-sins take body and form and are manifest in the form of war, poverty, disease, dissolution of family, misunderstanding between people – spouses, parents, children. Today there is war, there is poverty and there is disease because the world has rejected the Light! We are in a world that has betrayed God and selected to live in darkness. 
 
This darkness does not understand the time. It is there whenever people reject darkness. 2000 years ago it was in the darkness that Christ was crucified, 100 years ago in 1915 it was in this darkness that the Armenian people were nailed to our cross, in what Yeghishe Charents describes, “our blood soaked wounds” (արիւնաքամ վերքերը մեր). We know those wounds, because we have seen the Cross!
 
Yes, this story is out of the confines of time and history. What happened 2000 years ago, what happened in 1915, continues to happen today. Look around you. You see nothing. We are in the dark. We have been betrayed to live in a world where God is rejected, where Light – God – is not given a place. And because you cannot see anything in this darkness, just listen. Our ears are sharpened to hear our Lords words, “Where are you my mother?” We hear the voice the mother on the road to Der Zor as she buries her child in the unforgiving desert sand, calling “Where is my child?” And the voiceless cry of the child, “Where is my mother?”
 
Today, refugees from the Middle East, from Syria, from Africa, from Central or South America, are on the run to rid themselves of pain, suffering and torture are calling out, “Where is my God? Why have you forsaken me?” And we hear the question, “Where is my mother?”
 
We as the Armenian people ask this same question because for 70 years we were told there is no God. We were told that the darkness is the way of life. We looked for life in the darkness and did not find it. Darkness is life without Light – without God. And… that is where we find ourselves today: In a life that is driven by egotism, that is built on materialism and so filled with the evil of these menaces that there is no room for God! Our children ask, “Where are you my mother? Where are you my father?” They ask for our time and we have other pursuits which take us away from the most precious gifts of God: our children and our families. We have left the Middle East to get as far away as we can from bullets and death, and we come here only to enter the horrendous flow of accumulating material wealth, feeling good with the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and losing our children to these evils. We escaped the bullets in the Middle East only to die on the streets of Los Angeles in an overdoses, shooting or victims of the white massacre.
 
Jesus looks at us as he did to Peter. We are scared to answer the question, “Were you with him?” What will people think if they know I am a Christian? What will they say if they know that I go to church and pray? Like Peter, it is so much easier to say, “I don’t know him!” And so when we betray God we are betrayed to darkness. 
 
Illness and Death take over. We misunderstand one another. Gossip sounds like truth. We believe in the tangible items that are here today and gone tomorrow. We lose faith. We give up our freedom and turn into slaves of darkness. And, because there is no light, we can’t find our way out. There’s no direction and therefore no hope. 
 
(It is a custom for the congregation members to hold a piece of string throughout this evening and to tie knots as they listen to the gospel narrative.) Like the small pieces of string we hold in our hand, we sew knots and more knots to stay awake through the night with the Lord. Each one of those knots is the hurt, the pain and the humiliation of our Lord, and a reminder of our rejection of the Light of the World. We ourselves are knotted. Our lives are knotted. Those knots prevent us from the best we can be in this life. They tie us up so much so that we lose our freedom. We turn into slaves of darkness. We feel pain and can’t enjoy the life that God has given us. 
 
But tonight, there is a message that comes to us from the darkness. It’s the Lord’s voice we hear, telling us that we are not alone. At the foot of the Cross, says the Evangelist St. John, there were a few women, including the Blessed Mother Mary and “the disciple whom he loved.” Jesus, from the Cross, unites the Asdvadzadzin with the disciple into the first Christian community, that is the Church! (John 19:27)
 
And so too, tonight, even in this darkness, we are safe. We have gathered and are praying in this truly sacred space. The Christian community – the Armenian Church – is at the foot of your cross. She stands with us during our greatest struggles. Like the Asdvadzadzin, who stood with her beloved son, during the worst of all times, the Church is at the foot of our crosses. She is there to comfort us and to help us during our pain and our suffering. She stood with the first Christian martyrs, she was with Vartan Mamigonian at the Battle of Avarayr. She walked with us through Der Zor. She stayed vigilant through the years of occupation by the Soviets. The Church does not abandon us! She waits for us to express ourselves, that we are the Children of God, that we have needs that can only be fed by the Church. We hear the voice of our Lord who says, stay awake, because the prince of this world has come. 
 
And so, this evening, standing in the darkness in this church there is an opportunity presented to us for self-evaluation. We all are aware that this darkness is temporary. We know there is a victory before us. If the question is given to us like it was to Peter, were you with him? In a loud and bold voice we need to answer in the affirmative: Yes! I was next to Jesus Christ. I was standing with him!
 
Our Mother, the Holy Church, has instructed us with the message of the Cross. We know the power of the Cross because she has given us the good news of the Cross. Today the Mother Church bears witness to the true miracles that are all around us. Because, in fact, you – those of you congregated here tonight – are proof of the greatest of all miracles: Resurrection! Just 100 years ago if someone would have said that in the town of Burbank – exactly on the other side of the Earth from Armenia, that the Armenian people would be standing up from the ashes of Genocide, singing their holy Sharagans, reading the Gospel in their native language, celebrating their Holy Week in packed churches with their sacred liturgies, people would have said it would only be possible by a miracle of God. 
And that’s exactly how we have gathered here this evening: by a miracle of God. Our Mother, the Holy Church stands with us during our crucifixion and is here to witness to our resurrection!
 
Two days ago, the world saw the images coming out of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We witnessed the shining cross that was glowing in the midst of all that was burnt around it. This was a miracle. And it is the big miracle of us being here, and the little miracles of a cross shining with hope, that when put next to each other, combine to proclaim that God is with us! 
 
Tonight I invite you to seek the miracle around us. Do not opt for nor let the darkness rule over you. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Yes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.”
Actual Sermon as delivered on Holy Thursday

 

Free Speech, Really?

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It is common knowledge that freedom of speech has restrictions. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater and claim “free speech.” In fact, the idea of falsely shouting “fire” in a crowded theater arose 100 years ago from the Supreme Court’s 1919 decision in the case Schenck v. United States. The Court ruled unanimously that the First Amendment, though it protects freedom of expression, does not protect dangerous speech.

It is about that dangerous speech that I write. Bizarre and false allegations are not an exercise of free speech. they are merely sensationalized expressions to raise interest and profits. Much has been written and reported about the correlation between sensationalized news and big profits; unfortunately, this time it is coupled with dangerous speech.

In particular, recently along with several of my clergy brothers, I was featured on the pages on a tabloid called “USA Armenian Life” published by Appo Jabarian. My image and name were used to present me as a disgruntled member of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church. Really? No reporter visited, called  or talked to me, nor to many of the other priests that were featured in the story. In fact, two of the pictured priests have long since died. Capturing my image and spreading hearsay, he has sensationalized false and rumored stories that somehow I, and other clergy, are left no alternative but to exercise our faith via his tabloid. There is no investigative journalism here, only the spreading of gossip in a defamatory manner. This is dangerous speech because it twists, turns and distorts. It mocks reality.

Let it be clear that the Armenian Church has its organization, its structure and its hierarchy. I choose – yes choose – to exercise my priesthood through those channels and not on the pages of a tabloid filled with such vile and revolting displays of false news. He has no business using my name nor image in an effort to increase his profits. The Net contains 30+ years of my blogs, videos and writings which I have dedicated to issues of Church growth and Faith. I have chosen to work through these issues inside of the Church and not outside of it.

Even more tragic is that via this tabloid the publisher is on a campaign to discredit clergy and church leaders. Under the guise of church reform he is hate mongering and playing off of the sensitive and volatile political climate we feel around us. The speech exercised therein is dangerous, manipulative and sensational, all to increase his personal profits with complete and total disregard for the welfare of the community.

The banner atop this tabloid reads, “Diaspora’s most widely acclaimed and circulated…” Acclaimed by who? Most widely circulated? How? By bulk mailing free copies to homes that have an “ian” or “yan” descriptors on their name? It’s obvious that this is a tactic to increase revenues for an ailing and sick print-industry. Instead of catching up with the times, the publisher is trying to keep the sinking ship floating by sensationalizing information.

The Armenian Church has its challenges. The Catholicos, the Primate and the priests roll-up their sleeves and work toward solutions to the best of their human capability. Those who can do, those who can’t criticize.

Anne R. Movsesian

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Anne R. Movsesian
1933 – 2018
Eulogy spoken at my mother’s funeral, 5 December 2018, St. Leon Armenian Cathedral, Burbank, California
 
If you have ever received a card or a letter from our mother, you have a sample of her beautiful script which was an outward expression of her inner beauty. If you ever spoke with her, your ears were filled with poetry that rhymed with the harmony of the world. And, if you ever were the object of her prayers, you received a blessing in your life that was from her connection to the Divine.

 

Mom, or “Mamajan” as she was affectionately referred to by family, was a woman of conviction and deep faith. She was a lady of dignity and class. She shared the blessings of life with others – with family, with friends and those in need. She shared her affections through her laugh, smile and hugs. She was good to a fault, if there was such a thing, and perhaps that’s why her name “Mamajan” became the name by which others – friends and acquaintances – would refer to her.
 
Mamajan was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts during the Great Depression, a fact that defined her life in many ways. More so, she was born to parents who were Genocide survivors. Gabriel and Nartuhi Vartanian survived the massacres in the village of Palu and arrived in the United States as orphans. They were married and worked hard to establish a new life, always grateful to America and the great country it is. Anna Rose was the second of three children born in the Vartanian home. She was the younger sister of Gill (Gabriel) and the older sister of Grace. 
 
The family moved to Southern California in the late 1930s. While her parents were working double-shifts, Anne was left tending to household responsibilities at an early age. In the midst of the uncertainties of World War II her parents brought them up with Christian values and a love for the Armenian cultural heritage. They were early members of the St. James Armenian Church in Los Angeles. They sang in the choir and became members of the ACYO, where they established many of the friendships they carried through life.

 

 
Early on Anne began demonstrating her artistic talents in drawing, painting and poetry. She won competitions for her poetry, written in Armenian, and was featured on local radio. After graduating LA High, she continued her education at Los Angeles City College. She met her future husband Varougan, a young Armenian boy who shared many of the same interests. They sang in the the St. James choir. Varougan and Anne were engaged in 1952.
 
Our parents shared a love for Armenian culture, from the language to the music to the dance, they found joy in sharing that love with others. Soon they organized a dance-troop, dancing at functions and exhibitions. In 1955, on Varougan’s birthday that year, they were invited to dance at the opening of an amusement park by a young entrepreneur named Walt Disney. The rest is history: Varougan and Anne Movsesian presented Armenian dance at the opening of Disneyland!

 

 
The couple married that same year and laid the foundation to their family life. They were blessed with four children: Hovsep, Anush, Haig and Sona, and set up home at an old Victorian at 711 N. Hoover St, in Los Angeles. The house became a landmark for friends and family. There, whether you were an old acquaintance or newly met, you could be guaranteed a night of Armenian music, dance and some of Anne’s best Armenian dishes. It was a warm and magical house because of mom and dad’s willingness to share the gift of love with others.
 
During the 1960’s their love for Armenian dance was expanded with the introduction to dance instructor Jora Markarian and the formation of the Armenian Folkloric Dance Ensemble. They performed at some of the most exotic locations such as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the LA Music Center and George Mardikian’s Omar Khayam in San Francisco.

 

Anne taught Armenian language at the St. James Armenian Church in Los Angeles and was the superintendent of the school for 26 years. Even against our objections (having  to lose our Saturday morning), mom and dad would put us in the car, all four of us with all the supplies, snacks and drinks and drive from Hollywood to St. James on Saturday mornings to learn Armenian. Of course the next day we’d repeat the same ritual to go to church, except on Sundays we would pack the car with two grandmas as well.
 
She found any opportunity to teach Armenian, to sing, dance, recite poetry. She was teaching children at the Diocesan camp during its first years of formation. However, she soon discovered an inadequacy in the teaching material and with the insistence of the then-Primate, Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, she wrote and illustrated the first Armenian-American Textbook for use in the Armenian Schools throughout America.
 
She raised her four children with strong Christian values. We each learned our prayers on her knees. In 1977 I went away to seminary in Armenia to study for the priesthood. After six-months of being separated by continents, Anne being a mama first-and-foremost, found a way to stay close-by. She approached the Primate of the Diocese at the time, Archbishop Vatché Hovsepian for a job as secretary. It didn’t take long before her talents were noticed and she became the Executive Secretary of the Western Diocese. More than anything else, her 26 years at the diocese gave her the chance to share her talents. Together with Abp. Vatché they drove the Diocese during some of its most difficult years. We are grateful for the friendship of His Eminence Abp. Vatché, who became a spiritual brother to her.

 

She took pride in the achievements of each of her children as they went through school and reached their life goals. Their joy became her joy as they married, had children and formed their own families. In 1990, mom and dad closed the doors on Hoover Street and opened a new chapter in La Crescenta. Unfortunately, dad succumbed to an early death the following year and mom lived the rest of her years learning many new skills of survival by expanding her horizons with new educational pursuits and opportunities.
 
Mamajan loved to travel and manifested her dream of visiting Armenia on a few different occasions  including with her sister Grace, Europe with her mother and daughter Anush, and South America with Haig and Sona. She especially enjoyed the fellowship of and with her khunamis the Boranians and the Smiths. They shared many smiles, laughs and good times together around their children.
 
She was a prolific writer of letters. She corresponded on a personal level with church-greats such as the venerable Catholicos Vazken I and Archbishop Torkom Manoogian of Jerusalem. In August of this year, our Primate Archbishop Hovnan Derderian hosted an evening where mom presented one of her scrapbooks with her memoirs of His Holiness Vazken I to the public. We are grateful that Abp. Hovnan will be printing this book next year in a special tribute to the Catholicos.

 

In 2003 His Holiness Karekin II with a Pontifical Encyclical presented Diramayr Anna and her lifetime friend Prof. Hrair Dekmejian, the Nersess Shnorhali Medal Honor. In 2013, Abp. Hovnan Derderian gifted her a Khatchkar which is now a permanent marker here at the St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in recognition of her exceptional and dedicated service to the Armenian Church and the Western Diocese in particular. These were days that she cherished because they pointed to her purpose-filled life.
 
Over the last several years she was overjoyed with the marriage of her three oldest grandchildren, Nareg to Rosalind, Varoujan to Lauren and Ani to Eric and she was blessed with two great-grandchildren. She lived with the love and respect of her family and for the last six years resided with her daughter Anush and son-in-law Ned Avejic. She loved to be with people and didn’t pass up an opportunity to be in the company of friends, especially from church where she was everyone’s Diramayr. She spent her days writing letters and cards and in conversation with people she loved, mostly she had a very steady and intense prayer life which was her time to converse with her Maker.
 
Above all else, she was the head-cheerleader for every one of her grandchildren, showing up at games, plays, concerts and even from a distance made sure that they were covered by the “Mamajan-blessing.”

 

On the day Mamajan passed away when cousin Knar and Mike came over, Mike said to me, “Your mom is your biggest fan! You don’t have a greater fan than your mom!” I thought about that; It is so true! She was there everywhere I was, every step of the way. When I took my vows into the priesthood she graciously donned the name “Diramayr.” When I began editing the publication Window, she became the first subscriber. She was the first contributor to St. Andrew when we started building the church in Cupertino. When I moved to Pasadena she joined and became a member of St. Gregory and later of St. Peter Glendale when we started the church there. Recently she was a regular at our Monday evening Bible Study. And… the same is true for each of my siblings, our spouses and our children. She was our biggest fan! Each of us have felt her wind beneath our wings.
 
We prayed and played with Mamajan. She was fun-loving and we’d love having fun with her -especially her grandchildren. And so … the the grandchildren, and to everyone else who has been touched by this beautiful lady, I this message today: Mamajan will always be with you. She will always be your head cheerleader. She will always be your biggest fan. She’s deep down inside of you wanting you to be the best you can be.
 
Eighty-five years! Her heart beat steady and strong for 85 years. That’s the miracle we celebrate today. She’s of, what I call, the God Generation: Children of the Genocide, brought up in the Depression – like God, having NOTHING they created something!

 

Her passing was as blessed as was her life. She left us with grace and dignity. All of us were around her on that last day; we shared and laughed together. We prayed with her and she communed with Christ through the Holy Eucharist. On November 28, while holding Anush and Susan’s hands she slowly slipped into her eternal rest. There was no resistance, only compliance to the prayer she had prayed so often, “Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” She left this world with a firm belief in the words spoken by the angel: “He is not here! He has Risen!” We were blessed that her spiritual brother, Abp. Vatché came immediately and offered a prayer.
 
On the morning after Mamajan’s passing, my wife Susan woke up with this on her mind and I wish to share it with you, as she shared with us that morning. It points to what this incredible and blessed life has meant to us:
 
I went to sleep last night asking myself, what happened today? Not a dream, but something very dream-like. Not a nightmare because it was all too calming. Not scary or distressing because it was so the opposite of how we saw our mom the last few weeks. It wasn’t anger or fear because it felt too peaceful. I will miss our spoiled, sometimes demanding, always grateful/gracious and most certainly loving, classy and caring mama. I woke up not wondering what happened yesterday, but knowing I witnessed God’s handy work so graciously in play. I woke with a heart filled with gratitude for our mom’s life, how we each shared in it and for His Love. I know what happened yesterday! Mom returned to her (and our) Maker, the one who lent her to us for those many life-filled years. God is good. Faith is comforting. Love is all powerful. Praise completes… May our dear mom Rest in Peace. So thankful for each of you and for her life and her love. Hope you all slept well. 
Mamajan is survived by…
Her sister Grace Balayan, sister-in-law Lucy Movsesian, sister-in-law Linda Vartanian and their families
Her children Fr. Vazken and Susan Movsesian, Ned and Anush Avejic, Haig and Talene Movsesian, Jack and Sona Smith
Her grandchildren Nareg and Rosalind Burr, Varoujan and Lauren Movsesian, Eric and Ani Simonoff, Sevan Movsesian, Christaphor Movsesian, Madilyn Smith, Nicole Smith and Vartan Movsesian.
Her great-grandchildren Arek and Shant Simonoff
And many nieces and nephews, great and grand nieces and nephews and of course a multitude of people who referred to her as their own Mamajan.
 
After thoughts: A life lived in the ways of God: Mamajan’s 40th day coincides with the “Memorial Day” of the Armenian Church, January 7.