Todos los ingredientes

Armodoxy for Today: Make it Complete with the Message

In rounding up the theme of Maturity of Faith this week, we make it complete with the most essential ingredient, namely the Message. In all the messages we have shared this week, Jesus stands in the center. Often, in our zeal to express our love and commitment to Him, we forget the message he preached and the call of that message to move us to action.

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

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

Armodoxy trata de tomar esa fe antigua y situarla en el mundo y la sociedad de hoy. En una sociedad globalizada, donde muchos mensajes diferentes compiten por tu atención, el mensaje de Jesús puede ser fácilmente descartado, omitido o incluso olvidado debido a los esfuerzos entusiastas por proclamar a Jesús como superior a otras opciones. Una fe madura comprende que es el mensaje de Jesús el que es único y superior a todo lo demás. En su mensaje comprendemos la plenitud de la afirmación de que Dios es amor. El mensaje de Jesús es lo que nos conecta con el principio de los tiempos, y ahí encontramos la divinidad de Jesús como Hijo de Dios. “No he venido por mi propia cuenta, sino que el que me envió es verdadero” (Juan 7:28).

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