God’s invitation to participate in the fullness is life is often questioned in the face of evil. The “Problem of Evil” is the question of “Why evil?” especially with the tradition of a good and omnipotent God? While religion has presented an assortment of solutions to the Problem of Evil – known as theodicies – sadly, it has also fired up people to point accusing fingers to others as the authors of evil.
A quick glance at the moon on any clear night might help in providing an answer. The moon’s pocked-marked surface is credited to its lack of an atmosphere. Space objects have hit its surface, and the result is evident. As for the Earth, we have an atmosphere protecting us from rocks and boulders that disintegrate on their way down. The price of this protection, we have to deal with atmospheric catastrophes such storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and the like. It’s all part of the deal.
Today’s one minute for Summertime.
https://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/meteor-on-moon.jpg11251125Vazken Movsesianhttps://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/final_logo_large_for_epostle_web-300x189.pngVazken Movsesian2026-08-31 00:10:272026-08-30 17:58:32Luna malvada marcada por viruela
Armodoxy for Today: Beyond Belief, April 24, or another way of looking
Meet Father Khoren Hampartzoumian. He was a priest who served the Armenian Church in Sepastia, Western Armenia. During the Armenian Genocide he was mocked and ridiculed for his Christian beliefs by the Turks. He was dragged out onto the church’s courtyard where they placed a dog in his lap and order him to “baptize” the dog as a show of their distain for Christ and the Christian faith that Fr. Khoren proclaimed. When the good priest refused to do so, they killed him in a public execution by flaying him, that is, taking his skin off of his bones.
Fr. Khoren, is one of one-and-a-half martyrs of the Armenian Genocide who the Armenian Church canonized as saints of the Church. On April 24, we remember the saints and ask for their intercession in our prayers. Saint Khoren is one of over 1,200 saints whose martyrdom is recorde by a scribe named Teotig in a book published in 1922 called “Golgatha of the Armenian Clergy.” These barbaric stories are not merely murder, they are expressions of hatred and intolerance to the nth degree, manifesting in the phenomenon called Genocide.
In 2006, I visited a camp in Rwanda set up for widows and orphans. I met with 200 widows who had survived the Rwandan Genocide a decade earlier. When I inquired how they survived I was told they were allowed to live because they were infected with HIV-AIDS, and as such they were vital to the cause of extermination, by infecting others. I understood – and I’m sure now you understand – why Genocide is called a crime against humanity. This is not mere hatred, it’s amplified beyond imagination.
Today, in Artsakh, also referred to as Nagorna Kharabagh – a small areas of Armenia that was taken by force by Azerbaijan, churches and cathedrals – sacred spaces where Christ’s precious body and blood is distributed for redemption – are being destroyed, imploded, torn apart.
These examples, whether Fr. Khoren, the Rwandan widows or the churches in Artsakh I shared with you to accent the extreme extent of hatred and intolerance. These examples are beyond belief. They are manifestations of pure evil – extreme examples of hatred, intolerance, contempt, hostility – amplified and multiplied beyond human reasoning.
The answer to these crimes must equally be beyond human reasoning. The answer has to defy human logic. That’s what Armodoxy is all about, and what we teach. Follow the extreme example of Love and Forgiveness as taught by Jesus Christ.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
That’s right. It’s beyond logic, but it’s our only hope as civilization. Not guns, not politicians or negotiators, but an understanding that we are all children of One God and that God is defined by Love.
From our Lord Jesus Christ,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5)
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Si alguna vez has mirado la luna iluminada, o has estudiado imágenes detalladas de su superficie, no puedes evitar notar su aspecto lleno de marcas. Los cráteres, grandes y pequeños, son testigos de eones de bombardeo por meteoritos, fragmentos de planetas, escombros, rocas y hielo que han impactado contra ella. Dondequiera que mires en la superficie lunar, hay cráteres. No hay forma de escapar a la destrucción que los objetos espaciales causan en esa superficie.
La luna es nuestra vecina astronómica más cercana. Pertenece al planeta Tierra, orbitando a nuestro alrededor como su satélite natural más grande. Y, sin embargo, la superficie de la Tierra y la de la Luna no se parecen en nada.
La Tierra viaja alrededor del Sol en su órbita, junto con otros planetas y una variedad de escombros, rocas, hielo y materia espacial. Una vez que estos pequeños cuerpos de materia entran en la atmósfera terrestre, se iluminan y los llamamos convenientemente meteoros. Surcan el cielo y los denominamos estrellas fugaces. En realidad, son simplemente materia que se vuelve incandescente debido a la fricción. Gracias a nuestra atmósfera, la mayoría de estos objetos se consumen o se ralentizan tanto que su capacidad destructiva es mínima. Gracias a nuestra atmósfera, la superficie de la Tierra difiere drásticamente de la de la luna. No solo no tenemos cráteres, sino que tenemos bosques frondosos, vegetación, océanos, agua y, por lo tanto, ¡tenemos vida! Por supuesto, la atmósfera también es responsable de nuestros patrones climáticos, que incluyen un clima hermoso, de moderado a agradable, así como huracanes y tornados. Las tormentas y los monzones provocan inundaciones y, a veces, hay pérdida de vidas debido a las condiciones extremas. La atmósfera es responsable tanto de la vida como de la pérdida de la misma.
Los desastres naturales son parte inherente del diseño de la vida. Un terremoto ocurre porque las placas tectónicas, muy por debajo de la superficie terrestre sobre la cual construimos nuestras civilizaciones, se asientan y se desplazan. Al igual que la atmósfera que nos salva de los meteoros, la tierra bajo nuestros pies nos brinda un entorno para construir y crear vida.
We end today, with a short reading from the Gospel of St. Luke (chapter 13) where our Lord Jesus Christ explains that natural disasters are not based on our guilt, our sins nor the sins of our fathers.
“Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
https://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/meteor-on-moon.jpg11251125Vazken Movsesianhttps://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/final_logo_large_for_epostle_web-300x189.pngVazken Movsesian2026-02-05 00:01:402026-02-04 15:29:48La atmósfera que nos salva
In our encounter with Jesus’ commandments, one in particular stands out from the rest, the commandment to not resist evil. We are to understand that opposition to evil cannot come by adding evil to the equation. Evil + evil will never equal an absence of evil. We can’t fight fire with fire when it’s only reasonable (and preferrable) to fight it with water.
"Al que te golpee en la mejilla derecha", instruye Jesús, "ofrécele también la otra. Si alguien quiere demandarte y quitarte la túnica, déjale también el manto. Y a quien te obligue a ir una milla, ve con él dos. Da a quien te pida, y no le des la espalda a quien quiera tomar prestado de ti". (Mateo 5:39-41)
La ausencia de mal es amor, por lo que "ama a tus enemigos" es el siguiente paso natural y un paso necesario en el camino hacia la paz.
Dentro de la Iglesia Armenia, la frase "La paz sea con todos" se repite a menudo en sus siete horas de culto, y de manera más notable durante su Divina Liturgia. Imagina eso: un pueblo que no ha conocido la paz y que, al mismo tiempo, no ha poseído poder militar ni estrategias militares elaboradas, y aun así proclama y ofrece paz.
Hacemos una pausa hoy con una invitación y un desafío de Adviento: en preparación para la Navidad, ¿puedes imaginar una alternativa al mal para resolver el mal? El llamado de Jesús a "ser perfectos, como vuestro Padre Celestial es perfecto" (Mateo 5:48) implica que existen medios que requieren que uses tus talentos dados por Dios para superar las tragedias que identificamos como mal.
El Viaje de Adviento trata sobre prepararnos para la gran Teofanía, la Revelación de Dios. Esa preparación se logra a través de la lucha por comprender —"imaginar", si quieres— nuestra existencia como hijos de Dios. Bienaventurados los que trabajan por la paz, porque ellos serán llamados hijos de Dios.
Oramos con una oración del ganador del Premio Nobel de la Paz, el Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Oh Dios, Creador y Preservador de toda la humanidad; en quien habitar es encontrar paz y seguridad; hacia quien volverse es encontrar vida y vida eterna, te suplicamos humildemente por toda clase y condición de hombres; que te plazca dar a conocer tus caminos a ellos, y tu salud salvadora a todas las naciones. También oramos por tu santa Iglesia universal; para que sea guiada y gobernada por tu Espíritu, de modo que todos los que profesan y se llaman cristianos sean conducidos al camino de la verdad, y mantengan la fe en unidad de espíritu, en el vínculo de la paz y en la rectitud de vida. Finalmente, encomendamos a tu bondad paternal a todos aquellos que están de alguna manera afligidos o angustiados en mente o cuerpo. Dales paciencia ante el sufrimiento y poder de resistencia. Esto lo pedimos en el nombre de Jesús. Amén.
https://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Pastoral-Peace-855-e1766036886758.jpg765768Vazken Movsesianhttps://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/final_logo_large_for_epostle_web-300x189.pngVazken Movsesian2025-12-18 00:01:042025-12-18 03:24:05Paz sin más maldad
On December 7, the earth shook in the town of Spitak, Armenia, sending ripples a half world away. We felt the shockwaves in our souls and psyches as the stats began to come in.
The year was 1988, the Soviet Union was still intact. It’s president, Michael Gorbachev was visiting the United States, engaging in high level talks with then President Ronald Reagan promoting Glasnost and Perestroika. Gorbachev cut his trip short on the news, and returned home and to Armenia to assess the damages. Anywhere from 25,000 – 50,000 people were presumed dead and thousand more injured. Although this number is great by any standard, it is particularly significant for a small country with a small population. Two percent of the population in Armenia and one third of their land mass was leveled that day. By comparison, if an earthquake in the United States killed 2% of the population, we would lose about 7,000,000 people and one third of the United States leveled, would be from the Rocky Mountains to the Western coast!
When facing such devastation, it is only natural to ask why? Even more, why did not God spare the good Armenian people? Why did He not intervene? Why the Armenian people? The same ones who were the first to accept Christianity, the ones who have so piously observed the faith for centuries, the ones who defended the faith to death, why them? When the history of a people, such as the Armenian’s, is plagued by devastation and tragedy, the questioning goes deeper: Why believe in a God who cannot save us from these dangers?
Through my years in the ministry, I have heard many different answers – theodicies – from people trying to make sense of it all. Some feel God has abandoned the Armenians for some divine purpose and plan. Some doomsday forecasters claim the earthquake was part of the “signs of the times.” Still others believe it to be “God’s will,” as a punishment or for some other divine plan.
As for me… I do not shy away from the science of earthquakes. Why did the earthquake happen? Because the earth shifts. Why did people die? Because people were trapped under the rubble of buildings which were constructed poorly. Why didn’t God step in and save the Armenian people? I don’t know, but I venture to say that things just don’t work that way.
So, the more important question becomes, why believe in a god that cannot save you from the perils and dangers of this world? And for our Advent Journey, the question is why celebrate the revelation and birth of a god who is powerless against nature?
We look at that answer tomorrow, and the answer may surprise you to find that without God, we may not have survived.
We pray Psalm 27, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Amen.
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On our journey through Advent, we are dealing with the “Problem of Evil,” dictated by the Sunday Gospel reading this week from Luke chapter 13. A theodicy is an answer to the problem, defined by the incongruity between the statements that God is good, God is all powerful and yet, evil exists. In the Gospel message, Jesus clearly states that evil is not a punishment from God for our sins and mistakes.
Still, we are people and raise questions when we notice incongruities in life order and so we question: if God is all powerful, why doesn’t He merely do away with evil once and for all? And, if God is all good, why would He not want to do away with evil?
Our query begins today with an understanding of what we believe. What are the definitions of our Faith? Much of our understanding of God comes from images and concepts that are brought to us courtesy of Hollywood. And most of those ideas are formulated on misreading and misinterpretation of Old Testament stories. Jesus came with a simple message to tell us we are all children of God and there are no favorites for God. In Armenian folklore, a mother is asked by her children which one she loves more than the others, to which she replies, “Which one of my fingers, if I were to cut, would not bleed?” They all bleed equally and so is a mother’s love for her children: equal for all. Even more, our Heavenly Father, Jesus tells us, “Makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Thus, we must be careful in defining someone as evil, or even as good, because we do not have the vantage point of God.
We often confuse God with a character who appears this time of year, someone who rewards good and punishes evil. We’ve created a folklore around him and even written songs about how he makes a list and checks it twice and “Knows if you’ve been naughty or nice.” Gifts to good boys and girls and a lump of coal to the bad ones. That’s Santa Claus! While Santa Claus may help us with our sense of dealing out justice, God’s justice is His own.
El otro día, una celebridad con un historial que incomodaría a algunas personas hizo una donación a una organización benéfica. Alguien comentó: “No queremos tu dinero sucio”. ¡Qué presunción! Primero, ¡que tengas el derecho de rechazar la bondad de alguien más, y segundo, que exista algo como dinero no sucio! Jesús delinea claramente una postura cristiana cuando dice: “No juzguéis, para que no seáis juzgados. Porque con el juicio con que juzguéis, seréis juzgados; y con la medida que uséis, se os medirá a vosotros”.
El juicio de Dios tiene su propio tiempo y su propio método para ser administrado. Por qué Dios no vaporiza a las personas malvadas y acaba con el mal de una vez por todas, es el paso que daremos mañana en nuestro camino de Adviento.
We pray, Heavenly Father, You know our needs better than we can ever know or understand. Calm my heart and my spirit so that I may find comfort in Your care and help me to not go beyond the limits of what is my responsibility in this world. Amen.
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Esta semana del camino de Adviento está dedicada a lo que los teólogos llaman el “problema del mal”. En pocas palabras, es la incongruencia de creer en un Dios bueno y todopoderoso mientras te enfrentas a la realidad de que el mal existe en el mundo. En otras palabras, dado que el mal es real, con ejemplos como el cáncer, la guerra, los abusos, los terremotos y el hambre, o Dios no es del todo bueno o no es del todo poderoso. ¿Por qué un Dios bueno y todopoderoso permitiría que el mal exista?
Evil is a problem which has perplexed people since the first-time villagers had to pick up after a devastating earthquake, or a lightning bolt created a forest fire that wreaked havoc for people and all the members of the animal kingdom. In this day and age, when we understand that earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates, and lightning bolts are the result of charged clouds grounding, God doesn’t need to enter the equation. However, for theologians and clergy who make a case for a good and omnipotent God, forming an answer is called a theodicy. It follows that if God allows this evil, then is it possible that evil is a punishment from God? People of good faith can easily reach this conclusion, and figure illness or death are paybacks from God for wrongs you have committed. And so, the question was brought to Jesus.
On this Sunday of Advent the Church offers the Gospel reading from Luke chapter 13:1-9. Here, there were two incidents that people perceived to be delivered as punishments from God. The stories – one of Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices and the other was of a tower which fell in Siloam causing the death of 18 people – were the focus of this inquiry of Jesus. On today’s scale, it would be like us asking Jesus if the Indonesians who died in last month’s earthquake perished because they were sinners? Or was it because of the sins of the Ukrainians that bombs fell on their cities?
En el pasaje, Jesús responde: ¿Piensan que ellos eran más pecadores que todos los demás porque sufrieron de esta manera? ¡Les digo que no! Pero si no te arrepientes, todos perecerán de igual manera.
Sin lugar a dudas, Jesús da la respuesta definitiva de que el mal no es un castigo de Dios sobre nosotros. La idea de que Dios está sentado en el cielo esperando a que des un paso en falso para lanzarte un rayo es tan absurda como suena. ¡Y Jesús nos da enfáticamente un gran NO!
Entonces, ¿por qué existe el mal? ¿No puede Dios vaporizar todo el mal? ¿O es que simplemente no quiere hacerlo? Continuaremos con estas preguntas mañana, en nuestro camino a través del Adviento.
We pray Shnorhali’s 15th hour: Christ, guardian of all, let your right hand protect and shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while asleep and while away that I may never fall into sin. Amen.
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¿Qué es la oscuridad? Muy sencillo, es la ausencia de luz. La oscuridad solo se puede definir ante la presencia de la luz.
¿Qué es el mal? Muy sencillo, es la ausencia del bien. El mal se define en relación con el bien.
Algunos van un paso más allá y definen el infierno como el lugar donde hay ausencia de Dios. Con esta sencilla definición, es posible encontrar el infierno aquí en la Tierra ahora, no en algún momento futuro. Aun así, otros argumentarán que, por definición, no puede existir un lugar donde Dios no esté presente.
Preguntas y reflexiones como estas son más que gimnasia mental; salen a la luz cuando la claridad se ve amenazada. Es parte de nuestro sistema de defensa natural porque le tememos a la oscuridad. Como seres humanos, queremos permanecer en la luz, pero a veces la oscuridad puede ser tan abrumadora que sucumbimos ante su poder.
El poder de la luz solar es tan grande que ilumina todo nuestro planeta y también lo calienta. Del mismo modo, el poder de Jesús, como Luz del Mundo, es tan grande que Su luz vence a la oscuridad.
Jesús comienza su ministerio haciendo referencia a las palabras del profeta: “…El pueblo que habitaba en tinieblas vio una gran luz; y a los que habitaban en región de sombra de muerte, luz les resplandeció”.
El evangelista San Mateo continúa la narración (capítulo 4): “Desde entonces comenzó Jesús a predicar: Arrepentíos, porque el reino de los cielos se ha acercado”.
Oramos: Cristo, luz verdadera, haz que mi alma sea digna de encontrar con alegría la luz de tu gloria divina, el día en que seas llamado por ti; y de descansar con buena esperanza, en las mansiones de los justos, hasta el gran día de tu venida. Ten piedad de tus criaturas y de mí, pecador. Amén. (San Nerses Shnorhali, Confieso con fe)
God’s invitation to participate in the fullness is life is often questioned in the face of evil. The “Problem of Evil” is the question of “Why evil?” especially with the tradition of a good and omnipotent God? While religion has presented an assortment of solutions to the Problem of Evil – known as theodicies – sadly, it has also fired up people to point accusing fingers to others as the authors of evil.
A quick glance at the moon on any clear night might help in providing an answer. The moon’s pocked-marked surface is credited to its lack of an atmosphere. Space objects have hit its surface, and the result is evident. As for the Earth, we have an atmosphere protecting us from rocks and boulders that disintegrate on their way down. The price of this protection, we have to deal with atmospheric catastrophes such storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and the like. It’s all part of the deal.
Today’s one minute for Summertime.
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Armodoxy for Today: 10x One Minutes on the Lord’s Prayer, Part 10 -Deliverance from Evil
God provides the tools – patience, strength, willpower – to protect us from temptation and therefore the natural the follow up is a request to be delivered from Evil. Ancient authorities read, “the Evil One” but either way, it is clear that ours is to avoid evil or simply, that which is not good.
Over the last 10 days we studied the prayer offered to us by our Lord Jesus in parts. In conclusion, as a whole, we may say that it is an affirmation of our Faith in God, a commitment to the celebration of the life and world in which we live, and an acceptance of our responsibility to others, our world and to life itself. To which we may appropriately add, “Amen.”
Today’s one minute on the Lord’s Prayer, for Summertime.
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