Tag Archive for: Church

Catechumen: Church Bible Order

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Armodoxy for Today: Bible Origins

We are in a four-day period on the Armenian Church calendar called the Fast of the Catechumens. This fast is unique to the Armenian Church. To follow on our lesson from yesterday, regarding the lack of specific scriptural readings for these four days, today we will look at the structure and make-up of the Bible.

On Pentecost, 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ, (Acts 2:1ff) the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Church was born. The Apostles were the first Christian community, the first Christian Church.  They had no “Bible.” The Gospel or the “Good News” which they preached was that Christ had risen – resurrected! This was an earth-shaking experience in the lives of the Apostles, and their mission was to spread the Good News—Christ had risen, giving an opportunity for all humankind to share in this new life.  This was the first Gospel and it was transmitted orally.

The first Christians felt that Christ’s return would be imminent. In fact, throughout the first century, they were living with the expectation that the Second Coming of Christ was right around the corner. They lived their lives accordingly.  (See I Thessalonians 4:13-18.)

The Apostles spread the Gospel to various parts of the world. New Christian communities sprouted. As time went on, problems arose in the communities – daily problems – which were complicated by their expectation of an imminent end. The communities were faced with questions such as, “Should we obey the local authorities if Christ is due back any day?” Or “Is it proper for us to marry, if Christ will be returning soon?” Or, “What will happen to all those who die before Christ returns?”

To address these problems, the Apostles, now scattered throughout the known world, wrote responses to the communities, giving specific instructions on how to conduct their lives until Christ returned. Among the most popular letters were those of the apostle Paul. The books in the New Testament which follow the Gospels are the letters St Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus, and so on. The first of these letters (I Thessalonians) was written in the 40’s.

The Church existed without a bible. The Church had its worship services, which included partaking of the Holy Eucharist, reading psalms or prophetic literature of the Old Testament, and prayer. The letters they received such as those from the apostle Paul, were read during the gathering of the faithful, and are regarded as epistles, that is general letters to the community.

As more time went on, and Christ had not yet returned, further problems developed. For one, all the eyewitnesses to Christ’s life on Earth were passing away.  Who would covey the stories of Christ’s life to future generations? Furthermore, the communities and churches were asking about the details of Christ’s life, for example, His birth, His upbringing, whether He was baptized, and so on.  For this reason, the Gospels were written to provide the details of Jesus’ life. Again, the point must be made that they were written for the sole use of the Christian Church.  The Church demanded it, and, therefore, they were produced.

Let us pray, a prayer for Catechumens, from the Roman Catholic Tradition, We thank you for these catechumens whom you have called. Strengthen them in faith, that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Keep them clean of heart and make them grow in virtue, that they may be worthy to receive baptism and enter into the holy mysteries. Amen

No Bible Today, Only More

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Armodoxy for Today: No Bible Today

Today begins the Fast of the Catechumens. This four day period is unique to the Armenian Church. It takes place a few weeks before Great Lent and offers an opportunity for purification, by restricting diet to bread and salt.

There are no Biblical passages assigned to the four days of the Fast of the Catechumens. The Lectionary is a list or book of portions of the Bible appointed to be read at church services. Every day of the year is assigned with Bible readings that pertain to that day. For instance, the lectionary for Easter includes a narrative of the Resurrection from the Gospel accounts. These four days of the Fast of the Catechumens are the only days with no lectionary assignment, which begs the question, how can you have a Church without a Bible? Actually, the more correct question is, how can you have a Bible without a Church?

We have been conditioned to believe that the Bible is a book that was handed down to us by God. With the Protestant reformation came the proclamation that the Bible alone is the final authority on all matters of belief and practice. And so, hearing that the Church is the seat of authority in Christianity seems against religious conventions for many outside Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions.

The truth is that the Bible was not given to us by God. God gave us something much greater than the Bible. He gave is His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Even Christ, did not give us the Bible. He did not write anything that we know of, nor did he hand down a book to his disciples. More important, He gave us His Body, the Holy Church and he said with his words which cannot lie “The gates of Hell will not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). It was in turn that the Church produced the Bible, and that Bible was meant as a tool for the Church to evangelize and teach the catechumens.  (A catechumen is a recent convert to Christianity who is under instruction before baptism.)

A quick look at history will lend more to the puzzle of which came first, the Bible or the Church? At the time of Jesus there was no Bible. At his Crucifixion, there was no Bible. At his Resurrection, there was no Bible. The Bible as we know it was finalized by the Church, with the different books in the 5th century. For five centuries, the Church existed and led the Christian community without a Bible.

The authority of the Church is singular: Jesus Christ. The ascription of “Apostolic” to the Holy Church means that it is in direct succession with the Holy Apostles who were commissioned by Jesus Christ himself. The Holy Bible has a unique place in the Armenian Church and referred to as the “Breath of God.”

These next few days, we will journey through the Fast of the Catechumens to learn closer the beauty of the Christ and the Christian faith.

We pray, a prayer of the Catechumens, “O Lord our God, who dwells in the heavens, and looks down upon all Your works, look down upon Your servants, the catechumens, and us, who have bowed our necks before You, and grant us a light yoke. Amen.”

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Children to Brighten our Advent

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Armodoxy for Today: Children to brighten up our Advent

The holiday season is a joyous season and a stressful one. For families who have suffered loss, the stress level is compounded with feelings of longing, sadness and depression.

In 1997, then President Clinton, established a national memorial day for children, to be commemorated annually two weeks before Christmas. At the time, I was serving as Parish Priest of the Armenian Church in Pasadena. A year earlier, a young girl in the church family and a student at the church school named Cathia Hamparian had died in a car accident. She was 13 years old. Her loss had devastated family and friends and had shaken up the community.

With Cathia’s family, we organized the first Children’s Memorial that year dedicated it in memory of her sweet soul. And we have continued with the tradition of remembering children, as an annual event during Advent. Sadly, through the years, the list of names has increased, with children of all ages, who have passed before their time.

It is a very special evening, because it offers an outlet to parents who try to make sense of the senseless. These children are the most innocent of God’s creation. They didn’t have a chance to live a full life. But on this one night they find a group of people who deal with the same questions and queries, they have. Together they support one another to stand once again.

The great power of the Church is in its ability to create community – a safe place for people to share without fear or worries. Jesus sets the ground rules for the church: judge not, lest you be judged, love and embrace the brokenhearted, shower one another with unbridled love and care. It’s actually the formula for a successful church. And why not? The Church is the Body of Christ, and that formula of no judgement, embracing the brokenhearted and loving others, describes Jesus Christ. He’s perfect and his Holy Church is set up to be perfect. It is in that environment that God, that is Love, is present and active.

The Children’s Memorial is part of our Advent journey, pointing to the importance and necessity of the Church in the life of the Christian. Even more, it points to the Resurrection because children continue to live in the hearts of their loved ones, and within our community their presence is never far away.

We pray this simple prayer today, from the Children’s Memorial, No heart breaks alone, for I know that You, my God, are always nearby. And when I whisper a prayer, hear me. When sorrow is overwhelming comfort me tenderly. I know You are always there to hear, for not a single tear will fall that You my God don’t see. I turn to You always. Amen.

Cover photo: At the end of the 2025 Cathia Hamparian Memorial Service, participants placed candles around an angel figurine. 

And then there were 72

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Armodoxy for Today: And then there were 72

This weekend the Armenian Church celebrates the “72 disciples of Jesus.” Before you accuse me of having my thumb on the scale, adding an extra 60 to the group of 12 we’re all familiar with, read the details in the Gospel of Luke (chapter 10), “The Lord appointed seventy-two others also, and sent them two by two before Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.‘”

Discipleship in the Gospel was a calling given to a group of Jesus’ students, with a clear mission. Jesus sent these 72 disciples with these words, “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves… But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.  Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

With these words, Jesus sets the tone for Christian missionary activity. It is focused. It is selfless service. It is to spread the Gospel which, as we hear in the passage, it centered on peace.  With this same invitation many people have followed the call of Jesus, some into the clergy, others, have embraced it as a way of life as their personal lay ministry.

It is from this passage that Christianity was delivered and spread. Everything we know of Jesus, His Love and His teachings was delivered to us because of the work of these faithful disciples of Jesus, working through this Holy Body, the Church.

Today’s focus on the 72 help us go beyond the stereotypical images and number of 12. In the passage we read, note that the 72 are referred without reference to gender. In the early Church discipleship was accessible by all.

At every moment of our lives, we are invited to be disciples of Christ. Never look further than yourself to find the necessary openness to the divine teaching of Jesus Christ.

Lord, open my heart to your voice and your invitation. Your Kingdom is full of love, help me to live it, and then to share it. I humbly ask in your name. Amen.

Cover photo: Disciple at Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, 2014 Fr. Vazken

Grace is not cheap

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Armodoxy for Today: Grace is not cheap

Deitrich Bonhoeffer was a Protestant theologian, living in the first part of the last century, until he was executed by the Nazis in 1945. Bonhoeffer’s writings remain today as a testament to a man of courage and deep faith. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship (1937) he writes about “Costly grace” in contrast to “Cheap grace.”

“Cheap grace,” Bonhoeffer says, “is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace… Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasure, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.”

Bonhoeffer describes one of the menaces of Christianity, not only Protestant Church but all of Christianity. God so love the world, that he gave us His Son. Or, Jesus died for our sins. The debt has been paid, are catchy phrases that get thrown around without a second thought.

Armodoxy, unapologetically, says that Christianity points to action. That action is our response to God. He is not the Great Puppeteer in the sky guiding us on strings. He invites us to a life of reaction and interaction.

Dear God, my prayer begins with you. Open my ears to your words and move my hands and feet toward your invitation. Amen.

Connecting to Church and Culture

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Epostle: Connecting to Church and Culture

With over half a million Armenians living across the United States, the Armenian Church remains committed to serving all members of the community—no matter where they call home. While there are 40 parishes in the Western Diocese and 48 in the Eastern Diocese, these brick-and-mortar locations can’t reach every Armenian geographically.

This map illustrates the distribution of Armenian populations by county. Darker shades of green indicate higher concentrations, while pins represent existing parish locations. But what about those living far from a parish? How does the Church extend its mission and message?

Epostle is the answer. Through an internet connection, the richness of Armenian Church life and culture becomes accessible in real time—right from your computer, tablet, or wearable device. Epostle brings liturgy, learning, and community directly to you, wherever you are.

Importantly, Epostle is a supplement to, not a substitute for, local parish engagement. It expands the Church’s reach and supports its mission without replacing the depth of in-person community worship.
At Epostle, we believe that using technology creatively is a powerful way to fulfill the Great Commission—the divine call Jesus gave His disciples after His resurrection to share His message, make disciples, and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A Match to Light Our Worship

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Armodoxy for Today: A Match to Light our Worship

One Sunday morning, one of the young altar boys of our church, handed me a small box. On the box was a handwritten gift tag, “To the Church. Open now!” it said. It was wrapped in Christmas paper, though it was mid-July.

The celebration of the Divine Liturgy was about to begin and although I insisted on punctuality for the service, my curiosity got the better of me. Quickly I opened the package. In it was a book of 50 matches. I looked over at Mher, and he didn’t wait for me to ask. He reminded me that last week I looked all over for matches to light the altar candles. So this young boy took the initiative to solve the problem. During the week he went shopping and now provided enough matches to last the entire year.

At eight years old, Mher understood this was his church. He saw a need and took care of it. It’s not more complicated than that, or as Jesus taught, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

Today’s one-minute for Summertime.

Assessing Membership (and even more)

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Armodoxy for Today: Assessing Membership (and even more)

Groucho Marx, famously said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” It takes a moment to absorb the true humor in such a statement. It was something you would expect for Marx, who was a comedian, actor, writer who was famous for his wit, mainly during the first part of the 20th century.

Consider what kind of “club” would have you as a member. Would Jesus be welcome in that organization? This is a good exercise for churches – parishes – to undertake. It can be beneficial in understanding who Jesus is and what he is all about. Even more… understanding who you are and what you are all about.

Think of a member application from a 33 year old male to your church, and now we will read the notes that a member of the admission committee has written: In describing the applicant it says, “Rigid, angry, has authority issues, displays intellectual immaturity, unable to work well with others. Seems a bit too religious. Overly concerned with issues of justice and fairness which can possibly conflict with our donors. Keeps company with people of questionable moral character. Limited knowledge of by-laws. No experience in meeting protocols, banquets, country club outings. Dresses inappropriately.”

How would Jesus be accepted into your church, into your worshipping community? Would his application be stamped ACCEPTED “as-is” or would there be conditions on his acceptance or would it be stamped REJECTED because his ways were not the way of the parish? During Jesus’ time, he was rejected exactly for the reasons stated above (perhaps except the comments about country club outings, but you get the idea). This small exercise is necessary every now and then, and the feast of Pentecost – or the Birthday of the Christian Church – is an appropriate time to check your and your church’s norms and mores against those of Jesus. And what of the congregants? Would those who are poor, lonely or unusual be welcome in your church? Would they consider it home? If not, why not? In an honest assessment, you’ll have to ask what needs to change on our end, because Jesus, is the same yesterday, today and always.

A prayer from the Armenian Church, Bless, Lord, all who work for your Church. Grant that we may so agree in love that envy and jealousy may never mar our labors, but that our sincere and humble service may merit, your blessing. Amen.

Continuum of Life

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Armodoxy for Today: Continuum of Life

Life progresses along a continuum, with a defined starting point and an inevitable conclusion. On the day Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Disciples asked him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1)

As people, we are temporal creatures. We define our life years, we define years by months, and months by days. We seek order out of chaos. And the uncertainty of life’s end can be mind boggling and time consuming, if the purpose of life is misunderstood. Here Jesus, under no uncertain terms, directs the Apostles to focus on their mission.

The Apostolic Church has purpose and mission, and which is not to be consumed with end-times. God demonstrates that He has a timetable and only asks that we trust Him.  Three days after the Crucifixion, the Resurrection took place. Forty days later, the Ascension, and just a few days ago, fifty days after Easter, it was the Pentecost. His timing is perfect.

So as we are taught by our Lord, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  (Matthew 6)

The Church, which is born on Pentecost with the Reception of the Holy Spirit, is the dwelling place of God. With that in mind, I leave you today with words upon which to meditate. They come from great theologian and early saint of the Church St. John Chrysosdom – Hovhaness Voskeberan (John the Golden Mouth), who says, “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door you will not find him [inside] in the Chalice”. 

Non-Denominational Closeup

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Non-Denominational Closeup

As a kid I remember a commercial on television featuring a nice-looking building. A voice asks, “Nice building, huh?” Then the camera zooms in to reveal cracks and chips that were painted over, and without skipping a beat the voice would divulge the truth, “…until you look up closely!” The body of the voice would then come on screen to plug some kind of texture coating that hid the scars of the building.

Usually things look nice from a distance, but upon a closer look the cracks start showing. Religion is also included in this rule. We will stick our discussion today to the Christian religion. One of the popular designations of Christianity that needs to receive a closer look is the term “non-denomination.” It is fairly popular these days because it is presented as a free-spirited version of Christianity. “Generally, non-denominational churches believe that the Bible is the sole authority that dictates every aspect of the church, with scripture shaping their beliefs and philosophies. They are also self-governing entities, with elders often overseeing the church’s organization, structure, and traditions.” (source: https://christianministryedu.org)

Before we take a closer look, let’s remember the course we have travelled to get to this point in Armodoxy for Today. We went through a period of preparation called Lent. We celebrated the Resurrection, and then continued with the formation of the first Christian communities. Currently we are in that period between Ascension (40 days after Easter) and the Pentecost (50 days after Easter).

There is a reason the Church asks you to take this journey. The Bible does not exist as a Book unto itself. When Jesus was crucified, there was no Bible. When he resurrected, there was no Bible. When he ascended, there was no Bible. In fact, there was no formal Bible for a few hundred years! However, at all those same events – crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and on into the formation of the communities –there was the Church!

Those who claim to be non-denominational say that they accept the Bible as the sole authority in matters of their faith. By their own admission, they have excluded themselves from a major part of Christian history and development.

God’s greatest gift to humanity was not the Bible. Much more important than the Bible is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father. Jesus’ gift to humanity was not the Bible, rather it was his holy and precious Body, namely the Church. And it was the Church that compiled the books together to give us what we refer to as the Bible.

The Armenian word for Bible is Asdvadzashunch, which literally means the Breath of God. The Armenian Church refers to it as the “breath” because it guides us as spirit, not as a book of laws and regulations, along the paths of Truth, Hope and Love.

I understand the appeal of non-denominationalism, especially in our world today when everyone is given a platform to interpret, or even worse, to create a derivative of Christ’s holy and sacred message. In other words, within the non-denominational category, you can have a few million or billion derivatives of the faith. This is why when we speak of the Armenian Apostolic Church, we are grounding ourselves in a Tradition that dates back to the time of Christ, that is, before there was a Bible. We are not a Bible-centered community of believers, we are Christ centered.  Non-denominationalism is very nice looking, and appealing, but when you look up closely you notice the chips and the holes. Jesus set up his Church and it is guided by the Holy Spirit. In his unfailing words Jesus says, “The gates of Hell will not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18)

We conclude with a prayer from the Holy Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church: We thank you, Father almighty, who did prepare for us the holy Church as a haven, a temple of holiness, where the name of the holy Trinity is glorified. Alleluia. We thank you, Spirit of Truth, who have renewed the holy Church. Keep her without blemish through the faith in the Trinity forevermore. Amen.