Tag Archive for: Fire

What did they take?

Armodoxy for Today: What did they take?

The fires around Los Angeles County have destroyed lives and property in large proportion. Yesterday, we asked, if faced with the order to evacuate your residence, what would you take? I hope you reflected on it and came up with some answers.

It was five days since the fire evacuated us from our house, and only two days since we returned. Thankful to have a home to come to, we began cleaning up the ashes that spread over our house and lawn like a gray blanket. It was Sunday and I was sent to Utah to celebrate the Holy Divine Liturgy for the small community of Armenians that live near Salt Lake City. Twice a year, our Diocese sends a priest there to tend to the spiritual needs of the people.

There is no choir and there are no altar servers. I took a deacon with me, so that he could assist me in the Liturgy and be a second voice in the singing of the hymns. I was thinking of all that happened over the last several days. In retrospect, it was all so surreal. Remembering the events of the fire was like a dream, or nightmare, I should say.

And there I stood, in Utah, with the make-shift altar, a table, candles and about one hundred people who were huddled into groups to pray in their language and according to the Tradition in which they grew up.  And it hit me. I had an answer, which was the answer for the Armenian People.

Armenians have faced the same issues of exile that the Angelinos faced at the fires. Armenians were exiled from their homes and villages, when temperatures got very hot, when wars and massacres left their communities in shambles. Not once or twice, but with regularity, sometimes several times within a century, and often enough that the population of the nation has not increased. The one thing that they’ve taken with them has been their Faith, and the expression of their Faith, the Holy Armenian Church.

I’m in the Mormon Capital of the World, with a group of people who weren’t supposed to have been here – that’s right in 1915, one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide promised that there would be only one Armenian left and that Armenian would be on-display in a museum.  And here we are, eleven time zones away from where we originated – in Armenia – singing, praying and communing with God in our native Armenian language proclaiming that Christ is with us!

Everything else is temporary. Houses, cars, portfolios, will all come and go, they can be replaced. But the Faith that’s inside of us – the soul and spirit of our being – is irreplaceable. And it is the one thing that lasts beyond fires, plagues, wars, and even the worst manifestation of evil, genocide.

The night I left my home, I wasn’t certain if I would have a house to come back to, but I was sure that I had a home. That’s what Armenians have taken with them: their home, the Armenian Church.

We’ll continue on this thread tomorrow, for today, we end with this prayer from the Divine Liturgy,

This dwelling of holiness, this place of praise; in this habitation of angels, this place of the expiation of mankind; before these holy signs and the holy place that hold God up to us and are made magnificent, we bow down in awe and worship. We bless and glorify your holy, wondrous and triumphant lordship and, together with the heavenly hosts, we offer blessing and glory to you with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

What Would You Take?

Armodoxy for Today: What would you take?

Los Angeles is burning. It might be difficult to call Los Angeles “The City of the Angels,” as flames are about the only thing shooting up to the sky and smell of burnt houses, schools and businesses fills the air and the fear of “Are we next” passes through everyone’s head.

Last Tuesday I got home just before 7 o’clock. My son had called me half an-hour before arriving. He warned me that there was a large fire in the area. That day the winds were blowing like never before in my memory, reaching up to 80 miles per hour, they said. When I arrived, there was smoke and flames just about a mile away. The wind was carrying the sound of sirens and firetrucks that were rushing heroes into the battle zone. The air started getting thick. By 8 o’clock we received a first warning on our phones, to prepare to evacuate. The fire was getting close. By 8:30, the warning had turned into a definitive, “Leave your home” command. And by 9 o’clock sheriff deputies were driving up and down the streets with bull horns ordering, “Evacuate now.”

Between the warning and the order to leave, so many thoughts cross your mind. It doesn’t seem real. Evac orders are common in areas with hurricanes or tornadoes, but in Sunny Southern California? Someone got their plays mixed up. But the order to evacuate was loud and very real.

Quick, you have half-an-hour (and even less when you figure the surprise and initial denial that it’s happening to you) to decide what you’re going to take with you. As you look around at the walls of your house and the room, you think that you may never see any of this again. What do you take with you?

It’s an exercise that I’ve thought about, but it was never as real as it was that night. Pictures, to jar my memory. Those were important to me. But I can imagine so many other things are important for you. What would you take with you if you thought you may never see this reality again? There are no right or wrong answers, but the exercise to question yourself may allow you to understand yourself differently.

Sadly, many people returned to ashes these past few days. Challenge yourself to the exercise of “What would I take with me?” and we’ll continue on this thread tomorrow. For today, we pray from the fifteenth hour of St. Nersess Shnorhali’s Confession of Faith,

Christ, may Your Right Hand shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while sleeping and while awake, so I may never fall into sin. Have mercy on me. Amen.