Tag Archive for: Khirimian

Prayer for Vision

Armodoxy for Today: Need for Prayer

At noon today, January 20, the President of the United States will be inaugurated into office. There will be calls for prayers today, some will be offered publicly, while many will be offered privately. Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of the incoming administration, it is essential to heed the call to prayer. The office of President of the United States comes with an unusually unique set of responsibilities, and our prayers should come from a collective concern for the proper exercise of those responsibilities. We begin today with a prayer for wisdom and a focus on peace as he executes the duties of his office.

This year the inauguration coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Dr. King was known for his work in the Civil Rights movement, particularly in the South during the 1950s and 1960s. He advocated and practiced non-violent resistance as a means of bringing about social and political change. Though he had earned many prestigious titles and even received the Nobel Peace Prize at the young age of 35, he would always emphasize that first, and foremost, he was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as such, his message and the direction of his leadership was to be in sync with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps less known about Rev. King’s work is that during the last years of his life he focused on opposing the Vietnam War. His Speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” delivered on April 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church, was a call to end killing – to end the war. The speech was his answer to his conscience, which did not allow him to stay silent in the presence of war. You may listen to the speech at the link in today’s show notes. You will hear a man struggling with the moral inconsistencies that he found in the policies of the nation.

In the Armenian Church, many of the leaders throughout the centuries have risen to call on the state to seek justice. They have empowered the people calling on them to accept personal responsibility. One such leader was Catholicos Mgrtich Khrimian. In the days ahead we will look at those lessons from the Armenian Church and will hear Khrimian’s plea tomorrow.

Today, we pray a prayer for vision, from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., O God our eternal Father, we praise thee for gifts of mind with which thou hast endowed us. We are able to rise out of the half-realities of the sense world to a world of ideal beauty and eternal truth. Teach us, we pray Thee, how to use this great gift of reason and imagination so that it shall not be a curse but a blessing. Grant us visions that shall lift us from worldliness and sin into the light of thine own holy presence. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Khrimian Hayrik – The Paper Ladle

The Paper Ladle

Editor’s note:  Affectionately called “Hayrik” by the Armenian people, Mgerdich Khrimian was the Catholicos of the Armenian Church between 1892-1907.  In 1878, at the request of Patriarch Nersess and the National Assembly, Khirimian represented the Armenians at Congress of Berlin.  Upon his return to Constantinople he recited this message at the Cathedral. (Haig Ajemian,  Hayotz Hayrig, page 511-3; translated by FVM).

Blessed and beloved Armenians:
Now, you have all perked up your ears, impatiently and anxiously waiting to hear what sort of news Khirimian Hayrik has brought us from the Berlin Congress, and what will he say about Article 61 which the powerful governments of the world have bestowed upon the Armenian provinces.  Listen carefully to what I am about to say.  Grasp the profound meaning of my words and then go and contemplate on my message.

As you know, upon the decision of Patriarch Nersess and the National Assembly, we went to Berlin to present the Armenian Case to the great powers of the Congress.  We had great hopes that the Congress would bring peace to the world and liberation to the small and oppressed nations, among which we count ourselves. The Congress convened, the statesmen of the great powers of the world gathered around diplomatic tables covered with green cloth.

And we, the small and suppressed nations waited outside the Congress.  In the middle of the Congress, upon a table covered with green cloth was placed a large bowl of heriseh (a thick and pasty porridge-type meal) from which large and small nations and governments would draw their portion.

Some of the participants pulled to the East, some pulled to the West, and after long debates, in order, one by one, they called the representatives of the small nations [into the meeting].  The Bulgarian entered first, then Serbian and the Gharadaghian.  The rattling of the swords hanging from their sides attracted the attention of the assembly. After speaking for some while, these three, pulled out their swords, as if ladles made of iron, and dipped into the bowl, took their portion of heriseh and proudly and boldly departed.

It was now the turn of the Armenian delegate.  I drew near with the paper petition from the National Assembly, presented it and asked that they fill my plate too with heriseh.  Then, the officials standing before the bowl asked me, “Where is your iron ladle?  It is true that we are serving heriseh here, but he who does not have an iron ladle cannot draw from it.

Listen up. In the future, if this heriseh is distributed, do not come without a ladle or you will return empty handed. Dear Armenian people.  Could I have dipped my paper ladle in the heriseh?  It would have become wet and stayed there.  There, where guns talk and swords make noise, what significance do appeals and petitions have? And I saw next to the Gharadaghian, the Bulgarian and other delegates, several brave [men], blood dripping from the swords hanging at their sides.  I then turned my head, as if I was looking for the brave men from Zeitoon, Sasoon, Shadakh and other mountainous areas.  But where were they?  People of Armenia, tell me, where were those brave souls? Should not one or two of them have been next to me, so that showing their bloody swords to the members of Congress I could have exclaimed, “Look,
HERE IS MY IRON LADLES!  They are here, ready!”  But alas, all I had was a paper petition, which got wet in the heriseh and we returned empty handed.

Truly, had they compared me with the delegates of the Congress, I was taller, my facial features were more attractive.  But to what avail?  In my hand was placed a piece of paper and not a sword.  For this reason we were deprived of the heriseh. In spite of all, in view of the future, going to the Congress of Berlin was not useless. People of Armenia, of course you understand well what the gun could have done and can do.  And so, dear and blessed Armenians, when you return to the Fatherland, to your relatives and friends, take weapons, take we

apons and again weapons.  People, above all, place the hope of your liberation on yourself.  Use your brain and your fist!  Man must work for himself in order to be saved_

Translated by Fr. Vazken Movsesian, 1990, for Window, View of the Armenian Church Quarterly, Volume I, Number 2.