Armodoxy for Today: Khrimian, self worth

With the Martin Luther King Holiday, we began looking at the power to bring about change that is within us all. Today we look at one of the heroes of Armodoxy, Khrimian Hayrig, and begin to uncover a lesson of survival from the Armenian Church.

Mkrditch Khrimian was the 125^th Catholicos of All Armenians, serving from 1892-1907. He was so beloved by the people that he was given the moniker “Hayrig,” an endearing term for “father” in Armenian. I remember back in the 1970s, while a seminarian at Holy Etchmiadzin, it was common to find flowers placed Khrimian Hayrig’s grave on a daily basis by people who either remembered him or whose parents had passed along inspiring stories of Hayrig. There is a small garden area in Etchmiadzin where a tree engraving of Khrimian marks the spot where he would sit and mingle with the people.

In the mid 1800’s, Khrimian was invited to an international conference in Berlin. On his return to Armenia he addressed his people in a poignant letter, describing the meeting as nations huddled around a pot of heriseh (a porridge made with meat and grains, its thickness being its noted attribute). He wrote that all the other nations came to the table with the clanging swords and dug deep into the heriseh as if with “iron ladles” pulling out their portion for their nations. However, when his turn came to draw the portion for the Armenians, he had no swords or guns, but only a letter in his hand. He called this letter the paper ladle, which easily flopped by the weight of the heriseh. He tells the Armenian people, when you return to Armenia arm yourself with “Weapons, weapons and more weapons. People, understand above all else that you must put the hope of your freedom upon yourself, on your brains, the might of your fist…  Man, for himself, must work for his deliverance.”

Today in our world which is bogged down by a culture of materialism and egotism we have a false sense of value. We have forgotten about the strength that we have within us. We have forgotten that we were born of the font of baptism and drink from the fountain of immortality – connecting us to Jesus Christ. Khrimian Hayrig, as well as generations of leaders had tapped into that Divine power. How else can you explain the resurrection of the Armenian people, from the ashes of Genocide they stood at Sardarabad, maintained faith in the communist era to the independence of Armenian, following the Gospel message: Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies it remains a single seed, but by dying it produces a harvest. (Jn 12) All the time, connecting to the power of Jesus Christ!

We will continue on this thread tomorrow. For today, we offer a prayer for our foreparents by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. O God, our gracious, heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the creative insights in the universe. We thank Thee for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past, who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in. We thank Thee for our foreparents, who’ve given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going. Grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will, so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world and in our lives. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.