Lent is Here!

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GREAT LENT – A Primer

Watch for Daily Messages – Armodoxy for Today – to guide you through this important period of time, or check out the many Lenten program from the vast Epostle library, including 40 days to healing, 40 days to the Divine Liturgy, and 40 days of the Lenten Journey

2026 Lenten Messages begin on Monday, February 16 at Epostle.net

Check out – 40 Recipes – Meatless Vegan Meals by Deacon Varoujan

What is Lent?

The period just before Holy Week is called Lent. It is a time for reflection and self-evaluation. The Church guides the individual believer through this period by offering means of self-discipline and instruction.

When?

Lent begins on the Monday following Poon Paregentan (Day of Great Living) and continues through the Friday before Palm Sunday. This year Great Lent 2026 begins on February 16 and ends on March 27, 2026 just before Holy Week.

The Purpose

During the 40-day period of Lent the believer is called to taper life down to the bare essentials. You should ask yourself what is really necessary to live? You’ll find that much of life is made up of excesses, which clutter our lives and our values. When tempted in the wilderness, our Lord Jesus reminds us that “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Dietary Restrictions

Part of the Lenten journey involves “giving up” certain foods. In the Armenian Church you are called to abstain from all foods that come from animals. This includes all animal products, including flesh meats, milk & dairy items, eggs, fowl, poultry, fish, etc. – anything that comes from an animal! Find Lenten Recipes! 40 of them

Diet is only one small part of the Lent. Jesus instructs us, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” (Matthew 15:11)   In this spirit, the individual believer is asked to inspect the content of his or her character and act in charity.

The Most Essential

Certainly, LOVE must be at the focus of your Lenten journey because it is the one ingredient of life that gives meaning and purpose to out existence. Love is the necessity of life that needs to be cultivated and nurtured during Lent so that it becomes the main purpose of existence after the Lenten period. While abstinence and restrictions are one part of Lent, the greater task for the believer is to be in love and harmony with his or her family, friends and nature.

Church Services

Even the physical church in the Armenian Church changes in outward appearance during Lent. The curtain is drawn across the altar to remind us that sin prevents us from truly enjoying God. The prayer “Havadov Khosdovanim” (= I Confess with Faith) is offered in particular. St. Nersess Shnorhali, the 12th century Catholicos, wrote this set of 24 prayers and they are considered among the most powerful prayers in the Armenian Church. By following the services, practices and prayer life of the Armenian Church, the believer comes to find the most essential of life’s joys. Peace through God is understood and Lent becomes a prelude to true Christian experience.

Lenten Sundays

Each Sunday of Lent has a unique name along with a unique message:

  • February 15 – Poon Paregentan – A day of good living, to remind us how God wanted us to enjoy life and His blessings. (Read Matt. 5-7)
  • February 22 –Expulsion Sunday reminds us of how sin enters into our lives and prevents us from experiencing the best of life and God’s fullness. (Genesis 1-3)
  • March 1 – Prodigal Sunday – The story of the Prodigal Son instructs us that no matter how much we stray from the good of life, there is always hope to be one with God. His love is unending and unconditional. (Luke 15:11…)
  • March 8 – Steward Sunday – God has given us a life full of responsibilities. How do we manage our lives, our families and ourselves? (Luke 16)
  • March 15 – Judge Sunday – Perseverance and the need to be in constant communion with God is revealed through an unjust and unrighteous judge who is the center of this day’s message. (Luke 18)
  • March 22 – Advent – Christ returns to Earth to judge the living and the dead. How can we be prepared? Listen to the message of his first coming! (Matthew 25)
  • March 29 – Palm Sunday – We enter Holy Week. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem by our Lord also signals the beginning of the holiest days of Christianity. (Matthew 26 & on)

Vartan, tbd

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Armodoxy in Today: Body and Soul

Partners in mission, Leon (Ghevont) and Vartan, are noted for bringing the light to the darkness. Following on yesterday’s theme of Spirit and Flesh, today we look at the body with its soul. Of the two friends, brothers in Christ, Vartan was the warrior. He was the body with soul, a spirit that was grounded in his beliefs. The story of Vartan gets told and retold from generation to generation, from 451AD to today.

Armodoxy asserts that you cannot impose your beliefs on anyone else. Armenians have never pushed their faith on others. This is not a sign of apathy, sloth or weakness, it is an expression of tolerance and understanding. However, when it came to the practice of their faith, the Armenians would not give it up, even if the consequence was death.

To the Persians who were imposing their faith on Armenians, Vartan and the Armenian forces responded, “From this faith [Christianity] no one can separate us, neither sword, nor fire, nor any other force.” Armenians make the point of remembering that they were outnumbered on the battle field by a ratio of 3:1. With over a thousand Armenian casualties, Vartan fell.

I don’t believe there is another group of people on the planet that celebrates a military defeat. This was the first time anywhere that a battle was fought for the defense of Christianity. And the mere fact that the Armenian Church exists today and is the center of the Christian tradition of the Armenian people, is proof that the battle was lost but the war was won.

The historian Yeghishe records that Vartan and his soldiers took an oath, We are ready for persecution and death and every affliction and torture for the sake of the holy churches which our forefathers entrusted to us by the power of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby we were reborn ourselves by torments and blood. For we recognize the Holy Gospel as our Father, and the apostolic universal church as our Mother. Let no evil partition come between us to separate us from her.

Remembrance of the saints Vartan, Ghevont and those who sacrificed their lives as an act of defiance, is a reminder that our faith in Christ cannot be compromised. In a sense, the Battle of Vartan, 451AD is a page of history that has a comma at the end of it, to be decided in the Battle of Vartan in the 21st century. For we recognize the Holy Gospel as our Father, and the apostolic universal church as our Mother. Let no evil partition come between us to separate us from her.

Let us pray, “Lord, our God, through the intercession, memory and prayers St. Vartan and St. Leon, who lived and died for Jesus and the Fatherland and whom we commemorate today, grant us the gift of peace and of your great mercy. Amen.”

Angels before Valentine Day: Two Friends

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Armodoxy for Today: Spirit & Flesh

Angels are flying and hovering all around us on Valentine’s day, and mostly of the chubby little cherub variety. With arrow drawn, Cupid takes aim at the heart twixt lovers. As for the other variety of angels, they’re called seraphim, they’re flying with their six wings in service to God.

We have developed quite an imagery of angels. Ironically, angels are spiritual beings, that is, they do not have physical attributes. Go ahead, look it up. Angels are spiritual beings. They are the messengers of God. We ascribe physical traits to them for convenience so that we can form an idea of what a spiritual being may look like.

It is the human being, who above angels, has been gifted with both spirit and body. Often, it is the struggle between spirit and flesh that is highlighted in many religious stories, especially in the Bible. Today we will look at the power found in bringing spirit and flesh together.

Over these two days preceding Great Lent, the Armenian Church commemorates two saints, who were contemporaries, brothers in Christ, and responsible for the continuity of the Armenian Church and therefore the nation. One is St. Leon the Priest (Ghevont Yerets), and the other is St. Vartan Zoravar (the Warrior).

In the 5th Century, the Battle of Avarayr was fought between the Christian Army, under commander Vartan Mamikonian and the Perian army. This was the first time anywhere that a battle was fought for the defense of Christianity. It led to the signing of a treaty in 484 which affirmed Armenia’s right to practice Christianity. This is the single most important and significant event in Armenian history and for this reason, St. Vartan is recognized by the Church but also by the people, as a national hero.

His friend and priest, St. Leon, is often forgotten, though his impact on the Battle and thus the victory, is recognized by all historians, as essential. The Church recognizes the two over the course of this week and emphasizes the importance of spiritual practices combined with physical prowess to overcome the worst of difficulties. More specifically, for us, we pray to God, but in the end, it is on our physical strength that we count on to stand or walk, to reach out or voice ourselves. In our daily struggles, the example of St. Leon and St. Vartan teach us how to balance the spirit and the flesh to achieve our goals. This then, becomes a prelude to the Lenten Season.

Tomorrow we will look closer at St. Vartan.

One of the more recent manifestations of the Divine presence in our lives was in 1968 when the Cathedral (the headquarters of the Diocese) in New York was consecrated in the name of St. Vartan. Forty-two years later, when the Cathedral in Los Angeles was to be consecrated a philanthropist came forward and asked that it be consecrated using his father’s name, which happened to be Leon, and so it was in 2010. Some may call this coincidence. Others, like me, want to believe it is God’s special messenger letting us know, the Armenian Church in America, is protected from coast to coast by St. Leon and St. Vartan, as they have for centuries.

Let us pray, “Lord, our God, through the intercession, memory and prayers St. Leon and St. Vartan, who lived and died for Jesus and the Fatherland and whom we commemorate today, grant us the gift of peace and of your great mercy. Amen.”

Feathers that Explain

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Armodoxy for Today: Feathers that Explain

We continue on our theme of finding God in the little things, with this short observation from Soviet dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In 1970 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, having raised global awareness of political repression in the Gulag prison systems of the Soviet Union. Today, there is no Soviet Union, but there is tyranny, and political unrest in the human quest for freedom.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote this beautiful short prose poem dedicated to a duckling.

A little yellow duckling, flopping comically on its white belly in the wet grass and scarcely able to stand on its thin, feeble legs, runs in front of me and quacks: “Where’s my mommy? Where’s my family?”

… this one is lost Come on then, little thing, let me take you in my hand.

What keeps it alive? It weighs nothing; its little black eyes are like beads, its feet are like sparrows’ feet, the slightest squeeze and it would be no more. Yet it is warm with life. Its little beak is pale pink and slightly splayed, like a manicured fingernail. Its feet are already webbed, there is yellow among its feathers, and its downy wings are starting to protrude. Its personality already sets it apart …

And we men will soon be flying to Venus; if we pooled our efforts, we could plough up the whole world in twenty minutes. Yet, with all our atomic might, we shall never-never! — be able to make this feeble speck of a yellow duckling in a test tube; even if we were given the feathers and bones, we could never put such a creature together.*

Like the life in our breath, the cells of a trees, the splash of an ocean wave or in the feather of the duckling Solzhenitsyn describes here, everything is of God.

We pray, Lord, open my eyes and my heart so I may notice, feel, touch and appreciate the beauty you articulate in Your creation. Amen.

*Excerpt from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Short Stories and Prose Poems. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1971. Bantam 1972

Reclaim 2026 – Monasticism

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10th Annual Reclaim Conference: “Reclaim Monasticism”

March 6,7,8, 2026

Under the auspices of

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate

at the St. Mary Armenian Church, Yettem California

Bishop Daniel Findikyan, Keynote Speaker

Fr. Vazken Movsesian, Fr. Avedis Abovian, Fr. Mesrop Ash
Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian, Dr. George Stepaniants
Special Yettem Presentation by David Menendian

Conference: $125/person (Earlybird $100 to 2/20) Includes: All conference events,
welcome reception, speakers, presentations, materials, discussions and meals

tiny.cc/Reclaim2026

 

Hotel: Residence Inn, Visalia  tiny.cc/Reclaim_Hotel

Bus transportation available – Rd trip: Burbank ~ Yettem and transportation to and
from hotel and events for all three days, return to Burbank

Tested in Birthing Rooms

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Armodoxy for Today: Tested in Birthing Rooms

A foxhole is a hole in the ground used by soldiers as shelter against enemy fire. It’s been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. It’s an aphorism to suggest that in times of extreme fear or threat of death people will appeal to a higher power. In other words, when looking in the face of death, even the atheist will admit to a God.

Many years ago, I discovered another place where there are no atheists. The night my first child was born, it occurred to me that there aren’t any atheists in birthing rooms, either. When looking in the face of life in its most delicate and novel state, that is new life, untouched by the world, uncontrollably you lose yourself to your emotions. That loss of control is a recognition and acknowledgement of being in the presence of something greater than yourself. The details of paper-thin fingernails, the sculpting of beauty in the features, point to the fingerprint of God and the realization that the miracle of life as anything but an accident.

I tested this theory a couple of times after that first experience and most recently with the phenomena of grandchildren. Same conclusion: There are no atheists in birthing rooms.

We pray, Lord, in the simplest expressions of life we find You. Keep our senses ever-alert to Your presence all around us. Watch over and protect those little expressions of Your Love. Amen.Whispers of the wind, held in a breath—each filament a fragile thread of nature’s poetry.

The Vanadzor Team

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Epostle Welcomes the Vanadzor Team

2025 marked a transformative year of growth for Epostle. We launched new initiatives, sharpened our focus, and reaffirmed our essential mission: to bring the light of Christ’s wisdom, the O.G. (original gospel) message uniquely preserved by the Armenian Church, to people around the world today. At Epostle, we view this mission as a bridge, a vehicle to guide humanity forward into the light. In an era when the world grapples with crisis, questions truth, and witnesses the consequences of polarization and division, this unifying light is needed more than ever. Like a lighthouse guiding ships through the night, Epostle aspires to be that steady beacon, beyond politics, untouched by societal drama, and unwavering in our commitment to the mission. When in doubt, follow the light. This is our message, our protocol for healing, evolving, innovating, and finding solutions amid darkness.

To fulfill this vision, we are intentionally building a borderless team, one that draws strength from diverse locations and shared purpose. After introducing our social media team in Yerevan, we are proud to present our Vanadzor Team, based in Armenia’s third-largest city. In March 2025, shortly after the Reclaim Conference, a small Epostle delegation traveled to Vanadzor to meet our newest members and lay the foundation for thriving outreach programs. We were warmly received by Bishop Hovnan Hakopian, Primate of the Gougark Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who shared his vision for the diocese’s future. This visit deepened our collaboration, focusing on real needs: spiritual and emotional support for refugees from Artsakh, a sewing center empowering displaced women to earn income and build self-reliance, and a children’s art center where young ones create freely, healing through expression.

At the heart of these efforts are two exceptional women whose experience aligns perfectly with Epostle’s goals and the community’s needs: Arevik Yeghiazaryan and Hripsime Mirzoyan, our Project Managers in Vanadzor. They serve as the vital bridge connecting Epostle’s main hub in Los Angeles with on-the-ground action in Armenia.

Arevik Yeghiazaryan brings strong project leadership and organizational skills. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Public Administration Academy of Armenia and a Bachelor’s in Management from Vanadzor State University (with studies in Romania). Since 2021, she has been Project Manager at the Gougark Diocese, while leading “Bolor sar” NGO as President/Project Manager (2017–2025) and serving as founding member/Program Coordinator of WINNET Vanadzor (since 2020). Backed by trainings in CSO management and collaborative policy, she excels in communication, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving, perfect for driving sustainable Epostle initiatives.

Hripsime Mirzoyan, a dedicated social worker born in Vanadzor, brings deep compassion and extensive community experience. Educated in Social Work and Social Policy at Yerevan State University’s Lori Regional Center, she has led the Social Programs Department at the Gougark Diocese since 2018. She coordinates programs like “Her Power, Her Future” (with CARE Caucasus and WINNET, 2023–present), psychosocial support, children’s education, and refugee aid. As Founding Member and President of WINNET Vanadzor (since 2020), she focuses on women’s and youth empowerment. Hripsime excels in communication, leadership, organization, and conflict management, making her an ideal heart-led partner for Epostle’s work.

During our March visit, these programs truly came alive. We met refugee women in the basement of Narekatsi Cathedral, listening to their stories of loss and exile while honoring their hope to return home. Dr. Talar Tejirian, our accomplished physician and surgeon from Los Angeles, spoke candidly about staying active and positive. She offered gentle assessments and introduced gratitude journaling. Her magnetic presence and professionalism left a lasting impression, embodying the empowered woman as a beacon of perseverance and possibility. To many Artsakh refugee women, Talar represents hope and what’s achievable through committed action, a living example of Epostle’s vision: light over darkness, possibility over fear.

Our refugee support began last year with fundraising like the Cars and Coffee event at St. Leon Ghevontyants Cathedral in Burbank, channeling funds to the sewing center and self-sustainability efforts. At the children’s art center, we saw joyful creativity and held open conversations with youth about faith and adolescence. Gregory Beylerian, Epostle’s creative director, shared insights on the children’s drawings, underscoring art’s role in healing and power of creative expression. We also reflected at the tomb of beloved former Primate Archbishop Sebu Chuljian, whose legacy of leadership and youth exchanges, including our continuing sister-camp programs, endures with our support.

With Arevik and Hripsime as our heart-led liaisons in Vanadzor, Epostle is achieving these goals with remarkable effectiveness. Teamwork is central: we co-create in rhythm, guided by conscious orientation and faith. Our team is built not on need or security, but on the heart, aligned with the teachings preserved by the Armenian Church at the base of Mount Ararat 2000 years ago. As a heart-led team rooted in divine intelligence, creativity, and action, the sky is not our limit; we reach beyond to the stars and further.

Looking to 2026 and beyond, we see a canvas of possibility. We are not dissuaded by society’s challenges because we choose to be part of the solution, a choice open to everyone. At Epostle, we have chosen to preserve and honor our past while shaping an illuminated future. We are deeply grateful for Arevik and Hripsime, whose dedication brings the light of Christ to life in Vanadzor. Their work uplifts families, empowers women and youth, and strengthens the global Armenian community’s bonds of faith and solidarity.

Together, we follow the light.

A Humbling Choked Voice

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Armodoxy for Today: A Humbling Choked Voice

In birthing rooms, homes, and fields throughout the world, parents meeting their child for the first time are overwhelmed with tears and choke on finding the words to express that awesome moment of life. Our Lord Jesus refers to this moment, “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.” (John 16)

At a full solar eclipse a few years back, as the Moon covered the Sun and only the solar flares were dancing around the circular disk in the sky, I was moved to sing the Armenian Hymn, sharagan, “Aravod Looso” – a praise to the morning Sunrise and to the Light. Try as I may, words were not coming out of my mouth. I was choking in emotion. Overwhelmed by the event.

In 1985 Carl Segan and his wife Ann Druyan authored the book, “Contact.” The story explores the possibilities of contact between humans and extraterrestrial beings.  About a decade later the story was made into a motion picture starring Jodi Foster and Matthew Machaney. It was fascinating because the story was written from a science perspective, as would be expect from Carl Segan, who was an astronomer and planetary scientists, and very eloquently articulated scientific concepts for the average man. He was an advocate of skeptical scientific inquiry and the scientific method. Yet at the end of Contact he concedes that words and the expressions we possess are inadequate in explaining or expressing the events of the first human contact with the extraterrestrial world. In common parlance we can say he choked.

Events that are bigger than life – whether exploding in the cosmos or the first glance at new life, humble us. They choke our voice so we speak with our heart, and a tear in our eye. They are subtle reminders of the grandeur of God.

We pray from the Book of Sirach, Because of Him each of His messengers succeeds, and by His word all things hold together. We could say more but could never say enough; let the final word be: “He is the all.” Where can we find the strength to praise Him?  For he is greater than all His works. Awesome is the Lord and very great, and marvelous is His power. Glorify the Lord and exalt Him as much as you can, for He surpasses even that. Amen. (chapter 43)

My Neighbor? You’re kidding!

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Armodoxy for Today: My Neighbor? You’re Kidding!

“Love your neighbor,” said Jesus, to a man looking for the answers to life. The man responds to Jesus with a question which leads us to one of the most celebrated parables of Christ, yielding the greatest measure and definition of Christian love, compassion and outreach. The man simply asks, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answers, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’”

Jesus asks, “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” The answer obviously is the one who showed him mercy. Jesus then says, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25–37).

The story of the Good Samaritan has been heard from Sunday School classrooms to pulpits, from children’s books to movie screenplays, and, most importantly, has certainly stirred many people to action. Perhaps the one point that hasn’t been accented adequately is the definition of a Samaritan. We can deduce that it was a person who lived in Samaria, but the significance of that place, and the people of Samaria is what sets the parable of the Good Samaritan on fire. These were people that were looked down upon, held in very low esteem by the Jews of the time, so much so that they were outcasts from mainstream Jewish society. In John chapter 4, Jesus asks for a drink of water a Samaritan woman who responds, “How is it that You ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” And the Gospel evangelist adds, “For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”

Armodoxy demands that we place ourselves in the shoes of others. It challenges us to look at the full impact of Christ’s parables on our lives. And so, I am certain, that if Jesus were speaking to us today, the parable would be adapted to his audience. The spirit of this parable is to understand that the Good Samaritan is the object of our intolerance. Speaking to Armenians, the hero character would be a Turk who pulls out his credit card and covers the hospital expenses until his return. To the Israeli, the hero would be a Palestinian. To the Ukrainian, a Russian. To the white supremist, a black man. And to the self-appointed righteous, perhaps a member of the LBGT community?

Yes, the message is an uncomfortable one. Jesus was not one to keep us in our comfort zones. The number of Samaritans in the entire world today is under 1,000 individuals, accenting even more that the bottom line of the parable is not aligning ourselves with the Samaritans, but rather answering the question, “And who is my neighbor?”  The one who offers mercy, to which Jesus’ message is addressed to us, “Go and do likewise.” Today, we are invited to seek the “neighbor” in everyone, even a foreigner or a so-called enemy.

Let us pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, you instructed us to not judge, but to live. With all the complexities of life today, open my heart to your love, so I may see my neighbor in everyone, and others may see their neighbor in me. Amen.”

 

The Atmosphere that Saves Us

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Armodoxy for Today: Atmosphere

If you’ve ever looked up at the illuminated moon, or studied close pictures of its surface, you can’t help but notice its pock-marked surface. Craters, large and small, are the witnesses to eons of bombardment by meteors, chunks of planets, debris, rocks, and ice slamming into its surface. Everywhere you look on the moon’s surface, there are craters. There’s no escaping the destruction of space-stuff on that surface.

The moon is our closest astronomical neighbor. It belongs to planet Earth, circling around us as Earth’s largest natural satellite. And yet, the surface of the Earth and the surface of the Moon have no resemblance.

The Earth is traveling around the Sun in its orbit, along with other planets and an assortment of debris, rocks, ice and space-stuff. Once these small bodies of matter enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they light up and we conveniently label them as meteors. They streak across the sky and we call them shooting-stars. Actually, they are merely matter becoming incandescent as a result of the friction. Thanks to our atmosphere, most of these objects burn away or slow down so much that their destruction is minimal. Thanks to our atmosphere, the surface of the Earth differs from the surface of the moon quite dramatically. Not only do we not have craters, but we have lush forests, vegetation, oceans, water and therefore, we have life! Of course, the atmosphere is also responsible for our weather patterns, which include beautiful moderate to fair weather, as well as hurricanes and tornadoes. Storms and monsoons cause floods and sometimes there is loss of life because of the harsh conditions. The atmosphere is responsible for life, as well as for the loss of life.

Natural disasters are built into the design of life. An earthquake happens because the tectonic plates, deep below the Earth’s surface, upon which we build our civilizations, settle and shift. Much like the atmosphere that saves us from meteors, the earth below our feet gives us an environment to build and create life.

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.”