Receiving the Light
Baba Jude
Updated January 19, 2001

On Sunday, January 14, a ceremony to inaugurate the yearlong celebration of the 1700th Anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the National Religion of Armenia was held throughout the churches of the Diocese of the Armenian Church in America.

A flame symbolizing the "Light of St. Gregory the Illuminator" traveled intact from Khor Virab, the pit in which St. Gregory the Illuminator miraculously survived for 13 years, there to Holy Etchmiadzin, the Holy Mother See of the Armenian Church to our St. Vartan Cathedral in New York City.

That flame that was carried to these shores was used to light dozens of specially-made lanterns, which were distributed to every parish in the Eastern Diocese. Young adult parishioners from each parish had been asked to come to New York City on January 6th to receive this light and to bring it back to their home parishes. Combating weather and distance, 61 young adults representing 35 local Armenian churches arrived from as far away as Florida, Texas and Wisconsin, to take part in the "Receiving the Light" ceremony at the Cathedral.

The emotion and joy was overwhelming for parishioners. In all churches, the faithful proceeded forth to receive a specially designed candle for this occasion, to receive this light for it to burn as a reminder of our faith in Christ Jesus these 1700 years.

"This was really special and beautiful," said one member of the congregation at the end of the service. "Having the young people participate, seeing everyone with their candles, knowing where the flame originated--it really left in lump in your throat."

The two young adults who accompanied Archbishop Barsamian to Armenia, to represent the youth of our Diocese during the ceremonies at Khor Virab and Holy Etchmiadzin were: Miss Narine Manukova (Armenian Community of Lansing, MI) and Mr. Andrew Layte (Armenian Church of Our Saviour, Worcester, MA)

Listed are the young adult representatives of the local Diocesan parishes, who received "The Light of St. Gregory the Illuminator" at New York's St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral on Saturday, January 6, 2001 and had the responsibility to bring this light to their local parishes:

Holy Ascension Armenian Church, Trumbull, CT
Miss Joanna Najarian & Mr. Raffi Vartanian

St. Mary Armenian Church, Washington, DC
Mr. Saro Kalayjian

St. Stepanos Armenian Church, Elberon, NJ
Miss Aris Damadian & Mr. Chris Kesici

St. Leon Armenian Church,
Fair Lawn, NJ
Miss Ani Manuelian & Mr. Armen Jesralyan

St. Thomas Armenian Church, Tenafly, NJ
Miss Lousi Tovmasian & Mr. Arek Hamalian

Holy Cross Armenian Church, Union City, NJ
Miss Talar Ayaz

Holy Martyrs Armenian Church, Bayside, NY
Miss Karin Bostanci & Mr. Sevan Aydin

Holy Trinity Armenian Church, Cheltenham, PA
Miss Christine Temoyan & Mr. Christopher Vosbikian

St. Sahag & St. Mesrob Armenian Church, Wynnewood, PA
Miss Tina Bezjian & Mr. Aram Derderian

St. Gregory the Enlightener Armenian Church, White Plains, NY
Miss Hera Hamparsoumian & Mr. Atam Aksu

St. James Armenian Church, Richmond, VA
Miss Lusene Garabedian & Miss Aline Garabedian

Armenian Church of Rochester, NY
Mr. Garen Mkrchian

St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church, Chicago, IL
Miss Kelly Reibel & Mr. Hovsep Utas

Sts. Joachim & Anne Armenian Church, Palos Heights, IL
Miss Amy Vander Meer & Mr. Tony Diorio

St. John Armenian Church,
Southfield, MI
Miss Rita Akaraz & Mr. Gregory Akaraz

St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church, Cleveland, OH
Miss Heather Daroch & Mr. Ara Arslanian

St. John the Baptist Armenian Church, Greenfield, WI
Miss Kristen Kopatich & Mr. Michael Blinka

St. Mesrob Armenian Church,
Racine, WI
Miss Armida Markarova & Mr. David Johnson

Armenian Community of Lansing, MI Miss Narine Manukova & Mr. Sergey Melkumyan

St. George Armenian Church,
Hartford, CT
Miss Elyssa Karanian

Holy Resurrection Armenian Church, New Britain, CT
Miss Tammy Bagdigian & Mr. Arthur Kosian

Holy Trinity Armenian Church, Cambridge, MA
Miss Linda Kasarjian & Mr. Gregory Vartanian

Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church, Chelmsford, MA
Miss Tamar Jeknavorian & Mr. Jimmy Magarian, Jr.

St. James Armenian Church, Watertown, MA
Miss Alina Sullivan & Mr. Mark Giragosian

Armenian Church of Our Saviour, Worcester, MA
Miss Rebecca Layte & Mr. Andrew Layte

St. Peter Armenian Church,
Watervliet, NY
Miss Lena Guleserian

Sts. Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church, Providence, RI
Miss Tamar Ghajanian & Mr. Christopher Bailey

Armenian Church of Metro West, MA Miss Catherine Sullivan & Mr. Edward Meguerian

St. Kevork Armenian Church,
Houston, TX
Miss Anoush Dekmezian

St. Garabed Armenian Church, Orlando, FL
Mr. Gregory Toufayan

St. Hagop Armenian Church,
St. Petersburg, FL
Mr. Paul Gharibian

Armenian Church of Atlanta, GA
Miss Diana Polonsky & Mr. Kevork Nahapetyan

Armenian Church of Albuquerque, NM Miss Christine Saryan & Miss Caroline Saryan

Armenian Church of Memphis, TN
Miss Araxee Ross

Armenian Church of Nashville, TN
Miss Galina Musayelyan & Mr. Roman Novikov

For more info: e-mail office@stsahmes.org
Church Last Updated January 19, 2001


Satin's Beatitude
Baba Jude

Itıs a normal part of childhood to fight and argue with oneıs friends and playmates. Usually these controversies arise because someone has taken something belonging to another, or because someone has been given a privilege not enjoyed by another. At these times, parents are usually brought in as arbitrators. "Itıs not fair!" The children howl, "Make him/her stop!"

Little things like childrenıs playground disagreements are easily decided. Other things like the problems of human relations that beset us as adults, as nations, as cultures, are not so easily solved. The more complex a situation grows, the more difficult it becomes to let justice roll. What is justice in this case, we wonder? What is justice, let along righteousness?

Justice is what is fair. It is the rules we set up so that we wonıt run roughshod over one another, as the selfishness we inherited from our first parents constantly tempts us to do. Righteousness is something else. Rather than asking, "What can I get away with?" it only asks, "What can I do to show the power of love in my actions?" A different question entirely, and one which has challenged many lives to rise above self and act with true heroism.

To each of us is given the opportunity to go beyond justice to righteousness, to give just enough or to give it all weıve got. What a privilege we enjoy.

As the time approaches for parishes to hold their Annual Parish Assemblies, it is a time for all "to show the power of love in my actions." Will we be people of God in our actions or people of Satin? Will we be supportive of our Parish Councils, our Parish Priests, even if they did or did not do what WE expected?

Imagine if we took the time spent arguing over nonsense items, the time spent in plots to pull down people rather than help them to stand, the time spent maliciously destroying the characters of others supposedly in the name of the Church or God, imagine the church that we could have. Imagine.

If the Devil were to write his beatitudes, one may say:

Blessed are those unjustly critical of church leadership ­ for they shall inherit a place with me in my fate.

Church
Time and Again
by Baba Jude

Just when I thought it was safe to relax a bit, January showed up again on the calendar. It does so every year at this time. I took a look back and wondered whatever happened to summer with its supposed relaxation and playtime; the fall with its beauty of color; the Christmas season with its sounds of laughter, gathering of family ­ the Norman Rockwell picture. Projects that I had planned to do for the most part never did get started. Books that I bought to read were left on the shelf. Time that I was to spend with my family and loved ones was all too little. I did get to see some old friends, but the time spent with them was all too short.

With each year's passing and the number of candles on the birthday cake increasing, time becomes more of a precious commodity. I see this thing called time traveling toward a finish line somewhere off in the distance we call the future, gaining speed and momentum as it races forward. The closer it gets to that finish line, the slower I want it to go, for I know that once it crosses that line, the race will be over. The real problem is that we never realize how close or how far away we are to that line until it smacks us right in the face. Then, of course, we know that it is too late.

Ready or not, the holidays came and went. As we start the New Year and watch Dick Clark once again from Times Square, we all seem to become a bit melancholy and ask the question "where did the year go?" So what is our response.

Life is a gift from God, to be enjoyed lived, celebrated, nurtured and given to others through our actions. If we don't use the time we have to do those things that produce only special memories, like watching a summer sunset with a loved one, playing a game of catch with our kids, being on a family picnic rather than on the golf course . . . you can add your own special times to the list . . . we will finish the race, look back and say, " (this is where we, each one of us, must fill in the words ourselves)."

You have read these words before about life being a gift. Maybe with January here again and the routines of school, work, church meetings, etc. along with a few more months of winter ahead of us, maybe it's time to look at the day given to us to live with a different mind. Maybe we will learn to take a few moments to do the special rather than just the mundane. Maybe we will try to open ourselves up to the goodness of God, to experience His definition of life rather than just our own. And just maybe, the words of St. Paul to his beloved friend Timothy will have true meaning to us:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on the Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."( II Tim 4:7-8).


It's All Greek to Me
Baba Jude

For most of us, Greek mythology is a relic of our high school days. Maybe you remember the story of the Greek hero Achilles. His goddess mother Thetis dipped him, as a child, into the river Styx, whose waters made a man invulnerable. But her hand held and covered his heel as she plunged him under the water. For many years, Achilles led a charmed life; arrows, spears, and swords could not harm him. But eventually his enemies discovered the one weak spot in his body. They shot a poisoned arrow into his heel as he was running into battle, and they killed him.

Each one has his Achilles heel, and he is foolish if he thinks he doesn't. One may have many virtues as well as failings, but among them, a single weakness that can most easily cause his ruin. For one, it may be pride and arrogance. For another, it may be vanity, whereby he unduly seeks the high regard of others. It may be the lack of trust in God which causes him to cave in at the first set-back. It may be self-will, by which he stubbornly resists correction and prefers to choose his own sweet way. It may be avarice that leads a man to build up the wrong kind of treasure. It may be sensuality, in that he seeks always the most comfortable way of doing things. There are many Achilles' heels, and Satan knows our particular one.

Spiritual ruin rarely comes suddenly. No man is a saint today and a depraved sinner tomorrow. The way from saint hood to sinfulness is not over a cliff but by a downhill road, often with so gentle a decent that the unwary man does not notice it. Usually it begins when childhood innocence decreases and is replaced by the "lessons of life" which teaches us to watch out, get the other guy first, and make it any way you can.

Some are, but none should be so foolish to think that there is no serious flaw in the individual character. All of us have them. Whatever it may be and where ever it may lie, in the hidden or not so hidden recesses of the soul, our weaknesses are there. We cannot remain unconcerned. Fighting our besetting sin is serious business for the Christian. This is where daily self-examination and a real searching of soul comes in when we offer our prayers to God.

For the New Year, two things. If you have the courage, come to know yourself. Examine yourself honestly before God and expose your flaw(s) to at least yourself. Ask for his help to open your eyes and mind to his grace to resist the weakness which can most easily separate you from God because of your sinful flaw. Then remove the log from your eye before you try to remove the speck from you neighbor's ( Matt. 7:1) You'd be surprised how much clearer things will become.

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