Autumn 2015
The
¶ ²Ա Ü Ò ²Ա ðՐ ²Ա Ü
reasury
The Bible and the Armenian Church …..And There Was Light St. Paul and the Shield of Faith The Earth May Quake…. Sahag I – The End of the Line
Volume 1 Number 4
The Treasury Features 4
The Bible – Origins, Interpretation and the Armenian Church
Go back in time to witness the birth of the Bible and its pivotal role in the life of the believer. By André Markarian
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Ի Սրբութիւն Սրբոց: Catholicos Sahak I See how the last of the line of St. Gregory became a new enlightener for the Armenian people. By Roberta Ervine
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The Earth May Quake, But Not the Heart
A powerful message of hope by Abp. Ghevont Tourian during a time of tragedy and despair. Archbishop Ghevont Tourian
Departments
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From the Editor’s Desk
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Badarak Bytes
Knowing God
The ONE Who Is
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Spiritual Etymology
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Khorhoort Khoreen
Shield / Vahan (Վահան)
…And There was Light
The Fellowship
Vo l u m e 1 N u m b e r 3
of St. Voski
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3
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Photo Credits Front Cover The Bible - unidentified source Front Inside Cover Armenian Stone cross from New Jugha www.flickr.com Page 2: Lion and lamb www.southwarklivinggod.wordpress.com Page 3: Kiss of Peace - www.arthuride.com Page 4: Holy Bible www.myglimpsesofglory.com Page 6: The manuscript www.theguardian.com Page 7: St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew www.hy.wikipedia.org Page 10: Fragment of an Armenian Miniature Painting Page 12: God’s Light - www.netiv.net Page 13: Sahak Pahlavouni www.en.wikipedia.org Page 16: Archbishop Ghevond Tourian www.stsahmes.org Page 17: Earthquake in Armenia www.hayaxk.wordpress.com Page 18: Eagle; Photo by Michael Marquis www.seriouslyphoto.com Page 19: Prayer - www.st-justin-martyr.org Page 20: Family - Property of Fr. Ghevond Ajamian Back Inside Cover Fragment of an Armenian Miniature Painting (The Alphabet Prayer is arranged by Yeretskin Susanna DerKosrofian) Back Cover Candles; Photo by Shaun Dunphy www.flickr.com
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF ST. VOSKI
Publisher: The Fellowship of St. Voski Editor-in-Chief Dr. André Markarian Editorial Board Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian Dr. Roberta Ervine V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan Eric Vozzy Text Editor Nicole Whittlesey Publication Designer Hasmik Ajamian
All Bible verses are from the 1805 Zohrab Bible (Armenian) or the Revised Standard Version (English, RSV) unless otherwise specified.
Nor Voskiank/Նոր Ոսկեանք is a fellowship of men and women working toward the revival and restoration of Armenian Orthodox theology and life within the Armenian Church at large. The fellowship is named after St. Voski and his companions (the Voskians) who were a group of Christian martyrs and monastics from the first century, many of whom who were students of St. Thaddeus. According to tradition, St. Thaddeus ordained as their leader a priest called Chrysos (Greek for “gold”, Armenian “voski”), and thereafter the group came to be known as the Voskians. In the spirit of the Voskians, Nor Voskiank seeks to support the cultivation of a thriving, united, worldwide Armenian Christian community through prayer, fellowship, and the publication of practical educational resources covering the entire breadth of Christian life as lived, interpreted and testified to by the Armenian Church since ancient times. The Treasury/ Գանձարան is published quarterly and subscriptions are available by request. To contact us or donate, please visit us at
www.StVoski.org Nor Voskiank is a tax-exempt not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that depends entirely on your generous support for its ministry. For a one-year subscription to The Treasury, please send a tax-deductible gift of $30 payable to Fellowship of St. Voski, P.O. Box 377, Sutton MA 01590. Bulk subscriptions also available by request. Every issue of The Treasury is also available for free on our website. You can also visit us on Facebook at Fellowship of St. Voski.
From the Editor’s Desk Volume 1/ Number 4
Knowing God
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mong the list of common “best practices” of effective organizations is composing a mission statement to guide and focus a group’s vision and strategies for success. Recently, our Der Hayr asked our parish’s Christian Education Committee to look more closely at our church’s mission statement in an effort to reinvigorate our parish’s spiritual consciousness and outreach ministry. Our current mission statement, “To know Christ and to make Him known – through worship, fellowship and service,” are words familiar to all our parishioners who hear them regularly at church meetings, fellowship activities and occasionally during the Sunday sermon. Despite being so accustomed to hearing and repeating the phrase, we asked ourselves, “what exactly does it mean to ‘know Christ’?” In everyday language, we use the term “to know” as a way of expressing familiarity with a certain subject or individual. But can “knowing” God simply mean intellectual awareness of Him? What does St. Gregory of Narek mean in his Prayer #10 when he says “So that through faith I might know him and the power of His resurrection?” Really, how are we different from the demons if “knowing” is simply a matter of head knowledge [see James 2:19]. Can I really say that I “know” Him, while I fill my day with so many other activities and distractions in lieu of a more robust prayer life and greater participation in the life of my church? I believe the issue here is not one of factual knowledge but rather a matter of intimacy. When you know someone intimately, as in a marriage or lifelong friendship, you know everything about that person: their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses, even their hopes and dreams. It is
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no wonder that God repeatedly used marriage motifs as a metaphor to describe the relationship He desires with His people. In our daily Christian walk, God wishes us to grow to know Him so personally that His thoughts, His will, His joys, His sadness, His every desire becomes our own. Christ seeks such a degree of closeness with us that He offers to unite with us regularly in Holy Communion, the ultimate expression of love and intimacy with our divine Creator and Redeemer. How then can we best “know” Him? Having begun our Christian walk in baptism though faith, each day becomes an opportunity to fall deeper in love with God and “know” Him better by means of a deliberate commitment of our time and energy to the most important relationship of our existence. Through prayer, regular reading of Scripture, and participation in the liturgy, God reveals Himself to us intimately and communicates His will and desires for our life. When we make it a priority to assemble for worship and fellowship with other members of the Church, we strengthen the mystical union of faith with Him as the “Bride” or “Body” of Christ, and seal that union in Holy Communion. When we forfeit other activities that vie for our attention, and set aside time daily for intense prayer and conversation with God, we immerse ourselves in His presence and peace. Finally, when we go out and serve our respective communities in love and humility, not only do we experience the fruits of this profound relationship with the Lord, but we also testify to our intimacy with Him. For Jesus said “the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve” [Mark 10:45], and “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also” [John 12:26]. Praise be to our God who desires nothing more than for us to know Him as He knows us.
Badarak Bytes
The ONE Who Is by Very Rev. Fr. Michael Daniel Findikyan
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ne of the surprising and little-known characteristics of the Holy Badarak is that very often we find the entire meaning of the Divine Liturgy encapsulated in one of its component parts. A single prayer, a choir response, or even a single line of a hymn expresses in compressed form the whole theology of the Badarak and the basics of our Christian faith. A fine example is the opening line of the hymn that we sing during the Kiss of Peace:
Քրիստոս ի մէջ ﬔր յայտնեցաւ. Որ Էնն Աստուած աստ բազﬔցաւ։ Kreesdos ee mech mer haydnetsav, Vor Enn Asdvadz asd pazmetsav. Christ has revealed himself among us. God, the One who Is, has taken his seat here.
Here in ten Armenian words we have the totality of the Divine Liturgy. The essence of our Sunday celebration is that Jesus Christ has come to be with us today and for all eternity. When Jesus lifted up the bread and the wine at his Last Supper, he was showing his disciples that he would be with them always, even beyond his death on the Cross the next day. Holy Communion is the sacrament, the mystery, of eternal togetherness with Jesus Christ. When we eat the bread and drink the wine, we put our trust in Jesus’ words: “Take, eat. This is my Body…This is my blood.” In other words, “I am here in and with you, flesh and blood.” So in the Badarak, indeed, “Christ has revealed himself among us.” But it is not a mere mortal who reveals himself to us. It is God, the Creator of the universe, who comes to be with us in the Badarak and always. Our hymn identifies God by name. God’s name is Էնն / Enn. When God spoke with Moses from within the burning bush [Exodus 3:14], he identified himself as “I AM,” or, depending upon how one translates the original Hebrew and its early Greek equivalent, “the One who Is,” or “the existing One.” The Armenian Bible translates this as Էնն / Enn. So according to our hymn, during the Badarak we share the company of Christ. Who is this Jesus Christ? He is God, “the One who Is,” the very same God who spoke with Moses from the burning bush. Jesus himself verified this when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” [John 8:58]. When the religious pundits of the day heard this, they took up stones to kill him. Who dares to equate himself with almighty God? Jesus does. And in the Holy Badarak, Jesus Christ our God, “the existing One,” has taken his seat with us at the Table of the Lord.
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The Bible: Origins, Interpretations and the Armenian Tradition
“For neither herb nor poultice cured them, but it was thy Word, O Lord, which heals all men.” Wisdom of Solomon 16:12
By André Markarian
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he Bible is often cited as the best-selling book of all time. It is known by many titles: The Holy Book, The Scriptures, The Word of God, God’s Love Letter, The Good Book, and many others. It is a book that is familiar to every Armenian, revered by most as holy, viewed by many as enigmatic, and often felt by some to be a supernatural relic only accessible to clerics and theologians. The Bible has suffered a great deal of misinterpretation over the millennia, mostly due to a poor understanding of how it was originally composed and used in the first few centuries of early Christendom. In addition, because of the paranoia towards the Roman Church generated by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, for many the Bible alone became the sole authority for the Christian faith. This subsequently weakened the organized church’s role as an authoritative source of proper Bible interpretation. Particularly in America, where modern media platforms have showcased no shortage of self-proclaimed Bible teachers and expositors, modern Biblical exegesis (interpretation) and application has become a free-for-all
in a post-modern environment of relativism and skepticism. For the Armenian nation, the Bible has occupied a central role throughout its history and in the daily life of its people. Despite this immeasurable historical influence, to the honest observer it is clear that the Bible has lost its premier position in the regular affairs of the everyday modern Armenian. What does all this mean to the average church-goer, who wants to sincerely understand the Bible and make it relevant to her life? Or what about the modern skeptic, who sees the Bible simply as a man-made text, used (or even abused) by many over the years to control and influence people in often shameful ways? In this article, I address the most basic of these issues through the eyes of the Armenian Orthodox tradition, to hopefully achieve two simple goals. The first is to clarify what the Bible actually is, clearing up misconceptions about its origins and purpose. The second goal is to provide a healthy foundation for beginning to understand and use the Bible in our everyday lives.
Publish or Perish
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hen we speak of this book “The Bible,” we are generally referring to a compilation of texts written over a period of about 2000 years by approximately 40 different authors. The first part of the Bible is referred to in English as the Old Testament (Arm: Հին Կտակարան/ Heen Gdagaran), and the second is the New Testament (Arm: Նոր Կտակարան/Nor Gdagaran). In contrast to the way a modern book appears in print after a publisher accepts its author’s manuscript, the Bible did not suddenly appear at a local first century church bookstore, nor did it suddenly come to the mind of any one particular individual as a result of divine revelation. Rather, a much more gradual and organic process brought together the pages of this sacred text. Let's explore how this actually came about. The texts of the Old Testament were originally part of an orally transmitted revelation from God given to the people of Israel dating back thousands of years. This circulating “oral tradition” was eventually preserved in written form on scrolls of papyrus in scarce number, but continued to be communicated orally during regular Jewish worship services. The textual material contained in these sacred Hebrew writings was understood to be the voice of God speaking to the people of Israel through select human intermediaries (“Thus saith the Lord”). The compilation of this ancient Hebraic oral and written tradition, which includes the first five books of our modern Bible (Greek:Pentateuch; Hebrew:Torah), certain prophetic writings and wisdom literature (Psalms, Proverbs) and other Jewish historical texts comprises what we refer to today as the Old Testament. Similar to the development of the Old Testament, the books of the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were not originally written down in real-time as if Jesus Christ were dictating to a scribe. Rather, the sayings and activities of the Lord were initially preserved as part of an oral tradition present among Christians in the first few centuries AD. This oral tradition came directly from eye-witnesses or contemporaries of Jesus (i.e. the Apostles/disciples), who
memorized His stories and teachings to share with future generations. Because the life of believers was governed by the crystal-clear reality that the risen Christ was alive and active among them, the material that comprised the four Gospels easily came to be regarded as divinely inspired, and was used regularly during teaching and worship service. Over time, this orally transmitted Gospel tradition was put down in writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to ensure proper documentation of particular details of the Gospel (or “good news”) as it began spreading across Asia Minor and beyond. Simultaneously, other apostles like St. Paul were also busy sending letters to various churches they had planted during their first century missionary travels. These ancient apostolic writers had a practical purpose to their writings, namely to teach spiritual truths to their constituents as they were led by the Holy Spirit. These letters were subsequently copied and distributed among neighboring Christian communities as the Gospel continued to travel across the globe. As would be expected, not every local church had access to the totality of this circulating material, nor did every OT text or apostolic communiqué appeal to the needs, specific situation, or mindset of a particular local church. This reality created much variability in how pre-Bible texts were utilized by the growing church. The process of integration of the pre-Bible texts into the life of the church was therefore not systematically organized, as is commonly suggested by the depiction of a council of senior bishops gathered in a great hall deciding what texts will make the cut. Rather, it progressed in a very organic and fluid-like manner, where local churches guided by the Holy Spirit in their knowledge, faith, and already vibrant liturgical life in Christ, saw value and utility in certain texts available to them, and incorporated their use into their lives as believers (recall that liturgical does not refer to “church services;” it is the Church’s expression of its self-understanding in Christ). The determination that these texts were authoritative and divinely inspired came not from some official edict or theological think-tank, but from the fact that they supported the very realities that believers were experiencing regularly in their preaching, prayers, hymnody, worship activity and
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overall liturgical life. Thus, from the very beginning, the written word served as a testimony to the immanence of the living Word (Jesus Christ) present continually in their midst. Not surprisingly, certain other texts emerged over time claiming to be equal in importance to what was already embraced by various local churches. These later, false writings are referred to as the “pseudepigrapha.” Examples of this body of writings include gnostic texts like the Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Secret Book of James and others. These texts were quickly rejected by Christian communities simply because they conflicted with the churches’ experience of the living Christ. In addition, most lacked true apostolic authority, they were written too late to contain reliable information about Jesus, and they contained much information that was inconsistent with an already established body of oral and written scriptural tradition. Because these dangerous texts had the potential to corrupt the truth and be divisive, over the course of the 4th and 5th centuries church leaders from all over the early Christian world assembled at various times and in various places to formally establish what early writings could be considered authoritative and normative testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, versus others that could be consulted cautiously, if at all. Again, this determination was less an issue of picking which texts were “correct,” but more a task of formally declaring those texts that were already trusted and utilized by the collective Christian community.
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The Biblical “Canon”
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ne would have hoped that these meetings of bishops and synods would have cleared up all confusion regarding what texts should and shouldn’t be included in a potential biblical “canon” (the word canon means a “standard”). Although they were drawing from a common core of trusted material, there was still no standard of absolute uniformity. Nor was it the intention of the councils initially to define with rigorous uniformity a list of scriptures beyond a certain core of texts that were essential. The fact that a “grey” area existed in the development of a formalized canon therefore can be attributed mainly to an expected variability in textual utilization among local churches, and the presence of a hierarchy of textual importance among circulating material (Gospels and certain apostolic texts held in highest regard, other texts variably helpful and edifying, and still others useful in only limited ways). Over the course of the first millennia AD, the particulars worked themselves out within each specific church group (Armenian Apostolic, Roman, Byzantine, etc). Ultimately, details involving the inclusion of certain texts or their sequence when trying to formalize an “official” canon differed widely among the ancient churches, even though disagreements never surfaced regarding the Gospels or other core scriptural material. This is why we continue to see such variability among different modern Bibles in print today. For example, the Classical Armenian Bible (reflected, for the most part, in the 1805 Zohrabian Version) includes several books (referred to as the Apocrypha or more correctly, Deuterocanonical Books) not found in most English language editions of the Bible. These include Second Ezra, Judith, Tobith, Macabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, The Letter of Baruch, Third Corinthians, The Repose of John, and others. Another even more peculiar example of such variability involves the Book of the Revelation of St. John, whose inclusion in the official canon was hotly debated and only reluctantly added to the Roman canon in 419AD. Though the Revelation appears in most printed editions of the Armenian Bible (after 1200 AD), it never appears in the Armenian Lectionary (Ճաշոց /Jashots) as part of those scripture readings assigned to be read during the Badarak or other liturgical services throughout the year.
It’s All In The Translation (or Interpretation)
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ow although the basic elements of the Gospel message are simple enough for even a child to understand (see Mark 10:15), it becomes clear to anyone who has read through the Bible that as a whole it is a very complicated collection of texts. Buried within its pages are examples of violent conquests, illicit love triangles, deceitful characters, enigmatic stories and mysterious oracles that might seem not to have anything to do with each other. Add to this profundity the fact that the complete Bible has been translated into over 450 languages, with over 80 versions in the English language alone. Anyone who has ever studied a foreign language can appreciate the nuances that exist when translating something into another language. How do we sift through all this complexity and variety? Can we trust that what we are reading is actually true to what these ancient authors said and wrote? After all, God does command us in Joshua 1:8 to be continually immersed in Scripture. Here is how the Armenian Church addressed these issues. The oft quoted statement by ancient Armenian historian Eghishé, “We recognize the Holy Gospel to be our father and the Apostolic Church our mother,” best encapsulates the Armenian attitude towards written revelation in the sense that there has always been a partnership between the Church and Scripture, each informing and interpreting the other. From the very beginning, the Armenian people had direct apostolic exposure through the evangelistic ministries of St. Thaddeus, St. Bartholomew and their apostolic successors. When scriptural texts initially became available to local Armenian churches, it was initially in the foreign languages of Greek and Syriac, which was then orally translated into Armenian for preaching and teaching purposes. As one might imagine, this was highly ineffective for evangelizing and maintaining the faith of an entire nation, especially since individual communities and their faithful believers did not have direct regular access to God’s word in their mother tongue. Not until St. Mesrob Mashdots devised a new Armenian alphabet in 406AD and completed the translation of biblical texts into the Armenian language could Christianity in Armenia become fully established. In the words of his own disciple Koriun in Life of Mashdots, “At that time our blessed and pleasant land of Armenia became truly wonderful, where at the hands of two associates, as if suddenly, Moses the teacher of the Law with the prophetic order, progressive Paul with the whole apostolic group, along with the world-sustaining Gospel of Christ, came to be found in the Armenian tongue, became Armenian speaking.” From as early as we can trace back, reading from Biblical texts constituted a large part of the early liturgical practices of the church (our ancient lectionaries plainly reveal this). But not all scripture was weighted the same. The Gospels held a premier position among all Biblical revelation. The reading of the Gospels was felt to reflect
God actually speaking, not through an intermediary as with the Old Testament prophets, but directly with His own voice. Essentially, Jesus Christ was providing all the necessary interpretation. It is for this reason that only the Gospels are read from the altar in church, and why we make the pronouncement “Ասէ Աստուած/Aseh Asdvadz” prior to reading from the Gospels, and why we stand during all Gospel readings. In fact, in the Armenian Church, even beyond what truths a Gospel reading may reveal to us intellectually, the actual words themselves (whether understood or not) are considered efficacious in transforming one’s soul because they are the very breath of God. This attitude forms part of the reason why changing the Gospel readings during worship services from Krapar (classical Armenian) to the vernacular continues to be debated.
The actual Gospel words themselves are considered efficacious in transforming one’s soul because they are the very breath of God. Further interpretation of the truths found in the biblical texts was provided by St. Paul himself, built into his own writings, as was the case with other authors like Sts. Peter, James and John. Beyond this, local churches relied on two additional sources of interpretation. The first was described previously: the self-understanding of divine truths from their real experience and tradition of life in Christ present from the very beginning. The second source came from a group of saintly and deeply spiritual individuals who, over the course of centuries, wrote down their reflections and interpretations of various scriptural texts along with their personal experiences in Christ. Their writings were recognized as very valuable for their wisdom and insight into the faith, and became an important body of literature utilized and guarded by the church. Of course, these scriptural expositors of antiquity often had disagreements on the details of certain theological subjects, which is why it is difficult to exclusively use ancient interpretations as a mandatory grid for understanding every nuance of scripture. 8 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
Bringing It Home
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uilding off this interpretive foundation, and with completion of the great spiritual labor of translating
the biblical texts into Armenian, the Armenian Church’s approach to scriptural exegesis gradually took form, and evolved according to the specific mind and faith of the Armenian people. As a result, the faith of the Armenians was able to reach entirely new dimensions. Historian Ghazar P’arpetsi in his seminal work, History of the Armenians, described how “schools were immediately established for the instruction of the flock and the ranks of scribes were increased, and they emulated each other.” He continues saying, “Torrents were continually flowing from the commentators, who explained the secrets of the prophets and placed before all the people tables loaded with spiritual dishes….the land of Armenia was filled with the knowledge of the Lord.” Gradually, more and more attention was directed to the study and interpretation of any textual material that was felt to be profitable for teaching and growth in the faith. Never compromising its Christian orthodoxy, its orthopraxis was guided by an almost insatiable desire to grow in knowledge and wisdom within the dictates of its liturgical life, national character, and faith tradition as guided by the Holy Spirit.
Coming Full Circle with this broad historical perspective, how E quipped can we make specific use of this knowledge to help us in our daily Christian walk, especially in an age where nearly everyone has access to their own personal copy of a Bible? After all, what better way to supplement our already strained participation in the liturgical life of the church than with regular, focused study of the Bible. Using this legacy of biblical text interpretation handed down to us from our ancestors can help us to begin unpacking the truths in scripture and their application to our lives. Provided here is a concise outline of five specific exegetical
(interpretive) principles used in the Armenian Church. The first major principle is that all scriptural revelation is understood in light of the Gospel; that is to say, the revelation of God has been progressive over time and culminated with God’s ultimate revelation in Christ and what He taught. All scripture therefore is not created equal, so to speak. We see this phenomenon best demonstrated in the daily liturgy of the church, where lectionary readings are arranged in groups of five, the first four always leading up to a Gospel reading. By organizing scripture reading in this very deliberate manner, the church highlights the preeminence of the Gospel message as a means of understanding all of revelation. Principle number two is that scripture is its own interpreter. In order to understand what a certain passage in the Bible means, the reader must also look at all related scriptural passages on the topic, and finally connect this with how Jesus’s words or actions handled the subject. This is why the practice of opening up a Bible to a random page to see what God has to say that day does severe injustice to the complexity of faithful scriptural study. Principle number three is that context determines meaning. As described earlier, what at one time constituted “oral scripture,” which eventually became “written scripture,” was a combination of sayings and writings to address specific issues and attitudes at particular times, places and for particular people. Additionally, this oral and written material employed several different literary devices (hyperbole, metaphor, anthropomorphism, simile) to accomplish these goals. For example, sometimes a statement was meant to be understood literally: “They went out to the Mount of Olives” [Mark 14:26], and sometimes it was figurative: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed” [Matthew 13:31]. Sometimes a specific person or group was given instructions/reproof only applicable to them: “Rise up, take your journey, and go over the valley of the Arnon” [Deuteronomy 2:24], and sometimes a directive was meant to be more universal: “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]. A statement like “The Lord make His face to shine upon you” [Numbers 6:25], was never meant to imply that God has an actual skin-covered face with which he can smile,
frown or even wink at us. One can see therefore that proper attention to context and associated literary devices is necessary to correctly understand a passage or principle in scripture. The fourth principle is to examine scripture from the perspective of being right in the middle of it. This existential attitude of scriptural interpretation is very characteristic of the Armenian Church fathers, best exemplified by figures like St. Gregory of Nareg and St. Nersess Shnorhali, who regularly placed themselves alongside biblical figures in their reflections and exhortations to God. By putting oneself in the midst of a biblical passage, we can see how scripture becomes alive and immediately relevant to us in the here and now. For example, in the case of the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32], imagine oneself to be the big brother, the son who remained at home with his father while his younger brother went off to squander his inheritance. The older brother’s judgmental attitude toward his repentant brother was less than generous. Would I, as the big brother, behave in the same manner, or would I welcome my younger brother with open arms as the father does? How might I react to a fellow parishioner today who historically has been contentious in church, but now comes forth for Holy Communion seeking God’s forgiveness and fellowship? The final principle of Biblical interpretation is that scripture is best understood within the context of the total Armenian liturgical experience. The liturgy of the church, which is the visible, tangible expression of its spiritual life and testimony, has already built into it an extensive exegesis of scriptural principles. As described in a previous article (“Worship and the Armenian Church” p17, The Treasury V1/N1 2015), the Armenian Church’s liturgy arose out of a very deep and ancient understanding of Christian truths which we can now use to inform our current studies of the Bible. After all, the Word of God is not so much a book as it is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and dwells among us. It is at this intersection of our rich liturgical practices, our scriptural mediations, our prayers and worship activities where the fullness of God’s revelation in Christ is most authentically revealed to us. www.StVoski.org
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The Word of God is not so much a book as it is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
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n this short tour of the early history of the Bible, we described how first century Christians would gather regularly and recall the teachings and activities of Jesus Christ. This orally transmitted material, along with other written correspondences from the apostles and their contemporaries, gradually joined the already circulating Hebrew scriptures in textual form to become what we call the Holy Bible. Yet, what actually makes the Bible “holy” is not the physical text or collection of pages bound together in book form, but rather the divinely inspired truths revealed within it, aptly described by the Armenian Church as God’s Breath or Աստուածաշունչ (Asdvadzashoonch). We also saw how the Bible alone was never viewed as the exhaustive revelation of God, since it emerged at a time when an already robust Christian liturgical life was in full force, and an extensive body of interpretive literature was circulating among Christian communities across the globe. Even though a remarkable harmony and simplistic beauty exists within the pages of the Bible, understanding any passage or section does require a working knowledge of many complex elements including relevant historical facts, literary genre, symbolism, translational variations, and others. Of course, this description of the intricacies of biblical exegesis is not at all meant to discourage anyone from reading the Bible. In fact, it is good and necessary that every Christian regularly immerse themselves in the Scriptures. God gave us the words of the Bible not to confuse or frustrate us, but rather to reveal Himself and bring us closer to Him. Fortunately the Armenian Orthodox Church has remained steadfast in its reverence, understanding and application of scripture. Not only has it responsibly guarded the interpretive legacy handed down to us from the apostles and church saints across the centuries, but its adherence to ancient liturgical practices and characteristic open-mindedness and flexibility towards scripture exegesis allows for a safe yet refreshing freedom to explore God’s revelation. Using our Church’s time-tested approach to unpacking the truths and mysteries in the Bible, in combination with an active liturgical life, we can be confident to grow in spiritual maturity, wisdom and intimacy with the Lord. Catholicos Karekin I said it best when he remarked, “The Bible is not a precious book in the sense that it contains intellectual truths found and formulated by highly trained people; it is the Holy Book because the Holy God has revealed Himself in words and deeds recorded in the Bible through His divine guidance. His power is there in the Book. Through the use of the Bible in church worship we are not merely instructed in Christian truth but touched by the power of God – The Breath of God.” André B. Markarian, MD, is a practicing Emergency Medicine physician and a graduate of the Masters of Diaconal Ministries Program at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary.
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ì²ԱÐՀ²ԱÜ = vahan
Spiritual Etymology
shield
By Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian
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s one becomes more familiar with the Armenian language, one will learn that more than half of the Armenian vocabulary is from Persian. There can be many reasons as to why certain words enter another language, but in this case it is because of the close contact Persia and Armenia had over the centuries. Armenia was constantly being conquered and reconquered by Persia and was heavily influenced by Persian religion, culture, society, politics and economics. Since Persians were a war-like people, it is natural that military terms entered the Armenian language. One such word is “վահան/shield.” In America today, when we hear the word վահան/ shield, we usually think of things like sun block, knights, or gladiators, but a վահան/shield is much more than these things. St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians writes, “Above all, take the վահան/shield of faith, by which you will be able to extinguish all fiery arrows of the Evil One.” St. Paul had a Roman soldier’s վահան/shield in mind when he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. A Roman soldier’s վահան/shield was the ultimate form of protection. It measured his entire body length and formed a cylinder cut from top to bottom. It enveloped and covered his entire body, protecting him from attacks on the left, right and head on. It was so important, that if he left all of his other weapons behind, but took his վահան/shield, he would come out of a fight safe and unharmed.
St. Paul stresses the importance of our վահան/shield of faith. Our faith must be like a Roman վահան/shield, one that completely covers us and defends us from the arrows of the Evil One who is present in this world. There is so much wickedness in our society today and we as Christians are constantly targeted and under attack. Fiery arrows are aimed to injure us and ultimately cause us to fall. During the Baptismal Service of the Armenian Church, the priest anoints nine separate places on the body of the newly baptized with Holy Myuron (Chrism). One of them is the back where the priest says: “This seal in the name of Jesus Christ be to you a վահան/shield of strength thereby to quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One.” We who are baptized have a վահան/shield of strength invisibly imprinted upon our backs to smother the flaming arrows of the Devil, and to give us courage and determination to stand for our faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is our վահան/shield of faith that must be with us at all times so that as we travel through this earthly life, we can arrive at our heavenly destination, safe and unharmed. Let us not forget our վահան/shield of faith at home or at church, but constantly keep it with us in our everyday encounters. Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian is the pastor of St. Sarkis Armenian Orthodox Church in Dallas, Texas. www.StVoski.org
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Ի Սրբութիւն Սրբոց: Great Figures in the Life of the Armenian Church
A Vision at the End of the Line
Catholicos Sahak I (387-428) by Roberta Ervine
S
ahak Pahlavuni was born into a high level of moral obligation. He inherited it. As the only son of the great Catholicos Nerses I Pahlavuni (353-373), known to posterity as Nerses the Great, Sahak had his father’s very big shoes to fill. Being Nerses’ son made Sahak the fifth descendant from St. Gregory the Illuminator. Christianity, the Armenian Church, and the Catholicosate were in his blood. So was the responsibility to nurture and maintain them. Also through his father’s side, Sahak was the scion of Armenia’s royal family; his grandmother had been the sister of King Tiran Arshakuni. On his mother’s side, he was descended from the noble clan of the Mamikonians, Armenia’s military commanders-in-chief. Thus, even beyond his responsibility for tending to the quality of Armenia’s faith, Sahak inherited additional responsibilities for the
12 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
defense of Armenia’s Christianity, and for the welfare of Armenian society as a whole. Not only were these heavy responsibilities, but they came with a cautionary note. Sahak’s great-grandfather and great-uncle, Yusik (341-347) and Grigoris (+ca. 340) had both been killed for speaking God’s truth to secular power. Thus, Sahak knew that Church leadership could be a dangerous calling. It is not surprising that as he grew to maturity, Sahak was in no hurry to become head of the Armenian Church — especially after his own father, Nerses, met a similar fate after a disagreement with Armenia’s young king. On the other hand, it was not possible to bow out of honor and responsibility of leadership. The bizarre and untimely death of Sahak’s grandfather, Atanakines, was widely interpreted as a divine judgment for his refusal to live up to his dynastic calling and assume his hereditary
Unable to care for Sahak on his own but having no family able to take on the responsibility of raising a child, Nerses entrusted the baby to the Mamikonians, the clan of Sahak’s deceased mother. Thus Sahak spent his formative years in the mountainous province of Taron, his maternal grandparents’ home territory in the northwestern sector of historic Armenia. When he became of age, Sahak received a stellar education befitting the heir of Gregory the Illuminator. By the time he entered on his serious studies in Byzantium, he was the son of a catholicos; his father Nerses was elevated to the seat of St. Gregory in 353. How much contact Sahak had with his father after that point is not clear, but Nerses’s example of wholehearted charity and devotion must have been an inspiration to him. At some point in his youth, Sahak married. History does not record the name of his spouse, but in due time they had a daughter, named Sahakdukht or Sahakanuysh. At that moment, Sahak’s struggle with his sense of destiny and hereditary obligation became acute. As the heir to the Christian heritage of St. Gregory, it was Sahak’s Godgiven duty to see that the Illuminator’s noble line duties as head of Armenia’s Christians. The risks of taking
continued. And yet, God did not grant him a son. When it
on Church leadership had to be weighed against the risks of
became clear that indeed Sahakdukht would be his only
shirking one’s genetic calling to that leadership!
child, Sahak went through a period of deep spiritual
But this is getting ahead of the story. How did Sahak
distress. God had preserved St. Gregory in the pit and had
come to the point in life where he had to consider such
called five generations of his descendants to fill the sacred
weighty matters? How did his life begin?
role of Armenia’s spiritual head; how could it be that He
When Sahak was born in 348, his parents were in
was now abandoning St. Gregory’s lineage and leaving the
Caesarea, where his father Nerses was pursuing his
Armenian Church to the care of others? What did it mean
education. The rejoicing that must have attended Sahak’s
to be called by God, yet to be denied the means to meet
birth was short-lived, however. Within a few months of his
that calling fully?
arrival as the newest male heir of St. Gregory’s line, Sahak’s
Only late in life did Sahak reveal how God helped him
mother died. At around the same time, his grandfather
come to terms with the realization that he was to be the last
Atanakines and great-uncle Pap were both killed in a freak
Armenian Catholicos from the line of St. Gregory. God
accident. And so it happened that within a short period,
revealed to Sahak that He does not make His plans on
perhaps in a single year, Sahak’s 20-year old father was left
human terms, and that is how it should be. Sahak’s
as a single parent, an orphan, and the only remaining male
understanding of his calling was too small, his hopes for his
descendant of St. Gregory except for his newborn son.
offspring too predictable, his dreams for Armenia’s future
www.StVoski.org
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too focused on what he, with his meager human
vigil. He was pondering his future. His father, Nerses, had
understanding, deemed good. God graced Sahak with a
died. As in the present situation, the Persian government
major adjustment to his viewpoint; it was not God’s
was appointing non-Armenian catholicoses to head the
provision that needed changing. Instead, Sahak needed to
Armenian Church. Sahak knew that even if he became
relinquish the future to God, who already knew it, and
catholicos one day, he would have no successor from his
whose view of Armenia’s future was far different, far higher
own family. Why? What would his catholicosate be worth?
and greater, than Sahak’s familial understanding of it. God gave Sahak a real, old-fashioned prophetic vision —
As Sahak looked toward the altar, quite unexpectedly he saw a bema covered by a great, white curtain with a
a vision that not only consoled and upheld him, but
shining cross on it. One side of the curtain opened to
enabled him to go on to meet his true calling. Thanks to
reveal an altar on which stood bread and grapes, ready for
this vision, Sahak let go of his distress over his lack of a son.
the sacrament. To one side of the altar stood a verdant olive
He let go of his desire to unite Armenian Christians as they
tree filled with fruit. Four of its branches bent near the
had always been united, around the line of St. Gregory.
ground; by contrast with the rest of the tree, their fruit was
And he embraced a future for Armenia fraught with both
shriveled and meager. One of the four branches was smaller
grace and difficulty. It was a life-changing vision. Yet, Sahak
than the remaining three.
kept it to himself until, as he neared the end of his catholicosal reign, he felt the need to share it. The historian Ghazar P‘arbetsi tells the story of how
To the other side of the altar stood a crystal throne draped in dark cloth. On its seat was a silver tray holding a carefully folded robe, a golden orb, and a sheet of
and why Sahak at last revealed to those around him a vision
parchment with writing on it. The first two lines were
that God had given him “years before”. The setting was a
written in gold letters. These were followed by two lines that
dire one. Against Sahak’s urgent advice, Armenia’s nobility
had been erased, then another line and a half of gold letters.
had requested the Persian Empire to put an end to their
The remainder of the parchment was written in red ink.
ruling dynasty, the Arshakunis. The Persians had obliged.
Standing in a circle around the throne were many
But they had done more; in addition to removing
young boys. A few young girls stood among them as well. At
Armenia’s royal house, they had also removed their
that moment, there was an earthquake. The throne shook,
catholicosate. The government dethroned Sahak, and
and all at once the children standing around it grew into
replaced him with a non-Armenian bishop. Realizing what
young men and women. They ascended to the altar, and
they had done to their country and their church, the
then they and the altar rose into heaven together. The
repentant nobility hastened to beg Sahak’s forgiveness.
vision ended.
They had caused a tragedy. It would be four hundred years before Armenians regained the right to rule themselves. Sahak consoled them. Yes, they had made a grievous
What did it mean? As Sahak pondered the significance of what he had just seen, a bright figure came and stood by him, speaking words of encouragement and interpreting the
error in judgment. All would not be well. But God had
vision. Was Sahak feeling sadness over the daughter God
not abandoned them. His view of Armenia’s future went
had given him? All those young men and women were her
beyond their mistakes, and beyond their hopes. Then Sahak
God-pleasing offspring. It was through them that the future
shared with them, in mesmerizing detail, the vision God
of Armenia would be assured, both as kingdom and as
had given him of his own future, and of theirs.
catholicosate, despite the earthquake that would rock the
He was sitting in church near the altar one Easter week, probably as a deacon serving at the solemn Good Friday
14 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
country to its foundations. The kingly orb that lay on the throne would be taken up again. The catholicosal robe,
carefully folded and kept pristine by Sahak, would be worn
Once Sahakdukht was married, Sahak no longer
again in the distant future, by one of his daughter’s
worried about whether or not he would become catholicos,
descendants.
or about the outcome of his reign. Instead, he launched
Sahak chose to relate his vision to the assembled nobility
himself wholeheartedly into a monastic life of prayer and
for at least three reasons: he wanted to encourage them to
teaching, preparing his 65 disciples to translate and
maintain their faith through the coming difficult days. He
interpret in Armenian the scriptures that were being read in
wanted to point out to them that his own mother’s clan, the
Greek and Syriac in the churches of Armenia. Thanks to
Mamikonians, were to have an important role as the chosen
his God-given vision, Sahak was prepared to greet his true
leaders of Armenia during troubled times. And he wanted to
calling when he encountered the two men who would make
give them a hope that could be passed down from generation
it possible: Mesrop Mashdots and King Vramshapuh
to generation until the new kingdom and the restored
Arshakuni.
catholicosate came into being. After sharing his vision with
God intended Sahak not merely to become Armenia’s
them, the historian Ghazar says, Sahak went into retirement,
last catholicos from the line of Gregory, but to become its
to pray and teach in peace until his death.
third enlightener: St. Gregory had enlightened Armenia’s
Even before he shared his vision, Sahak had lived by it
spirit; Nerses had enlightened its heart; Sahak enlightened
for many years. Thanks to his vision, he knew God’s plans for
its mind. His translation of the Bible, undertaken by many
the future of the Armenian Church depended on his
but brought to completion by him, has shaped Armenia’s
maintaining the integrity and faith his great ancestor Gregory
faith and its self-understanding from that time onward. As
had taught: it was not Sahak’s obligation to produce a male
God had shown him, the line on his vision’s parchment
heir, but to “carefully fold and keep pristine” the robe of his
that contained his name, would be written in gold.
office. Thanks to his vision, Sahak had married his daughter to the highly reputed prince Hamazasp Mamikonian. Perhaps with his renewed eyes of faith, he foresaw that from her would come Vardan, saint and champion of Armenia’s Christianity in the Vardanants War.
Roberta Ervine, PhD, is Professor of Armenian Christian Studies at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. www.StVoski.org
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The Earth May Quake But Not the Heart Archbishop Ghevont Tourian
Late in the evening of October 22, 1926 a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the border of Turkey and Armenia just a few miles from the city of Gyumri, then known as Leninagan. Widespread destruction of buildings accompanied the death of hundreds of people. We present this translation of a powerful sermon delivered by the late Archbishop Ghevont Tourian in the days following the 1926 tragedy as a memorial on the 27th anniversary of the much more devastating earthquake of 1988, and as inspiration to all whose lives are shaken, whatever the cause.
T
he destruction that resulted from the earthquake that struck one of Armenia’s cities, Leninagan, and 37 surrounding villages, caused us all profound pain and it inflicted a new
wound in the depths of our heart. According to information that we are steadily receiving through telegrams and news reports, 100,000 people are buried under snow, rain and tribulation. Hundreds have died or are injured under the earthquake’s debris. What is more, a cholera epidemic has begun and many are dying. Barely had our dear fellow Armenians in Leninagan and surrounding villages calmly taken up the task of building; barely had they set out to build up and beautify our villages and forests that had been destroyed; barely had grieving hearts finally felt secure in their homes when all of a sudden all of their work, all of the fruits of their
God, our refuge and strength, is a great relief in times of distress. Therefore we will not fear when the earth quakes, When the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. The Lord of powers is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. —Psalm 46: 1-2, 11. 16 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
efforts and labors were destroyed almost in their entirety. What are we to do in the face of this new disaster, which truly paralyzes us and, I would say, once again leads us to despair? What indeed? Will this earthquake that has destroyed a great, historic city and villages also be able to destroy our heart and emotions? Will it be able to cast us into despair and dread? Never. On the contrary, more than ever we must cling to our confidence regarding all dangers and
tragedies, and we must repeat with the Prophet Habakkuk: “But
God, our refuge and strength, is a great relief in
I shall rejoice in the Lord and I shall delight in God my Savior. God the Lord is my strength” [Habakkuk 3:18-19]. Does not a person’s instinct, flowing directly from faith,
times of distress. Therefore we will not fear when
speak the same to us? A Paris newspaper relates that in the awful
us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
aftermath of Japan’s last great earthquake, one of its journalists met with a well-known Japanese man. Instead of a downcast and despondent face, the man was smiling as always. The journalist expressed his sympathy for the great tragedy of the earthquake. Without altering his smile, the Japanese man answered, “Ah, there is nothing to fear or to distress about. We in Japan are used to earthquakes. Our islands always shake…” The next day, the journalist met the man again and repeated his condolences with even greater sympathy because the latest reports were describing an even more traumatic situation in the aftermath of the earthquake. The Japanese man, still smiling, responded, “It is true that the tragedy is great, but there is no doubt that good will come from that tragedy. We will have to rebuild those squalid districts of our destroyed cities to meet modern sanitary standards.” A few days later the journalist again encountered the man and explained that the disaster had become far more horrifying and terrible than originally thought. Without altering his smile, the man answered, “You are right. The disaster is horrific. But think about it. We are still fortunate. The Emperor escaped the earthquake unharmed. Besides that, the earthquake occurred on
the earth quakes, when the mountains change in the heart of the sea. The Lord of powers is with
How I wish that every person of faith would take possession of these words, and, in times of danger and adversity, would repeat them with confidence and with a reassuring spirit. First of all it must be said that this new disaster in Armenia, as well as every kind of horrible cataclysm, forcefully prompts us to look for consolation in a place higher than the material world. The aftershocks of this earthquake are speaking to us. They have a message for us. They are compelling us to consider that this quaking earth cannot be our true foundation or solid anchor. Instead, beyond concrete things, there must absolutely exist a non-physical world. In general, with the discovery of new elements our instincts tie us firmly to the physical world and we assume that the physical world is everything. But tragedies like this tear away our connection to the physical world and lead us to ponder a non-physical, spiritual world. If it were not this way, we would be subject to spiritual death.
a Saturday. Most of the school children were out of harm’s way because our schools are closed on Saturday. Isn’t this a blessing? Because remember that in the end our children are the future of our homeland.” When I read an expression of such an intrepid attitude, I feel confused that a non-Christian would be more hopeful and confident in the face of the most fierce tragedies than a supposedly believing Christian, and that he looks unwaveringly and resolutely to the future. Now in that non-Christian man’s attitude do you not see a warning for us to remain steady and resolute, whatever may befall us? The opening lines of my sermon are taken from one of those fine Bible verses that were designed to encourage us in times of tragedy: www.StVoski.org
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And that is when the spirit soars up from the physical world toward the non-physical world in order to seek there its pedestal.
When eaglets begin to grow, their parents coldly
is in anguish, she does not search for a physical object, a
destroy their nest in which, we would assume, the eaglets
thing, but for a person, a spiritual and moral being, a power
should remain in order to feed and continue to grow. The
to whom she can open up, in whom she can find shelter; an
eaglets end up completely bewildered in the cold, perched
unchanging, stable force, a rock on whom she can cling
on the barren rocks without a nest. However it is this nest-
firmly, and through whom she can be strong. This power,
less state that compels the eaglets to detect that they have
this rock exists. This stable bedrock is none other than God.
wings with which to fly. What a miracle! Those awkward
O I know that many will object that it is hard for
eaglets, their wings barely moving, begin to beat those wings
them to believe in a God that wills or allows such tragedies.
and to fly, miraculously to fly! To fly above the forests to the
“Isn’t God a loving God?” they will say. Shouldn’t we
peaks of mountains.
demonize him, shouldn’t we curse his name when we think
It is no different for us. We are called to soar, to ascend to heaven, where we belong. Time and again the
that such tragedies are part of his plan? It is true. We are confronted by a cold mystery and we
Father’s hand breaks up and pulls to pieces our warm and
cannot explain it or understand it. To say plainly that God
cozy nests, our homes, the houses that we have built by our
allows such tragedies means that we must accept that those
toil and labor, and we find ourselves without walls, without
tragedies are God’s will. But we know that God’s will is
help. Yet it is this pitiful, painful condition itself that makes
something else. God is not to be found in ruin and
us realize that we should look for another place to be our
destruction. At the same time, however, we also know that
stronghold, our firm and stable home. And that is when the
God knows everything. A sparrow does not fall to the
spirit soars up from the physical world toward the non-
ground without God knowing it [Matthew 10:29].
physical world in order to seek there its pedestal. The center of that non-physical world is none other than God, whom we call “Heavenly Father.” When a person 18 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
Now God brings good out of every tragedy. All a person has to do is choose to lean on God as the bedrock of his heart, and to let his heart rest upon God’s heart.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells the parable of
Read Hovhan Mamigonian the Historian; read Tovma
the houses built by the foolish and wise men. Jesus explains
Ardzruni and you will see that earthquakes have not been
the kind of foundation on which the wise man should build
unknown in our homeland. The historians describe the
his house so that no storm, flood, or other earthquake-like
great earthquake of Dvin. We can learn a lesson from that
tragedy might destroy and ruin it. “Everyone who hears my
description. It took place in in the third year of the reign of
words and does them will be like the wise man who built his
King Smpad, that is, in the year 893. It was considered even
house upon rock” [Matthew 7:24]. The house built upon
more powerful than the earthquake that struck during the
rock is none other than the deep awareness of God’s
time of Catholicos Zakariah Tsagetsi (d. 877), which
goodness, unwavering faith and consequently of one’s
rumbled on for three months. “Dvin was destroyed. It
obedience with regard to God’s providential will. When this
collapsed onto its foundations. The holy places bore the
deep awareness, this powerful faith, this path of obedience
pain of the quake.” More than 70,000 people died. Since it
becomes a person’s foundation, no earthquake, no flood, no
was impossible to bury them, they were thrown “into
storm, will be able to destroy his house. If physical buildings
chasms and caverns,” a lamentable sight.
are destroyed, the spiritual building will actually remain
Alas, I have nothing to equal Catholicos Mashdots
standing and with it, the heart will remain secure. On the
Yeghivartetsi, who, from his monastery at Lake Sevan,
other hand, if the house is built upon doubt and the sand of
addressed a letter of consolation to the victims of the Dvin
an unprincipled character, “when the floods rose, the river
earthquake and of solace to all the bereaved and suffering.
struck against the house and it immediately toppled over
But I have a request and I want to express it from all the
and great was the destruction of that house” [Luke 6:48-49].
depths of my heart. It is this: When we rebuild our
With all my strength I want to appeal to those who
institutions, our buildings, our homes, let us rebuild them
assume that they cannot remain faithful in the face of such
in the Lord (see Psalm 127:1). Let us build them on the
natural disasters or historical calamities. I would only ask
bedrock of faith. Let us build them to be mansions of light
them to have that proper attitude toward God that our
so that when earthquakes come and ruin our physical
ancestors had. If they do, they will be convinced that if these
buildings, they will not be able to destroy or ruin our hearts.
earthquakes destroyed cities, they cannot destroy a nation
In this way, we will again be able, with strong faith, to sing
that is secured to the foundations of faith. Instead of
with the Psalmist: “God, our refuge and strength, is a great
criticizing God, let them look for a moment at our history,
relief in times of distress. Therefore we will not fear when
which is a mansion of bright faith, and they will be
the earth quakes, when the mountains fall into the heart of
convinced that the earthquakes have not distanced us from
the sea. The Lord of powers is with us. The God of Jacob is
our divine calling, they have brought us closer to it.
our refuge.” Amen.
—Sermon entitled Երկրաշարժ բայց ոչ սրտաշարժ translated by V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan from Պարզ քարոզներ գրեց Ղևոնդ Եպս. Դուրեան, Ե. հատոր [Simple Sermons written by Bishop Ghevont Tourian, Volume 5]. Paris, 1927. www.StVoski.org
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Khorhoort Khoreen
…And There Was Light by Eric Vozzy
One of the interesting and still current customs of the
Armenian Church is the lighting of candles. In fact, one of the first actions for many of our faithful upon entering a church is lighting a candle and offering a prayer. As the candle is placed into a candle stand, we pray, perhaps for the health and well-being of a family member or fellow parishioner. Sometimes the candle is placed in front of a picture of a saint, in which case it is customary to ask for the intercession (բարեխօսութիւն/parekhosootyoon) of that particular saint. The general custom of lighting candles, including the association of candles with prayer, is common to all ancient churches, and until recent times, no one would even enter a church without lighting a candle and saying a prayer. What makes this custom even more fascinating is that despite all of the available electricity that we take for granted inside of a church building, the custom of lighting candles and praying, carrying them during liturgical processions, and displaying them on our altars continues where they are not functionally necessary. Why is this? In ancient times candles were the only source of light other than the light of the sun. Christian worship in those days relied heavily upon reading from liturgical books, as it does today. So the more candles lit, the better the clergy could see what they were reading. With ample electrical lighting, why does the practice of lighting candles survive in the Armenian Orthodox tradition? Are we just holding onto an ancient relic for the sake of preserving tradition?
Light is one of the most common Biblical images for God. Until about a hundred years ago the only way human beings could produce light was by fire. In the book of Exodus, God spoke to Moses from within the burning bush and named Himself out of this fire as “I Am.” Jesus Christ, the very same “I Am” who spoke with Moses from the burning bush, said in the Gospel of John, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Just as two acolytes or candle-bearers (մոմակիր/ momakir) lead our liturgical processions, the light of the Word, Jesus Christ, leads us. “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119/118:105) Just as one candle is placed among other candles, our prayers always join together with the prayers of everyone else in church. Lighting candles in prayer is a visible demonstration of the unity of our prayers, as they become a collective light rising together to the eyes and ears of God. In ancient times, Christians lighting or processing with candles would have been reminded of the reality of reflecting the light of Christ and the warmth of His love as He hears our prayers. Today, our liturgical traditions continue to be replete with elements that serve both functional and metaphorical roles, which is why modern advancements do not necessarily negate the value of many of these ancient practices. Along with our ancient Armenian Christian ancestors, to whom we are united in faith and baptism, we collectively share in the one Light, Jesus Christ, the ultimate reason why we not only light candles, but to whom all of our customs and rituals point. The next time we light a candle in prayer, may we be reminded of the eternal Word of God spoken from the beginning, and the first recorded words of God in Scripture, “Let there be light...”
Eric Vozzy has an M. A. in Philosophy and is completing the Masters of Diaconal Ministries Program at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. 20 The Treasury / Autumn 2015
ԱՅԲՈՒԲԵՆ ԱՂՕԹՔ Գրեց Կաթողիկոս Ղազար Ա Ջահկեցին
Արարիչ Բովանդակ Գոյութեանց, Դատաւոր Երկնից, Զօրաւոր Էութիւն Ըստհուն, Թագաւոր Ժամանակաց, Իրաց, Լուսոյ, Խաւարի,Ծովուց, Կենսականաց Համայնից, Ձայն Ղողանջական, Ճեմարան Մտաց` Յիսուս Նազովրեցի, Շնորհ Ոգեշունչ, Չարից Պաղատիչ, Ջանադիր Ռաբբի, Սրբոց Վկայարան, Տեր մեՐ Ցանկալի Ւ Փառք Քրիստոսի:
Fellowship of St. Voski P.O. Box 377 Sutton, MA 01590
The Treasury Š 2015