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The Գ Ա Ն Ձ Ա Ր Ա Ն
reasury Thy
Kingdom Come The Transcendent
Living
Double Lives
Kiss
St. Anthony Seriously Following Jesus
Volume 4 Number 1
The Treasury Features 6 St. Anthony of the Egyptian Desert Known as the father of the monastic life, this third-century native Egyptian saint teaches us how to really follow Jesus and challenges Christians of all generations to live in the light of the Divine fire. by Dr. Roberta Ervine
The Prodigal Son 16 Redeemed and Restored Join the royal celebration when the Prodigal Son finally finds his way home. The fourteenth century vartabed, St. Grigor Datevatsi, shares his wisdom on the meaning and application of this familiar parable of Jesus Christ. by Dr. André Markarian
Departments
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From the Editor’s Desk
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Pastoral Reflections
Freedom in Christ
Double Lives by Rev. Fr. Hovnan Demerjian
Words and THE WAY 14 համբոյր /hampooyr/kiss by Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian
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Badarak Bytes Blessed is the Kingdom by V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan
Front cover photo: A view from the base of the 1158stair walking path to St. Anthony’s cave in Zafarana, Egypt - www.powerofpilgrimage.wordpress.com
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF ST. VOSKI
The Fellowship
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Photo Credits Front Inside Cover: Morning - www.bay939.com.au Page 2-3: Mount Ararat and Khor Virap www.armenianchurchorlando.org Page 4: Face in the Mirror wordfromthewell.com Page 6: St. Anthony and St. George; Vittore Pisano; National Gallery, London www.webartacademy.com Page 8 - 9: St. Anthony and the Pig; Hieronymus Bosch - Unidentified source Page 10: The Temptation of St. Anthony; Cornelis Saftleven, 1629 - www.biblioklept.org Page 11: St. Anthony the Hermit; Albrecht Dürer, 1519; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco www.artsy.net Page 13: St. Anthony surrounded by beasts. Armenian Art Treasures of Jerusalem; Caratzaz Brothers Pub., New Rochelle, NY; p97. Page 14: Kiss of Peace - Personal archives of Fr. Ghevond Ajamian Page 15: The Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth www.icon-art.info Page 16: The Return of the Prodigal Son: Rembrandt (1642) Page 19: The Prodigal Son; Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1669; The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Page 20: Royal family worshiping Christ the King. Toros Roslin, Gospel of Queen Keran; Armenian illuminated manuscript, 1272. Back Cover: St. Anthony’s Cave www.citydesert.wordpress.com
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 Dn. Eric Vozzy 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 communit y 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 available to read free of charge on our website to all interested. You can also visit us on Facebook at Fellowship of St. Voski.
ISSN 2471-4704
From the Editor’s Desk
Freedom in Christ he year 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the first independent Republic of Armenia. Although this first republic did not last more than a few years, the significance of this historical event is celebrated by Armenians across the globe. The freedom that the first Armenian Republic enjoyed between 1918 and 1920 was an opportunity for modern Armenians, having survived years of Ottoman oppression and devastating genocide, to determine their own future once again on the soil of their bloodstained ancestral lands. Gradually, the elements of the Republic’s infrastructure were formed including an army, a parliamentary government, and a judicial system. The Armenian tri-color flag proudly waving above the city of Yerevan, Armenians at home and abroad celebrated international recognition and a chance for a new beginning. Despite the pervasive enthusiasm for the newly acquired sacred blessing of self-determination, exhausted of both material and emotional resources, the fragile Republic soon fell prey to a new totalitarian regime which quickly stripped it of all vestiges of a barely-realized national independence. The ancient nation of Armenia had fallen yet again under foreign rule, cursed to relive the echoes of oppression and affliction from centuries past.
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Yet, the fires of freedom’s call continued to burn within the Armenian heart until a lasting independent republic would eventually be achieved 71 years later. One cannot help wanting to celebrate freedom, in any form, even if it is short-lived. Freedom is a funny thing though, isn’t it? Most people view the concept of freedom as the state in which one does not have to abide by any rules, restrictions or limitations – the total ability to do whatever one pleases, however and whenever. Reality teaches us though that total freedom is known by a very different name – anarchy. If every person could exercise total freedom, eventually my freedom-choices would result in a loss of freedom for someone else. Practically speaking then, total freedom cannot possibly exist for us created beings, and so freedom can only be achieved in limited fashion within the context of a bigger picture. For example, in order for a soccer game to actually be fun to play and watch, participants are given the freedom to do what they like with the ball within the confinement of a set of rules that keeps the game safe, organized and purposeful. Freedom, for it to be enjoyed and lived out meaningfully, must have enforceable limits. These principles of freedom apply to nations as well as people. As Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia remarked in his 2018 encyclical on the 100th anniversary of the first Independent
Republic of Armenia, “The desire and will to live free and independent, even at the known risk of death, has become one of the most remarkable aspects of the many decades of Armenian history beginning with Haig Nahabed.” The historical record is clear that securing sovereignty for Armenia through the millennia always came at great cost: war, famine, poverty, epidemics, refugees, orphans, and death. In economics, cost to produce determines value, and this is no less true for freedom. This is why we must never take the personal and national freedoms that we enjoy and cherish for granted, nor may we ever forget those who gave life, limb and fortune to achieve and preserve it. In the spiritual realm, these truths are no less apparent. During the Lenten season, we are sharply reminded of all the glorious freedoms we lost when our proto-parents Adam and Eve sinned against God and were thrown out of Paradise. Consequently, the human race was brought under the subjugation of sin which has callously ruled over us to this very day. Our Lord Jesus Christ made this point exceedingly clear when he taught his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever” [Gospel of John 8:34-5]. The two featured articles in this edition of Kantsaran graphically describe how this slavery to sin described by Jesus produces nothing but alienation, anxiety, confusion, suffering and eventually death; which is starkly contrasted to the blazing joy of living a life freed
from bondage to worldly desires brought about by sin. St. Anthony was a real, living example of such a liberated and transformed life, and the fictional character of the Prodigal Son reminds us that God will roll out the proverbial “royal carpet” when we return to our Heavenly Father’s home in repentance. Praise God that we no longer have to remain captive to sin and bear the burden of its yoke of slavery. And to what liberator do we owe such eternal gratitude? What great spiritual warrior has won our freedom to live lives of purpose and fulfillment that will continue on through eternity? Through the shedding of His blood on the Cross, the Son of God himself has gained us the greatest victory of freedom over our two worst enemies: sin and death. “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free… so if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” [John 8:31-2,36]. Jesus Christ has definitively won the war for us, secured our eternal freedom and simply asks us in return to “follow me.” Let us therefore heed the sweet and gentle voice of our spiritual fedayee, “stand firm” as Paul the Apostle has said and “not use our freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” [Galatians 5:13].
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Pastor’s Perspective
Double Lives by Rev. Fr. Hovnan Demerjian
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Mt 6:1
ello, I’m Fr. Hovnan, and I lead a double life. I suspect you do too. Because there’s the outward part of my life, the part people see. And then there’s the inward, the part you can’t see. Most of the time, I fool myself that there is no difference between the two; “what you see is what you get.” But during Lent, we are asked to take off our rosecolored glasses and see ourselves how God sees us, which reveals a great chasm between what I do for appearances and how I actually am. Let me give you a couple examples. On the outside, you see a good work. You don’t see how grudgingly it’s done. You see dedication. You’re not aware of the indignation at having to do what someone else should have done. You see generosity. You don’t realize the covetous desires. You see what I want you to see. I hide the rest. You too? Maybe you too. Is that not what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Beware.” He follows with many more bewares, but they are all of a piece. Beware, don’t be fooled,
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Jesus is saying. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, and maybe you’re so good you can fool all the people all the time, including yourself. But you can’t fool God. Ever. Your Father sees what is in secret and rewards accordingly. Which isn’t good news for me. There is good news though, if you look at it right. The good news is that there is time to repent and that time is Lent. And the even better news is that we not only have time, we have an excellent teacher. The only One who ever lived whose inner life perfectly matched His outward life. One who did not lead a double life and was no hypocrite. If we follow this One, Jesus Christ, on the journey of great Lent, listening to his commands, learning about his life, trying to act as he did, we may make some progress in this season of Lent, toward matching how we want to be seen on the outside with how we actually are on the inside. But there is still a greater gift in store for us at the end of Lent if we endeavor to follow Christ, because He was not only the greatest teacher who ever lived,
but the greatest healer. Our double lives are not something we can learn ourselves out of, that we can accomplish ourselves by “pulling ourselves up by our boot straps.” The chasm between the good we wish to be and the sinful mortal we are is too great. Like the black curtain which separates our churches during Lent, there is a great curtain of separation, sin, which divides our world and the human heart. Sin has caused our world to perpetually fall apart, relationships fall apart, human beings grow old and fall apart, body separated from soul. Everything is coming apart. But in Christ, the great healer, everything is brought back together again. The curtain is lifted and the separation from what we want to be and what we are will be united. The enmity between people will be removed, and that perfect fellowship with God that was the reality in the beginning, that we were created for, will be restored. And that reality has already now begun with our adoption as sons and daughters of God in Jesus, through baptism, through our journey in the life of this Church, in the life of Christ. And so during this Lenten season, we recognize the reality and seriousness of our sin, and ask for God’s mercy and care as we strive and wrestle with our double lives. Let us beware of any lies we are told or tell ourselves which deny, downplay or ignore the fundamental rift which divides the world and our lives. It is only by coming to our great healer and teacher, God-became-man, that the curse is broken and the chasm is spanned. This Lent, let us walk with Him daily, becoming reconciled to ourselves as we are reconciled with Him, now and always. Amen.
Rev. Fr. Hovnan Demerjian is the pastor of St. Hagop Armenian Orthodox Church in Pinellas Park, Florida. This reflection was adapted from a sermon by Rev. James Douthwaite entitled Double Lives.
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St. Anthony of the Egyptian Desert On Seriously Following Jesus by Dr. Roberta Ervine
Lift up your body in which you are clothed and make it an altar and lay upon it all your thoughts and leave all evil counsels there before God, and lift up the hands of your heart to him that is the Creator of the mind, and pray that he gives you the great invisible fire, that it may descend from above and consume the altar and all upon it‌. Then you will see as it were the footsteps of a man on the sea, who will bring you the spiritual rain which is the comfort of the Spirit of comfort (Letter 6, To the Monks at ArsinoÍ)
nthony of the Desert is one of those very familiar saints whose challenge to modern Christians can easily be lost in the blazing light of his hagiographical aura. Both inside and outside his native Egypt, Anthony is revered as the father of monastic life, and its greatest hero. This makes it harder to see him as a human. Everyone adopted Anthony. European artists who depicted Anthony showed him against a stylized landscape that changed according to how they themselves imagined the Egyptian desert might look if it were in their own neighborhood. Painting Anthony as part of the fresco cycle in a suite of Vatican apartments for the Borgia Pope Alexander VI, the Italian painter Bernardino di Betto pictured the saint against a wild, rocky terrain. Another Italian painter, known as Pisanello, painted thick woods in the background, while farther north, in the Netherlands, Joachim Patinir painted Anthony being tempted amid lushly watered greenery, wearing contemporary Dutch dress. Albrecht Dürer drew the castle of Nurenburg in the distance, placing Anthony in civilized, 15th-16th century Bavaria. In the 17th century, Cornelis Salftleven showed Anthony in a vast network of lighted caves facing a tree-lined beach. Anthony was a man for all times and locations. The notably unreligious French poet Gustave Flaubert devoted a volume to the temptations of Anthony in the desert. There was a French Order of St. Anthony, and even a disease named St. Anthony’s Fire. And the French are happy to tell you relics of St. Anthony are housed in three places in France. (He was supposed to have commuted between Egypt, where he spent the weekends, and France, via a cloud of light.) On the lighter side of things, replicas of St. Anthony’s pig were marketed as drinking vessels in the 16th century. And yet beyond the fanciful depictions, the gold reliquaries, the stories of his posthumous healings, and the plethora of institutions named in his honor, what stands out is the crystal clarity of Anthony’s life, his ability to keep focus no matter what arose around him, offering a better way to all who live in the world of distractions. It is Anthony’s crystal clarity of purpose that continues to animate the spiritual aspirations of monks
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in Egypt’s desert monasteries 1700 years after his passing. How did he gain it, and what did he gain through it? The answer is expressed in the quotation at the head of this article. But before we turn to that, a few words about the life trajectory that carried Anthony to conclude that fire is what one should pray for, and that from fire comes spiritual rain.
The start of a life in the fire The facts and events of Anthony’s extraordinary life created the framework within which he discovered, assiduously cultivated and generously shared the secrets of what it means to seriously follow Christ, and the reasons why people who fully intend to often don’t. To follow Christ is to find oneself in the fire. We owe our limited knowledge of Anthony’s life to a biography written by his younger contemporary, the illustrious theologian and hierarch St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who found in Anthony’s story the inspiration to persevere in his own difficult and fiery career. According to Athanasius, the moment that started Anthony down the road to sainthood came when he was a well-off young man of around 20, recently bereaved of both his parents and suddenly responsible for the administration of his substantial inheritance and the upbringing of his younger sister. He walked into church — somewhat late, one notes — to hear the end of the Gospel being read. The day’s text was Matthew 19, the story of Jesus’ interaction with the rich young man, a text that the Armenian Church reads in the period between Theophany and the beginning of Lent. What struck Anthony’s ear were these words in particular: If you would be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor; and come follow Me, and you will have treasure in heaven. The applicability of the reading to his own situation was too clear to be ignored. Anthony went out and arranged for his family’s three hundred fertile acres to become village property. Then he put the movable goods up for sale as well, which brought in a handsome sum. Most of it he donated to charity, keeping out enough to support his sister’s future. Once this had been done and Anthony might www.StVoski.org
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reasonably have been expecting to receive heavenly treasure, he heard more. The next Gospel reading to touch his heart was Matthew 6:34, which said to him, Don’t be anxious for tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. What was he anxious about then? About his sister’s future — raising a young girl properly was no easy task for a young man — and about the proper investment of her money and the conduct of her affairs. So he gave up the anxieties. He gave away his sister’s part of the inheritance as well, and then entrusted her to the care of a good community of women who would raise her with the feminine touch she needed, having lost her own mother. For himself, he went to live in the shed at the bottom of what had been their family garden.
Amid the chaos of the world and its many worries, Anthony had found what was clear, basic and indisputable guidance: Come, follow me. Anthony lived in his shed for fifteen years, spending his time visiting other men in the vicinity who, like himself, had taken to the care-free life, and practicing the disciplines he learned from them. His older and more experienced teachers had already stripped down their life to its essentials, lived apart from any family they may have had, and privileged their responsibility to God over their responsibili-
Anthony had found what was clear, basic and indisputable guidance: Come, follow me. Anthony thus stepped out of a society that was in the throes of becoming fully incorporated into the Byzantine world; a heterogeneous, chaotically frenzied time when the tried and true possibilities of rural and small-town Egyptian life were rapidly becoming impossible. New vistas were opening before the bright, upwardly mobile and culturally flexible, while people with limited adaptability were being left behind by the rapidly changing social system. A ferment of religious ideas, Christian and not, coexisted and intermingled. In Christian communities still suffering persecution, there were no clear lines between orthodox and heterodox, the canon of Christian scripture was still in formation, and it was not yet obvious how much theological inclusivity would be healthy for the newlyorganizing body of Christ.
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ties to a society in flux. From one such local elder Anthony learned graciousness; others taught him how to be kind and free from anger, and a third showed him how humility causes tolerance. He watched one man devote himself to study and another to night prayer, and saw the value in both; he adopted the minimalist asceticism and the perseverance of yet others.
The fire of desire and regret Having begun his journey in earnest, Anthony discovered that the path of Christ is not only the
excitement of forging a discipline and the exhilarating freedom of expanding one’s soul. Christ’s path was lit by what Anthony later called the fire that came down from heaven. That fire is no joke. As Anthony said towards the end of his life, it is benevolent, but it is also ragingly and uncompromisingly hot. God sends it to burn away all the dead wood, grass, weeds and detritus of mind, soul and body, making room for the pure light of the divine to shine in and through a person, unobstructed. Once kindled in Anthony, the fire did not spare even his most cherished
delusions, aspir a t i o n s , a s s u mp tions, natural instincts, rightful needs, expectations or uncertainties. It consumed them all. How could he so callously have given away his precious, already orphaned sister? How could he have abandoned everything his ancestors had worked so hard for? How did he think he was going to manage in the future? What if it had all been a mistake? Was it really worth getting out of bed to do the same boring things over and over again? There had to be more to life than prayer and fasting! Why was he spending his priceless youth chasing a mirage of godliness instead of enjoying the God-given vigor of his young body while
he could? Anthony was beset by visions of social influence, the good that money and status enable one to do, and the joys of sex and family life. What was he thinking, to give them all up? He had nothing to show for his foolish sacrifice, did he? Until he was in his early thirties, Anthony stood in that ferocious, questioning fire, watching his identity, his natural desires and his need to manage the future go slowly, painfully up in smoke. Then with the help of a friend, he moved into a tomb, to enjoy a graphic experience of what he should feel like now that he was dead to it all.
The fire of death to fear The friend closed him in, and Anthony discovered that dying to his natural expectations and desires had not made him truly and blissfully dead. Oh no; he was very much still alive. All his incinerated illusions, delusions and wants had been mere kindling. The real fuel for the fire was fear. There in the absolute darkness of the tomb’s confined space, with no other living soul besides himself, every fear Anthony had ever encountered came roaring up out of the depths of his psyche. Fears of death he never knew he had, fear of suffering, fear of being abandoned and forgotten, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of violence, fear of the imagined, fear of fear. Fear has no pity, and it showed none to Anthony. Physically shattered by this encounter with his own unbridled terrors, Anthony was carried out near death only to return to the tomb once again, because he had to know; what is this force that not only outweighed all his natural rationality but overthrew his solid, fifteenyear edifice of spiritual aspiration and discipline as if it were a house of cards? On his second venture into the tomb’s darkness Anthony discovered that fear’s body-shaking, chemicalcascade-inducing power lies precisely in its unreality. Fear is not rooted in the here and now, and so it cannot be fought with the weapons of reality; fear is anticipation of an imagined result, and so rationality cannot combat it. Fear only has power before something actually happens, so its power lies in its www.StVoski.org
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brought this up to God in prayer, he was told, I was there, Anthony. But I wanted to see how you would handle it on your own. The knowledge that God had confidence in his training and ability to see through deceptions and distractions revolutionized Anthony’s life. He moved on, away from the security of his home region and into the unknown. Neither attached to nor afraid of anything, he was ready to be wherever Christ might take him. ability to persuade us to abandon the present to live in the darkness of what we cannot know. And fear seldom comes alone, Anthony noticed: fears arrive in groups, one leading to another until there is a cacophonous whirlwind of imaginings gathered within the mind. If fear really were as powerful as it feels to its victim, thought Anthony, surely one fear would be enough! Why would fears rove in predatory packs, if not to make themselves look more impressive than they really are, hiding the fact of their illusory nature behind a terrifyingly noisy display of what ifs? The claws of his psyche retracted in the light of these realizations and Anthony was at last free to live in the light of the divine fire, beyond the grip of either desire or fear. He described his new realization as accompanied by a ray of light that pierced through the roof of the tomb. Light from the tomb, that commonplace phrase of Christian piety, became a reality for him in a new way. Grateful though he was for his liberation in these bizarre circumstances, Anthony was also baffled. Where had God been in all of this? Why had God not intervened to save him from the onslaught? Do not hand us over to temptation, says the Lord’s own prayer, after all, and yet God had not only handed Anthony over, he had disappeared entirely from the situation, leaving his devoted follower to struggle alone. When Anthony 10 The Treasury / 2018
At Home in The Fire The light from the tomb led Anthony away from his youthful home to an abandoned fort on a hill near the Nile. There he spent twenty more years in solitude, perfecting his lifestyle. He rebuilt the doors of the fort and uncovered its spring of water. Behind the doors, he created an open space, physical and mental, in which to experiment with things that might make life better. He figured out his body’s optimal diet, learned to grow what he needed for his own health, did away with everything extraneous, preoccupying, distracting, or difficult to acquire. If something made him feel lighter, he kept it. If it didn’t, out it went.
God sends the fire to burn away all the dead wood, grass, weeds and detritus of mind, soul and body, making room for the pure light of the divine to shine in and through a person, unobstructed.
Years later, when people who knew and loved him and had supported him with bread (which he could not make himself — yet) were worried about him and broke in his door to make sure he was still alive, they found him not only alive but fit, well, and in a state of complete balance, toned and clear. His soul was free from blemish, for it was neither contracted as if by grief nor relaxed by pleasure, not possessed by laughter or dejection. As we are just rediscovering today, a vegan diet with intermittent fasting, pure water and moderate exercise had done Anthony nothing but good. The people who found him admired him, and wanted to know how he did it. Just being around him made them feel better. Sick people in particular found his presence healing. With Anthony nearby, a community of monks grew up just across the crocodileinfested canal from his fort. Anthony freely shared with the members of this community what he had gained from his long experience — that the virtues he had tried so hard to learn in his youth were actually natural to humans; that knowledge of self and knowledge of God were not separate goals; that asceticism was not a virtue but a means to virtue; that fasting is not deprivation but optimization. He taught them that whatever happened yesterday, good or bad, doesn’t matter; today is the only day we have to work with. Let this especially be the common aim of all, neither to give way having once begun, nor to faint in trouble, nor to say “We have lived in the discipline a long time!” but rather as though making a new beginning daily let us increase our earnestness. After all, no servant would dare to say, because I worked yesterday, I will not work today! He told his monks, first in conversation and later by letter, that it is important to divest oneself of anything, no matter how good, that has a hold on one: Therefore let the desire of possession take hold of no one, for what gain is it to acquire things which we cannot take with us? Why not rather get those things which we can take away
Since we have received the soul from God as a deposit, let us preserve it for Him, so that [when we return our soul to Him] He may recognize His work as being the same as when He made it. with us: prudence, justice, temperance, courage, understanding, love, kindness to the poor, faith in Christ, freedom from wrath, hospitality? Everything that Anthony taught he had proved for himself in his own experience. And so he taught others not just about life, but about death as well. Death is not the enemy; death is the key to life: If we live every day as though we were going to die tonight, we shall not sin…nor cherish wrath against any. We shall be without wealth, and shall forgive all things to all men, nor shall we retain at all the desire to possess another. Living in the shadow of death without fear made it possible for humans to know and value their mortality: since we have received the soul from God as a deposit, let us preserve it for Him, so that [when we return our soul to Him] He may recognize His work as being the same as when He made it. www.StVoski.org
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Getting the most out of the fire All the adulation, to say nothing of the distractions involved in guiding others, was not leading Anthony to greater clarity, even though it was offering greater clarity to many. If he were to die today, Anthony thought, what would he be doing? Not this, good though it was. And so he left, joining a caravan of Arabs who told him of a distant, uninhabited oasis. It sounded perfect. When Anthony departed for the deep desert, he was between 50-60 years of age. Once again, he had sold everything he had; this time, he had given it all to the poor in spirit, holding nothing back. And so he departed with no baggage. A stiff walk above the oasis he found a small, womb-like cave as dark as the tomb. Dates, water, bread whenever the caravan came through, a little garden and a mind filled with the Scriptures. It was enough. Anthony was at peace. Until, once again, people found him. The oasis turned into a community, and Anthony realized that by following the path of Christ, he like Christ had become a teacher, whether he wanted to or not. He no doubt remembered his own words, Whoever sins against his neighbor sins against himself, and whoever does evil to his neighbor does evil to himself. By the same token, whoever does good to his neighbor does good to himself. And so he let the community grow, because he knew that we ought to love one another warmly, for whoever loves his neighbor loves God, and whoever loves God loves his own soul. Among the many luminous teachings Anthony shared with his monks in the last years of his centurylong life, was a new realization. Before the community began to gather at his oasis, Anthony discovered that the real value of silence and tranquility is not that they bring a person the peace in which to be perfect. The value of solitude and quiet is that they allow a person to finally see the real root of the problem. As Anthony learned in his cave, the worst demons of life are subtle; they speak softly in our subliminal space. They cause no pain; they flaunt no fear; they don’t have horns and barbed tails. Instead, the demons of the heart’s deepest desert are humble and selfeffacing. They do not beat down the mental gates — 12 The Treasury / 2018
The spiritual life is itself so simple that only the complications we create and the demons we are most at home with in our heart can keep us from following Jesus wherever He goes. they are already inside. Anthony discovered within himself a whole world of intellectual and spiritual assumptions so banal and accepted that they came and went through the doors of his inner world with the careless confidence of fully empowered citizens. Even he, fire-tested and discerning as he was, had become so used to their presence and operation that if he had not retreated into a more silent, less distracted space, he might never have noticed them at all, let alone recognized them as mortal enemies who should be fought to one’s last breath. Anthony listed four of these demons in a letter, because he knew that his readers might not have the luxury of sufficient peace and quiet in which to see those homeliest but most deadly of all their foes: selfjustification, condemnation of others, unreasonable expectations and boredom with doing good. These evil forces damage monks, as much as anyone else, by making us think that our struggle comes from our fellows, judging what is outside while the robbers are all inside our house! Plus, they incite us to do things which we are unable to do (and whose time it is not), and make us weary of the things we do that are good for us. It was all so obvious that it was hard to recognize its truth. The greatest and most effective demons are those that escape the fire by hiding in plain sight. Over his more than a century lived on a trajectory of ever-increasing simplicity, Saint Anthony discovered
the deeper reason that lay behind that fateful statement of Jesus that had changed his heart and life so many years before: sell all that you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. Simplify! So that you can hear the still, small voice of your deepest demons. Simplify! Because the spiritual life is not esoteric, and you may easily overlook it if you are expecting something more extravagant. It is not the dramatic gesture of suddenly leaving everything that makes the spiritual life work, or feats of ascetic prowess that keep it alive. Shutting oneself up in a tomb does not insure its progress, nor does a reputation for healing sanctity enhance it. No. The spiritual life is itself so simple that only the complications we create and the demons we are most at home with in our heart can keep us from following Jesus wherever He goes. That they may get knowledge, the Greeks live abroad and cross the sea, but we have no need to depart from home for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, nor to cross the sea for the sake of virtue. For the Lord long ago said, The kingdom of heaven is within you [Luke 17:21]. So virtue needs from us only willingness, since it is in us and is formed from us. For when the soul has its spiritual side in a natural state, virtue is formed. And the spirit remains in a natural state when it remains as it came into existence. And when it came into existence it was fair and exceedingly honest. (St. Anthony's Address to His Monks)
For further reading: The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint, by Samuel Rubenson; Fortress Press, Minneapolis 1995.
Roberta Ervine, PhD, is Professor of Armenian Christian Studies at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary.
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Words and The Way
համբոյր=hampooyr
KISS by Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian
he act of kissing transcends time, culture and continents. It is associated with love, forgiveness, and affection. Kissing, in its most basic form, is an act of union. It unites a husband and wife, a parent and child, and friends together. When one kisses another, it shows some type of relationship exists, like a marriage, a family or a friendship. It is undoubtedly obvious that when two people kiss they are united in some way. In society, people are united through language, culture, history and nationality. However, in the Christian faith, we are united to each other in Holy Baptism, with Holy Chrism (Myuron) and by receiving Holy Communion. Yet, there is still one more way we are joined together and that is through a holy kiss.
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The Armenian word for kiss is համբոյր / hampooyr, which according to St. Nersess Lambronatsi (12th century) means “uniting the multitudes (in Christ).” He says, “[The act of] kissing is communing with one another and with Christ, because namely the meaning of this word is revealed to us in its letters. Kiss (համբիւր/ hampyoor): համն/hamn, which means ‘one’, [and բիւր/ pyoor], which means ‘many’, meaning ‘many are made one’.” St. Paul and St. Peter understood that kissing unites and does not divide. This is why in many of their epistles, they call upon the faithful to “greet one another with a kiss of holiness” (Rom. 16:16; 1Cor. 16:20; 2Cor. 13:12; 1Thess. 5:26; 1Pet. 5:14). We continue to do this during every Divine Liturgy with the Kiss of Peace.
Many other churches preserve this gesture as well, but that is all it is: a gesture. Faithful in other churches offer a handshake or wave to people, but we follow the apostles’ commands – we kiss. For someone new to the Armenian Orthodox Church, and even for those that have been coming for years, this can be uncomfortable and strange. Kissing a stranger whom we don’t know? Kissing someone we hold a grudge against? Kissing someone who is different? As a result, we have reduced the Kiss of Peace to a slight bow, trying our best to come close but not touch the person next to us. When we do this, the meaning of the Kiss of Peace is lost and even more unfortunate, the fruit of it is destroyed. When we greet one another with the Kiss of Peace, we should fully embrace (bear-hug, if you will) each other and give a kiss on both cheeks. This allows love to grow, forgiveness to occur, peace to overcome us and Christ to dwell within us. It is also through this act that we are united to one another in Christ and to Christ. We hear this in the hymn the choir sings while the faithful are joined together through this holy act: “This Church has now become one soul; the kiss is given for a full bond. The enmity has been removed and love is spread over us all.” True Christian love can only occur when we take down the barriers which separate us and allow the Holy Spirit to move within us. For many, unfortunately, the Kiss of Peace may be the only love that person receives during their week. In the society we live in today, Christian love is mocked and ridiculed. It is not shown enough and received even less. People are divided and separated from family, friends, and relatives. Technology which is supposed to bring us together has isolated us from human contact. Many long for a holy kiss, a holy touch which will preach to them and give them the good news of the risen Christ. It is up to each of us not only to hug and kiss during the Divine Liturgy every Sunday, but to show that same love and the warmth of the Holy Spirit which unites us in Christ to every person we meet. For when we do that, we do not kiss a stranger or hug an outsider, but we kiss and embrace Christ Himself.
Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian is the pastor of St. Sarkis Armenian Orthodox Church in Dallas, Texas.
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The Prodigal
Son Redeemed and Restored
by Dr. André Markarian
In a previous edition of The Treasury (V1N2, pp3-7), we listened to the voice of one of the Armenian Church’s foremost teachers, Grigor Datevatsi, as he unpacked his interpretation of the first part of the parable of the Prodigal Son (Gospel of Luke, 15:11-32). Among his many insightful points, St. Grigor emphasized the dangers of falling into a life of sin once a person distances themselves from God, and the various types of spiritual injuries that follow that lifestyle. In the second part of his exposition of this parable (v17-32), St. Grigor shifts his focus to the benefits of a truly repentant heart, and the merciful generosity with which our heavenly Father receives one of his wayward children. The image depicted in this parable of the waiting father who sees his prodigal child returning from afar and then runs to greet him is enough to soften the hardest of sinful hearts. Who can resist a God who is willing to accept us back at any moment, no questions asked, and immediately restore our status as sons and daughters of the Kingdom of Heaven? After all, isn’t that what receiving Holy Communion during Sunday morning Badarak is all about? All week long we have strayed from our Father’s house to distant lands, away from His glorious presence to seek fulfillment elsewhere, only to discover that our royal garments and the true feast await our return back at home. If only we could hold within our hearts the truths of this parable, we would surely be kept from venturing out of God’s will and instead joyfully fall to our knees in confession and praise before Him daily. Let us therefore rejoin St. Grigor as he continues to lead us through this spiritual journey from corruption and vagrancy to redemption and restoration. 16 The Treasury / 2018
On the Meaning of the Prodigal Son Part II Grigor Datevatsi he Gospel shows us the second part of the story, how he (the Prodigal Son) repented and came to his father. As it says, “He came to his senses and said, ‘How many hired servants there are in my father’s house who have plenty of food’.” Thus, there are three things we are shown that are necessary for a sinner to do when he returns to God. First, it is necessary that a sinner come to his senses and consider what losses he incurred because of sin. This analysis has three components. First, he should consider from where he fell and where he went: he fell from God’s presence and into the Adversary’s presence instead. That is what the parable means when it says, “He came to his senses.” The second consideration is to recognize what he was prior to sinning and what he became after sinning: he was God’s son initially and afterwards became
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the Adversary’s son. That is why he says, “I am a prodigal son.” Third, consider what he lost, and what he subsequently found: for the grace and abundant gifts of God were lost, and terrible famine was found. This is why he says, “I am dying of starvation here, and the hirelings have plenty of bread in my father’s house.” Some have commented that the hired servants represent angels who are subject and obedient to God’s orders and constantly in His service. Their wages are being able to behold God and their own glory. They are filled with the bread of God’s abundant grace. Some also say, as does Nersess the Great, that the hirelings are the heavenly luminaries (the sun, moon and stars) who by God’s command enlighten us day and night, whose wages are the rendering of their incorruptible heat. When the Prodigal Son fell into a life of death and corruption, he remembered his original immortality and reflected upon this saying “Let me return to my father and say ‘Father, I have sinned toward heaven and before you’”; that is to say, I have sinned in Paradise and consequently fell to earth. I am not worthy to be called your son together with your angels. Instead make me as one of your hirelings. In other words, strip away my fear of death and make me an incorrupt entity like one of the luminaries. Now the text before us has in view the repentance of sinners. In the parable, the father is God and the house is the Church. The hirelings are those who inherit God and receive the Kingdom of Heaven as wages from Him. They avail themselves of the abundant bread of the Word of God and the Body of Christ (translators note: Datev is probably referring to multiple things here including Scriptural learning, Holy Communion, and the status we have as the Body of Christ). So, the first main point is that the sinner came to his senses and understood his situation. The second main point is that it is necessary that the sinner affirm his new disposition of returning to God with three sentiments. The first is remorse (as it says in the parable, “I will get up…”); the second is repentance (as it says, “… I will go to my father”), meaning through fasting and prayer; the third is confession (as he says, “I will say, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and you’"). When he presents himself for confession, the Prodigal Son confesses three things. First his sins, saying “father
I have sinned”; second his unworthiness, saying “I am not worthy to be called your son”; third he confesses that God is merciful, saying “take me as one of your hirelings.” But these first two points, coming to his senses after recognizing his sins and affirming his new intention to return to God, are not sufficient. Rather, a third thing is necessary: that he put good intentions into action, so he says, “Arising, I will go to my father.”
Divine Acceptance The third major part of this parable shows how God receives the sinner when he repents, which appears to be in four ways. The first is with great mercy, as it says in the parable “the father saw him from afar and had compassion on him.” The second is with haste, for it says “he ran straightaway toward him.” The third is that he accepted him with love, as it says “he fell upon his neck and kissed him,” which signifies that he was truly accepted with love, peace, and happiness. We know that the angels rejoice over one sinner that repents (Luke 15:10), and to a greater degree ought God to rejoice since He is the Father. For who is as compassionate as our Heavenly Father, who straightaway runs to meet his sinful child, not even waiting for his child to come to Him? Nor does He scold him or throw his sins in his face or place a heavy yoke upon his neck, but instead sweetly and lovingly kisses him! This is how a father confessor ought to be! Lovingly receiving the truly remorseful, not showing a harsh demeanor, and not scolding the person for past actions, but instead sweetly reproving him or her. The fourth way God accepts the sinner is with great honor, for this is what the father said: “Take out immediately his previous cloak and put it on him.” God honored the Prodigal Son in four ways: first he clothed him in beautiful clothes (as he said, “dress him”); second he adorned him (as he said, “put a ring on his hand”); third he gave him shoes for his feet, and fourth he prepared for him food (as he said, “fetch and kill the fattened ox”). Now, in heaven the servants of God are the angels, or on earth they are the vartabeds (teachers). God says to them, “bring the original garments and dress him.” The first garment was sinlessness, which was the original garment Adam wore in Paradise, but by www.StVoski.org 17
Those not clothed in the garments of sinlessness by confession, nor having the ring of faith with good works, are people who are unworthy to eat from the sacrificial Body and Blood of Christ. sinning he undressed himself and us. Yet, confession has the power, when it is real, to redress one in his/her original sinless clothes. At the very moment when the confessor releases a person from his sins after confession, he is like Adam was in Paradise prior to transgressing. This is why it is written: “You are clothed with confession and majesty, wrapped in light like a garment” (Psalm 103:1). Also, the ring represents true faith and divine love, and the clothes represent good works. True faith with godly love and good works adorns the soul, since “faith without works is dead”(James 2:26). Shoes are made of dead skin, which shows the example of the Saints who died for the truth. These shoes are worn by whoever confesses and follows the saints, who died for sin by means of every good work. Moreover, the shoes are a sign of fortitude, showing that whoever confesses gains power over the Enemy and tramples upon his head; the Enemy cannot rule him nor forcibly lead him into bondage to sin as before. Before having confessed, he was a servant of the Adversary and his slave. The “fattened ox” represents Christ, who was “fattened” by His divinity; he was called a lamb elsewhere who took away the sins of the world. Here he was called a sacrificial ox that was slaughtered for the salvation of the world, and now he is sacrificed continually for us, reconciling us to the father and atoning for sinners. One can eat from this sacrifice after confession, when one truly repents and confesses. Therefore, it is evident that those not clothed in the garments of sinlessness by confession, nor having the ring of faith with good works, nor having the shoes by which one follows the footsteps of the saints and tramples upon sin and the Adversary, are people who are unworthy to eat from the sacrificial Body and Blood of Christ. 18 The Treasury / 2018
But see also what the father said: “Slaughter the fattened ox and sacrifice and let us eat” (v23). He didn’t say to his son, you do the slaughtering. It appears from this that even though a back-slidden priest confesses, and thereby is justified and partakes in Holy Communion, yet he may not sacrifice Christ (i.e. consecrate Holy Communion) during Holy Badarak, but he can partake from another priest’s hands. See also the father’s happiness when he says “Let us eat, drink and be merry, for my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and was found” (v24).
Satan’s Fate The older son says, “you never gave me a kid” (v29). The “kid” (young goat) refers to Satan, who when he fell from Heaven was stripped of God’s glory. Numerous fellow angels many times begged God on his behalf, but God did not forgive Satan’s transgressions, nor hear their supplications. So why is Satan called a “kid”? First, because of his smallness and weakness, since when he fell from the ninth rank of angels, he shrank and was weakened. The second reason is that a kid is similar to a lamb, but yet not the same. Satan is like the angels in that he and they are bodiless and immortal, but different in that he does not have the glory and honor that the angels have, nor is he in Heaven, nor has he divine rank or position to praise God. The third reason is that a kid bleats and bellows, and flees from the shepherd and herd. Similarly, Satan became a fugitive from the Creator and Kingdom of Heaven and lives in the deepest hells. The fourth reason is that the kid’s private parts are shamefully exposed for everyone to look at, just as everyone sees Satan’s sin and despises him; likewise everyone sees the sin of sinners and rebukes them, but the sinner just doesn’t get it. The fifth reason is that the goat’s kid has black colored skin. Satan, deprived of the light of God loves the darkness in which he prowls, and he darkens the human mind and makes it sorrowful. The sixth reason is just as the kid is missing wool and a fat tail, as well as the obedience and diligence to reach the shepherd, Satan is deprived of the celestial garments of the angels, nor does he have their rich (“fattened”) wisdom, nor is he obedient to his Creator. Instead he constantly opposes the head
From death in sin a person rises to life again through the Spirit. shepherd, Christ. For these reasons then the angels say to the Heavenly Father, You never even gave me a kid so that I can make merry with my friends, but for your prodigal son you slaughtered the fattened ox. The Father then replies, My son, you are always with me, and whatever I have is yours. Heaven is your abode. The earth is yours. Every good gift, grace, and crown there is in heaven and on earth is yours. It is good to understand these things regarding the angels and righteous humans. In the parable the father says, “But it is necessary to be glad over your brother’s return, for he was dead and now has come to life again. He was lost, but is found.” (v32)
From Confession to Celebration Our Heavenly Father rejoices in this way over those who return in repentance confessing their sins. Whoever remains impenitent, our Heavenly Father does not make a feast but rather mourns. But those who confess make Him happy and cause Him to celebrate; and a very glorious celebration it is since He celebrates it as a new birth, because the sinful child was once Satan’s, but when he confessed, he was born a child of God. It is also a festival of resurrection, since from death in sin a person rises to life again through the Spirit, as the Prodigal Son’s father said: “Let us be glad, for he was dead and is alive again.” Moreover, it is also a celebration for the coming of the Spirit, since whoever truly confesses receives the Holy Spirit as the Apostles did in the upper room. On account of this we ought to say, “Father I have sinned before heaven and you,” just as the Prodigal Son did; so that also with him we will
be justified and be called children of the Heavenly Father; so that we can attain the good things that are to come (Hebrews 10:11) with all the saints in Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory, now and forever and to the ages of ages, Amen.
This translation was made on the basis of the Armenian text printed in “Գրիգոր Տաթեւացի։ Ձմեռան Հատոր” St. James Press, 1998 (reprint), pp 370-3. The language in the translation has been adapted to the ears of English speakers by changing certain transitions and supplying words that in the Armenian are understood by implication.
Translated by André Markarian, MD, a practicing Emergency Medicine physician and graduate of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary.
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Badarak Bytes
Blessed is the Kingdom by V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan
lways pay close attention to the words that accompany dramatic moments in the liturgy. Particularly important are the words chanted by the priest, deacon or choir, for example, when the deacon hands the chalice to the priest; when the priest turns toward the people and lifts the chalice high; when the deacon processes around the altar elevating the Gospel above his head; or anytime the priest and altar servers move from one place to another. In the liturgical choreography that is our Badarak, words and actions interplay to guide worshippers into the heart of the liturgy. One such dramatic moment takes place at the end of the tapor/թափոր, the procession at the beginning of the Badarak, where the deacons lead the celebrant priest around the church as he offers incense to all of the people. When the priest has come full circle around the church, he goes up the altar steps. There, in the center of the altar space, at the invitation of the deacon, he chants: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Fa t h e r a n d o f t h e S o n a n d o f t h e H o l y Spirit” [Օրհնեալ թագաւորութիւնն Հօր եւ Որդւոյ եւ Հոգւոյն սրբոյ. Orhnyal takavorootyoonun Hor yev Vortvo yev Hokvooyn srpo].
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Our holy Badarak mentions kings and kingdoms relentlessly. One would be hard pressed to find a three minute interval in the liturgy or two page turns of the pew book in which the words “king” [թագաւոր/takavor; արքայ /arka] or “kingdom” [ թագաւորութիւն / takavorootyoon; արքայութիւն/arkayootyoon] are not heard in a prayer, hymn or litany. Imperial imagery abounds in the Badarak because imperial imagery abounds in the Bible. Over and over again the Messiah anticipated by the Jews in the Old Testament is called a “king” and even the “King of kings.” In the New Testament Jesus is greeted as a king. When he discusses his calling and proclaims the start of a new and blessed era, Jesus refers to it as the “Kingdom” of God and the “Kingdom” of heaven. When he teaches his followers how to entreat God, Jesus prays, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come…” Jesus elaborates on that Kingdom in a succession of intriguing parables. In each one, with striking variety, he describes the mysterious and incomparable power of God that now, through Jesus, God shares with his creatures. So pervasive and persistent is Jesus’ association with this new “kingdom” that it becomes his undoing. Pontius Pilate presses him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” This was no little matter for Pilate, who was the
Roman Emperor’s delegate in Judea. Kings don’t like competition. Indeed, when Jesus is executed for treason, the title “King of the Jews” will become the ironic epitaph above his head on the cross. All of this king-speak is not just pretty poetry or a majestic metaphor. It is central to Christianity and fundamental to the Gospel. If you want to understand the Christian faith you need to know about kings. If you want to understand the Badarak you have to know how kingdoms work. And therein lies the problem. How many of us have lived in a kingdom? How many have had contact with a king? For most of us, our only experience with kingship may be the last medieval period piece we binge-watched on Netflix. We hear “king” and we think of crowns, swords, harems, tyrants, slaves and conquests. No wonder many people find the Badarak to be archaic and detached from our daily lives and concerns. So why is it that the Gospel and our Badarak so jubilantly and adamantly proclaim Jesus to be “king”? What are the kingly properties of our God? The most important characteristic of a king is his strength. One becomes a king by a show of power, by overthrowing and destroying the former king. A king remains king only until he is overthrown. Even in cases where the king’s son inherits the throne upon his father’s death, the new monarch remains king only as long as he is strong enough to repel rival claimants to his throne. If he is all-powerful, then it follows that the king is sovereign and autonomous. This means that the king is subject to no one. He is dependent upon no outside party. He answers to no one. He is absolutely free. Finally, the king is wealthy. All-powerful and fully sovereign, the king is the owner of every material thing within his dominion. The land is his land. The harvest is his harvest. The people are his subjects. They belong to him and they exist to serve him. With this wealth comes glory and splendor. What the king wants, the king gets. So what is it like living in a kingdom? It all depends on the king. An egocentric, hedonistic, or psychotic king can make life miserable for the wretched, toiling vassals that are subject to him. History and Hollywood are filled with such characters. By contrast, a benevolent king provides for the needs of his subjects, allowing them to live in peace and security. He defends
them and protects them from harm. He affords justice. He provides the structures for his subjects to be happy. When we proclaim Jesus to be “king” we acknowledge above all his unrivaled strength. No one is more powerful than the Son of God. No force can shake him. He will not be overthrown. The word “almighty” [ամենակալ/amenagal], which we regularly invoke in praise of our Lord, is an attribute of kings. Since no one can stand up to Christ, the Kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom.
God’s kingdom is not something to imagine in the future. It is here among us. Our Lord is also the most beneficent King. He not only provides for the needs of his people, but invites us to share his kingdom and all of its riches for all eternity. Our King is not only beneficent [բարերար/ parerar] and generous to his people; he loves them [մարդասէր/martaser]. What is more, our King is so devoted to his people, he loves them so much that he gave them everything he has, his very own life. When the priest stands before the altar at the beginning of the Badarak and proclaims, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” he makes the audacious claim that God’s kingdom is here, right now, in this church, among these people, in this Holy Badarak. God’s kingdom is not something to imagine in the future. It is here among us. We profess ourselves to be the privileged subjects of the almighty Lord God, the Creator of the universe, who reigns eternally and charitably. When the priest chants, Orhnyal takavorootyoonun Hor yev Vortvo yev Hokvooyn srpo, the entire church brazenly professes exactly what Jesus declared to his unsuspecting followers: “The Kingdom of God is in your midst!” [Luke 17:21]. Very Rev. Fr. Michael Daniel Findikyan, PhD, is Director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center and Professor of Liturgical Studies at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary
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