Tag: armenian-orthodox

Out of the Pit and Into What?

Daily Readings: Zech. 3:7-4:9; Heb.9:1-10; John 10:22-30
Ընթերցուածքներ` Զաք. Գ 7-Դ 9; Եբր. Թ 1-10; Յով. Ժ 22-30

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

The name of our Church and many other Armenian Churches is St. Gregory the Illuminator. Yet, why are many of our Churches named after him? St. Gregory, the same as all our saints, lived a life of faithfulness in times of difficulty. He had a past, he had sins, and challenges, yet, by trusting God through those challenges, he did the work of God and today serves as an example to each of us not just in name but through the life he lived. We of how St. Gregory served in the royal courts, under King Trdat in the 4th century. However because of his devotion to God, he eventually was imprisoned and thrown into a pit, khor virap, where he was left to die in darkness alongside snakes and scorpions, where miraculously Gregory survived for 13 years. While in the pit, King Trdat, persecuted many other Christian’s including the virgin saints Hripsime and Gayane and their companions. After martyring them, the king went mad and became like a wild beast. The kings sister, St. Khosrovidukht, who had secretly converted to Christianity, had a recurring dream revealing that only St. Gregory could heal the king. With no other choice, the king’s officials pulled Gregory out of the pit, and the historian Agathangelos reports that the moment St. Gregory was pulled out of the pit, the pains of the king subsided. Through prayer, teaching for 40 days, and “rebirth” King Trdat accepted Christ and was fully restored and healed. Along with him, the entire royal courts were baptized, and Christianity was declared the state religion of the Kingdom of Armenia in 301 AD, making Armenia the first nation to adopt Christianity as it’s official religion.

What else did St. Gregory do following these events? Yesterday, (June 6) the Armenian Church celebrated the feast of St. Gregory’s removal from the pit, what we just spoke about. The Sunday following this day, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin, the building of our Holy Mother Cathedral in 303 AD. After St. Gregory baptized the king, he saw a vision of Christ Jesus descending from Heaven with a gold hammer and showing where the Cathedral, the birthplace of our faith would be built. So why is this so important my dears? Isn’t this all just history?

Each of us are on a walk of faith my dears! Along that journey, we will have pitfalls. Either by our own making or by the hardships of life, we will fall into temptation, doubt, depression, anxiety, uncertainty, despair, confusion, loss, addiction and darkness. We all have scars that we look back on and remember painfully what we have gone through. As Christian’s we are taught and we believe that no pit, no darkness, not even the tomb can separate us from the love of God, when we seek Him. You see St. Gregory even though he was left to die by the king whom he had served for many years, someone he called his friend, even though he was left in the darkness by the world, he remained prayerful and faithful. God protected him from the scorpions, serpents, the heat, and elements while he was imprisoned. Even while in the pit, St. Gregory was not abandoned by God.

This teaches us my dears, that even if in life we fall into darkness, even if we have sinned, and are broken, God our Heavenly Father, will not abandon us. Christ enters the tomb for us; Christ enters our darkness to help us out. What we need to ask my dears, is when we finally faithfully come out of the darkness and struggles, what then? Do we return to the life that led to the pit in the first place or do we become the tool that God uses to build his Church, to share His love of hope and mercy to others who are struggling? To have faith my dears, is to do the work of God not for self-gain but for sharing of His love; To be a Christian is to be transformed and to be a cause for transformation for the world to witness the power of God. That is why God has given us the Holy Church, “the Altar of Light” which shines upon us as St. Gregory teaches. The Church with her clergy, the sacraments, the teachings all given to us to illuminate us and transform us.

One day, 2 men are walking on a dirt road, and they come by a hole with a fire burning inside. They look and see that there is a snake caught in the fire. One of the men pulls the snake out of the fire to help it, but immediately the serpent bites him and falls back into the fire. Again, the man tries to help, but the serpent bites again and falls back into the pit. The third time that man attempts to pull the snake out of the pit, yet again he is bitten and the snake falls into the pit and burns to death. The 2nd man asks him, “why did you keep trying to help the snake, didn’t you see it kept biting you?” And the man replied, “it is in the nature of the serpent to bite, but it is my nature to help.” In this story my dears, we learn that God sends people, prophets, teachers, parents, friends, a community through the Holy Church, to help us out of life’s pits. Yet, unless we are willing to be transformed and changed, we will fall back into the pit. Unless we are changed my dears, we will fall back into the pit of hopelessness and fear. Yet, when with humility, prayerfulness, if we ask God to help change us, to save us from darkness, when we respond in faith, God will transform us and empower us to build not merely physical Churches but to be the Church, an Altar of light, to become a reflection of God’s divine love and a cause to help others.

Does this mean we will never struggle again? No, my dears! St. Gregory when he came out of the pit, all his life still had the physical scars of his torture, yet, he recognized that remaining faithful and obedient, God can use us, use our past to teach others, to build and grow in Communion towards Him. That is why the Prophet Zechariah teaches us, “the Lord Almighty had said: ‘If you obey my laws and perform the duties I have assigned you, then you will continue to be in charge of my Temple and its courts, and I will hear your prayers, just as I hear the prayers of the angels who are in my presence.’” If we remain faithful my dears, God will entrust us to do His work, to share His love, His Gospel. We will be a witness of what it is we say we believe in the Church. That God does not abandon us to our darkness; that by the Holy Spirit we are illuminated to the truth that God the Son, Jesus Christ, enters our darkness, and saves us from the pit of death.

That is why St. Gregory and all our saints are so loved because they teach us that though we all have a past, with God we all have a future. A future of healing, of love, of hopefulness, of compassion, mercy, and growth. Pray, learn, come to Church with a desire to be transformed. Let go of pride, anger, hatred, arrogance and in humility ask God to enter our darkness to lift us out. Come to Church to be changed not to change the Church which is the home, our Holy Mother and the Bride of Christ. For it is only by the grace and love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that not only we will be transformed, but the world will see us Christians as the saints we are all called to be, the cloud of witness, the Holy Church through which all creation gives glory to Him, Amen.

Blinded to What Really Matters

Daily Readings: Acts 20:17-38; 1 John 3:2-6; John 9:39-10:10
Ընթերցուածքներ` Գործ. Ի 17-38; Ա Յով. Գ 2-6; Յով. Թ39 – Ժ10

Christ is Resurrected from the Dead – Blessed Is the Resurrection of Christ
Քրիստոս Յարեաւ ի Մեռելոց – Օրհնեալ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

In 2001, Alex Zanardi a famous Italian world class driver, was involved a horrific accident that resulted in the loss of both his legs. He was on top of the world, with accolades, trophies and success, heights that many aspire to but very few achieve. Until it all stopped; He lost control, and his car swerved across a grassy area and onto the track crashing into a fellow driver going 200 mph. In a moment, Alex lost his ability to make a living, to work, to enjoy life. What value he brought into the world disappeared in that split second. Though he lived, his recovery was painful as he experienced periods of deep depression even while working towards rehabilitation. Even as he looked for tools to make a transition back to some form of normality, he struggled finding properly fitting prosthetics. What value did Alex have in this world after losing so much?

My dears, so many of us place such high value on our physical abilities or inabilities, on our appearance, on what we have and do, compared to what God calls us to. Think about how and when we pray? We ask for healing over physical ailments, we ask for success and achievements in material endeavors and plans, we pray for peace, love and fulfillment in ways defined by the world. While there is nothing wrong with praying to be healthy, praying to find peace, love, and hope in our day to day, working and asking for success, yet is this where our value lies? Christ did not die for us so that our value would be determined by those things. In the same way, a parent loves their child regardless of what they achieve in life, likewise our value as the children of God is not limited to what we wear, or what we achieve. That is why St. John addresses us as, “Beloved, now we are children of God…” (v.2) Children to whom, by the grace and love of God through Jesus Christ, our true self and what that means is revealed. Which is why, St. John continues, “it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” See Him and be seen. Know God and see Him in ourselves and others.

Yet, so many of us, still choose to not see, choose to place our value and limit ourselves to what the world sees as important. And so Christ tells the Pharisees that, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’” The Pharisees are thinking like us, they are seeing their value in their physical ability of blindness. They are associating physical health, or material status as something far for valuable because for the Jewish people, any disability or failure was seen as a form of “punishment from God.” That is why a few verses back, in Jn. 9 the Disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” In fact, it is right after this miracle of the blind man being healed that the Pharisees question Jesus about physical blindness. No, the Pharisees may have not been physically blind, yet, because they lived according to the flesh, having misplaced their trust, choosing sin of pride, and arrogance, Jesus is saying they were blind to the truth; they chose to be blind.

My dears, God doesn’t punish us with sickness. God doesn’t allow hurt, darkness and pain in our life because we sin. And God does not limit our value more or less, based on our abilities, disabilities, achievements and failures. Yes, those things exist in our life. Sickness, failure, darkness, addiction are a painful consequence of the sin that has polluted the creation of God. Yet, despite all that poison God still loves us all. Despite a rebellious child, a true parent continues to love. And God the Father, in His Divine love for us sent His Son Jesus Christ to suffer all that darkness and failure, to be devalued according to this world. Not abandoning Him, God also raised Christ from the tomb defeating the power of sin. And God did so to reveal also to us, that we are also His beloved children, and He will raise us out of our failure, our brokenness and darkness. Christ Jesus opens not just our physical eyes but heals our spiritual blindness from the lies of this world. Christ removes not just the stone that covered the tomb to reveal the truth of the resurrection inside, but removes the stones that cover our eyes to reveal our value.

Just as our value is not limited to our physical  healing, likewise healing, what God offers is not about physical healing rather, He opens our heart and illuminates our spirit. Reminding us not to be ashamed of our failure, of our hurt, of our blindness. Reminding us to be ashamed of choosing sin and remaining in blindness; ashamed of the lies we tell ourselves, our pride, our arrogance and hatefulness. Ashamed and cautious, not about what we physically look like but of how we choose to live apart from God. For we say we believe in God yet, we don’t know the Holy Scriptures, we don’t pray honestly, we don’t love, we don’t forgive, we don’t see – and so we remain spiritually blinded. Yet, despite all this, God reminds us ultimately that in humility His love is revealed for us not determined by those external things but the internal – the image and likeness we bare. And that we have a chance every day to repent, to turn to Him and ask to be healed of our blindness, to see His love.

Alex Zanardi, eventually changed. No, life did not get easier, no he did not get his legs back, he had to change his life, but he did not allow his limitations to be a limitation on the strength of his spirit. He joked about how the awkward prosthetic made him feel taller, or that he no longer worried about smelly feet or washing his socks. Eventually Alex went back to racing, driving a modified race car. To be a positive change, Alex discovered, the loss of his feet made room for the strength of his hands. He learned the difficult sport of handcycling, a three-wheeled bike that uses hand cranks instead of foot pedals. In 2011, he won the handcycle division of the New York City Marathon and continued on to  win two gold medals and a silver medal at both the 2012 Paralympics in London and the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. He did not allow his limitations to blind him to his true value, no matter what the world said.

(Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press/File)

My dears, no matter what the world says about us, regardless of our limitations, our sickness, our shortcomings, regardless of our achievements, physical attributes, money and statues – our value is not limited nor determined by those things. God loves us all and God desires to heal us all, to be whole and holy. Let go of the hate; let go of the pride; let go of what the world tells us is important and trust in God. Repent and return to His love. Learn the Scriptures, come to Church with questions, live in Communion seeking true healing, and our spiritual blindness will be lifted. Yes, we may need to change how we live, how we act, how we dress, and so forth and this may be difficult. Rehabilitation and repentance often are. Yet, when we let go, we open ourselves to more. We open our hands to do the work of God, to be made whole and Holy. We open our heart and mind, to recognize love and mercy. We open our eyes and see the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, with whom we too are risen out of darkness and blindness. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, may our eyes be opened to His love, so that we will see and recognize that we are the beloved children of our Heavenly Father, to whom with the Son and Holy Spirit is due glory now and forever, Amen!