Keynote Address by
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
to the
National
Representative Assembly
May 13-15, 2010, New
York City
Dear Clergy Brothers,
Honored Guests and
Dear Delegates I greet you with heartfelt joy on the occasion of the
National Representative Assembly of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America.
First, I am pleased to have the duty of extending to you the
blessings and love of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia, and his wishes for the complete success of our mission.
Second, on behalf of our Religious and Executive Councils I
greet the pastor of New York’s St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian,
and the Board of Trustees, as well as the pastor of Douglaston’s St. Sarkis
Church, Rev. Fr. Nareg Terterian and the Board of Trustees, who are jointly
hosting this National Representative Assembly.
Our presence here has historical significance, because this is the first
time in many decades that the NRA is being convened in New York City. We are
particularly pleased that our Cathedral is now greatly beautified after its
major renovation, and that the St. Sarkis Church community is working towards
its expansion and new programs. I am confident that the organizing committee
will not spare any effort to make our surroundings amicable and our meetings
and social encounters orderly and fruitful. We extend our love and blessings to
the faithful parishioners of St. Illuminator’s Cathedral and St. Sarkis Church.
Dear Delegates,
We find ourselves at our Prelacy’s NRA, and the first
thought that is necessary to be put in our minds and souls is that we are
servants of the Armenian Church and people, to whose service we have been
called willingly. Our concerns, efforts, will and deeds, all must be directed toward
the welfare of our church and people. This is a collective effort for the sake
of progress and advancement. This tradition has been bequeathed to us through
centuries of service and experience, and when we have remained faithful and
zealous to the tradition given to us, then we have registered successes, which cause
admiration by those who recognize it and gratitude by those who evaluate it.
We do all of this because we have faith—pure faith—the foundation
of our church and belief.
In the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ we are a blessed
nation. That blessing dripped on our people like Muron (Holy Oil), when we became Christ’s first offspring as a
nation, when our character and behavior were shaped on the principles and
commandments of the Gospel. The unique Armenian Church became the defender and
transmitter of this faith and Armenian history, stamping its seal and presence
on each page in the life of the Armenian people. Our church remained faithful
to our people, with the dedication and understanding as its faithfulness to its
founder, Jesus. Our Christian faith became mixed with our people’s blood and
spirit, and we anchored our identity on Him. With that posterity we created,
struggled, were martyred, triumphed and survived. In other words the church
became mission, to be and remain by our people’s side and to educate our
generations at all times and in all places, where our people were often forced
to settle.
Examine the history of our dispersion and the history of our
communities in those countries. The spiritual force and nourishment given by
our church became as vital as the nourishment of food. Wherever we went, the
church became our first home, under whose protection we felt safe. In the
Crimea in the 11th century; in Poland in the 14th
century; and Persia in the 17th century, the Armenian people
organized around the church remaining faithful to the faith of their fathers.
Later, when merchants went to Europe and to countries in the Far East, there
also they erected churches, so that they would not feel foreign on foreign
shores. In order to not become foreign against the forces of assimilation, they
remained tied to their faith and the roots of their fatherland.
Our church maintained the same faithfulness in its mission,
when because of the Ottoman atrocities, massacres and genocide, we established
life in the welcoming soil of the United States. Community understanding
expressed itself with its church surrounded by our organizations. From the very
beginning when we relocated and we built
our church, at the same time we built our community life with national
political parties, athletic, youth, and women’s organizations, feeling within
that community life our inner strength and being with each other, for each
other.
For more than one hundred years the Armenian Church on the
shores of America, has defended our faith, our hopes, our national aspirations,
and vision. With the preaching of the Gospel, the church served in the realm of
education, culture, and art. But most of all the church re-kindled our people’s
eternal spirit, the life of struggle and the dream of a Homeland. Sometimes our
efforts were realized, sometimes we made no progress, sometimes we fell back,
but always we remained on the rampart of service, since the raison d’être—the
one and only reason—for the existence of the church is service. Study the
history of our Prelacy. There are so many accomplishments that are cause for
admiration and are the result of our collective efforts and our faithfulness
toward our church. All those who are proud of their identity were certainly
raised and nourished by our national-ecclesiastical life. All those who
contributed uncompromising service to our national-ecclesiastical life, heard
the call of their nation and their faith, and faithfully served with
self-sacrifice for the betterment of our people. Faith and Service. This became
their life. Two dedicated concepts that complete each other and give each other
meaning. The true dedicated person understands the goodness of service; the
true believer enjoys the sweetness of service, and sings with the deacons
during every Liturgy: “Jashagetzek yev
desek zi kaghtsr e der” (Eat and taste the sweetness of the Lord.)
Centuries after our faith’s first declaration, after one
hundred years of our existence in America, it is the same faith that enacts the
life of our people. That faith is not petrified or stagnant, but rather is always
in motion and enriching. Because of our service to that faith we increased and
became stronger. Greatness results from service. By Christ’s testimony, the
servant is the greater, as he showed with His words and His life. “For who is
greater,” He asked His disciples, “one who sits at the table, or one who serves?
Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke
22:27). Yes, the church is great. Because we are servants we are great in the
eyes of God as long as we are the servants of our church and people.
“What is faith?” many will ask. I will not give the answer.
The Apostle Paul writes in his letter, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped
for” (Hebrews 11:1). And he lists the names of those who believed in God’s
promises and obeyed Him. We also, as an Armenian Church, will certainly be
added to that list, since our faith became so ingrained in the life of our nation
that it strengthened us, always kept our hope alive and we lived and survived
with the vision of a blossoming dawn. Our Christian faith and our language
united us. No one can snatch from our souls our faith and love of fatherland,
in spite of any political or other questions. We created our strength of
existence by that unity which as we see, despite a dispersed people, we remain
alive, active and productive.
Faith is that inner strength that prods us to be productive.
“Faith without deeds is dead,” says the Apostle James (James 2:26). Those deeds
are our service to gather our nation’s children, to educate them in an indelible
way about the principles of our religion, with complete dedication to our
Fatherland, and with our nation’s cultural values and worthiness. Individual
abilities are a blessing for people, however they become stagnant if they do
not work in the community to be fruitful for the benefit and progress of the
community. The sun by itself would have been worthless, if it did not radiate
sun-beams and warmth. Yes, service is a calling and the success of our service
is our happiness. When we make service the purpose of our lives, then we bring
our nation’s children together and we do everything with sacrifice, with the
hope of continuity, just like the self-sacrifice of Vartanank, their motto
being, “For the sake of faith and for the sake of our fatherland,” which
secured our nation’s victory over all of the evil of the time and history. Our
motto today remains the same: “For the sake of our faith and for the sake of our
fatherland.” Service, self-dedication, sacrifice. To accomplish these with
faithfulness, we must listen to the unselfish voices of our forefathers,
saints, martyrs, and heroes. * *
*
At the conclusion of my third term as your Prelate, and with
the experience of my life as a clergyman, I want to state a fundamental
affirmation which is vital for the future success of our
ecclesiastical-national life. First I want to express my thanks for the trust you and our
people in general have given me, and for the opportunity given to me to serve
the Eastern Prelacy of the United States. Without doubt, I did not have total
or complete success. But at no time did I consider to neglect the mission entrusted
to me, having in my soul that belief that I am responsible to God and our
people.
Any collective life, and in our case the life of the
Armenian Church and people, must be purpose oriented and organized on a solid foundation.
Just as in my case individually and similarly in our community life, it is
vital that we do not follow easy and plain and superficial programs that we can
accomplish easily for the sake of praise. In other words, let us not become
intoxicated with so-called propaganda, but rather focus upon permanent values
and deeds. Without totally neglecting propaganda we must put our strength on
fundamental and permanent values so that our great treasures—literary, cultural,
witness of faith, etc.—which our people have maintained for centuries with
every sacrifice, become our goal and the source of our strength. This great
posterity has been given to us by our leaders—clergy, trustees, and
organization. Their spiritual and intellectual preparation is necessary. Their
preparation in accordance with their responsibilities and service must be with
deep understanding of their position and readiness to serve. In order to enrich
others, it is necessary to be filled spiritually and intellectually, so that
the transmission will be constructive and helpful.
Our expectation is that our clergy fathers, as well as our
boards of trustees, will be leaders who are able to lead the community that has
been entrusted to them. Individual charisma, intellectual abilities, ethical
understanding, dogma, tradition, knowledge of the rites, and their faithfulness
toward these. For the sake of newness let us not forget the importance of the
old. We must confront our duties zealously, meticulously, and with care. I said
that service is a calling and not a profession. In our common understanding the
church and nation are not organizations whose problems can be solved with
concepts of the marketplace. The wheat is necessary for bread and not the chaff,
which the wind disperses here and there.
We were fed by that bread, and made stronger and survived. Let us eat
and feel that our church is sweet and that our national-ecclesiastical
posterity is enriching.
I pray that God’s wisdom and grace will abundantly fall on
our spiritual and lay leaders so that they will be filled with their sacred
mission with conscious dedication.
I am hopeful that this august assembly through its
examination and recommendations will prod us to greater commitment for the
betterment of our church and nation, always revitalizing our faith and strengthening
the concept of service for the glory of God and for the continuity of our
nation. I wish you success and thank you.
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