Keynote Address to the

National Representative Assembly

Philadelphia, May 12-14, 2011

[translation]

Dear Clergy Brothers,

Dear Guest and Delegates,

       I greet you with Christian and fatherly love and bless all of you on the occasion of the National Representative Assembly of the Eastern Prelacy. It is my heartfelt wish that our Assembly sessions will be smooth, constructive, and helpful, as we center our thoughts upon the advancement of our church and people, the vitality of our spiritual and national life, and our efforts toward our goals.

       First before all else, I extend my filial gratitude for the fatherly care given to our Prelacy by His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia during the entire year. His fatherly thoughts, instructions, and counsel assisted our work. We anticipate that His Holiness’s forthcoming visit next year to our Prelacy will be an occasion to further vivify our ecclesiastical-national life and will encourage us to accomplishment the task and mission entrusted to us with greater dedication.

       I extend brotherly greetings to His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy and to His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate of the Canadian Prelacy, with whom our relationships have been very cordial and brotherly. I extend my heartfelt wishes for their success in the advancement of their God-pleasing service for the betterment and ascent of our church and people.

       I extend brotherly greetings to His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church, with whom our relationship was cordial. We endeavored to work in a brotherly atmosphere for the strengthening of the Armenian Church’s internal life, focusing on the renewal of the Armenian Church.

       On behalf of our Religious and Executive Councils, all of our parishes and faithful, I extend special greetings to Archpriest Fr. Nerses Manoogian, pastor of Philadelphia’s St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, to the Board of Trustees, and auxiliary bodies, who are hosting us and who made our presence here comfortable and pleasant.

       At this time it is impossible for me not to acknowledge with satisfaction and joy the achievement of our Philadelphia community in completing this new auditorium and Sunday and Saturday School classrooms. I congratulate the Pastor, the Board of Trustees, and the Building Committee, all of whom brought to fruition this large project with vision, passion, and faith. At the same time we wish them new successes for the radiance and advancement of this community.

       In similar fashion we are happy to note that a number of parishes in our Prelacy, with their priests, boards of trustees, building committees, successfully accomplished projects in their churches or adjacent properties. New York’s St. Illuminator’s Cathedral’s total and radiant renovation provided impetus for the faithful of our community to be participants in the ecclesiastical-national life of the church.

       Congratulations to Chicago’s All Saints Church that was able to purchase the adjoining three houses, and is already contemplating the addition of new sections, specifically for use of our younger generations.

       Similarly, we congratulate North Andover’s community of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church that is renovating in stages the church and adjacent areas. Already the church hall has been renovated, and work is being done on the entrance, the interior of the sanctuary, and the classrooms.

       Congratulations to the community of Whitinsville’s Soorp Asdvadzadzin Church that with an addition created space for an office and an elevator for handicap access.

       Congratulations also to the community of Worcester’s Holy Trinity Church that renovated the entrance of their church and built a ramp for handicap access. They are now planning additional projects.

All of these accomplishments fill us with happiness and encouragement because they are concrete testimony to the positive work of our leaders and their positive achievements and advancement with far-sighted vision for the future.

***

Dear Delegates,

       We are gathered as volunteer servants of our centuries-old Holy Church—a God-established institution that besides being a fortress of Christian faith and instruction, was truly the backbone of the survival of our nation. Although it is true that the Armenian Church made missionary work amongst the Armenian people as an inseparable part of the universal church, at the same time the core of the preaching was basically directed to the children of the Armenian nation. Although in the future the Armenian Church also preached the Bible amongst non-Armenian people.

       With St. Gregory the Illuminator and King Drtad, Christianity became a national religion and established the source of the forming of the character of the Armenian people, the creation of language and culture and the advancement of all kinds of artistic endeavors. It is not possible to speak of the history of the artistic mind of the Armenian nation without seeing there the solid presence of the Armenian Church. Language and literature, theology, the arts—miniature paintings, architecture, music—became as strong, and stronger, than the sword. They were the guns of struggle that withstood the corrosion of time and in the face of death not only lived, but also kept us alive to this day. The Armenian Church made herself worthy only through service, by building the courageous spirit of our nation’s children. The Armenian Church was not only ceremony and Divine Liturgy; did not administer only ritual and sacrament to her children, because the eternal flame of the Illuminator gave hope to the doubtful, brought light to darkness, was mother to the orphan and homeless. Why else does every true Armenian have complete trust in the Church, seeing there our life’s struggle and victory? This is true for the Armenian Church established on the shores of America that remains to this day and will remain for a long time as their true home and the fortress of endurance and continuation for her faithful.

***

       From the very beginning of the establishment of the Armenian Church, the Church had its canons to protect and keep her authentic and true faith from foreign concepts and influences. The foundation of the canons are, of course, from the Bible, whose God-inspired commandments our peopled personified throughout their lives, mixing Christ’s Gospel with their character, thinking, and life. Later canons were cultivated, always taking into consideration the Armenian Church’s orthodox profession and Christ’s way of life.

       With the advancement of human civilization, it was very natural that new rules and approaches would be created to organize our life. This gave birth to the Polozhenie in 1836 in Eastern Armenia and the National Constitution in 1866 in Western Armenia. Constitution and bylaws were created to institutionalize our democratic understanding. Rules were established considering the life of our church as the life of our people. All the participants in the ecclesial-national life respected and remained faithful to the ecclesiastical canons. Having a role in the life of the church and community is nothing else if not the devoted work to that spirit of service that rules in the soul of the participants. Service means to be concerned, to nurture, to care, to cherish, for the sacred understanding that the Bible and the Church embodies in them.

       Based on the democratic principles of our bylaws, our nation’s leaders organized our communities with a vision for the future. With our true image of our national understanding, the Church gathered around her all of our organizations and we became one family where ecclesiastical, political, cultural, educational, charitable, athletic organizations lived and worked together in a spirit of understanding, always helping each other. It was this principle that led me to adopt the motto, With each other, for each other.

       And we went forward and worked with faithfulness. We went forward and served our organizations with devotion and sacrifice. Otherwise how can we explain the growth and flourishing of our communities? With faithfulness towards our principle, and sacrifice as our mission, we strengthened our institutions, and today we can confirm with pride the advancement of our communities in our Eastern Prelacy, as well as the Western and Canadian Prelacies.

       These statements are not meant to write history. These principles must prod us to continue the sacrifices of our forebears and to faithfully continue to further brighten the work that was begun. When I bring to mind our founding leaders, with a quick glance I can confirm their willing spirit that was the driving force for all of their work. Their example is a collection of virtues—dedication, total service, faithfulness to our church traditions and canons, with special respect for them. Finally, they were aware that the Church founded on the ecclesia-national traditions, had to be kept with its inherited wealth, with its rituals and administrative principles, with democratic leadership. This treasure of the Armenian Church was bequeathed to us from century to century and it is our duty to keep her with her simplicity and purity, always showing respect for the canons which govern the Church.

       Here I would have liked to end my words, if we had everything reflecting all that we inherited.

       Currently, foreign influences have begun to cloud our life. Sometimes our environment with its negative faces, intrudes our homes, organizations, and our community life. Church and community understanding is confused with business life and corporations. We deal with market concepts with sheer individual concept and profit; quite often the Church’s spiritual mission and canons are not a part of our concerns. The Church is a true home, it is not a business. The Church is where our faith, hope, vision, and service are confined unchanged. The Church is where our everlasting life is etched as God’s people and children of the Armenian nation. The Church is the savior of the soul. The Church highly recognizes the worthiness of our spiritual values, and nourishes the faithful with those values. Otherwise we will become a materialistic institution that will one day rot and be lost.

       With those concepts in mind, question yourself: “Why do I serve the Church?” If it is an imposed obligation, it is a futile waste. If it is different from our ecclesiastical-national supreme interest, then it is exploitation. If we are pursuing our spiritual and national education then we are exactly in the right place and the right task. Twenty centuries with God’s love and grace, twenty centuries with Biblical and family values, we withstood all kinds of visible and invisible tribulations and evil with dedication. Today we have the sacred calling to defend that same mission for the glory of God and for our people’s advancement and immortality.

       I end my message with the witness of the Holy Bible:

       “Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. …. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter, 2:4-5, 9)

       Yes, we have been given grace and graceful life and duty. Let us make our lives worthy through our service so that we see the image of our church and nation as God-receiving and God-pleasing.

       I wish all of you success.