hidden treasures

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, ad this is the gate of heaven."

-Genesis 28:16f.

Complaints

"The Divine Liturgy should be in English." 
"We need women deacons [/priests]."
"We need more priests."
"The priest gives boring sermons."
"Our parish membership is shrinking."
"The services are too long."
"I just don't understand what's going on."


How many times do we hear this complaints about the Armenian Church? How many times have we ourselves complained about these things? (I rarely hear: why are we not preaching the Gospel to non-Armenians, ministering more to the homeless, the sick, and the elderly?) The statements above (and there are many more I could have included) may or may not be true, or may be true to varying degrees, but what tends to happen are two things.


Responses


Firstly, the clergy may choose to address the issues head on, offering to have a study on the Liturgy, or a series of discussions on the subject. One priest's wife once explained to me how this complaint is expressed, then when the priest sets a time to have a class on it, the people say, "I can't make it then."


Then the priest offers to change the time. The parishioners  respond, "I don't have time."
"Then how will you learn?"
"It's just not relevant."
"It won't be relevant until you make time and learn about it."

We did not realize the immensity or density of the universe
 until recently. Each of the little boxes to the right are galaxies,
not stars. Most of what we see in the sky at night that appear
 as stars, are really galaxies full of billions of stars.
Awesome a little?

Does the issue really come down to the people not having time? Well, sort of. Would the issue be resolved if the language of the liturgy were changed to English (or the vernacular in general)? It would be a good step, but no. What about shortening the Liturgy? Sure, we have been adding on to it throughout the centuries, but we would need to do so responsibly.


Secondly, the clergy may choose to ignore that any issue exists. This type of denial manifests itself in different ways. Often we hear things that pertain to "tradition" or our "Armenianness", rarely (if ever?) do we hear arguments that are based on Scripture or on the Church as the Body of Christ. These responses may come up again in subsequent entries, but since, I think, many are all to familiar with them, we can just leave them to rest here.


Back to the First Principle


Our First Principle in what we do as Christians and as the Church ought to be Christ, for he is our First Principle, whether we recognize him as such or not. All to often, we miss the mark while trying to follow Christ. This is sin. (Amartia (ἁμαρτία) in Greek simply means missing the mark.) In all of these discussions, for us to be logical, we have to be of the Logos, and our focus must be on him, and him alone.

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1ff.)

My purpose in this blog shall never be to bash the the tradition of the Armenian Church, or her clergy, or her people, in any way. If I am critical, it is only because I care, for why would I criticize someone for whom I do not care? And I do not cease at verbalizing my criticism, but am attempting to dedicate my life to Christ through the Armenian Church. I deeply care for the Armenian Church, that is to say, her traditions (liturgy, sacraments, patrology, hymns) and her people, but let me be clear: I love Christ as much as I love his Body. 


Ultimately, all issues in the Church (not only in the Armenian variety, nor only in our time) stem from losing our focus. In other words, the perceived issues of language, priests, parish activity, length of the liturgy, are merely manifestations of a deeper problem: our lack of being Christocentric as a Church and as a people. This will be developed further as subsequent entries are posted.

Awake and do not rest, do not sleep like the foolish virgins! Praise God!

- St Nersess Shnorhali, found in the Night Service

The Armenian Church tradition is beautiful, unique, and powerful. Yet the beauty, uniqueness, and power has yet to be fully uncovered—so much remains hidden, either unknown, or unexpressed. She sleeps as a lion. The question is: do we dare to awake her?

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you. (1 Tim 6:20f.)