In Sight
The Gap Between Faith and the Church
One often hears of changes in our society referred to as progress. Generally this is a positive term that references social, educational and medical advances. The quality of life has made quantum leaps in recent generations. This is something to be grateful for. Some aspects of the evolution we are experiencing, in my view,
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Things I think about. Why is it that most non-believers usually have an Armenian Christian Church funeral? Why is it that most non-believers usually say their loved ones are looking down on them from Heaven? Why is it that most non-believers NEVER say their loved ones are looking up at them from Hell?
Parev, Stepan – what a thoughtful and incredibly well-written article. I’d love to get your views on an 80-90%-English Badarak. As you know from being here in New England, there’s at least 1 local Hye church that includes significant English in their services, something which I applaud (though my parents never embraced). You touched upon local accommodations in your essay – is an English-centric Badarak here in the States going too far? If so, why? Thank you and keep up the great work!
I found the essay quite alarming but enlightening at the same time.The issues raised are not restricted to only the Armenian church, but throughout nearly all religous institutions. I read somewhere a statment related to The Catholic churches in France. “Our churches are empty on the weekends while the mosques are filled”. I am Greek Orthodox, and believe the Armenian church and values are very similar. Thanks for writing such an informative and eye opening oped.
Thank you for the article. Salvation comes from hearing and hearing God’s word which is the Bible. Church traditions can never ever save us. Salvation doesn’t come from the church traditions or sacraments. The problem is that we claim to be believers when we are not. We claim to be Christians when we do not follow Christ. We go to church and think that is what saves us. Even if we go to church every single week, it doesn’t mean we are saved. It doesn’t mean we have accepted the fact that we can not earn our salvation and that we must surrender to Christ’s finished work and trust in his works instead. We have to see that all of us are sinners and need to repent and turn and put our faith in him. He then forgives us , gives us his spirit, so we can have a new heart to love him and hate sin. After reading the whole bible (God’s word) I understood this and after saying “ok Lord, you take over my life and I want to listen,” was I able to repent and submit. He then gave me the will and heart to say no to sin/continual sin. When we sin we now can hate it and not want to do it again and kill it through obeying the Spirit that dwells in us after this fact. If we live by the Spirit we have life, if we live by the flesh we die. No matter what denomination, churches are suffering because we are DECIDING to not submit. We are DECIDING to reject God. It is a heart issue. Church leaders are not teaching true biblical Christianity. Churches are dead spiritually because we don’t focus on the Biblical Christ, the Biblical teachings and the Holy Spirit who points to the Bible. Just because we say some biblical things in church it doesn’t account for all the rest of the unbiblical teachings that trump the biblical ones. I ask that you and all of us read the bible in full, in its entirety with a willing heart, free of any presuppositions and preconditions that might have mixed in from church traditions. This is where you and I and all of us will be able to actually follow, obey and submit to God out of Love from being Born Again (from the second Adam Christ) which is through faith alone and his grace alone. Thank you again.
I am the daughter of an Armenian mother and a Scandinavian father. My mother’s parents were Armenian Protestants. While I grew up in a church which had a broad range of ethnicies, both my mother and father contributed much to the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth in that church. Hopefully God is using me to be a fruitful worker on behalf of His kingdom in the churches where have been a member. I was pleased to read the following ideas in a book by Leon Arpee which showed that he recognized that Armenian Protestant believers could make enduring contributions to His church even if it was not limited to Armenian members
The future (as of 1946)
Terrible blow from genocide, deportation, WWI, but not destroyed
Armenians are expected to be absorbed into the native populations.
We will be blended but render an enduring service to our adopted land, and leave behind us a worthy inheritance of character and tradition to our posterity by the following:
Find in none but Christ alone
In a supreme and unyielding loyalty to Him
In the faithful preaching of His Gospel
In the sacrificial living of His sort of life
Thank you very much for this very thoughtful,superb essay, Mr.Piligian.
Lifting responses to a very well written argument by Mr. Piligian of a very pertinent, I will say hot topic for today’s diaspora Armenians. In my opinion, the basic problem is in the ritual-heavy emphasis, even strict scripture isolation of our church, while remaining aloof from or unable to confront and address the very multitudes of fast evolving moral, societal, emotional-psychological, educational, health and financial challenges individuals and families have to put up with in their life. I will add, one effective way of defeating the short-sighted, not to say blind and childishly naive agnostic positions will simply be to point out the scientifically unexplainable and unarguable miracle that the creation and workings of universe, all aspects and workings of nature on just this little planet and even the wonders of the human body we each live in, are. Remains to answer, who and how many in our churches with the proper training, credentials and dedication will rise to the height of the task.
Very well written, Mr. Piligian. As a faithful Armenian Apostolic christian person living in the United States since 1980, I have witnessed and lived through the sad situation with our Armenian Apostolic churches and their parishioners both in the greater Boston area, MA, and in Los Angeles county, CA… While I agree to some of the thoughts you expressed regarding “the Wounded Church” situation for Armenians in the U.S., I also call upon ALL ARMENIAN Apostolic Clergy and Prelacy officials and the Armenian Apostolic church members and the Armenian parishioners as well as non-attendees to the Church at large to TAKE URGENT HEED to what I have written down here very articulately in intelligible and simple language:
1. The biggest reason why our Armenian Apostolic churches are near-empty save for Easter and Christmas is very poignantly clear:
a. Our Mass (Bataraq) lasts about 2.5 hours, and almost 2 hours of the bataraq consists of listening to various “sharaqans” which are nearly untintelligible to most of U.S. Armenians, as the words are in “Grapar (Old Armenian)” and 2 full hours of singing-listening to sharaqans even if they are in prayer form, is not only redundant but honestly unbearable; HOW are these sharaqans helping us, Armenian Apostolic christian parishioners, learn ANYTHING about faith and the teachings of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible..?
b. WHY is it such a problem for our Armenian Apostolic clergy to conduct our Holy Bataraq in English, as well as in Armenian? PLEASE REALIZE that 85-90% of our Armenian youth born here in the US or raised here since childhood has serious difficulties understanding Armenian, let alone having any idea what the “Armenian Grapar” sharaqans or prayers mean or convey. The focus should be on the teachings of Christianity and its values, the message in 100% simple and intelligible language in order for the church attendees to understand WHAT is Christianity all about – this should include at least 2 preachings and 2 readings from the Old Testament and the Holy Gospels (Nor Qtaqaran), preachings, prayers and readings from the Holy Bible both in Armenian and English. Even though our Armenian Apostolic church is the oldest christian church in the world, tradition and old custom rites should transform into 21st century-friendly discourse to REACH CLEARLY ALL ARMENIAN church attendees, old and young, so that the church-goer truly receives christian enlightenment, learns about the faith, and adapts to a christian lifestyle. The sad reality is that 90% of today’s US Armenian youth and middle-aged HAVE NO IDEA what are the Armenian Apostolic teachings of christianity, therefore they attend church much in the same way as going to a social gathering or to an indoors picnic!
2. Most importantly it is to be mentioned that America’s anti-christian secularization is not a self-evolving phenomenon; there are VERY POWERFUL concerted efforts by secret organisations such as the Freemasonry, the entertainment industry’s elite executive branch members who happen to be mostly non-christian and the Illuminati operatives who have been waging war against Christianity since the 1960’s. So wake up Armenians and don’t fall into the claws of the above-mentioned anti-christian movements who allure many of you with their worldly promises of wealth, fame and fortune.
3. A DIRE WARNING to the Armenian Apostolic Prelacy of East Coast and West Coast USA, as well as to the Armenian Apostolic christian community at large in the U.S:
– If progress and improvements are not made and implemented immediately in our Hyastanyayts Arakelaqan Yeqeghetsi rites of Holy Mass and christian preaching, I am afraid within 10-15 years from today our churches will be completely devoid of parishioners and most existing churches, to my grief and tears, might be forced to close. Our Verashnorhk Archbishopry in the U.S. is brutally AWARE of this reality, the clergy servicing the Holy Mass in the hundreds of Armenian Apostolic churches throughout the East and West Coasts of the U.S. see it with their own eyes that our traditional Sunday Bataraq Holy Mass rituals simply are failing to draw the youth and middle-aged parishioners back to church, other than for Easter, Christmas and weddings and baptisms and funerals – do I have to be the ONLY frustrated Armenian-American to spell all of these problems out loud to you? PLEASE take action and save our Gregorian Hayastanyayts Arakelaqan Yeqeghetsi in the 21st century. Time to TAKE ACTION immediately.
May God and the son, Our Saviour Jesus Christ bless you all. Amen.
Thank you Vahe for your passionate and practical contributions. If we love our church so much why do we fear change as we painfully watch its decline? Are we frozen by tradition? Knowing the difference between tradition that is at the core of the mission of the church and tradition because we have always done it that way is critical to our survival. Thank you for everyone who share their views. Keep the faith.