From the Pastor

Dear Friends,

Today, as faithful of the Armenian Apostolic Church, we begin our Lenten spiritual journey. This six-week period has been referred to as the “Lenten Spring.” In our part of the world the connection between the spiritual journey and the climate/weather are most evident and helpful.

As Great Lent commences we find ourselves battling the coldest, snowiest and iciest time of the year. If the Lenten journey is to have any real meaning we need to recognize that sin has frozen our hearts. In the gospels Jesus speaks of the “hardness of hearts” regarding those who pay more attention to the “letter of the law” than to the “spirit of the law.” The Lenten period is truly given to us as a gift by the holy Fathers of the church to bring about a change in our hearts.

How often to I experience frustration when I observe the faithful refusing to embrace one another as brothers and sisters united in the love of Christ! How often am I saddened to hear a brother or sister speaking badly of another member of the body of Christ! How often are we ignoring Jesus’ command to see Him in one another and to treat one another accordingly! The fact that brothers and sisters in the community ignore and intentionally refuse to speak to one another is a spiritual outrage! If we take our Christian commitment seriously than we cannot be comfortable with the status quo!

Our sister Orthodox Churches have a wonderful tradition at the beginning of Great Lent which is called “Forgiveness Sunday.” At a certain point during the liturgy each person in the congregation embraces one another and says, “Forgive me.” If Lent is to have any real meaning for us, we need to have this spirit. None us is perfect, yet our Lord’s saving words are to the point, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Friends, let us take advantage of the Lenten journey to experience true spiritual growth by taking to heart the three essential components of Lent: almsgiving (good works), prayer and fasting. Together with repentance, the confession of sins, Great Lent has the power to transform our lives: to make us more loving and forgiving people because we have experienced God’s love and forgiveness in the crucifixion of His Son.

The Golden Chain of Lenten Sundays provides the faithful with important spiritual themes and lessons: Poon Paregentan – God’s creation is good and the crown of his creation, mankind, has been given the gift of free-will; Expulsion – when we allow our pride and ego to get in the way we deprive ourselves from our creator’s blessings; Prodigal Son – we have a loving and forgiving heavenly Father, who welcomes us back when we truly repent of our sins; Steward – we are called to use our talents to build up the body of Christ; Judge – we must always be in communication with God through prayer; and Advent – Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.

During this season of Great Lent, make a commitment to attend church faithfully not only each Sunday, but on Wednesday evenings when the faithful gather in prayer. May our heavenly Father bless our Lenten journey and over the next forty days may our frozen hearts increasingly experience the warmth of the Holy Spirit as our spiritual paths lead to the focal point of spring – the feast of the Resurrection of Christ our God!


+ + + + +