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Abp. Barsamian on 25th anniversary of Armenia earthquake
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-12-29-abp--barsamian-on-25th-anniversary-of-armenia-earthquake
Published: Sunday December 29, 2013
It is truly humbling to realize that a quarter-century has elapsed
since the earthquake struck Armenia on December 7, 1988. It has been
25 years since large areas of Armenia were destroyed; 25 years since
tens of thousands of our countrymen perished in the blink of an eye;
25 years since the life of the worldwide Armenian community was
transformed, forever.
And it has also been 25 years since we witnessed that beautiful
outpouring of goodwill from the world, directed towards our people in
their hour of profound need.
The repercussions of that time were so great that they can hardly be
enumerated. For the people of Armenia, it was a time of the deepest
grief, when the external signs of death and destruction appeared
inescapable.
For Armenians in our Diocese-and around the world-it was a time for
decisive action, which drew us away from our long-held parochial
divisions, and sharply focused our united hearts and minds on the
greater cause of our homeland.
For all of us, it was a time of beginning as much as an ending: a
moment to discover a common purpose, and to embrace anew the faith
that had given hope to the Armenian nation in earlier times of peril-a
hope so powerfully symbolized in those images of our great Catholicos
Vasken I consoling the people amidst the rubble: a father among his
beloved children.
In times of such catastrophe, the purposes of almighty God are deeply
mysterious. But with hindsight, we can attest that all of us emerged
from the earthquake and its aftermath changed. Armenia itself, once a
Soviet republic, was reborn in freedom and independence. The bond
between homeland and diaspora was strengthened, and travel to
Armenia-once fraught with difficulty-became common and fluid.
A new generation of Armenians-in our homeland, here in America, and
around the globe-was decisively shaped by both the tragedy of a
catastrophe, and the blessing of so many helping hands in a time of
need.
And it is not too much to assert that our own souls were deepened in
the wake of the earthquake. In the 25 years following 1988, the memory
of our sorrow would be re-awakened whenever similar natural disasters
struck our fellow human beings in other corners of the world. A sense
of solidarity in suffering has inspired our people to provide relief
and comfort to these fellow victims of devastation.
These were not new lessons for the Armenia people. Indeed, they are
the lessons our Lord taught us through his holy cross, and his empty
tomb; the lessons we embraced as a nation 17 centuries ago; the
lessons we carried through the valley of the shadow of death in 1915.
They are lessons of suffering and redemption; of the sanctity of life
and the power of hope; of the unpredictability of events, and the
constancy of faith.
The earthquake was the way those eternal lessons were asserted in our
generation. It falls to us to transmit those lessons to our children,
so they may draw strength in their own times of affliction.
Most of all, we must not lose heart when we feel, 25 years after such
an event, that some of those lessons have been forgotten. For they are
not lost. The response of our people to the earthquake shows that
those lessons and their associated godly virtues are always waiting to
be reborn in us, at the right moment, according to God's will.
Surely the Armenian people have been instruments of His will, through
our great afflictions and our great achievements, from the depths of
our beings as individuals and as a nation. On this solemn anniversary,
we pray that God will remember the precious souls He drew to His
kingdom 25 years ago, and that He will bless the land and the people
who emerged from, and were changed by, that time of trial.
May His guiding hand be upon our people now and forever. Amen.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-12-29-abp--barsamian-on-25th-anniversary-of-armenia-earthquake
Published: Sunday December 29, 2013
It is truly humbling to realize that a quarter-century has elapsed
since the earthquake struck Armenia on December 7, 1988. It has been
25 years since large areas of Armenia were destroyed; 25 years since
tens of thousands of our countrymen perished in the blink of an eye;
25 years since the life of the worldwide Armenian community was
transformed, forever.
And it has also been 25 years since we witnessed that beautiful
outpouring of goodwill from the world, directed towards our people in
their hour of profound need.
The repercussions of that time were so great that they can hardly be
enumerated. For the people of Armenia, it was a time of the deepest
grief, when the external signs of death and destruction appeared
inescapable.
For Armenians in our Diocese-and around the world-it was a time for
decisive action, which drew us away from our long-held parochial
divisions, and sharply focused our united hearts and minds on the
greater cause of our homeland.
For all of us, it was a time of beginning as much as an ending: a
moment to discover a common purpose, and to embrace anew the faith
that had given hope to the Armenian nation in earlier times of peril-a
hope so powerfully symbolized in those images of our great Catholicos
Vasken I consoling the people amidst the rubble: a father among his
beloved children.
In times of such catastrophe, the purposes of almighty God are deeply
mysterious. But with hindsight, we can attest that all of us emerged
from the earthquake and its aftermath changed. Armenia itself, once a
Soviet republic, was reborn in freedom and independence. The bond
between homeland and diaspora was strengthened, and travel to
Armenia-once fraught with difficulty-became common and fluid.
A new generation of Armenians-in our homeland, here in America, and
around the globe-was decisively shaped by both the tragedy of a
catastrophe, and the blessing of so many helping hands in a time of
need.
And it is not too much to assert that our own souls were deepened in
the wake of the earthquake. In the 25 years following 1988, the memory
of our sorrow would be re-awakened whenever similar natural disasters
struck our fellow human beings in other corners of the world. A sense
of solidarity in suffering has inspired our people to provide relief
and comfort to these fellow victims of devastation.
These were not new lessons for the Armenia people. Indeed, they are
the lessons our Lord taught us through his holy cross, and his empty
tomb; the lessons we embraced as a nation 17 centuries ago; the
lessons we carried through the valley of the shadow of death in 1915.
They are lessons of suffering and redemption; of the sanctity of life
and the power of hope; of the unpredictability of events, and the
constancy of faith.
The earthquake was the way those eternal lessons were asserted in our
generation. It falls to us to transmit those lessons to our children,
so they may draw strength in their own times of affliction.
Most of all, we must not lose heart when we feel, 25 years after such
an event, that some of those lessons have been forgotten. For they are
not lost. The response of our people to the earthquake shows that
those lessons and their associated godly virtues are always waiting to
be reborn in us, at the right moment, according to God's will.
Surely the Armenian people have been instruments of His will, through
our great afflictions and our great achievements, from the depths of
our beings as individuals and as a nation. On this solemn anniversary,
we pray that God will remember the precious souls He drew to His
kingdom 25 years ago, and that He will bless the land and the people
who emerged from, and were changed by, that time of trial.
May His guiding hand be upon our people now and forever. Amen.