Tweet
First Things
Sept 1 2014
The Last Armenian Church in Myanmar
by Mark Movsesian
>From the BBC's News Magazine, here's a lovely essay, "The Last
Armenians of Myanmar," about a small Armenian parish church, St. John
the Baptist, in the capital city of Yangon. The Armenian community
built the church in 1862, when the country was still known as Burma,
and the city as Rangoon. The Armenians had come to Rangoon in the 18th
century from Iran, by way of British India, following the trade
routes.They established close ties to the Burmese monarchy, which
donated the land for the church in the center of the city.
As its title suggests, the essay has a wistful, elegiac tone. Hardly
any Armenians remain in Myanmar today--most departed for Australia
after World War II--and the parish gets only a handful of worshipers on
Sundays. But the situation is not altogether grim. Faithful
parishioners continue to maintain the church lovingly (photos of the
interior make it look Victorian and vaguely Episcopalian) and the
liturgy is said every Sunday by Fr. John Felix, a South Indian convert
from Anglicanism. The choir continues to sing the hymns in classical
Armenian.
There is hope that two things will work to preserve the building.
First, as Myanmar opens to the world, international tourism is
increasing. As one of the the city's principal historic landmarks, the
church should benefit. Second, the church has become the focal point
for the small Orthodox community in Yangon, not just Armenians:
Already diplomats, business visitors and tourists from a range of
Orthodox countries and churches - Russian, Greek, Serbian -
occasionally swell the numbers at St John the Baptist, the only
Orthodox church in Myanmar's biggest city.
A new worshiper here, Ramona Tarta, is Romanian, a globetrotting
business woman, publisher and events organizer who has lived in Yangon
for the last few months.
"My faith is very important to me. Wherever I am in the world, I seek
out an Orthodox church. But I was about to give up on Yangon. I
thought it was the only city I'd ever lived in which had no Orthodox
place of worship," she complains.
She chanced across the Armenian church when driving past, and believes
that with a little promotion, this historic building - and the
tradition to which it bears testimony - could have a more secure
future.
There's a lesson here. Many of these Orthodox Churches have been out
of communion for thousands of years. Formally, they are not supposed
to worship together. But at the ends of the earth, and surrounded by
people for whom these sectarian differences mean nothing, Christians
somehow manage to cooperate. A hopeful example of practical ecumenism
that Christians everywhere should keep in mind.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/09/the-last-armenian-church-in-myanmar
From: Baghdasarian
Sept 1 2014
The Last Armenian Church in Myanmar
by Mark Movsesian
>From the BBC's News Magazine, here's a lovely essay, "The Last
Armenians of Myanmar," about a small Armenian parish church, St. John
the Baptist, in the capital city of Yangon. The Armenian community
built the church in 1862, when the country was still known as Burma,
and the city as Rangoon. The Armenians had come to Rangoon in the 18th
century from Iran, by way of British India, following the trade
routes.They established close ties to the Burmese monarchy, which
donated the land for the church in the center of the city.
As its title suggests, the essay has a wistful, elegiac tone. Hardly
any Armenians remain in Myanmar today--most departed for Australia
after World War II--and the parish gets only a handful of worshipers on
Sundays. But the situation is not altogether grim. Faithful
parishioners continue to maintain the church lovingly (photos of the
interior make it look Victorian and vaguely Episcopalian) and the
liturgy is said every Sunday by Fr. John Felix, a South Indian convert
from Anglicanism. The choir continues to sing the hymns in classical
Armenian.
There is hope that two things will work to preserve the building.
First, as Myanmar opens to the world, international tourism is
increasing. As one of the the city's principal historic landmarks, the
church should benefit. Second, the church has become the focal point
for the small Orthodox community in Yangon, not just Armenians:
Already diplomats, business visitors and tourists from a range of
Orthodox countries and churches - Russian, Greek, Serbian -
occasionally swell the numbers at St John the Baptist, the only
Orthodox church in Myanmar's biggest city.
A new worshiper here, Ramona Tarta, is Romanian, a globetrotting
business woman, publisher and events organizer who has lived in Yangon
for the last few months.
"My faith is very important to me. Wherever I am in the world, I seek
out an Orthodox church. But I was about to give up on Yangon. I
thought it was the only city I'd ever lived in which had no Orthodox
place of worship," she complains.
She chanced across the Armenian church when driving past, and believes
that with a little promotion, this historic building - and the
tradition to which it bears testimony - could have a more secure
future.
There's a lesson here. Many of these Orthodox Churches have been out
of communion for thousands of years. Formally, they are not supposed
to worship together. But at the ends of the earth, and surrounded by
people for whom these sectarian differences mean nothing, Christians
somehow manage to cooperate. A hopeful example of practical ecumenism
that Christians everywhere should keep in mind.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/09/the-last-armenian-church-in-myanmar
From: Baghdasarian