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CROSS STOLEN FROM ARMENIAN CHURCH IN IRAQ RECOVERED BY ARMENIAN AUSTINITES
TWC News, Texas
Feb 6 2015
By Alex Stockwell
If this cross could talk, it would have an amazing story to tell.
"Just its presence, the fact that this cross is here, it is life,"
says Deacon Narek Garabedian.
It begins at an Armenian church in Baghdad. After being stolen from
the church, the silver cross mysteriously made its way to a pawn shop
in Florida.
A curious employee of that pawn shop asked a UT Austin linguistics
professor to translate the inscription on the back.
That's when the professor contacted Mihran Aroian.
"I had her email those photographs to me. As soon as I opened up
the photographs, it was apparent that it was an Armenian cross,"
Aroian says.
It wasn't just any Armenian cross, though.
Garabedian just happened to be visiting from an Armenian church in
New York.
"It clearly states that this was a gift from Serop Ohanian to the
Armenian church of the Theotokos, or the Holy Virgin Mary, in 1945
of Baghdad, in Baghdad," Garabedian says.
As fate would have it, it turns out Garabedian's father is from Iraq
and he recognized the name of the family in the inscription.
"That's why I immediately contacted Mihran saying that this is a
cross that needs to be recovered," Garabedian explains.
Mihran called the pawn shop in Florida and asked them to ship it
to Austin.
"I let her know that this in fact was an Armenian cross that was
stolen from an Armenian church in Baghdad, and we would like to be
able to obtain the cross back," Aroian says.
It wasn't a moment too soon; the pawn shop was about to send the
cross to Austin anyways.
But because no one wanted to buy it, it was going to be melted and
sold for its silver.
"This was God's will that this cross be found and returned back to
Baghdad," Aroian says.
We still don't know how the cross made its way from Iraq to the pawn
shop in Florida.
Coincidentally, Saturday's service at the local Armenian church was
about lost sheep returning home.
"This cross--though it's a small little silver item, has a huge meaning
for the Armenian people, and we're just very excited to have been a
part of this," says Aroian.
Some might call what they were a part of divine intervention.
http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/02/6/cross-stolen-from-armenian-church-in-iraq-recovered-by-armenian-austinites-.html
TWC News, Texas
Feb 6 2015
By Alex Stockwell
If this cross could talk, it would have an amazing story to tell.
"Just its presence, the fact that this cross is here, it is life,"
says Deacon Narek Garabedian.
It begins at an Armenian church in Baghdad. After being stolen from
the church, the silver cross mysteriously made its way to a pawn shop
in Florida.
A curious employee of that pawn shop asked a UT Austin linguistics
professor to translate the inscription on the back.
That's when the professor contacted Mihran Aroian.
"I had her email those photographs to me. As soon as I opened up
the photographs, it was apparent that it was an Armenian cross,"
Aroian says.
It wasn't just any Armenian cross, though.
Garabedian just happened to be visiting from an Armenian church in
New York.
"It clearly states that this was a gift from Serop Ohanian to the
Armenian church of the Theotokos, or the Holy Virgin Mary, in 1945
of Baghdad, in Baghdad," Garabedian says.
As fate would have it, it turns out Garabedian's father is from Iraq
and he recognized the name of the family in the inscription.
"That's why I immediately contacted Mihran saying that this is a
cross that needs to be recovered," Garabedian explains.
Mihran called the pawn shop in Florida and asked them to ship it
to Austin.
"I let her know that this in fact was an Armenian cross that was
stolen from an Armenian church in Baghdad, and we would like to be
able to obtain the cross back," Aroian says.
It wasn't a moment too soon; the pawn shop was about to send the
cross to Austin anyways.
But because no one wanted to buy it, it was going to be melted and
sold for its silver.
"This was God's will that this cross be found and returned back to
Baghdad," Aroian says.
We still don't know how the cross made its way from Iraq to the pawn
shop in Florida.
Coincidentally, Saturday's service at the local Armenian church was
about lost sheep returning home.
"This cross--though it's a small little silver item, has a huge meaning
for the Armenian people, and we're just very excited to have been a
part of this," says Aroian.
Some might call what they were a part of divine intervention.
http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/02/6/cross-stolen-from-armenian-church-in-iraq-recovered-by-armenian-austinites-.html