Third Millennium: New Opportunities And Challenges

By the time this reflection  makes it to the website, the entire world will have officially entered the Third Millennium. Finally, after years of expectations, speculations and doom pseudo-prophecies, we made it! God has blessed us to be worthy to witness the dawn of a new era in the history of humanity. As we celebrate the beginning of this new era, we cannot forget the past. In fact, this is a time to review the past and learn from it, and to work on enjoying a brighter future. Our upcoming achievements or the lack of them will define the infancy stages and the direction of this new era.

For us Armenian Christians a new millennium means the inauguration of a new era of 1000 years of witnessing to Christ in the inspiring tradition of the Armenian Church. It opens the doors to new opportunities as well as challenges for witnessing to our faith in our families, local communities and circles as well as the entire world. It inaugurates also our church’s celebration of the 1700 anniversary of the conversion of the State of Armenia to Christianity. Our Parish will join the Diocese of the Armenian Church and the Holy See of Etchmiadzin in installing the year-long celebration of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity. It is, therefore, a time to recall and celebrate the history of our Church, to remember the pillars of our faith and the events that shaped our faith and identity as a Church and a people. Most importantly it is a time to try our utmost to continue their mission and emulate their zeal and love for Christ and our people.

The past century was not an easy one for our church. It was ushered in by decades of persecution and began with the genocide of our people. For 100 years our people have suffered and mourned the consequences of the genocide. However, despite the difficult early decades of the century, our people, with God’s blessings, were able to survive as a nation. In fact, the same century that began with a systematic effort to annihilate us miraculously concluded with the establishment of a free and independent Armenia. As we usher in a new century, therefore, let us celebrate our victory over the genocide. It is a time to go beyond the limitations that were imposed on us because of it and to aggressively continue the process of rebuilding our church and people.

Here at our beloved parish of the Holy Martyrs we are making sure that our first steps are well defined and focused on making sure that we as a parish remain the spiritual home of our parishioners and friends. Thanks to your feedback of the questionnaire mailed out earlier last month, we are in the process of designing programs to help our parish celebrate the past and share in the vision of the future. I hope to see many of our parishioners and friends actively participate in these programs. I am happy to inform you also that our Parish is now accessible on the Information Superhighways. You can read the history of our community, news from our parish, reflections, upcoming events and more on our own website at: http://www.holy-martyrs.org. You may also contact me and the Church Office via the Internet by writing to vartabed@holy-martyrs.org or church@holy-martyrs.org.

As a parish we proudly look back at another year and almost half a century of achievements and challenges met and look forward to a better and brighter future. Earlier this year, our community was shocked to hear the news of the passing of our energetic and charismatic leader, a dear friend of mine and brother in Christ, Fr. Haigazoun Melkonian. We cannot celebrate our achievements without taking a moment to remember him and pray to the Lord for the salvation of his soul. Indeed, as a new pastor, I can already see the impact of Fr. Haigazoun’s ministry and the changes that he brought to this community for the glory of God and the betterment of this community. May his soul rest in peace.

Finally, New Year is a time of resolutions. Every year, on the threshold of a new year we make resolutions to correct a behavioral pattern that we think needs to be changed or to control or discipline ourselves in an aspect of our life that we feel we have ignored. This year, make the new century and millennium resolution by adding a spiritual dimension to it. Include God and the Armenian Church in your list of “things to do.”  May I suggest that your resolution include a reminder for yourself to be more actively involved in your local parish ministry. Join our various organizations. Participate in the several educational, spiritual and cultural programs that our Parish is, and will be, offering. Make sure that you are one of the true disciples of the parish and not a mere once-a-year guest. Join me as we turn the first page of this new era that God has blessed us with and embark on an exciting and inspiring journey.  Be actively involved in shaping our community’s direction in the Third Millennium.

In Christ's service, 

Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian

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