Message of Fr. Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Andrew Armenian Church, Cupertino, from the Nakhagoch Newsletter. Electronic version archived on: SAIN-- St. Andrew Information Network -------------------------------------- c. 1993 Fr. Vazken Movsesian Address comments to: dervaz@sain.org -------------------------------------- Priest's Message A Dead Silence Since early this year, St. Andrew has been hosting a guest congregation. They are an Orthodox church organized under the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission (AEOM). They meet every Saturday evening for vespers and Sunday morning (before our services) for the Divine Liturgy. Many of you have asked, Who are these people? Are they Greeks? Are they Russians? No! Actually, they're Cupertinians and Saratogans with some San Josians. They are Americans who have found the True Faith in the Orthodox Church. Their Faith is the same as professed by the Armenian Church.* Their service and prayers are the same as ours. The only difference is language: their service is in English. Orthodox Americans? Most of the mission members have strong Protestant backgrounds and have converted to Orthodoxy. The AEOM movement began some 25 years ago. After much searching, some leaders of the Campus Crusade for Christ discovered that the true Church of Jesus Christ is the Orthodox Church. They were accepted and confirmed in the Orthodox Church in the mid 1980's. In a bold move, the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Diocese ordained priests and deacons from these new converts who in turn have been actively involved in the missionary work throughout America. With God's assistance, the movement has snowballed and souls are finding the True Faith in the Orthodox Church. (A detailed account of this story is given in Becoming Orthodox by Peter Gillquist.) Last year, a few of the AEOM priests approached me with their vision of expanding Orthodoxy in the Santa Clara Valley. We opened the doors of St. Andrew to this work of God. And so began a unique relationship between our two communities. Last week, this relationship ended, when the mission moved on to a bigger facility to accommodate their growing congregation. They left a note, "Dear St. Andrew parishioners, Your goodness will not be forgotten. Thank you for sharing your beautiful building with us. You'll not be forgotten. With Love in Christ, the 'Mission' folk." Neither will I forget them. Every Sunday morning they would come and worship before the Holy Altar. Our sanctuary would be filled with the sweet smell of incense, angelic voices and most of all, life! At 9:45 a.m. they would finish services and begin taking down their iconostasis and realigning the chairs. By 10:00 a.m. they were out of the sanctuary. There I would stand ready to begin our morning service, with one or two deacons, no congregation and a dead silence. It's an eerie feeling when such a powerful life force leaves. Fortunately, that feeling is gone by 11:00 a.m. when our church chairs once again warm up with our congregation. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to point out what a treasure we have. Because most of us are "born" into orthodoxy, that is, we didn't make a choice to belong to the Armenian Church, we take it for granted. Much like anything for which we do not struggle, we can't appreciate its value. A child will so freely spend his parent's money, but when he grows up and has to earn that money himself, he finds it hard to part with. For the vast majority of Armenians, the Armenian Church is something we have, we can use, abuse and will somehow always be there. ÑWe take it for granted. Unlike our parents and grandparents, or the "mission folk," we haven't struggled to gain it. Some claim the biggest stumbling block is the language. When the "mission folk" worship, they all sing the hymns. During the kiss of peace, they embrace understanding that Christ is among them. When they commune, they know the life-giving power of the sacrament is renewing them. But language is only one issue for us. We have the infamous "blue books" which give us translations, but how many of us understand those words or the redeeming value of the sacrament behind those words? The real issue is one of finding our true Faith. It is a faith that our Armenian Church has, but is covered beneath a blanket of language, nationality, ritualism, fund raisers, dances, dinners and picnics. It is a simple faith: God loves you and therefore you have the capacity to love. "Love one another." Once this Faith is discovered, you know that God is with you. (He is always with you, but now you know it.) With this knowledge, it becomes impossible to be indifferent to God and His work through His Holy Church. The invitation is given to each of us, to not take our faith for granted. Discover the treasure you have in your Armenian Church. ÑFr. Vazken The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ÑJesus (Matt. 13:44) *For you nit-pickers: Yes, I am well aware of Chalcedon to which I direct you to the recent dialogues between the Orthodox and Oriental Churches. According to a recent study, church attendance has risen by 6.7% here in our County (Rise Report, vol 7, #6). The Santa Clara County population has increase -------------------------------------- c. 1993 Fr. Vazken Movsesian Address comments to: dervaz@sain.org --------------------------------------