Today, I stand with my Armenian brothers and sisters in New York’s Capital Region in recognition and memory of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
To All Mothers By Kegham Sarian
Translated from Armenian by Daniel Janoyan
Our mothers preserved the Armenian language
And passed it to their children when breast feeding.
They also filled them up with the Fatherland
So that its people will live eternally.Our mothers preserved the Armenian songs
While rocking their children all along their songs
With tears in their eyes and wounds in their hearts
They always kept dreaming of life that is free.They never yielded our language and our songs
To traitors, the sultan, nor also to any tsar
Whose dream was only see us give up and retreat
And to enable them rule over our Armenian land.Our mothers have never been slaves to foreigners,
Neither have they ever been disappointed.
Having hugged the Armenian book and their children
They’ve always lived proudly in this very world.Even now it is the Armenian mothers
Who are keeping the legacy live
Preserving our songs, language and noble spirit
Having sacrificed themselves whole-heartedly for our Fatherland.I am now embracing your hands, O mothers.
You are sacred and holy within my heart.
Keep preserving always our Armenian language
To enable us live forever in this world of ours.
From the great folks at St. Peter’s. I encourage all to attend. St. Peter’s is a wonderful parish filled with warm and inviting people, and their food is fantastic!
Krisdos Haryav e Merelots
Ohrnyal e Harutyounun Krisdosee
Christ is Risen from the Dead
Blessed is the Resurrection of Christ
Fr. Bedros Kadehjian informs me that St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church will be celebrating its 109th anniversary on Sunday, November 2. The celebration begins with the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Very Rev. Fr. Haigazoun Najarian, Diocesan Vicar to the Primate. Fr. Najarian will also perform the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the parish’s recently completed building expansion project.
The Liturgy and ribbon cutting will be followed by a celebratory dinner (lamb and chicken kebabs, pilaf, Armenian style green beans, salad, Armenian desserts) and a special program including guest speakers Congressman Michael McNulty and Mayor Mike Manning from the City of Watervliet. There will be also be presentations by the St. Peter Church Armenian School and Sunday School children.
I wish all the best to St. Peter’s, its people, and Fathers Bedros, Stepanos, and Garin. Õ‡Õ¶Õ¸Ö€Õ°Õ¡Õ¾Õ¸Ö€Õ¸Ö‚Õ´
They are wonderful people and have supported our entire community through their prayer and outreach. They have welcomed our ecumenical group numerous times and have always stayed true to their traditions and Tradition.
Please say a prayer for their community and wish them well.
The inanimate church, venerable queen,
Gives life and rules over death,
Like the fruit that Adam was said to have eaten.
But this church surpasses all animate beings,
For though inanimate, it performs miracles,
Each undertaking to perfect and renew us,
By etching the image of the glorious light upon us.She uplifts bodies to soar again with
The lightness of the soul, endowing
The baser element with dignity.
She is not debased by her own faults,
But by being trampled by evil or faithless people.
She is an amazing sign, overwhelming our mind’s understanding,
This unthinking thing, created by thinking creatures,
That helps them as a superior helps its subordinate.
She is greater than man …
Like an eternal mountain she resists attack.
Like a net cast by God she catches souls.For she is an ark of purity,
A second cause of rejoicing
Who saves us from drowning
In the tumult of our worldly lives.
She is not tossed about on waves of agitation,
But rises above it to the heavenly heights …
She is not built by the hands of Noah,
But is built by the hand of the creator.
She is not in perpetual motion, constantly changing
But is established permanently upon an unshakable foundation.—St. Gregory of Nareg, Prayer 75
Speaking With God From the Depths of My Heart, from: Here I am, Lord, A collection of prayers and meditations for young adults drawn from Scripture, Armenian tradition, and original compositions.
As the Young Fogey might point out, politics is about playing a game for influence and votes. It is rare to find politicos doing things for right and proper reason. He might also rightly point out that we should be careful so that we “don’t get played” in their political process.
Today’s vote by Congress on the Armenian Genocide was one of those rare moments when politicians (and yes I understand that some come from districts with large Armenian immigrant populations) did the right thing in the face of pressure.
They basically said to heck with lobbyists (paid for by the Turkish government), President Bush (it will hurt the “war on terror”), and tons of other politicos who pander to Turkey because they act as an errand boy between the Arabs and Israelis/Arabs and NATO.
Of course everyone realizes that Turkish “democracy” is a carefully contrived facade at best. Free speech – eh, no. Freedom of religion – eh, no. But for Mr. Bush at least, a half friend and untruth are more important than the truth – the ends justify the means.
From the NY Times: House Panel Raises Furor on Armenian Genocide
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 —” A House committee voted on Wednesday to condemn the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in World War I as an act of genocide, rebuffing an intense campaign by the White House and warnings from Turkey’s government that the vote would gravely strain its relations with the United States.
The vote by the House Foreign Relations Committee was nonbinding and so largely symbolic, but its consequences could reach far beyond bilateral relations and spill into the war in Iraq.
Turkish officials and lawmakers warned that if the resolution was approved by the full House, they would reconsider supporting the American war effort, which includes permission to ship essential supplies through Turkey and northern Iraq.
President Bush appeared on the South Lawn of the White House before the vote and implored the House not to take up the issue, only to have a majority of the committee disregard his warning at the end of the day, by a vote of 27 to 21.
—We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915,— Mr. Bush said in remarks that, reflecting official American policy, carefully avoided the use of the word genocide. —This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.—
The resolution, which was introduced early in the current session of Congress and which has quietly moved forward over the last few weeks, provoked a fierce lobbying fight that pitted the politically influential Armenian-American population against the Turkish government, which hired equally influential former lawmakers like Robert L. Livingston, Republican of Louisiana, and Richard A. Gephardt, the former Democratic House majority leader who backed a similar resolution when he was in Congress.
Backers of the resolution said Congressional action was overdue.
—Despite President George Bush twisting arms and making deals, justice prevailed,— said Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat of California and a sponsor of the resolution. —For if we hope to stop future genocides we need to admit to those horrific acts of the past…—
In a similar vein, Polish-Americans and Poles recall that in 1951-52 a Congressional investigation (the Madden Committee) into the Katyn Massacre (also here), documented much of the truth surrounding the enormity of the Katyn crimes committed by the Russians after the coordinated Nazi German – Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939
Sometimes Congress finds the wherewithal to shed some light on historic events.
Oh, and let the Turks react. What will they do? Kill more Christians, close more churches, invade Iraq, stop pretending to be a democracy…? They will bow because we can choke off those huge foreign aid payments that keep them quiet.