Armenian Church Celebrates Anniversary, Faces Loss of Faith

January 13, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 13, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "this week, Armenians worldwide kicked off a yearlong celebration of the 1,700-year anniversary of their homeland's conversion" to Christianity. Legend has it that in the year 301 St. Gregory the Illuminator "healed then-King Tiridat of madness, converted him to Christianity and made Armenia the first nation in the world to officially embrace the light of Christ...In the Southland, the central event [of the celebration] involved the distribution of a flame, symbolizing the illuminating torch of Christianity...At St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Pasadena, Father Vazken Movsesian distributed the flame to hundreds of the faithful." The church has endured in Armenia through centuries of genocide, wars, earthquakes, invasions, and brutal conquests. Some church leaders, however, see "a weakening of religious conviction brought on by seven decades of Communist rule back home and by materialism, secularism and assimilation here." More than a million Armenians reside in the United States, an estimated half of them in California. Churches are packed. But "especially for new immigrants who grew up under Communist rule, religion has become 'a custom, not a conviction.' Many come with almost no understanding of the fundamentals of the faith or of church protocol...Linda Maxwell, a staff member of We Care for Youth in Glendale, says she has worked with scores of Armenian teenagers who wear crosses but don't understand the story it represents--including one who reads the Bible daily but still commits crimes of violence because no one has ever shown him how to apply the teachings to his life. Clinical psychologist Levon Jernazian said the clergy are seen as too distant" and sees himself as "compensating for the lack of real spiritual direction that is supposed to be provided by the church." In addition, "church members are facing a clergy crisis: Movsesian estimates that half of the 60 or so priests in America are set to retire in the next decade, and the seminaries are not producing enough candidates to replace them....Church leaders say the anniversary year gives the church a ripe opportunity to reinvigorate the faith."