We have never had so much spiritual knowledge at our fingertips, and yet many of us still feel spiritually tired. With a few taps, we can listen to a sermon, join a Bible study, learn about the saints, or watch an explanation of the Badarak. We can spend hours moving from one teaching to another, always discovering something new. Our minds keep filling, but our hearts remain restless. Perhaps the problem is not that we need one more teaching. Perhaps we need to begin living w

In Armenian, two words can both be translated as “fear”: վախ—vakh and երկիւղ—yergyoogh. Yet spiritually they describe two very different movements of the human heart. Vakh is ordinary fear, the fear that makes us hide. Yergyugh is holy awe, the reverence that draws us closer to God. After Adam disobeyed God, he heard the Lord walking in the garden and hid among the trees. “I was afraid,” he confessed (Genesis 3:10). This is vakh, the ordinary fear of danger, pain, punishment,

This past weekend, I returned to Holy Virgin Mary and Shoghagat Armenian Church in Belleville, Illinois, in the greater St. Louis area, where I began my ministry in America in 2015. On Saturday, members of my parish family joined me in the kitchen to prepare Nushkhar, the bread of Holy Communion. For two years, preparing Nushkhar was part of my Sunday morning rhythm. Even now, whenever I make this sacred bread, I remember the words of St. Paul: “Because there is one bread, we

Good morning, friends. Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, her passage from earth to heaven. The Church tells us that after her peaceful dormition, her soul was received into the divine hands of her Son and carried up into heaven. Her body was laid to rest by the apostles in Gethsemane, and on the third day, she was raised and taken into glory. In our Armenian tradition, we speak of the Ննջումն Ս. Աստուածածնի, the Dormition of the Mother of G

A tree grows in two directions at the same time. It reaches upward toward the light, and it reaches downward into the earth. The branches are visible. The roots are hidden. We admire the leaves, the blossoms, and the fruit, but no one stops to praise the roots. Yet without the roots, there would be no fruit. Before a tree can grow upward, it must first grow downward. Its roots must push through dark soil, damp ground, stones, and resistance. Long before anything beautiful app

At the Armenian Hagigadar Monastery in Suceava, Romania, August 2025 There is something fascinating about the sound of a church bell. When someone pulls the rope, the bell begins to swing. The clapper strikes the metal, and the sound travels through the air. It moves across the village, through the streets, and over the rooftops. But when the person releases the rope, the bell does not immediately become silent. The rope may be hanging still. The hand may have let go. No one

In ancient times, wrestlers often covered their bodies with oil before entering the arena. The oil made it difficult for an opponent to take hold of them. They could still be attacked, pushed, and thrown, but they were not easily grasped. The Church Fathers used this image to describe our baptismal anointing. At baptism, we are not only washed with water; we are also anointed with Holy Muron. The priest marks our forehead, eyes, ears, mouth, heart, hands, and feet with the sa

Seeing Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in 70mm IMAX had become an event of its own. With so few theaters offering the format, tickets vanished quickly. Even late-night screenings in New York sold out. I searched beyond the city and finally found one available seat for a Friday morning showing in Providence. I booked it immediately. So last Friday, I got up early and made the drive. The theater was packed. Homer’s poem is nearly three thousand years old, yet there we were, lea

Last Thursday, I went fishing with my friend Dr. Henry Madalian at Green Pond, New Jersey. The water was quiet, and nothing was biting for a while, but we kept casting. After some time, I asked him, “Henry, how can you remain so patient when we are not catching anything?” He smiled and said with confidence, “I feel something big is coming.” There was no movement on the surface. We could not see what was beneath the water. Yet Henry kept waiting with expectation. Then, before

Remember being a kid, curled up by the window during a thunderstorm? Rain streaking down the glass, wind whipping the trees around, thunder rattling the windows. Everything outside looked chaotic and a little scary. But you were warm. You were safe. The storm was real—it just couldn't get to you. Long before there were glass windows to sit behind, Noah knew this feeling too. Before the flood came, God gave Noah precise instructions for building the ark. One small detail in th

A crowded train station can make us anxious. The departure board is constantly changing. Trains are leaving for many destinations, people are rushing in every direction, and announcements remind us that doors are about to close. But a wise traveler does not run after every departing train. He knows where he is going. Our world resembles that crowded station. Every notification announces another experience, opportunity, achievement, or celebration. We see where others are trav

When I was a child, I once asked my great-grandmother when she was born. She replied, “I don’t know the exact date. My parents told me I was born on a night of heavy rain, thunder, and lightning.” Today, that answer may seem incomplete. We expect a year, a month, a day, and perhaps even the exact hour. But she came from a different time. People remembered seasons, harvests, feast days, storms, and special moments shared with others. Today, our phones tell us the exact time, r

Have you ever felt a strange sadness at the end of a vacation or a journey far from home? You pack your suitcase, check the hotel room one last time, and step outside to wait for an Uber, taxi, or bus. Around you, the city continues as usual. People are walking to work, buying coffee, opening their shops, or hurrying to appointments. For them, it is an ordinary morning. But for you, it is a farewell. You look at the streets differently because you know you are leaving. The bu

In ancient villages, the well often stood at the heart of the community. People came with empty jars to draw water for their families and find refreshment. Many wells were fed by underground springs. Fresh water flowed into them continually and then outward, keeping the water fresh and life-giving. Without an outlet, the water would eventually become still and stagnant. The well did not keep the water for itself. It received in order to give. Its purpose was not simply to be

Athletes understand something that many of us forget. Growth does not happen only in the workout. Strength is built in the recovery. Muscles are stretched in exertion, but they are restored in rest. Without recovery, the body weakens, progress slows, and injury becomes more likely. The same is true in the spiritual life. Many people admire discipline, hard work, movement, productivity, and endurance. They keep pushing, keep striving, keep carrying, keep serving. But even the

When I was a child, memorizing phone numbers was very important. There were no cell phones, no contact lists, and no saved numbers. You had to know the number by heart. I still remember our home phone number from my childhood: 487988. My parents taught it to me carefully. They said, “If you ever get lost, tell someone this number, and they will help you find your way home.” That number meant safety. It meant that no matter where I was, there was a way back to my parents, back

Today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Ark of the Old Covenant and the New Ark—the Holy Church. In the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10–22). It was a wooden chest covered with gold inside and out. Above it stood two golden cherubim, and within it were placed the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a vessel containing manna, and Aaron’s staff that had miraculously blossomed. The Ark was called the “Ark of the Testi

Yesterday, there was a major emergency in Midtown Manhattan. Along East 42nd Street, police officers, firefighters, and emergency vehicles surrounded a high-rise building under construction. Two structural columns had buckled, several floors were sagging, nearby buildings were evacuated, and streets were closed. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. The building, once part of Pfizer’s headquarters, is undergoing a major transformation from offices into apartments. The exact

The first chapter of Genesis repeats a beautiful sentence: “God saw that it was good.” God created the light, the oceans, the land, the trees, and every living creature. After each act of creation, He looked upon His work and declared it good. When He created humanity in His own image, Scripture says: “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Yet when we look at our own lives, we do not always see what is good. We see unanswered praye

As I recently walked through Signers’ Hall at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I found myself surrounded by forty-two life-size bronze statues. They represent the delegates who gathered at the Constitutional Convention—those who signed the Constitution and those who chose not to sign. These men had spent months debating, disagreeing, worrying, and compromising. They knew the document before them was imperfect. Yet many signed it, believing that it offered a f