I Felt at Home

During one of my visits to St. Mesrob Parish in Wisconsin, I visited a senior parishioner who could no longer come to church. She had not grown up Armenian, but she had married an Armenian man, and over the years, she had become part of the parish family.

We sat together by Lake Michigan, enjoying coffee, looking at the peaceful water, and she shared a story that touched my heart.

She told me that the first time she came to the Armenian Church with her late husband, she felt nervous. She did not know the language, the customs, or the people, and wondered how she would be received. But as she approached the church doors, a parishioner came toward her with a big smile and a welcoming embrace. In that moment, she said, “I felt at home.”

Think about that. Sixty years later, she still remembers that day. That is the power of welcome. A single smile can remain in a heart for a lifetime. A simple embrace can become a turning point in a person’s story.

This is what the Church does at her best. She receives people with the heart of Christ. As St. Paul says, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). That welcome is ministry, a witness. It is the Gospel made visible in human warmth.

And as I reflect on her story, I realize that this is also my story.

This is how the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America welcomed me. When I first came to serve among you in 2015, you welcomed me into your parishes, your homes, your tables, your hearts. And later, in 2022, when you placed your trust in me as your Diocesan Primate, I felt that same embrace again. I knew I was home, among a people who love Christ and love His Church.

And now, as you have entrusted me again with a second term of service as Diocesan Primate, I receive it with humility and gratitude. I see it as another expression of the same welcome and the same love. And I pray that, together, we will keep building a Diocese where every person who comes near our churches and our communities can say the same beautiful words: “I felt at home.”