Now It Is Our Turn
What a joy it was to celebrate the Divine Liturgy this past Sunday at Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church in Providence, surrounded by so many of our young people gathered for the ACYOA Juniors Sports Weekend.
The timing was especially meaningful as our Armenian Church celebrated the Feast of the Holy Translators—St. Sahag, St. Mesrob, and their disciples.
More than sixteen centuries ago, these great saints saw what their generation needed. With faith, courage, and vision, they gave our people the Armenian alphabet and opened the way for the Scriptures to be translated into Armenian.
What they handed down was far more than letters. They created a vessel through which our Christian faith could be carried from one generation to the next.
I invited our young people to think of the Christian life as a relay race. We receive the baton from those who came before us, carry it faithfully for a time, and then pass it on.
Our Armenian Christian life is the same. For generations, that baton—our faith, language, culture, and sacred traditions—has been carried forward. Our grandparents and parents carried it across oceans so that one day it could reach us. And now the baton is in our hands.
But receiving something is not the same as choosing it.
Our parents may bring us to church, but they cannot believe for us. Our grandparents may teach us the Hayr Mer, but eventually we must choose to pray it ourselves. Our family can tell us that we are Armenian, but one day we must choose what it means to live as an Armenian Christian.
The future of our Armenian Christian faith does not depend only on institutions, programs, or buildings. It depends on people who choose to live what they have received.
Every generation must make that choice for itself. The Holy Translators made theirs. Our grandparents and parents made theirs.
Now it is our turn—to love Christ deeply, to remain close to His Armenian Church, and to carry forward the faith and culture entrusted to us with courage, gratitude, and joy.
May we carry it well, so that those who come after us will one day be able to say: someone believed enough to pass it on to me.
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