wfn.org | Ecumenical Service Celebrates Armenians' 1700 Years of Faith

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2252; news@ncccusa.org (Info/Photos)
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NCC6/12/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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ECUMENICAL SERVICE CELEBRATES ARMENIANS' 1700 YEARS OF FAITH

	May 30, 2001, WASHINGTON, D.C. - Some 600 leaders and faithful from 
Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions joined together here May 
30 in an ecumenical prayer service celebrating the Armenian Church's 1,700 
years of faithfulness.

"For us Christianity is not the garment but the color of our skin, which 
cannot be altered," said His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and 
Catholicos of All Armenians, honored guest at the service.

He expressed his joy at "seeing here members of various Christian churches 
gathered as one family."  Affirming that "the spirit of ecumenism always 
has been part of the Armenian Church," he quoted St. Nerses who in the 12th 
century urged "unity in essentials, freedom in controversial issues and 
love in everything."

	Armenia became the world's first Christian nation in 301 A.D., preceding 
the Emperor Constantine's "Edict of Milan" by more than a dozen years.  The 
milestone inspired two of America's leading Christian organizations - the 
National Council of Churches (NCC) and the National Conference of Catholic 
Bishops - to join with the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of 
America to co-sponsor the service.

	The Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America is one of the NCC's 
36 member communions, and its leader, His Eminence Archbishop Khajag 
Barsamian, is active in NCC governance structures.  The NCC rescheduled the 
spring meeting of its 50-member Executive Board expressly to facilitate 
participation in the May 30 service.

	The persistence of faith through trials and persecutions and the quest for 
a fuller unity among Christians were among themes of the service, which was 
held in the Catholic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate 
Conception.

	His Holiness Karekin II, of Etchmiadzin, Armenia, was flanked by two Roman 
Catholic Cardinals - His Eminence Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop 
of Washington, and His Eminence Cardinal William H. Keeler, Archbishop of 
Baltimore - the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary of the National 
Council of Churches, and several dozen other clergy who robed and 
participated in the processional.

The Armenian Church was born out of the suffering of St. Gregory the 
Illuminator, a devout Christian missionary who endured torture and 13 years 
of incarceration before he was released, ultimately effecting the healing - 
and winning the conversion -- of Armenia's King Tiridates and all of 
Armenia.

The Church persisted through many trials, including persecutions from 
1915-1922 -- during which more than two million Armenians were deported and 
more than 1.5 million were massacred by the Ottoman Turks in the first 
genocide of the 20th century -- and during 70 years under the Soviet 
regime.

Cardinal Keeler, acknowledging that "the Armenian Church has paid dearly 
for its fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ," welcomed His Holiness 
Karekin II as a "living witness of the living Christian vitality of the 
church in Armenia."

Cardinal McCarrick touched on the unity theme, commenting that the 
ecumenical prayer service "offers a vision for what the Lord hopes for all 
of us as believers from many parts of the church, all one family of the 
Lord come together to celebrate."

Preaching at the service was the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior 
Minister of the interdenominational Riverside Church in New York City. 
 Surveying the diversity of "attire, accents and appearance" of those 
assembled, he commented, "Just to be here takes a little bit of courage. 
 There's elation, and also uncertainty.  What will the Holy Spirit ask of 
us now that we are together?"

Churches have yet to work out all their differences, he acknowledged, 
urging confidence that "the Holy Spirit will hear our 'no' yet bring us 
step by step. God's Spirit is here, calling us to move to ever-increasing 
unity."

The Knar-Asi Choral Group offered several selections, as did the D.C. Boys 
Choir.  Those assembled joined in litanies, scripture readings and prayers 
and in the singing together of "Amazing Grace."  The ecumenical prayer 
service was preceded by a lecture on the history of the Armenian Church.

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