Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
3325 North Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, Ca 91504
Tel: 818-558-7474
Fax: 818-558-6333
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PRIMATE’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
“God is an interactive God. The Incarnation is God’s interaction
with human life. Therefore, the
man who does not live an interactive life with others is
fundamentally emptied of the Christian faith, i.e. of the interaction
of love.”
Catholicos Karekin I
The Incarnation symbolizes God’s interaction in human life.
Therefore, the man who does not live an interactive life is deeply
emptied of the life of the Christian faith. In other words, the
person who withdraws from the interactive life withdraws also from
the conscious awareness that his life could serve as a means of
distributing love.
The Nativity of Jesus is the greatest miracle recorded in the
history of the world, a miracle the impact of which can be measured
only by the depth of faith. The Nativity of Jesus reveals God’s
penetration into human life, the revelation of God’s infinite love.
The truth that emanates from the Gospels enlightens our entire being,
and in the rays of the same light the Christian person re-baptizes
himself, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life.” (John 3:16)
The Nativity of Jesus is the presence of light. The person whose
life is enriched with prayer, in view of the Birth of Jesus rejects
the dark and its works, and allows the vision of the interactive life
to dawn in him. Today mankind is living in two, essentially opposing,
worlds. In one world are people who live their lives dedicated to
God, and in the second world are those who reject God. Those who live
with God have chosen the path that leads to holiness, and those who
live without God grope in the dark and are deprived of their ability
to spread light.
The Birth of Jesus inspires the power to transform one’s life into a
presence equal to a miracle. In the Birth of Jesus individuals and
society as a whole live a spiritual rebirth. In today’s world we can
relive the Birth of Jesus when, with the power of one’s spirit and
the awareness of faith, we see in the Incarnation of Jesus the
visitation of God to mankind. It is this inner life in the depth of
our essence that will change the old man and give birth to the New
Man.
The Nativity of Jesus becomes a real and true feast when one is
transfigured and with the transformation of his inner world he
becomes a new man. The importance of the transformation of the inner
world of the individual is beautifully described in the thoughts of
Karekin I, the late Catholicos of All Armenians:
“The world changes. This phenomenon of change is not new. The world
has always known change and it has always witnessed change and has
always been subjected to change. As human beings we live in this
cycle of change. We are not the objects but the subjects, not the
victims but the witnesses of change.”
We send our heartfelt greetings to all the faithful of the Western
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Mother Church that they may
stay in communion with the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, that
through the Nativity of Jesus we may lead our God-given lives into new
births. The lives of each of us necessarily needs spiritual rebirth,
which is leavened in our inner self through the power of prayer and
faith. Spiritual rebirth must be evident in our Christian and
national lives. The spiritual rebirth becomes meaningful with service
to our Holy Church, our Motherland, our national heritage, and
particularly to our blessed land of America where we enjoy every
blessing that opens before us the path of life as a mission.
On the threshold of a New Year and the Feast of the Nativity, let us
make a new covenant with God. Let us transform our lives into new
covenants at the altar of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Bethlehem of
Armenians, which penetrates into the hearts of our children scattered
throughout the world with the rays of the light that emanates from its
lantern. It is in that light that the Infant Jesus, the Lord and
Savior of the world, is born.
We lift up our good wishes and prayers to God to bless our Holy
Church and her faithful children, headed by His Holiness Karekin II,
the Catholicos of All Armenians, whose fatherly love and blessing we
in the Western Diocese will enjoy in June 2005 when His Holiness
graces us with his pastoral visit.
It is our heartfelt prayer that God will move the hearts of the
people of the world so that they may transform their lives into
instruments of love and peace, that nations will live in peace and
productive life. In anticipation of the Birth of Jesus let us
transform our lives into living miracles.
In prayer and with warm greetings of love,
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
December, 2005