2TheAdvocate, LA
June 24 2006
New church unites La. Armenians
Newly dedicated church brings La. Armenians together in BR
By ANNABELLE ARMSTRONG
Special to The Advocate
Published: Jun 24, 2006
Louisiana’s first and only Armenian congregation remains small and
spread out even after 23 years.
But bringing the dedicated membership together for monthly worship
preserves a connection to a history, language and culture that might
otherwise have been left a world behind.
"It’s a great honor and privilege to pray in my own language, and to
teach my children how to pray in the language I was taught," said
K.G. Moutafian, who was 14 in 1980 when his parents moved to Baton
Rouge from Beirut, Lebanon.
Today he’s one of about 80 members at St. Garabed Armenian Church,
6208 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge. Congregants, ranging in age from
babies to septuagenarians, reside throughout Louisiana, most in Baton
Rouge and New Orleans.
"Going to church is like a family reunion," said Vasken Kaltakdjian,
47, Moutafian’s cousin and chairman of the church council.
"Many of us are related because one family member would come to the
United States, then bring another family member here, and so on."
Kaltakdjian, born in Damascus, Syria, was 19 when his parents, Serop
and Marie Kaltakdjian, moved the family to the United States.
The Armenian language, not closely related to any other language in
the world, is spoken in the colorful, traditional and ritualistic
church service.
The church sanctuary, a newly renovated labor hall, has a vaulted,
open beam ceiling, cypress woodworking, with brick and carpeted
flooring that lend a serene effect. The altar features an alcove with
a dramatic mural of the baby Jesus and Mary, the work of Hiak
Azarian, an Armenian ecclesiastical artist.
The Apostolic Armenian Church dates back to A.D. 301, when St.
Gregory the Illuminator started the conversion of the people to
Christianity.
Today’s worshippers are descendants of Armenians who fled their
homeland during the Turks’ massacre of 1915, scattering to
neighboring countries, including Russia, and now located around the
world.
The Louisiana church began in 1983, when then-reigning Archbishop of
the Armenian Church of America Torkom Manoogian came from New York
City to form a parish council.
Garabed means Baptist, Vasken Kaltakdjian explained.
"The church is named for St. John the Baptist, who baptized Christ,"
he said, "also for my late grandfather, Garabed Kaltakdjian, of
Damascus, Syria, who dedicated his entire life to the church."
Services take place monthly now, but for years they were held every
three or four months.
The church met at St. James and St. Luke’s Episcopal churches, but
two and half years ago was able to secure its current
22,500-square-foot site for $180,000 and begin $120,000 in
renovation.
"Now, we want to afford a full-time priest to teach our kids Armenian
history and to have Sunday school," Moutafian said.
Worshippers drove in from Shreveport, New Orleans, Alexandria and
other cities for the building consecration service on May 14, when
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Armenian Church of
America in New York City, officiated.
"On special occasions we are wall-to-wall people," Vasken said.
The priest, the Rev. Nersess Jebejian, flew in from the Tampa Bay
area, a trip he has made for 23-plus years.
It will be standing room only again at 3 p.m. July 22 when
3-month-olds Gabriella Ani Moutafian and Alexander Sarkis Boyadjian
become the first babies baptized in the new building.
Azar Kayal, 42, a photographer who works in government law
enforcement, plans to make the trip from Alexandria.
Born in Syria, an American 22 years, he brings family members for
special events.
"It means so much to have our own church," Kayal said. "We take our
religion seriously and try every chance we can to meet together to
foster our heritage, family values and traditions."
Photo: Advocate staff photo by JAMES CHANCE
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Armenian Church of
America in New York City, blesses the St. Garabed Armenian Church
building in Baton Rouge. The ceremony was held May 14 to celebrate
the completion of remodeling work on the building the small
congregation purchased about 2~I years ago. The Very Rev. Father
Ararad Kaltakjian of Toronto, Canada, stands in the rear.
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