April 16, 2007

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Armenia’s diaspora funds a religious revival

Armenians from all over the world are hoping to revive a church
decimated by decades of communist rule.

By Nicole Itano | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Lake Sevan, ARMENIA

On a windswept peninsula that juts out into the blue-black waters of
Lake Sevan, the ancient meets modern. Cassock-clad young seminarians
wander through a sparkling new building wired for the 21st century and
outfitted with a contemporary gym.

But the traditions here are among Christianity’s oldest. In the
corridor, between classes at Vaskenian Theological Academy, two
students stop and bow to a bearded man with a large silver cross
around his neck.

"Father, bless us," they say, each putting a hand to their hearts.

"God will bless you," replies Father Minas Martirossian, the school’s
deputy dean, who is helping to train a new generation of Armenian
priests to repopulate the country’s depleted ranks.

Just a decade ago, the Armenian Apostolic Church was struggling to
survive at home after decades of communist oppression. Today, the
Church is undergoing a rebirth fueled by tens of millions of dollars
from the global Armenian diaspora.

"The first years were really difficult," recalls Mr. Martirossian, a
former mathematics professor who helped restart the seminary in 1990
as the Soviet Union was crumbling and Armenia moved toward
independence. "There was no electricity, no heating, no proper food
for students. It wasn’t just the seminary. It was the whole country."

Underdeveloped, politically isolated, and partially devastated by a
still unresolved war with its neighbor Azerbaijan that raged between
1988 and 1994 as the Soviet Union collapsed, Armenia depends heavily
on support from its ethnic diaspora. Hundreds of millions of dollars
have been poured into the country to do everything from rebuild roads
to renovate water systems to feed orphans.

A little help from Armenia’s friends

But perhaps nowhere has diaspora money played a more visible role than
in the Armenian Church, which has been central to Armenian culture for
centuries.

Armenia first adopted Christianity in AD 301 and claims to be the
world’s oldest Christian nation.

But under communist rule, religious life there was pushed into the
shadows. Churches were seized and shuttered, priests persecuted and
many baptisms were conducted in secret. By the time Communism
collapsed in 1991, only about 150 priests still remained to serve a
population of about 3 million people, largely because of government
restrictions on the number of new priests who could be trained.

The situation abroad was very different. Although the church played a
pivotal role in cultural life for the approximately 7 million
Armenians scattered around the world – primarily in America, Russia,
and the Middle East – during the Soviet period, the practical
influence of the mother church, located in the Armenian city of
Etchmiadzin, and its highest religious leader, the Catholicos of All
Armenians, waned.

"The Church’s primary responsibility is to lead people to God, but for
many years the Armenian church has had a second burden, the protection
of Armenianness," says Father Ktrij Devejian, a Armenian-American
architect from Fresno, Calif., who in 2004 became the first
American-born priest ordained in Etchmiadzin. "In the diaspora, the
Church was involved in every aspect of life."

Now, Armenians outside the country are helping to rebuild the church
at home. In the past seven years, diasporans have donated at least $50
million for construction and fund 85 percent of the Church’s overall
operating expenses.

Across the country, 52 new churches – and a giant new cathedral – were
constructed, and 31 have been renovated. Five more are under
construction and 10 more are being renovated.

Today, Devejian – who returned to Armenia at the current Catholicos’
request to help build the Church’s international connections – marvels
at the dramatic rebuilding and expansion underway at Etchmiadzin, the
Church’s historic headquarters. There’s a large, bustling seminary, a
new administration building, museum, and baptistery. And the original
residence of the Catholicos is being renovated.

"Etchmiadzin hasn’t seen a building boom like this in maybe 400
years," says Devejian. "There isn’t a building in Armenia under the
authority of Etchmiadzin that hasn’t been built with diaspora money."

‘The difference today is freedom’

The revival of a seminary at Lake Sevan is representative of a broader
revitalization of the Armenian church in its birthplace. Under Soviet
rule, the monastery there was shut down after more than a millennium
in existence.

In 1990, the peninsula was returned to the church. A few dozen
Armenian students and teachers from New Jersey, including Father
Minas, moved to the site to reintroduce religious instruction and a
clergy. At first, they lived and worked in a single, unheated
building.

Six years later, a wealthy Armenian from Damascus funded the
construction of a new seminary building and small church.

Today the seminary houses 72 students and has helped double the number
of priests in Armenia to more than 400. For the first time in many
decades, Armenia is once again beginning to export priests to the
diaspora.

But Devejian admits there is still much work to be done to convince
Armenians inside the country to return to the church’s fold –
particularly those raised under Soviet rule.

Many of those being baptized today are adults, but Armenia’s churches
are still full of old women and young people born after the end of
communism. Many Armenians raised under communist rule see no reason to
abandon their secularism.

"The Soviets did a very good job of destroying the role of the church
as part of society," says Devejian, noting that Catholicos’ main
priority is to rebuild parish life by rebuilding churches and
returning priests to communities.

David Mangasaryan, a 21-year-old priest-in-training at Lake Sevan, is
optimistic that Armenians will return to the church.

"The difference today is freedom," says Mr. Mangasaryan. "Our
generation is free. We can choose our God and we can choose our
religion."

Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.