PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
November 30, 2007
Prelate’s Christmas message
PEACE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
That wars may be silenced.that
love and righteousness may be
established on earth.
(Book of Hours)
In today’s chaotic world with its internal turmoil and fear
because of terrorism, there again come days, through the Good News of the
birth of Christ, when we exchange good wishes with one another, with the
expectation that the coming year will be peaceful, disaster-free, and
successful, with the blessing and will of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Within the context of these thoughts, how moving are the
supplication to the Mother of God to intercede on our behalf and beseech her
Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that wars will cease and love and
righteousness will reign in the world.
"That wars may be silenced.."
Today the television and newspapers report excessively of
disasters, murders, poverty and acts of inhumanity. Contrary to the Good
News of the Nativity, which proclaims the birth of the Prince of Peace, the
Sun of Righteousness, wars continue, innocent people are killed, and
families suffer. Again and again we pray and ask our Lord to grace our
leaders with wisdom and awareness, so that they silence wars and stop
attacks, permitting humankind to enjoy the God-given goodness given to us
and our brotherhood in peace. We seek this for the sake of peace on earth.
There is also the peace of Christ, which has a different quality
and purpose. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give
to you as the world gives," (John 14:27). This peace is the tranquility in
our inner self, which suffers greatly by the presence of evil and from the
effects of sin. There is no peace for the ungodly and wicked (Isaiah 48:22);
only through Christ do we find true and complete peace. This kind of peace
is given to us by the Holy Spirit, whose grace and strength plants peace in
our souls. Peace is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), which
grows and is strengthened when we banish sin, when we condemn sin and we
establish peace in and with Christ.
"That love and righteousness may be established on earth."
Just as the world has its peace, it also has its righteousness.
In the world the voice belongs to power, the military, armaments, and the
economy, that speak for righteousness and in the name of righteousness.
History is the witness to all of these types of events and quite often
justice, despite being inalienable, is a victim of politics and profit. We
too have often been innocent victims; we have even been victims to genocide
and forced deportation from our homeland. Last October in Washington the
sounds of righteousness soothed our sorrow and illuminated our hope. Our
cause is just, it is genuine, and no evil can obstruct it. Peace and
righteousness are inseparable, as the Apostle James says, "And a harvest of
righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace," (James 3:18)
because the Lord loves justice and hates injustice (Isaiah 61:8).
Humankind suffers, in indescribable proportion, because of the
absence of worldly justice. The supplications of our prayers call for love
and righteousness with the hope that humankind can live and establish this
virtue in brotherhood with the "good will toward all," which the Angels
proclaimed at the time of Christ’s birth. Christian righteousness is
established when people are at peace with themselves; when they bravely
spread truth frustrations disappear, especially when they sympathize with
their neighbors, they comfort the deprived, help the helpless, and support
the rights of orphans. "Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the
oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17). Let us
seek this type of righteousness so that we may harvest its fruit which is
peace, so that we may enjoy its benefit which is peace of mind and soul, and
safety in our lives (Isaiah 32:17).
Yes, let this type of righteousness and love take hold, where
heavenly peace rules our souls and where Jesus will joyfully be born with
His goodness and sweetness.
On the occasion of the Holy Nativity let us pray with the words
of our holy church father, saying, "O Holy Mother Mary, Mother of God,
intercede to the incarnated God born from you that wars may be silenced,
that invasions by enemies may cease, that love and righteousness may be
established on earth, we beseech you."
May you have a blessed Nativity filled with the grace of our
Lord.
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN
Prelate
Eastern United States of America
Nativity 2008