NOTE - this blog post contains pretty harsh stories and images, proceed with that knowledge
Today we worshipped at Saint Sarkis Armenian Church on Park Road in Charlotte. This congregation was established in 2005, adding to the growing ranks of Orthodox Christians in the Queen City. This was a bit of a different experience, as Beth, David and Mariel Charlotte and I attended the Armenian Festival on the grounds of the church, grabbing a quick bite of Armenian food and listening to some Armenian music. At one point, we entered the church and I prayed with and for the three of them. As such, this experience made it onto the blog.
First, who are these Armenians?
Armenia is a small country in what is now called Central Asia. It is widely reputed to be the first country to declare itself to be a Christian nation. Armenians have fought to keep that identity intact against the spread of Islam, waves of genocidal attacks during their diaspora experience in the Ottoman Empire, as well as the deprivations of socialism when they were one of the client states of the USSR.
While these are a beleaguered people to whom history has not always been kind (understatement), they are also a very resilient people. The mood at the Armenian Festival was upbeat and happy.
Two items that must be mentioned about these Armenians are the genocidal attacks they experienced during the end of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the current difficulties in Armenia in recent years.
Between 1914 and 1918, the declining Ottoman Empire lashed out at Armenians living in their midst with a genocidal bloodlust. As many as 1.5 million Armenians living in Ottoman territory were killed. Perhaps 200,000 others were forcibly converted to Islam and made to live in Turkish homes. Many Armenian women were visibly crucified (below) as a warning to anyone not submitting to Turkish dominance and Islam in general.
Millions of Armenians fled the Ottoman Empire and set up a life in other countries. For example, my current client at a major US bank is an Armenian man raised in Iraq. He is younger than I am and speaks Armenian, as well as practices an Orthodox faith. Despite his very Armenian identity, he grew up in Sadaam Hussein's Iraq because his grandparents fled there after the Armenian genocide in modern day Turkey. Other Armenians I have spoken to fled to Lebanon, others to parts of Europe and many also fled to the United States and Canada.
Armenians today have a global diaspora. Most people of Armenian ancestry do not live in Armenia itself.
In recent decades, Armenia has been in conflict with its neighbors while trying to determine where its borders begin and end. Ingushetia, Azerbaijan, Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh are the names of the small republics in Central Asia that have been fighting with each other to determine where their respective borders are.
It's messy.
These are not new conflicts. These clashes are rooted in deep, ancestral antipathies that map back to the spread of Islam. In addition to that variable, Joseph Stalin forcibly moved people between these tiny republics to ensure if there was ever an effort to break the USSR apart, ethnic war would result.
His plan has worked masterfully, there has been intermittent war in this region for decades.
The root of the current conflict is multi-layered, but a primary consideration is that Nagorno-Karabakh is majority Armenian and seeks reunification with Armenia-proper. Despite being filled with Armenian people, this region has been part of Azerbaijan for decades. The ultimate alignment of Nagorno-Karabakh has been an open question since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Armenians as a people are almost uniformly Orthodox Christians. Their Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church is as much as a part of their ethnic identity as their language. Put simply, to be Armenian is to be Orthodox.
With all of this as a back drop, a good bit of which we knew going into the festival, we showed up and performed the mundane act of ordering kababs and cole slaw.
The food was excellent.
Then the four of us went into the church's sanctuary. It had a unique appearance, it was almost a hybrid style that looked like a blend of a Protestant and an Orthodox church. Note the liturgy book in Armenian script. In both Armenian and English, the words "God is Love" adorned the front of the church.
Here are the pictures of the church's interior:
This interesting mixture of appearance includes Orthodox icons in the same sanctuary as red velvet seat cushions on pews (I've not seen this in other Orthodox churches). There were also stained-glass windows that could have been in an Episcopal church in the same sanctuary as an Orthodox Mary-with-Yeshua representation that sat prominently in the front of this church. The dome at the top of the church did not contain the expected Pantocrator, instead of had white space and clean lines that a Presbyterian or Methodist church might.
Fascinating.
We were alone in the sanctuary and I asked if I could pray for the four of us. We joined hands and I did that.
As we headed out, we passed through a narthex that had the images of past Priests who have served the church in the past. Currently, Saint Sarkis does not have a Priest.
Those pictures reiterated that we were indeed seeing a different expression of our common Christian faith. These pictures showed Priests wearing black clothes that covered most of their persons. One Priest had an icon, the double-headed Romanoff eagle, as well as an Armenian stylized Cross across his chest.
As we departed, I felt that we had had a glimpse of one of the most resilient branches of Christianity that has ever existed. The things that Armenians have had to endure are a tableau of misery and trial... yet these people have been able to maintain their identity such that they can set up a congregation in North Carolina at the beginning of the 21st century.
In some ways, this church visit also made me feel that the faith that I have followed could be understood as a toddler against the seasoned and elderly Armenian Church. It was an interesting thing to see the great history of this part of the Body of Christ.
Thanks to Saint Sarkis for an inspiring and engrossing visit.
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