1996 has been designated by His Holiness Catholicos Karekin I as the Year of the Youth. By doing so, His Holiness has demonstrated an awareness of the tremendous need in the Armenian Church to focus on the spiritual needs of God’s children. At Sts. Joachim and Anne Armenian Apostolic Church we share his Holiness’ concern for increased focus on the youth. The endurance of our church throughout her 1700 year history indicates that, by some means, each generation found the church relevant to their lives; and it is incumbent upon us to continue the practice of helping the next generation see the importance of the church. The process by which each new generation discovers the meaning of the church in their lives can best be described as Holy Tradition.   The word ‘tradition’ means literally ‘that which is handed over’ or ‘ that which is passed on’. In order to understand what Holy Tradition is, one must differentiate it from tradition. Holy Tradition can be distinguished from ‘tradition’ (with a...

A few weeks ago Tirouhe was listening to an interview on National Public Radio about the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The actor being interviewed explained the movie was a love story which also had fantastic marshall arts sequences and beautiful cinematography. After hearing the interview Tirouhe mentioned she had an interest in seeing the movie. I never thought I’d hear the day when my wife would want me to take her to a marshall arts film. I immediately had a deeper appreciation for National Public Radio and arranged to take her to the movie on Valentines Day. We both enjoyed the love stories and fight scenes. I found it interesting that the martial arts ‘masters’, the one’s that won the fights, were the ones who had undergone intense physical and spiritual training.   As it was in the movie, it is in the church. There is a tremendous battle for us to fight daily against the forces of evil in this world. St. Paul reminds us of this battle,...

After the dinner dishes were done and they were sitting down to a leisurely evening of coffee, cards, and friendly discussion, the topic turned to religion and eventually someone asked her, “do you think you’ll go to heaven?” “Well, I’m basically a good person.” she responded. “I try to be nice to people and do good. I go to church and give to charity. So, I suppose if there is a heaven, I’ll go there.”....   On occasion within the Armenian community one may hear a conversation like the one described above. Perhaps you have been present during such an exchange. This article will address two different understandings people have about how to get to heaven and analyze them from a biblical perspective.   Scripture addresses two distinct views on how to get to heaven. The first view is that people can do enough good works to merit entrance into heaven. The second view is that people are unable to do works which will make them worthy enough to enter...