There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.   William Shakespeare “Would you tell me a story?” The request is familiar. My son loves stories. What I enjoy most about telling them to Gregory is watching his eyes light up as he hears something he never heard of before. He is just beginning to learn of the wonder of God’s creation and of the depth of his own imagination. Through hearing new stories he comes to ponder things in heaven and on earth that he has never even dreamt of before. I admire his pure sense of wonder.   This sense of wonder, so natural to a child, is all too often lost by adulthood. Painful experiences lead many to beome skeptical and lose their childlike sense of wonder as they mature. Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 18:3) As Christians, we are each called to...

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 small...

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, and...