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Prelate Hagopian's New year Message Two thousand year old drama continues and once again this Old year is on its last leg and slowly approaches its end. During the last sunset in December, the history of 2011 will disappear in the twilight and in our spirits, the new dawn of the New Year will take hold of us and will give us new dreams and expectations. As always, we will this time yet again, look at this coming year with extraordinary and inexplicable excitement, with the hope that this new year will be filled with beautiful accomplishments and success, because the previous year, filled with jolts and crises, had been worrisome. Across the world, several governments collapsed, bonding chains were broken, people stood up for their rights and freedom, and dictatorships were brought down. However, all of these events were obscured by the black clouds of a tsunami, of earthquakes and floods, which not only took the lives of thousands but also shook the world and filled it with anguish. As Armenians we weren’t spared either, no matter whether we hail from Armenia, Artsakh or the Diaspora. Artsakh remains an open wound for our people. The blockade is stifling our motherland and our people, who in the hope of a better life are emigrating by the thousands, thus creating another crisis for our country. In the Diaspora, the Armenian language is slowly dying on the lips of our children. My melancholic thoughts reminded me of a story I once read some time ago. Alexander the Great of Macedonia on the day before his expedition to Asia, gathered his soldiers around him and shared all of his belongings with them. One soldier, taken aback by the gesture asked: “If you are giving us all of your belongings, what will you have left?” Alexander the Great answered: “Hope.” The New Year is naturally an opportunity for us to take a moment from our daily hustles to recognize our accomplishments and failures, our happy and sad realities and of course, make new decisions regarding them, with the hope of brighter days. Hope is what gives us that extra push and without it, our lives would be a cluster of sad days. However, the New Year doesn’t come around every year by itself, it is bound to the biggest Christian holiday, our Saviour’s Birth. Naturally, when we think about the New Year, we try to incorporate the message of God’s revelation and to look at the realities in our lives from through that message’s perspective. From that historic night on, when on top of a poor manger in Bethlehem, a procession of the heavenly host along with an angel joined the sky to this morally weak earth and came bearing the Good News: “Today a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord... Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” (Luke 2:11, 14) Like a melody from the sky it rained onto the tortured souls of mankind, and, generation after generation, people continue to ask: “Why doesn’t the luminous revolution take place?” However, people who are consumed with greed and materialism forget that God’s son didn’t come to enrich our dinner table, nicely decorate our homes or give us personal ambition. He came to renew our collective and eternal lives and spiritual world. God’s son, through His Revelation, has given us the means to break free from monetary restraints, to which we often succumb. We forget that collective happiness comes from individual happiness, whereas for individuals, happiness comes when we are at peace with God, grateful for all He has given us and when we fill our lives with love. More than two thousand years ago, mankind was swimming in a sea of hopelessness. God made Himself flesh and descended onto the manger in Bethlehem and for our salvation, He took on the part of a slave and became man so “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This Godly promise is also for today, for this world and for us, because he is the source of that hope, he is our Saviour: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) A life full of beauty and happiness is a life lived with Christ, because He promised, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) To walk with Christ means to judge ourselves in Christ’s mirror, to see our work, our mistakes, our vices, our weaknesses, our souls laden with sin and to feel the burden grow heavy on our shoulders. Let us live through Him and with Him. During His short time on Earth, He turned his worldly life into one of love and servitude, He devoted Himself to the good of man, took care of the ill and the weak, cured and consoled them, and finally, sacrificed Himself so that those who believe in Him, may have a better life. Dear Faithful, During the days before the New Year and God’s Revelation, let us reflect on in our eternal and collective thoughts on our personal and national realities, as well as our national and spiritual roots. Let us cherish and through initiatives protect our people’s children in Armenia and the Diaspora, because Armenian children are a precious and an irreplaceable part of our collective, no matter where they live. Let us cherish and protect our lands and country, because they are the virtuous and resilient essence of our forefathers, the vociferous memorial of their sacrifices, arduous work and prayers. Let us cherish and protect the Armenian Church in its essence and mission, because its essence is God’s presence in the lives of our people, which lead us through centuries of obscurity and torment, and all the while protected our identity. And still, let us protect our culture and national heritage with love and esteem because they are our unique God given colours in this world’s colourful garden. It is with that faith and hope that the Armenian Prelacy’s Christian and Armenian Education Councils worked throughout the year, by organizing seminars, lectures, and a pilgrimage to Armenia and Western Armenian and by showing our appreciation towards Armenian teachers. It is with that same expectation that the Armenia-Diaspora conference took place and where methods and possibilities of protecting the Diaspora were studied. It is with that conviction that His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, organized the conference dedicated to Western Armenian and declared 2012 as the year of the “Armenian Book.” Dear Faithful, There is no better wish than to invite you to join and walk with God on this path and be enriched by the energy of our faith in Christ. Let us pray to God to keep the black clouds away from the horizon of our communities and ourselves, may He bless our people with happiness, our nation with strength and prosperity. May He bless the heroic people of Artsakh with peace, our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora with fortitude to help them face alienation and to our Church stability. Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas to all! Prayerfully, Archbishop Khajag Hagopian Prelate Armenian Prelacy of Canada Click for Armenian Version*
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