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Eastern Prelacy: Easter Message from Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan

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  • Eastern Prelacy: Easter Message from Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan

    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: http://www.armenianprelacy.org
    Contact: Iris Papazian

    April 5, 2004

    EASTER MESSAGE FROM ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN CHOLOYAN: WITNESS TO RESURRECTION

    This Jesus God raised up, and of that
    we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:32)

    The miraculous resurrection of Jesus transformed the disciples weakness and
    uncertainty into strength and absolute confidence. Christ's unprecedented
    resurrection, unexplainable to the human mind, is comprehended only through
    faith. The resurrection became a supernatural and miraculous power for the
    modest fishermen, and gave the fearful disciples unshakeable confidence
    which led them to bear witness to Christ's resurrection and apostleship,
    gave them the strength to withstand innumerable and unbearable tortures, and
    to ignore death in the face of death, just like their teacher.

    "We all are witnesses."

    WITNESS TO NEW LIFE: Not a second life, but a new life. A new life that is
    felt in a believer's soul, and who, renewed with Christ, becomes a new
    person. "You have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on
    the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
    creator." (Col. 3:9-10). The days of the old life remain the same as the sum
    of days, but they become new in content and purpose. In the end, in lieu of
    the destruction of death, we gain resurrected everlasting life. Exactly
    because of this, the Apostle Paul has said: "For me living is Christ, and
    dying is gain." (Philippians 1:21). The giver of new life is Christ. New
    life is possible through Him and with Him.

    WITNESS TO TRUTH: We know very well that there is one absolute truth in
    everything. Circumstantial correctness is born from cohesive events and does
    not last. We confess to that supreme truth and bear witness to it, to that
    faith that Christ gave us by becoming the Son of Man, by His Incarnation,
    and by His redemptive mission. Christ's preaching and message were not
    ethereal mind games, but real security and truth, which were tested on the
    touch-stone by His resurrection. It was the resurrection that prodded His
    disciples to bear testimony to His word and life, and His truth.

    WITNESS TO THE HAPPINESS OF RESURRECTION: As creatures of the earth, our
    desire is to fill our days with happiness. In our relationships with people
    at home or work, or during our restful periods, it is our wish that the
    entire time passes joyfully bringing us happiness. But, that blissful state
    remains a dream because in family relationships-between husband and wife,
    parent and child, sister and brother-there are misunderstandings and
    dissensions, temptations and transgressions that bring about quarrels
    resulting in uneasy and intolerable situations. In a word, the dissipation
    of happiness. In the factory or the office there are many different
    circumstances that create unease-competition, jealousy, and greed. We lose
    our patience, become anxious as we see the distancing of happiness in our
    hearts. Our own rest is disturbed because of our or a friend's illness,
    accident, or sudden and untimely death. All of this saddens us. In our
    hopelessness we think that all is ended. But when our days on earth are
    blessed with Christian faith and hope, and our life's journey is towards
    Christ and not the world and worldliness, then and only then can we struggle
    against sorrow and pain and accept unfading happiness that the resurrection
    of Christ gave us. The joy of the resurrection joins us to Christ, and no
    external factor can obscure that happiness. It is true that it is very
    difficult to attain that happiness. Think of the apostles and the saints,
    the martyrs and the witnesses, who did not want to give up their eternal
    happiness for worldly and fleeting happiness. They were spiritually
    strengthened. They withstood physically and inherited the life that they
    received by their witness to their faith. In place of the honor given by hum
    ans, they accepted the crown of glory given by Christ.

    During this season of Christ's resurrection, as faithful believers, we view
    the apostles, who became witnesses to His resurrection, with special
    awareness. With the resurrection they accepted and lived a new life. They
    were witnesses to that new life, accepted and preached the truth and served
    as witnesses to the truth. And in spite of suffering and death, they turned
    witnesses to the happiness that is promised to all faithful Christians.

    As children of the Armenian Church and nation, we saw through experience
    that our nation's strength and survival is our faith. The model lives of
    Christ and His apostles became an example for our centuries of struggle,
    which by irrefutable truth and moral principles became the anchor and
    fortress of our everlasting life. From sorrow to happiness. From death to
    resurrection.

    Christ is risen. Blessed is the resurrection of Christ.

    ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN
    Prelate
    Armenian Apostolic Church of America
    Eastern United States of America

    April, 2004
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