Worship

Armenians Find Faith in New Homes

The most effective way to bring people into the life of the church is to have a thriving church nearby.  In 2003 the Diocese continued its efforts to strengthen existing parishes and expand new mission parishes.

In October 2003, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, consecrated a new sanctuary, the Armenian Church of the Holy Translators in Framingham, MA.

The parish community has been around since the late 1990s, earning full-parish standing in 2001. The parishioners bought an old Baptist church in the center of Framingham, and remade it to fit an Armenian mold. But even its physical refurnishing paled to the spiritual change that occurred during the consecration.

“Something special happened to the church that wasn’t there before,” said the parish priest, Fr. Krikor Sabounjian. “This should not be viewed as a completion of a mission, but a beginning of our new life. And just as the physical church building was transformed, so too we as people need to be transformed and dedicate ourselves even more to a life in Christ.”

Building a church building brings the community together in wonderful ways.

“As much as it was a real church before, it’s even more now,” said Holy Translators Parish Council member Lisa Hyde at the consecration. “It’s really exciting, and a little surreal, to think we’ve built a church, that we built a community. It was a lot of hard work; blood, sweat, and tears went into this building.”

The consecration in Framingham came just one year after the Primate consecrated a new sanctuary for the St. Sahag Mission Parish in St. Paul, MN, in 2002. Other full and mission parishes could soon have new buildings to be consecrated. In various stages of construction, fund-raising, and planning are sanctuaries in Atlanta, GA; St. Petersburg, FL; Jacksonville, FL; and Charlotte, NC.

“The Armenians in our mission parishes and in our younger parishes are hungry for our faith and culture. As a Diocese, we need to nurture these new, growing communities,” said the Primate. “Helping them build spiritual homes helps keep our faith thriving here inAmerica.”