Minnesota's First Armenian Church Consecrated

Overcome with emotion, the Armenian community of Minnesota choked back tears of joy on September 7 when the state's first Armenian Church was consecrated during a moving and poignant service in St. Paul, MN.

As Archbishop Khajag Barsamian spiritually transformed the redesigned sanctuary of St. Sahag Armenian Church from a Presbyterian church to an Armenian house of worship ­ home to the Armenian community ­ the more than 300 people in attendance were moved to tears.

"We are Armenians, so remember we have that inner voice telling us that the first thing is our church," said Chaké Yeterian Scallen, a leader of the St. Paul community who moved to the area from Iraq in the 1960s. "When we get together the first thing we think is we'll have a church. We didn't have a church for 100 years. So we were all touched during the service, because it is the first time in 100 years that the Armenians in the Twin Cities had a church. It's our home now."

Historic Pocket of Armenians

Though far away from the concentrations of Armenian Americans on the coasts, Minnesota's Armenian population has historic roots in the area. For more than 100 years Armenian families have been moving into the area, usually as rug salesmen or railroad workers.

Today there are about 350 families in the St. Paul/Minneapolis metropolitan area, and their numbers are growing with immigrants from around the world, particularly Baku and Russia, as well as people moving out of the urban centers of New York and Los Angeles.

In Minnesota the diversity of the Armenian community has led Armenians to band together strongly to build their long awaited home.

"We always rented a place in a basement of some other church to do our services, but this is now our home for the first time," Scallen said. "The community is a conglomeration of all kinds of people, but we are all very close-knit. We're a good group of Armenians and have a big sense of volunteerism. We're so small and they all know that we need each other to get this church going, so we had so many people doing all kinds of things to get this done."

Building a Home

With faith imparted by their parents, Scallen and her brother, Massis Yeterian, donated the funds to buy the old church, which was built in 1912 but had been deserted by a dwindling Presbyterian parish. It was named St. Sahag in honor of their father, Sahag Yeterian.

Their generosity and devotion to the Armenian Church was noted by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, who granted both siblings the St. Gregory the Enlightener medal.

Buying the building didn't make it a home for the Armenian community, however. Not only did the community in St. Paul have to repair and patch up the old church, but they had to make it Armenian.

So they turned to Francis Bulbulian, principal architect with Leonard Parker Associates in Minneapolis. He donated his time to design and oversee construction of an Armenian-style altar.

The key was building something Armenian that could fit into the church with vaulted, oak beamed ceilings.

"It's a beautiful American gothic church, with wood trusses in the ceiling and wood in the altar. So we wanted to keep with the historic style of the church," Bulbulian said. "I wanted people to feel the altar design was part of the church from day one. The worst thing would be to take an example of an altar and copy it. That just wouldn't fit in the church. Now the community is proud of it, they say, 'This is ours; it's Armenian and not Presbyterian.' It's an Armenian Church, it's been transformed."

The planning and remodeling took a whole year. Along with an Armenian altar, the project includes a new original painting of the Virgin Mary and Jesus as well as an ornately carved chancel railing that features Armenian grape vines and birds.

"The Armenians in this part of Minnesota will no longer have reason to consider themselves as a dispersed minority," Archbishop Barsamian said during the consecration service, which brought together clergy and leaders from a wide variety of denominations. "This new church will mold you into an Armenian community, and if anyone thinks that is not a religious thing to be, such a person must realize that a truly Armenian community can only be Christian in name and practice."

"The result of your united effort to have a sanctuary in this part of the country will attract much attention. Like a magnet you will draw Armenians about whose existence you had no idea. You will be surprised to see new faces emerge. You will also set a wonderful example for all the mission parishes in our Diocese," the Primate added.

Bright Future of Growth

The St. Sahag parish is a mission parish, one of the handful of small communities in the Diocese that usually have no formal sanctuary of their own. Now that they have their home, the work of growing into full-parish size will be easier, said Fr. Simeon Odabashian, director of the Diocese's Mission Parish Project.

"It will be a full parish," Fr. Simeon said. "I just don't know how long it will take."

The recent growth in the community's strength comes from the support of the Diocese's dedicated outreach to mission parishes. Along with serving as a celebration for the St. Paul community, the consecration of the new church brought participants from around the Diocese. Priests and deacons from Wisconsin, Chicago, and Cleveland attended. And Khoren Mekanejian, director of Music Ministry for the Diocese, directed a choir made up of local singers and choir members from Racine, WI, and Chicago.

With expertise and support from the Diocese as well as regular visits by clergy, the parish is beginning to feel the rhythm and demands of being a full parish and is finally realizing a long-held dream.

"There was a century of pent up energy busting forward only in the last five years, culminating in the consecration. It happened really very quickly," said Fr. Yeprem Kelegian, pastor at Racine's St. Mesrob Church, who has been a visiting priest to St. Paul. "It is incalculable the amount of energy they have had. They are being led by the Holy Spirit. They've really amazingly kept things together for the last few years, really making it a church community. They have faith in the Lord, first of all, but secondly they believe they need an Armenian Church in their community."

Godparents of St. Sahag Armenian Church

The 16 pillars of St. Sahag Armenian Church in St. Paul, MN, were anointed with oil by the Primate during the consecration on September 7, 2002. Each pillar had a community leader as its godparent during the service. Those leaders were:

Nairy Digris and Terry McGibbon Massis Yeterian Krikor and Joanne Mokhtarian Richard and Patricia Dolan Azad and Karen Mesrobian Aram and Ruth Charchian Nora Scallen Rottier Arsham, Beatrice, and Sita Ohanessian Francis and Barbara Bulbulian Steve and Chaké Scallen Vahram and Vali Kardashian Stephen and Margaret Merjanian Vartkes and Laura Ehramjian The Hayes Family Julie Scallen Kathie and Jeff Cafesjian Badaran

Who Was St. Sahag?

The new St. Sahag Armenian Church in St. Paul, MN, was named in honor of the father of the brother and sister who generously bought the building. But who is St. Sahag?

A descendant of the founder of the Armenian Church, Sahag Bartev was born in 348 A.D. He was sent to the best schools and excelled as a scholar. He learned the Greek language to help him in his religious work and Syriac to help him understand the language of the church services. Sahag devoted his life to the church. In 387 A.D. at age 39, he was consecrated by Armenian bishops in Holy Etchmiadzin, becoming the youngest catholicos in history.

In 401 A.D. Mesrob Mashdotz and Catholicos Sahag agreed that an alphabet was needed for the Armenian people. At this time Armenian was an oral language only. After years of searching and praying, Mesrob completed an alphabet in 405 A.D. He presented the 36 letters to Catholicos Sahag, who was the final authority as to whether or not the letters expressed the exact sounds of the Armenian language. After making minor changes, the alphabet was accepted. Sahag and Mesrob laid the foundation for Armenian writing and education.

Sahag's most important contribution was the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language. This was not an easy task; it took almost 30 years. For its perfection of style and accuracy of meaning, the Armenian version of the Bible is often called the "Queen of the Translations."

Sahag also prepared the rites and ceremonies of the church into Armenian. In this way, he made Christianity more familiar to the Armenian people. They were now, at last, able to read the Bible directly in their native tongue and to attend services conducted in Armenian. People became more aware of their ethnic identity; they were awakened spiritually and intellectually. It was as if the nation came out of darkness into light.

Catholicos Sahag became one of the longest reigning heads of the Armenian Church, remaining in the office for 50 years. He was the last direct descendant of St. Gregory, the first catholicos of the Armenian Church. Sahag continued his good works until his death at the age of 90, on September 7, 439 A.D.