Priest Markos Mangasaryan wrote on his Facebook page: “In the morning I am in the monastery. One woman came up to ask for blessing, but I did not let her come forward, I told God to bless you. She tried to approach, bowing her head. I said no aunt, God bless you, now are the pandemic days if you won’t kiss my hand and I won’t put my hand on your head, the blessing yet will come to you. She looked at me and was very sincere. “I am not afraid, I am a man of faith.” I replied that you know I am scared. She looked at me in amazement, and I continued to say that I am scared for her and for me. “No, Lord Father, nothing will happen to me,” she said and left.
Another woman, passing by, approached breathing heavily, and when she knew there was going to be a liturgy, she said: “Thank you very much, Lord God, and I thought we had this liturgy, and it was taken from us already.” I stopped the woman and tried to explain that even if it was tomorrow or the next week that the sacrifices were to be closed and without believers, even then you would not say that you were deprived of that. The liturgy will never be taken away from you. Everything depends on the situation. She was not convinced … anyway.
When I came home in the evening, I saw people in almost all yards talking, discussing what to do next, our building was extraordinarily vibrant, visiting each other, gathering with families, shopping in stores, and all the unbearable jogging and turmoil. It seems to me that state and non-state figures concerned about holding liturgies and opening churches should see this well and take concrete steps against it.
And I’ve seen so many examples today.
And now I want to say the following:
The power of people’s faith is not expressed in deliberate matters. To have faith does not mean to go into the fire voluntarily and say that I will not be burned because I am a faithful. If the question is in faith, then it turns out we have no faith. After all, when we have symptoms of the flu, take medications, or when we have other more complex illnesses, we consult a doctor. Now, is it really hard to understand and accept that the issue of not getting infected with coronavirus has nothing to do with faith? Otherwise, I ask again, why are you so out of touch with someone with Tuberculosis and even out of danger, so far away from those with HIV / AIDS? Does faith help in this regard, and why not in these cases?
I do not deny the power of prayer. But both in case of faith and of prayer, my beloved people, both help when you have done what you have to do, and the rest that is beyond your power and your decisions, you have left to God. We need to think pout of box and not like a student who has not prepared for and passed the exam but praying for help from God.
Let us do our utmost, and that which is not ours, there, our hope and our faith in God as a whole, may we pray. Here I am. Yes, what defines our strengths and abilities, before doing so, is to bless God. Do not say that the priest is against it as well.
As to whether or not to close churches, let me first say that it is not up to us to decide; the bishops’ congregation and the Armenian Catholicos themselves decide matters of such seriousness. It is up to us to accept and fulfil decisions (it is about the priests and the people). And to all those who are calling in apocalyptic terms that there are as many chances as you can go to the liturgy, these are the last days when the antichrist will come and you will neither see the liturgy nor face the church, I want to call for peace. People, because faith is important, prayer is powerful, do you not believe that if all the temples on the face of the world are completely closed and let’s say if they are destroyed, then we are one of the temple of the Holy Spirit and that church? It’s not just a stone building. Don’t you remember that? In the Soviet times people did a liturgy at home… at home, and the sacrificial cup was placed among the other cups of the house, and only the landlord knew which one was not to be used daily.
And I want to disappoint those looking for scapegoats for the consequences of their own inaction. Gentlemen, there will be no epidemic due to church or liturgy. And for this the church is sure to do whatever it takes.
In short, dear brothers and sisters, let us not put ourselves in the place of John the Evangelist, and let us not go to the senseless place on our own to try. I cite the example of John the Evangelist because it is said that when they tried to poison and kill him with poisoned wine, the Apostle Saint John blessed the cup and drank the poisonous wine, but survived. And if you have such strong faith, please keep greeting each other in the street with a kiss, don’t observe any pre-emptive norms,” he says.
