Within the framework of “The Church and the Law” series of interviews, Iravaban.net talked with spiritual pastor of Saint Mariane Church of Aragatsotn Patriarchal Diocese, Priest Hovel Ohanyan about the Sacrament of Sundays of Great Lent..
– During Lent, every Sunday has its own advice, please present them.
– The period of Great Lent is divided into 7 Sundays and in the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, each Sunday of Great Lent has its own characteristic name and sacrament. The first Sunday of the Great Leant is called Carnival. It is the day of good living, it is the day of joy, when we remember the blissful, happy life of our ancestors, Adam and Eve, in the garden of paradise. All that was needed was that our forefathers, as well as we, as their descendants, could keep the divine image and likeness in our lives. The main advice of the carnival itself was this.
The following Sunday is called Sunday of the Expulsion. God gave Adam and Eve everything to be happy in the Garden of Eden, but told them not to eat the good or evil fruit, because whenever they eat it, they will die. Unfortunately, our forefathers did not listen to the Lord’s order. Lent begins from heaven. God allows everything except the forbidden fruit. We also say that the forbidden fruit is always sweet. For centuries, emphasis has always been placed on Eve’s mistake, without addressing the fact that, well, her husband was standing there by her side, he could have forbidden, he could have prevented that evil, but Adam did not make a sound. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, they became proud. A human being reaches for the forbidden fruit to satisfy his personal needs for now and got banished.
The third Sunday of Great Lent is called Sunday of the Prodigal Son or Sunday of the Prodigal. In the parable, Christ tells about a father and two children. Very often in Theology and many of the fathers of the church have called this parable the Gospel within the Gospel, because the parable of the Prodigal Son tells the story of all of us. Because every person becomes or resembles that prodigal son because of his crime, his slip, his mistake. The boy had everything to be happy, he had respect, he had honor, after all he had an inheritance, but he didn’t appreciate it all. He approached his father and said without shame that he wanted his property now, as if telling his father, “I’m tired of waiting for your death.” He went to a foreign country and squandered his property in carousing, prostitutes, drunkenness and various crimes. He lost everything: respect, honor, friends, family and found himself at the door of starvation. He decided to go and keep a pig to fill his stomach with pig feed. This is about loss, but there is also the mystery of consciousness. The Gospel says that he came to his senses, realized the mistake of what he had done, felt pain, felt shame for offending his father.
– How should we come to consciousness today?
– During Lent, we should go to our inner world, as the prodigal son did. He went to his inner world, realized the full extent of what he had done and said: it’s over. I have to go and say: accept me not as your son, accept me as one of your servants, because your servants live better than me. After realization, the next step is return. When a person realizes his sin, he should not stay sitting at home, he should come to God, he should return to the Lord.
– According to you, now the Armenian people have moved far away from God.
– I must say ‘yes’, we really need to embrace our Mother Church. Avetik Isahakyan has a wonderful saying: if you scratch the skin of an Armenian, Saint Etchmiadzin will come out. In other words, the Armenian people are connected to the Mother Church with all their consciousness, soul and heart from birth.
– The Prodigal Son realized and returned, what steps are being taken to raise the awareness of the people now?
– The Church did what it has done for centuries. What did the father do when his son left him promiscuously? He gave his child what he wanted, being sure that his child was going the wrong way, but he gave him that blessing, he gave him that freedom, he didn’t refuse. He never stopped loving his child, just as our church, which loves all her children, both those who are in her arms and those who are separated from her, prays and waits with hope for the return of that child. Preaching the word of the master, as he has preached for centuries. He took all the pain, the weight, the cross of this nation, this people, this handful of the motherland on his shoulders and for centuries he carries it uncomplainingly, as a loving parent does. He is leading and will be victorious until the coming of Christ. The Church is always with the people, it is among the people and the Church is the people.
The following Sunday is called Sunday of Steward. Each person is called to be a steward of his own life and then of all that God gives him. Sunday is also called the Day of the Unrighteous Steward. It is said that a rich man had a steward who managed his property. Having everything, this man committed injustice, stole, robbed people, squandered his master’s property. The Lord calls him and says: give me the account of the economy. Realizing that he will lose his job again because his master is angry with him, the steward thinks as follows: he calls his master’s debtors and asks: how much wheat did you take? 500 sacks, write 200. He tells the other to write 20 instead of 50 liters of oil. This parable has always been a reason for criticism for centuries, because very often people have not correctly understood the meaning of this parable. Why, because the owner, knowing the step taken by the steward, instead of getting angry, praised him. Because the owner of that house was also a man of this world, it was close to his heart, wrongdoing, cheating, robbing. He said that he is the person I need. At the end, Christ says that the people of this world are wiser and more resourceful than the sons of light and gives advice to all of us, saying: make friends for yourselves from the Unrighteous Mammon. In other words, if the man of the world is able to use all kinds of ways, why should not the children of God live with the same ingenuity to accumulate treasures in the kingdom of heaven?
The 5th Sunday is called Sunday of Judge. It is said in the proverb that there was a judge in a city who neither feared God nor was ashamed of people. He did whatever he wanted. He lived as he wanted. There was also a widow in that city whose case was on the table of that judge. Although her cause was just, the judge did not pay attention to her case. However, she was persistent and she made the same appeal again and again until at last the judge decided to see that she received justice. He did this not because he cared about justice, but because he wanted to be rid of the widow. Judge’s Sunday is about prayer, it is about the sacrament of prayer. Too often we get discouraged in our prayers because we do not get answers to our prayers immediately.
– Are there still unjust judges? Faith in God is important in administering justice.
– I am sure that if there are bad judges, next to them there are also worthy ones, there are also people who are truly dedicated to their service, their cause and do not resemble the status of the unjust judge in the parable, but conduct their trial truthfully because they are God-fearing and are pious because they believe in the word of the master.
The next Sunday is called Advent Sunday. The meaning is about the second coming of Christ.
The last week of Great Lent begins with Palm Sunday, which was the glorious entry of our Savior Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It symbolizes the last week of Christ’s life that he lived in Jerusalem.
Hasmik Sargsyan
Details in the video.
