As part of the “The Church and the Law” interview series, Iravaban.net spoke with Father Karapet Karapetyan, the spiritual shepherd of Saint Sargis Church in Nor Nork of the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese, on the topic “Saint Sargis: The Mystery of Faith and Love in the Modern World.”

-Saint Sargis holds a unique place in Armenian church tradition. How does his character reflect the ideas of Christian faith and self-sacrifice?

-Currently, and I’m confident also in the future, Saint Sargis’s significance is very great. Saint Sargis is a historical figure. He was a 4th-century hero, warrior, commander, and also a brave fighter for Christ. The whole meaning of Saint Sargis’s life was serving Christ. On this feast day, pilgrimages have taken place to churches named after the saint.

-The folk traditions associated with the feast (salt cookie, dream divination) often spark discussions. How does the Church interpret these customs from a Christian faith perspective?

-The Church, the Holy Scripture, the Word of God condemn any form of fortune-telling or clairvoyance. In God’s word, it is clearly stated – fortune-tellers are abominable to me. I mentioned that there is a folk approach related to the feast in terms of traditional ritual. On the preceding night, young people ate salt cookies. The Church views this as a folk game.

-The feast of Saint Sargis has been one of the youth’s favorite celebrations for centuries. How can it serve today as a means of bringing young people to church?

If you go to church during these days, you’ll see that the majority are young people. This is a great joy, as if the nation is converting and the church is getting younger. We must prioritize youth. We need to support and encourage young people. The more we instill Christian values in them, the better our future will be. Let me say that Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday, purely for making money. We don’t have such a day in our calendar, we don’t have a saint named Valentine. We have Saint Sargis, who is more instructive. Valentine is foreign, and while we can learn many things from foreigners, not in this case. If people study Valentine’s history a little, they’ll simply be disappointed, but I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about Saint Sargis – this feast is increasingly gaining popularity among us.

Details in the video.

Hasmik Sargsyan