|
| SOURP MAGAR MONASTERY
WELCOMES 200 PILGRIMS |
| |
| 
|
You may view the 100 images from the 2nd Pilgrimage to Sourp Magar Monastery by clicking here:
http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn151/SimonAynedjian/2nd%20Magaravank%20Pilgrimage/?albumview=grid |
| The Magaravank Pilgrimage:
The preservation of the past and the determination of the future |
| Hrayr Jebedjian for Gibrahayer e-magazine - 11 May, 2009 - The notice on a small paper at the entrance of the Turkish occupied Magara Vank caught my attention. It was written in English,  and it described the history of the Monastery which was built in 1000AD by the Coptic Church. In 1425AD, it was handed over to the Armenian Church. It has been an important center for research and study for Armenian and non Armenian pilgrims who made a stopover at the Monastery on their way to the Holy Lands. The writing on the paper did not end here. It continued by saying something about today: The picturesque and idyllic view of both the sea and the mountains makes this place a “touristic” spot where one can enjoy the splendid nature in a relaxed atmosphere and drink a cup of coffee…!
I moved around the “remaining” parts of the Monastery, trying to catch up with every cornerstone and ruin and absorb history in its fullness. I lived the history of the many clergy, pilgrims, students, historians and intellectuals who spent a lifetime building the lives of mankind in the spirit of the Christian ethics of love, peace and reconciliation. Many intellectuals had devoted years to preserve the Armenian culture. I started looking through an empty space in one of the ruined buildings which was once a window. I started tracing the historical path of the Monastery by looking through this window. I could see the Light that Magara Vank had spread: the path of civilisation throughout the ages within the Armenian community and others.
The church service inside the small madour was overwhelming. The sharagans touched the heart of each and every one of the 200 pilgrims present on this pilgrimage. The singing seemed to echo that of the past, bringing the ruins and the remaining of the Monastery back to life and changing the “touristic” spot back to its original Mission.
The pilgrimage on Sunday, May 10, 2009, was organised by the Office of the Armenian Representative in the Cyprus parliament in cooperation with the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus. I joined the group together with many of my Armenian-Cypriot friends who told me many things about life at the Monastery before 1974. How can a centre of light and civilisation be turned into a ruin in only thirty-five years?
The answer to my question came through Archbishop Varoujan Hergelian’s message during the service that day. It was a call for determination, “The determination to rebuild that which was destroyed,” he said. This is the challenge of our survival in today’s world: The preservation of our legacy and the determination to rebuild and carry it forward to the future; the legacy of the past with its Identity, Faith, Culture and the Struggle for a Just Cause. This legacy, in its fullness, needs to be rebuilt but, most of all, carried forward to the future.
I went back to the front gate and re-read the notice on the small piece of paper. Magara Vank can never be a touristic spot. It is the spot to preserve the past and rebuild the future.
There are many challenges to rebuilding the future, though: The future with the many unknowns and uncertainties that impact our lives in the present circumstances. Nevertheless, there is one “road map” through which we can navigate on our journey of the many unknowns. There is one road map that will help us tackle the many Pan-Armenian concerns that we face today: The road map that creates the Pan-Armenian mind and effort in spite of all our differences. This is the road map that can lead us to the safe shore even when “we walk in the valley of the shadow of death”.
The Magara Vank pilgrimage was a confirmation of the preservation of the past and the determination to rebuild the future.
Hrayr Jebejian - Armenian Evangelical Church - Cyprus |
|
| SHUSHI LIBERATION CELEBRATED |
|  Combined sources and PanARMENIAN.Net - On May 9, Armenia celebrated Victory Day and Shushi Liberation Day. Armenian Defense Ministry officials laid flower wreaths to the Unknown Soldier's Memorial in Victory Park of Yerevan. The ceremony was followed by a parade and a festive concert organised by the Armenian Defense Ministry.
Armenia's and NKR's Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakyan visited the Stepanakert memorial dedicated to the victims of the Shushi Battle and later set out for Shushi. On their way, the Presidents stopped near the tank memorial while at Sourp Khazanchetsots a memorial service was held. The celebrations will end in a concert and firework display.
|
| SARGSYAN AND ALIYEV MEET IN PRAGUE |
PRAGUE May 7 - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev met at the U.S. Embassy in Prague on Thursday, a Prague-based source told Interfax.
Asked by Interfax before an EU Eastern Partnership summit to comment on the meeting results, Sargsyan said it passed "positively."
Western media reported that U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, who is also a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, attended the meeting behind closed doors between Aliyev and Sargsyan.
Interfax reported earlier that the Azeri and Armenian leaders had agreed to hold another round of negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in Prague on Thursday.
The parties should continue coordination of key principles offered to them by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Madrid in late 2007.
Azerbaijan and Armenia confirmed that they had reached an understanding on a number of these principles but still disagree on the most sensitive issues.
The stumbling block in the talks is Nagorno-Karabakh's legal status. Baku insists that the conflict be settled with Azerbaijan's territorial integrity preserved, with which most of the international community agrees, while Yerevan believes the settlement should be based on another principle of international law, i.e. nations' right to self- determination. |
| GAME NOT OVER... we just re-group and fight back |
| In response to Diran’s last week’s “Game over… We lose”, I would like to say that as long as we have young men and women who really believe in the righteousness of the Hay Tad, we will never lose. History proves it.
We fought back against the Persians;
We fought back after 5 centuries of Ottoman suppression and gradual extermination;
We fought back after Turkish occupation, Genocide, deportation and death marches;
We fought back at Sardarabad;
We fought back and held the “Yerakouyn” up high during and after 70 years of communism, even though others mocked us and stabbed us in the back;
We fought back after Sumgait with kitchen knives and hunting guns;
We fought back after we were officially exiled from Armenia, our comrades put in prison and our offices burnt down by Levon Der Bedrossian;
We fought back after US presidents promised and then forgot their promises…
And we will still fight back after, as Diran said, “our efforts were destroyed with the stroke of a pen by the Armenian leadership”.
Another thing I do not agree with Diran is that we do not look up to the Armenian leadership, but we look up to Armenia, the Republic, and Mount Ararat for guidance and strength. Actually it is a two way street, as in return, we are the strength of Armenia. The Armenian leaderships look up to us, and fear our opinion.
The epitaph on the Tombstone of Hay Tad is not this “road map” but would be if we showed apathy and indifference.
As I know Diran personally, I believe that he will never resign from Hay Tad activities, but he will fight back, even harder.
Sevag Gurunlian - Nicosia |
No comments:
Post a Comment