Return to God

by Archbishop HOVNAN (Derderian)

English translation by Rev. Fr. Shnork Souin

Forward

In July of 1984 I flew from New York, where I was a counselor at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary's summer studies program, back to Toronto where I was told that Holy Trinity Armenian Church would be receiving her new pastor. I intentionally made certain that I could be present at the church from the moment of his arrival, to greet "the new young Vartabed." I was there both out of curiosity and as a show of support, since a full time priest and pastor for our church was at the top of my prayer list in those days. Ever since that inaugural meeting, I have become one might say, a disciple of this young "Vartabed."

Archbishop HOVNAN Derderian is not only for me a respected hierarch of our Church, an "overseer" of the Canadian Diocese, an inspired church leader, faithful pastor and visionary, but is for me also a father, brother, confessor, mentor and friend. He has been, both in my ministry and personally, the true homo dei. St. Cyprian of Carthage, says that "the true theologian is the man of prayer." His Eminence, according to this patristic standard, is one of the great theologians, a man not only of prayer, but at prayer, whose life and ministry are a constant Return to God. In him we can see the glorious living tradition of the patristic age kept alive.

The title for this book, Return to God, was inspired by the theme of Archbishop HOVNAN's sermon delivered on the occasion of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church's 66th. Anniversary, in St. Catharines, Ontario. This book is a collection of excerpts from some recent reflections and sermons of His Eminence, which have been translated for the Canadian (English speaking) Christian community at large. My hope is that through this collection, readers may not only see into the pastoral heart of HOVNAN Surpazan, but may themselves be challenged and inspired to Return to God, immersing themselves regularly in the Holy Scriptures, the sacramental life of the Holy Church and in daily prayer.

In Christ,

Fr. Shnork Souin

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

 

"Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, Who was buried for us, have mercy on us."

From the Trisagial Hymn

Christianity is the world's One religion that gives mankind the Power to have "abundant life." When we speak about Power, we speak of God's supernatural Power which is revealed in His Love towards us. God uses the life of mankind, as the soil in which He implants His love. For what is the meaning of God's love or how can it be manifested, when that Love is not incarnate, or stops being tangible, in our daily life. In order that we might know the Love of God, He sent His Only Begotten Son into the World. What's more, Christ made the revelation of that Love complete by offering up His life as a sacrifice, by suffering, being crucified, buried and rising again the third day. Through Christ, and His life, Death and Resurrection, humanity has before it the example of God's love and thus the power with which He inspires in us the potentiality for abundant life.

Holy Friday, April 14, 1995, Toronto

"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us."

1 John 4:12

The Holy Bible calls man to keep the love of God in himself by means of a genuine brotherly love towards others. In order for this to be so, either the living Word of God must always be on our breath, or else the knowledge of living faith will be lacking in us. God's Word must continually find its expression through persons, otherwise their spiritual life will continually weaken, thus widening the gap between them and God. The Word or Breath of God, found in the Holy Scriptures, is the unbroken ring that unites us in love to others through God. Finally, therefore, it is our duty as Christians to be faithful to Christ and His commandments, so that little by little His love may be "perfected in us."

April 12, 1995, Montreal

"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."

1 John 3:14

"From death to life." This should be our motto whose meaning becomes the motivation for daily living. Christ leads us from Death to Life. By giving us the gift of eternal life, Christ's Life becomes the spiritual strength that enlivens us. We live because God's Only-Born lives. This new life is one filled with love. By dying, Christ not only tramples down death, but teaches us to love our brothers so that we do not remain mired in death and corruption.

April 10, 1995, Holy Etchmiadzin

God became man, so that man could become as God.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria (3rd ca.)

The Earth is before us as the creation of God's Hand, in which humanity is given the burden of stewardship. In other words, it is mankind's responsibility to guard and to maintain the rest of God's creation. In a way, this is a mission to which we are all called, failure in which would be considered sin.

April 8, 1995, Holy Etchmiadzin

"It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus."

Robert Murray McCheyne

Talents, which are given to us from above, must be used as a means to adorn our life as followers of Christ. It is fundamentally important to pay heed to Christ's invitation, "follow me." The Apostles of Christ were commissioned to their task in response to the calling of becoming like Christ as His followers. According to earthly wisdom, they were simple people who were not especially gifted in any way that would have brought earthly praise, however they did become saints as the icons of Christian living. Thus, when talents and gifts are spoken of, it is essential to explain that every Christian has been given heavenly gifts also, as means to adorn their lives with the likeness of Christ.

March 31, 1995, Holy Etchmiadzin

"A deep silence ruled over Calvary, around Calvary and at the Sepulchre, the great disturbance, and tumult subsided. With the great injustice, the great mystery of (salvation) economy took place. Jesus died, man was resuscitated, (Jesus') flesh no longer respired, (man's) souls were inspired."

The great economy hidden in the mystery of Christ's Incarnation is the moment of redemption, when by His Sacrifice He attained the salvation of mankind. Accordingly, in the Easter Hymn, Christ's Resurrection opens before mankind the greatest mystery, "He trampled death under foot by His death, and by His Resurrection gave us life." Some try to explain the articles of faith according to human reason. This is impossible, because it is only with the orthodox and true faith that we are able to apprehend Christ's Resurrection. At least for me, it is impossible to explain that moment when faith scatters doubt from my weakness as a human and, calling me once more to a vision of new life, it renews my entire being.

March 17, 1995, Montreal

 

For us, church has two meanings, one is the physical edifice made of stone into which we enter as the House of God. We enter with great awe and reverence from the bottom of our hearts. The second meaning has a more spiritual and lively significance that can be understood according to the explanation of our church fathers who said, "the church is herself--the people."

The church today appears to us as an organized institution whose architect is Christ, and whose builders are the Apostles and every other successive Christian who until today, represent and make up the church. The church, as an institution founded by God, has her "workers, machinery and tools," the clergy, the canons, and theological doctrine and practice. Having said this however, these encourage and include the people in the church's spiritual and physical work and prosperity.

March 12, 1995, Montreal

The Gospel has been the supreme treasure for people both ancient and modern.

Abp. YEGHISHE Derderian, Patriarch of Jerusalem

The Gospel is the foundation of our life. If we have a firm footing on it, then our life will receive its nourishment from it. If our life has sprouted roots into the supreme treasure, which is the Gospels, then our life will be found on the straight and narrow path that leads us to God.

It is not in vain that the Gospels are called the "Book of Life." Although this book of life is written by inspiration, with the "Breath of God," in it is contained also the treasure found within the heart and soul of many nations.

March 10, 1995, Toronto

 

In a way, man's mission is not only abstract intellectualization or to be a Christian in name only, but to constantly watch over ourselves, our words, our feelings, so that all our senses might become pleasing before God. The same is the role of prayer in our lives. In a way, prayer, which becomes a mirror of our souls, leads us to confession, thereby establishing the moment that we embrace the upward calling of God and seek the sanctification of our souls and the flight from worldliness and sin. To God! The intention of our lives has to be the upward calling of God. A deviation from this path can only be explained by a desire to be mired in sin.

March 9, 1995, Montreal

 

It is undeniably none other than prayer that establishes us on the path that seeks a Return to God. And, is it not true that by praying but once we eternally fill our being with the presence of God. Therefore, it is necessary to continue in prayer, on the path that leads us to God.

In prayer, the Christian man feels God's mercy and love thereby establishing his being in God. In other words, God becomes that in which we place our trust. A life of prayer is therefore the means by which a man cleans his heart and soul so that the voice of God might speak through him.

March 6, 1995, Montreal

 

The celebration of Christ's glorious Resurrection transports us toward the illumination of Holy Etchmiadzin, from whence the children of our people, with unquenchable thirst, drink to nourish their souls with her eternal light.

Symbolically, Holy Etchmiadzin is the spiritual quintessence of Christ's glorious Resurrection. It is in that Holy place that Christ Himself visited our forefathers and personally approached the soil of Holy Etchmiadzin turning it into that which unites the pulse of Armenian hearts thereby becoming the perpetual magnet of our souls.

O, ye sons of Armenia, your heartbeat receives its rhythm from Holy Etchmiadzin. Answer the call of your Mother who announces to you the evangelical proclamation of the glorious Resurrection of Christ, "why do you seek the living among the dead, He is not here, but is risen" (Luke 24:5-6).

March 6, 1994.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.

Matthew 6:22-23

In the life of a community, the church is the eye. In this role, it has the obligation to provide light to the whole body, its faithful flock. If however the church is weak in her mission, then the whole body weakens and becomes darkened. But, when the church is found on the right path, fulfilling her mission, then the whole flock will be in the light.

The same is true of the family, where the parents are the light for the whole body. If, as the eyes of the whole family they fulfil their responsibilities, the children will grow up with Christian instruction. If, on the other hand, parents as the eyes of the family are negligent in upholding their God given responsibility, then the children will grow up in the darkness and remain ignorant.

February 28, 1995, Montreal

Behold, a virgin will be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

Man's greatest virtue is his knowledge of God and his ability to be a recipient of His grace. If we lose God then we empty our being from any knowledge of Him and at the same time deprive ourselves of communion with the evangelical message which guides us to a genuine knowledge of Him and eternal life with Him.

January 6, 1993

"O Thou, Who makes old things new, renew me also and adorn me with newness."

St. Nersess the Graceful

As Men having both the faculty of reason and sound mind, we can see and comprehend that our physical bodies require their daily nourishment, bread, water and other staples, not only to remain healthy but also in order to put them to work. Therefore, in like fashion, our spiritual lives need refreshment and the shedding of the old and burdensome.

The One who at one and the same time removes the old then renews, is none other than the Lord to whom we appeal, from our heart, for regeneration, adorned with His newness.

January 1, 1994

 

It is said that life is a pilgrimage of the soul. In other words, the meaning of life must be the quest for godliness. Often, during this journey, we deviate from the narrow path. Our minds and our emotions take wrong turns until a collision takes place in which God intercedes to salvage us from the wreckage of our lives. He takes us by our hand and places us back on the safety of the homeward path.

January 6, 1995

"For God is With Us."

Life is God's greatest gift. It is the breath of God in us. We should each live our lives in such a manner as if it is God who is speaking through us. Life is given to us so that we may offer it to God and to Mankind for peace. Very often we fail, personally and collectively, to dedicate our lives, the very gift of God, to Him, and He constantly intervenes in various ways to bid us to renew our calling, to renew our course of life.

 

The New Year is born within man. It is man who makes it new by the renewal of his own life. The leaven of this newness in man is the birth of Christ, which takes place in the depth of his heart transfigured into little Bethlehem.

January 6, 1997, Montreal

 

Behold how children renew their lives. They spiritually prepare to celebrate the paschal celebration of Christ's Resurrection. On these festal days they confess their sins, they commune in the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ, and in an especially touching way transform the way of their lives. If only adults had the same desire and the thirst to reject the old man within their being in order to clothe themselves with the new, thereby becoming a recipient of the presence of the living Christ. The man who has become weakened in his faith need only turn to the children as an example. With even their childlike faith, they can see the Risen Lord and through Him be strengthened.

April 2, 1994

 

How could one explain faith and the role that it plays in his or her life today. If we want to present it in the form of a picture, we could say that faith is like electrical energy, which is the insurmountable connection between God and man. Without faith man is disconnected from God, he is lost and his life loses the God pleasing savour. In other words, faith is what unceasingly regenerates man, provides him with God's light and at the same time strengthens the life of the Christian man, who by his baptism is called to follow the example of Christ's life.

February 6, 1994

 

Throughout the entire universe, which He created in His providence, God made mankind as the most complete being in His own image and likeness. His inclinations, ideals, spirit of creativity, lofty knowledge of beauty and sincerity and capacity to love, direct him to a desire to know God. Despite all these, finally it is but by the empowerment of faith that he discovers his Creator, from which moment on, in man is reborn the calling to serve God with all the endowments given man in order to construct a road to eternity.

April 24, 1994, Montreal

 

The Birth Giver of God, the Asdvadzadzin, is the "living temple" says the hymnographer. In this "living temple," Christians, mothers and in fact all of us, become one. We become unified Christians. Within this "living temple" in the person of the Mother of God, Christian believers are "baptised" once again in order that their lives be renewed, fortified to remain faithful to the Gospel. Just as we take special care for ourselves when we are weak or ill, by receiving medication and nourishment to energize once again our bodies and souls, man as a spiritually weak creature can open to himself the divine light from the "living temple" that lifts us toward God. God's illuminating message is the life renewing platform from which is re-established godliness, the beatific vision and once again the confirmation of the divine calling.

August 14, 1994, Holy Etchmiadzin

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Philippians 1:21

The life of a man is a spiritual journey. Through baptism, we are born anew. From that moment we are clothed with Christ and are oriented toward God, delighting in His presence within the fibres of our being.

As clergymen, we are servants of God, before men. It is only through service that we can portray the true image of our spiritual lives--our lives of faith. To us is entrusted the care of the church, in which is gathered Christ's faithful flock to whom we cheerfully owe our love, affection and good will. To us is given the spiritual accountibility to proclaim the Word of God and to become like unto the "Good Shepherd," to and for the flock that is entrusted to our care.

May 20, 1994

It is most certainly true that each and every clergyman has dedicated his life to the service of the church, as a response to the call of an inward voice. That inexplicable sound is the calling of God's Voice, becoming the consummate moment in the faith experience when the Christian man feels within himself such an immense desire to serve that he cannot but answer Christ's invitation to "take up your Cross and follow me."

November 1, 1994

 

The role or rather the mission of the Armenian Church, is guided above all else by the principle of remaining firm in the spirit of Christ's gospel. The church is the kind of structure that requires it to renew itself from time to time. Although it is a gathering of human beings, the church also, as with a physical building, eventually loses its stability when we fail to give it the necessary care and renovation. As a spiritual construction, the church needs to re-establish and renovate herself, by taking a transfusion from the gospel so that she will be able to spread that spiritual strength to the souls of her people. And what is spiritual strength if not the knowledge of holiness which leads us to God, toward true humanity, toward a life of peace building, toward the fulfilment of good works, toward striving for gentleness and beauty, rejecting war and evil. Finally, spiritual strength is without a doubt that nourishment that man must have.

That strength is especially needed today by the youth, among whom we see the demise of the knowledge of and the pursuit for holiness, where we see the concept of family and family structure trodden under foot. As a result, it has, today, become acceptable to deceive associates and friends at every turn. While all of these should concern the everyday man, it should be of the utmost importance for Christians.

July 5, 1995

 

Fasting and abstention are two disciplines that both exercise and subdue our physical bodies. They are journeys on which prayer is an absolute companion, which nourishes our souls. Otherwise, what is the meaning of these two disciplines if they are never accompanied by a prayer life and especially the witness of a life enriched with faith?

February 27, 1995

 

We know of the mystery of the saints, and the hermits who were the greatest personalities in human history. It is true that via prayer these men of prayer were able to fill their lives with the Light of Christ.

He who was Transfigured radiated that same Light upon all mankind. Truly, we are all called, like the saints, to continually immerse our thoughts and our feelings into the "current of splendiferous love." That current is the energy, the Light and the Life of Christ's living presence.

March 16, 1995

 

Since in today's day and age, no cost is spared on the renovation of even the oldest structures, is it not more crucial to show greater care for the restoration and preservation of the "ancient human edifice?"

Christ has descended into our hearts and souls, "the human edifice," establishing in those places His love as an eternal well of flowing light and love. In order for us to descend the inner reaches of our souls, and from there drink of the living water of hope and love, we must "pray unceasingly" and never grow weary.

March 13, 1995

 

The period of vigilant fasting and prayer, during Great Lent, is a glorious opportunity to renew and cleanse our life. It is a glorious road to the recovery of unity with our Creator, whose bridge is none other than our Incarnate Saviour, Jesus Christ. Therefore, Great Lent is the means of transportation on our Return to God --the spiritual journey on which we have the vision and at the same time, feel the desire to re-establish in us the likeness of the Heavenly One.

March 3, 1995

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and always and unto the ages of ages, Amen