Sacred flame honors Armenia's Christianity

The flame inspired by St. Gregory's faith has made its way to Armenian Orthodox churches around the world and arrived here earlier this week.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001

PINELLAS PARK -- Seventeen hundred years after St. Gregory the Illuminator's devout faith inspired Armenia to become a Christian nation, a sacred flame commemorating the event is making its way to Armenian Orthodox churches around the world.

Wednesday, shortly after noon, the flame arrived in Pinellas Park.

Flown by private plane in a container approved by the Federal Aviation Administration from Armenia to New York, the flame arrived in the Tampa Bay area this week in a sport utility vehicle.

The Rev. Nersess Jebejian of St. Hagop Armenian Church, 7050 90th Ave. N, was there to receive it. In a ceremony Sunday, he will pass the light, with the aid of candles, to members of his congregation.

Jebejian is awed that the flame, which originated at the site where St. Gregory was imprisoned for his Christian beliefs, has come to him.

"I've been to that place. I've been to the pit where St. Gregory was and I've gone down and I've seen the light down there and now that light is coming to me, to my church," Jebejian said.

"It has a very special significance . . . for this community and for me," he said.

The flame arrived in the United States on Jan. 4, in the care of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. The light's journey, however, started at the site of St. Gregory's imprisonment.

"It began on Dec. 31 ... at Khor Virab, which is now a little monastery, which is right on Armenia's border with Turkey," said Chris Zakian, public relations director for the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.

That day, the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, made a pilgrimage to Khor Virab for the flame.

"He went down into St. Gregory's pit and emerged with a torch, a flame, symbolizing the light that St. Gregory brought to Armenia," Zakian said.

"Keeping it intact, he brought it to the Holy See of the Armenian Church, Holy Etchmiadzin. At the stroke of midnight, he took that flame and lit a lantern on the Altar of Descent. The ceremony was a big deal in Armenia. The president, diplomats and Armenian bishops from around the world were represented at that service."

The primates, some accompanied by lay people, lit lanterns from the flame. From those lanterns Armenian churches around the world will receive the sacred light.

Precautions had to be taken before church officials could fly the flame into the United States, Zakian said.

"The FAA is not fazed by this. They do have protocols, and they wouldn't allow it on a commercial aircraft."

The light, contained in a gold-colored cylinder about 10 inches high and 4 inches in diameter, arrived safely by private plane at Long Island's MacArthur Airport.

"Now it was Archbishop Barsamian's job to make sure that the flame got to each of the parishes under his jurisdiction," Zakian said.

So on Jan. 6, the date that Armenian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas, representatives from many of the diocese's 60 parishes took part in a ceremony to receive what is being called the Light of St. Gregory.

St. Hagop chose Paul Garibian, 20, a University of South Florida student, to represent the congregation at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan.

"I felt very special to be chosen," said Garibian. "I feel like it is an experience I'm not going to be able to go through again. Very few people were chosen to do this, so I feel very special."

The two young men tapped to actually bring the flame to Pinellas Park also feel honored to have been chosen.

"It's an honor to be selected for something I'm sure a lot of Armenian young people would love to do to," said deacon Patrick Kaprelian, 25, a second-year student at St. Nersess Armenian Theological School in New Rochelle, N.Y.

"I just got a phone call from the program director at the diocese and he asked me whether I was available and I'm on my break from seminary, so I had an opportunity to do this," he said.

His 26-year-old cousin, Yvan Kaprielian, from Midland Park, N.J., was between jobs and available to make the trip as well.

"I called him up and said, "Yvan, we have a mission to accomplish.' "

Sitting at a conference table in St. Hagop's parish house, his cousin said he originally had hoped to be selected to accompany the archbishop to Armenia in December.

"I didn't get picked. So I was disappointed a little bit. ... Then a week after I resigned from my job, Patrick called me and said, "Do you want to take the flame across country?' "

The cousins started their travels at 10 a.m. Monday. "We set everything up the night before. The lantern that we have is actually the original one that was used by the archbishop to bring the flame out of Armenia," Yvan said.

For the cross-country trip, they secured the lantern on a tripod in the back of the red SUV. "We figured that we needed a way to keep the lamp from rolling back and forth and we figured that since it has a hook on the top, we'd hang it up on the tripod and everything else around it would be away from it, for it heats up a bit," Yvan said.

As extra security, the couriers packed a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit and a large black umbrella to shelter the lamp in case of rain.

Transporting the flame has been something of an Olympian responsibility. Driving about 10 to 12 hours a day, they have had to refuel the lamp every 12 hours. That has meant first transferring the light to a candle, extinguishing the flame in the safety container and relighting it.

Their schedule also has been tight, because parishes throughout the diocese have been hoping to receive the light in time for special ceremonies Sunday. Pinellas Park was the third stop on their route, after Philadelphia and Richmond, Va. Baton Rouge, Houston, Dallas, Memphis and Nashville were to follow. Those stops were to serve as main distribution points for the flame to parishes elsewhere in the diocese, the cousins said.

For instance, St. Hagop will provide the sacred light to churches and missions throughout Florida, and church members from Albuquerque planned to drive to Dallas to receive the flame.

Wednesday, about half an hour ahead of schedule, the cousins arrived at St. Hagop's 10-acre property, where the congregation will break ground for its new sanctuary the end of this summer.

The cousins joined a small procession that escorted the flame to St. Hagop's chapel. Present were Jebejian, the church's priest, his wife, Aurora, and Paul Garibian. In the chapel, the flame was used to light two 14-day candles, and Jebejian offered a short prayer. Afterward, the group said the Lord's Prayer in Armenian and each person approached the altar to venerate the sacred light.

Sunday the light will be passed to each member of St. Hagop's, who will receive it with individual candles. Jebejian said he is looking forward to eventually placing the flame from St. Gregory's pit in St. Hagop's new sanctuary. The church is one of seven Armenian Orthodox congregations in Florida.

The Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church traces its origins to the first century, when the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew introduced Christianity to Armenia. It was not until 301 A.D., however, when Christianity was declared a state religion, that converts were able to worship openly. Credit is given to St. Gregory, also known as the Enlightener, who converted Armenia's King Tiridates III. Before the king's conversion, he had persecuted Christians, including Gregory, whom he imprisoned in Khor Virab.

St. Gregory, who became the patron saint of the Armenian Church and its first Catholicos (leader of the whole church), also is believed to have built Holy Etchmiadzin, the denomination's mother church.

The Armenian Church of America was officially established by Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian in 1898. St. Hagop's belongs to the Eastern Diocese, which includes all of the U.S. except California, Washington, Nevada and Arizona.

Sunday, parishes throughout the diocese will hold their own versions of the lighting ceremonies that were held in Armenia and later in New York.

"It was really very moving," said Zakian, recalling last Saturday's Manhattan service.

"People were really touched that this flame had made this odyssey from Khor Virab to Holy Etchmiadzin, all the way to New York City. And now the same fire, the same energy, is being passed on to the parishes, to the people."

If you go

St. Hagop Armenian Church is at 7050 90th Ave. N, Pinellas Park. Divine Liturgy, 10 a.m.; service for light, 11:30 a.m. Call (727) 545-0380.

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