In accordance with custom, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew evangelized the area of Armenia within the first century. Within the 12 months 301, it turned the primary nation to declare itself Christian. Via centuries of warfare and oppression, its Christian identification has endured as a part of Armenian tradition, regardless of repeated makes an attempt by neighbors to stamp it out. 

In 1915, the Turkish Ottoman Empire killed an estimated 1.2 million folks throughout what has turn out to be generally known as the Armenian Genocide. Below the pretext that they have been insufficiently loyal to the empire, Ottoman authorities shot complete villages, forcibly transformed households to Islam, and marched lots of of 1000’s of girls and youngsters into the Syrian desert to die. The brutal marketing campaign of extermination led to a big diaspora of Armenians to different international locations.  

Even after Armenia emerged from Soviet dominance and declared itself an unbiased republic on the finish of the twentieth century, peace has remained elusive. Armenia has confronted many years of battle over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh area, the place some 100,000 Armenian Christians now reside however which Muslim-majority Azerbaijan sees as its territory. In 2020, because the world was preoccupied with the worldwide pandemic, Azerbaijan waged warfare in opposition to Armenia. Seven thousand lives have been taken, and the area has remained within the shadow of a fragile ceasefire since.  

At this time, most Armenians exist in a state of uncertainty. Given their management over the area, it might be that Azerbaijan is poised to commit a second Armenian genocide. In accordance with College Community for Human Rights researcher Thomas Becker, 

Over the previous decade, Azerbaijani officers have invoked language used within the Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust, referring to Armenians as a “most cancers tumor” and a “illness” to be “handled.” Extra just lately, the nation’s authoritarian chief Ilham Aliyev has threatened to “drive [Armenians] away like canines.” 

The state of affairs appears dire with Russia, Armenia’s ostensible safety guarantor, slowed down in its personal warfare in opposition to Ukraine, and with Iran, Armenia’s southern neighbor desirous to fill the safety vacuum. Nonetheless, an sudden current growth is {that a} important variety of Armenia’s diaspora inhabitants has been returning to their homeland. After 100 years of exile and residing in locations like Russia, France, and the USA, an estimated 50,000 Armenians repatriated previous to 2020, with 1000’s extra becoming a member of them yearly since.  

For some, the motivation to return is financial. For others, it’s about standing with fellow Armenians within the face of warfare. Nonetheless, for a lot of, the calling is about their religion. As the dean of Armenian Apostolic seminary put it, “We as a nation are known as to witness to Jesus Christ in a really troublesome area. … Our very existence is an affidavit of Christianity.” 

Lara Setrakian, an Armenian-American journalist, moved again together with her household initially of the COVID-19 outbreak. In a current podcast, she put it this manner,  

I’m doing what I’m known as to do … and it’s to be a helper like Mr. Rogers would say. It’s a disaster. There are crises. However I wish to be among the many helpers. … We’re not fascinated about not being Christian … For Christians … this nation is one huge take a look at of religion. And folks I see are rising to the event. And they’re discovering power, and so they … haven’t ever given up. … They haven’t given up the cross; they haven’t given up their language, their love, their dance. They embody the resilience that we’re all on the lookout for.  

One other repatriated Armenian mused, “In America, I had life: an enormous home, automotive. However once I say, ‘good life,’ I imply one thing else.”

As so many within the West reel from a disaster of which means, Armenian Christians have discovered pleasure within the face of extreme hardship. In that method, we have now a lot to study from our Armenian brothers and sisters, whilst we ask God to bless them, to strengthen their religion, and to carry peace to the nation they’re rebuilding. 

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Kasey Leander. For extra assets to reside like a Christian on this cultural second, go to breakpoint.org. 

Adblock take a look at (Why?)