By the request of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and the directive of H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, on Sunday, April 30, 2017, prayers were offered in all Prelacy Churches for the organization’s leadership, members, and patients.
The Prelate presided over Divine Liturgy at St. Mary’s Church in Glendale and delivered the sermon. Archpriest Fr. Vazken Atmajian celebrated Divine Liturgy. ABMDR President, Dr. Frieda Jordan, and Board members attended the service.
Prior to the sermon the Prelate greeted the faithful, and in particular the ABMDR delegation, commending them and all of the organization’s leadership and members for the diligent service and wishing them continued successes. Lauding the organization’s life-saving and life-giving mission, the Prelate stated, “This organization deserves highest praise as well as utmost moral and financial support.” Dr. Jordan expressed thanks to the Prelate for his support and encouragement since the organization’s inception.
His Eminence then delivered his sermon on Green Sunday, the third Sunday of Eastertide, which celebrates the establishment of the Christian Church. Having witnessed the Risen Christ in all His glory, the apostles no longer had the fear and doubt that afflicted them seeing the suffering and crucifixion of our Lord, said the Prelate, and the same Upper Room where Jesus was betrayed took on new meaning after the Resurrection, becoming a place of triumph and hope, the place where they would receive the gift and power of the Holy Spirit which would impel them in their new mission. It would become known as the World Church, the first Christian Church, and it was where Christian love, brotherhood, and fellowship was born, stated His Eminence.
Our forefathers were among the first members of this new Church. We, as their descendents, are called to follow in their footsteps, to embody the spirit of selfless love, Christian fellowship, and harmony, and in the words of the Apostle Peter in the day’s reading, to lay aside “all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2), stressed the Prelate. His Eminence concluded by wishing that the message of the day and the triumphant spirit of the Resurrection impels all to renewed faith and rebirth, to bury the old and start anew, to be “born of the Spirit” and receive the fruits of the Holy Spirit through confession, repentance, and prayer, and with faith proclaim, “come all ye nations and people, with exultation let us celebrate the inauguration of the holy church and praise our Lord.”
At the conclusion, ABMDR members remained at hand to provide further information and to register donors.
