The Bible across the generations

Every year in Yeghegnadzor in the Vayots Dzor region of south-eastern Armenia about 600 children and young people participate in a summer camp arranged by the Churches. The Bible Society in Armenia supplies Bibles for the camp. Pictured here is 10-year-old Shahane. Photo: Danish BS/Rune Hansen (ARM05DJ-47.JPG)

by Mia Knudsen, Danish Bible Society

ARMENIA — In Armenia today there is great openness and interest towards the Church and the Bible. Young adults have an interest in the Bible that their parents’ generation never could because of the influence of Communism. The Soviet era’s prohibitions against religion mean that Armenians over 40 years of age have no real knowledge about religion. It is a climate that presents many opportunities and challenges for the Bible Society in Armenia.

Berd: Bridge of Hope Centre

A sad relic of the Soviet era is that, even until recently, many disabled children were kept isolated. In many villages, disabled children were simply hidden away by their families. Today, with about 8,000 children living with some kind of disability, the stigmatisation of the disabled is slowly decreasing. One of the organisations behind this change is Bridge of Hope, which works in five schools in Yerevan, the capital, and runs four centres around Armenia.

Around 160 children attend the Bridge of Hope Centre in Berd, northeastern Armenia. They receive help from a speech therapist, a social worker, a physiotherapist and specialists who develop their fine motor skills. There are discussion groups where the children learn to listen to each other and to talk about, for example, how to treat and deal with disabled people. The centre also works with parents to encourage positive attitudes towards disability.

The centre is part of the Armenian Church’s work amongst destitute people. The Bible Society in Armenia is continuously working on translating and printing the Bible so that the Church is able to get it to the people who need it. People like Lea Milikian, who received a Children’s Bible at the centre six years ago at Christmas.

Lea Milikian (20) (right) and her mother Julietta Gregorian at the Bridge of Hope Center for disabled children in Berd, Armenia. The Bible Society in Armenia supplies Bibles which are distributed here. Photo: Danish BS/Rune Hansen (ARM05DJ-61.JPG)

At first sight there is nothing especially remarkable about tall, pretty 20-year-old Lea. But she has had many sorrows in her short life. Her smile is strangely shy. She also has trouble managing conversation; she must concentrate hard on what she wants to say.

Lea has suffered from epilepsy since she was five years old. Her mother provides for the family because her father is disabled after a stroke, so money is scarce. Sometimes the family could not afford Lea’s medication, so her seizures got worse. Even when the medication was available it had side-effects which meant that Lea lost all of her teeth – the reason for her sad, shy smile.

Turning point

The gift of the Bible, though, was a turning point. Lea has read it often and enjoys the illustrations. A stark contrast to her father and mother, who had grown up in the Soviet era and so had never read the Bible or owned one. Lea thinks her grandfather may have had a Bible, though. And after the dreadful earthquake in 1988 that killed thousands of Armenians, a Bible was distributed to the family as part of an aid package from Germany. But her Children’s Bible was the family’s first meaningful encounter with the Bible.

Lea’s mother, Julietta Gregorian, got to know the Bible as she read along with her daughter and for the first time had the opportunity to read the Bible in a version she could understand. That Bible has proved to be a wonderful gift.

New medication

Lea still suffers from epilepsy, but she is now able to cope much better thanks to new medication. She hopes that someday she will be able to afford the treatment to replace the teeth that she lost. But in all the hardship she has experienced something precious: the sense of community when gathering around the Bible with other young people, and the joy that the Bible can bring.

The older children at the centre generally express a wish to be baptised. They learn about Christianity in school and they learn that Armenia is an old, Christian country. However, there is no vicar in the area, and so 80 per cent of the population has not been baptised.

Baptised

Astghik Toumanyan is 13 years old and has three younger siblings. She read the entire Children’s Bible when she was 11 years old, and she talks with her mother about being baptised: “My mother is not baptised, but she wants me to be. It will make me feel a true Christian. When I heard about the Bible in school, I felt that there was something about this book, a special force that made me interested and curious.”

Yerevan: home for the elderly

Two large, adjoining concrete blocks divided into huge rooms make up the residential home in Yerevan. The spacious halls are sparsely furnished. Paint peels from the walls of the long dark corridors. Outside, seated on narrow wooden benches in the shade, the elderly residents keep the story of Armenia’s faith alive from one generation to the next.

Many of these elderly people grew up in Iran, Turkey and Georgia, and are living proof of the scattered history of Armenia. All of them carry in their hearts the country’s long and painful story.

The Bible Society supplies Bibles, Children’s Bibles and other literature to the home’s library. Every Friday the local minister visits to talk with the residents and read them the Bible. And the stories tumble out again, treasures to be passed to today’s generation as memories, warnings and hope.

Light candles

One of the women saw a church for the first time when as a girl she came to the town of Marash. “My family and I once arrived at a monastery. We wanted to light some candles, but the government attendants commanded us to leave. But we found a back way so that we could get into the monastery anyway.”

Hambartzum Abrahamian lives at a home for the elderly in Yerevan, Armenia. The Bible Society in Armenia supplies this home with biblical materials. Photo: Danish BS/Rune Hansen (ARM05DJ-89.JPG)

Another woman explains, “When I was seven years old my mother taught me to kneel and make the sign of the cross. I felt united with the church. It was prohibited, but my classmates and I went to church anyway. We were part of a small house congregation in the village.”

Hambartzum Abrahamian, who was baptised in 1916, recalls, “We learned in school that there is no God, that the ministers are false. But my grandfather and father made the sign of the cross before every meal. Christianity teaches me: do no evil, but do something good if you can. That has been the theme of my life – helping people in need. God protects us, because God does exist.”

Garabet Malhazian was born in Turkey in 1927, has lived in Jerusalem and Beirut, and has studied at a theology seminary. As a young man he sailed from Beirut aboard a refugee boat in which all the young people were hiding. “I follow the Ten Commandments, and I am forever grateful.”

Yeghegnadzor: summer camp

Summer camps are a very effective way of building relationships with children (see World Report 389/8). Every year in Yeghegnadzor in the Vayots Dzor region of southeastern Armenia about 600 children and young people go to the summer camp arranged by the churches.

They come from various backgrounds; some are children of Diaspora Armenians in the United States, others are students from Armenia. The largest group consists of children from poor families, for whom the summer camp is the only opportunity of getting away from home and relaxing.

Amidst all the usual fun and games, the conversations can be very surprising. Western teenage girls would not often be overheard in discussion about how the Old Testament and the New Testament relate to one another. Or debating how to handle the schism between the many commandments of the Old Testament and the few commandments of the New Testament! But the Bible is important and of interest to young Armenians. The Bibles that are handed out at the camp are a gift from the Bible Society. On every bed in the dormitory is a new Children’s Bible for the children to keep.

Treasures the Bible

Ten-year-old Shahane’s family is poor and she treasures the Bible she received at the summer camp last year. Her eagerness to learn makes her not just read her Bible but also return to passages she does not understand at first.

“I love to read my Bible. It annoys me when I don’t understand a certain part, and then I read it over and over until I have grasped the meaning of the story,” she explains.

It is not just the younger children and teenagers who show such interest in the Bible: Armen Hrataderian is a 22-year-old university student. He wants a Bible, but as a student he cannot afford it.

“We have no Bible in our family and I have never read the Bible. But even though there was no Bible in my home, my grandmother taught me the Ten Commandments.”

He sees the Bible as a guide to life: “The Bible builds up our conscience and it is crucial in keeping all the young Armenians away from dangerous beliefs.”