Auntie Elmas, as she was affectionately called by all who knew her, always supported Uncle Vartan’s endeavors, welcoming the folks who visited their home in large numbers for worship, spiritual or physical sustenance. She believed in the work that her husband was doing for the Lord. I remember her admonishing us young ones to listen to Uncle Vartan, because he was always right!
l.to r. Rev. E. E. Elmajian (author of tri-lingual Spiritual Hymns of Worship), Evangelist Isaac Parnakian, Rev. Stephan Lazarian, Rev. Vartan S. (Sarkis) Bilezikian, Rev. Peter Agulian, Rev. Minas Bozuklian
If you know of the present location of these letters which were donated to a site in California, please comment below -- we would love to continue research on Uncle Vartan's life, and these letters would be a wonderful resource, as he often traveled at his own expense to other parts of the United States, preaching the Word of God and the saving power of Christ.
To be continued . . .
a few years before he died, he gave me one of his suits, sewn by his hand. we were roughly the same size. he was tall and large for his generation, as was I. the suit was silk lined, and of the finest wool. uncle vartan lived at the ritz. He was a man whose benevolence made him the wealthiest of men. How do I know? "It is better to give than receive". "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." the things referred to in that verse are the material things of the world, the things that the pagan world seek first. they may acquire many of those 'things', if not a surfeit of them, but they will never be added to them, because the addition can come only from 'the peace that passeth all understanding', a peace that Vartan and Elmas had, which made them rich not only in the spirit, but fully appreciative of the things God had given them. those things were added to them; they were able to enjoy them for what they were, without wanting more. that is the trick of it all, not wanting more, yet receiving with thanks, all the Lord has to give.
ReplyDeletelest the reader think i digress and am 'too spiritual' in my last comment, I would like to call attention to one of my favorite films, if not my favorite one. it is the film barrymore, bogart, jay silverheels (sic) and lauren bacall made together along with edward g. robinson. what a cast. what a script. in that film, robinson plays a role that he had many years to perfect, the gangster. bogart's character is the first to recognize who the scoundrel, murderer, hostage taker is. it is none other than Rocko ..., a thinly disguised composite of al capone and other sicilian waifs who made it out of sicily and marooned themselves in the big city of crime, USA. bogart slices the ether of surprise and ignorance of the other characters, the good ones, by identifying Rocko, who is now trying to make a comeback to the 'big time', after having been deported years before. bogart states flatly, that there is a difference between Rocko and the rest of us, the rest being average americans, the bedrock citizenry of this island of law and order and peace and prosperity (oops, except for the prolonged depression of the 30's), by stating that the difference between Rocko and the rest of us is that Rocko wanted 'MORE'. as soon as the line is uttered, a demonic gleam,a dark light pours out of Rocko's eyes, and a smile, more like the slash of a grimace of recognition and ontological self discovery, creases his face. his response is "Yeah, that is it, I want more." the year for that statement of self declared devilry was @1940, and it no doubt struck a deep chord in the american psyche, because what the americans had wanted at that time, and for their whole history, with, of course, some exceptions, was not 'more', but 'enough'. the criminal class in that time could be rendered perfectly by that one word, 'more'. they would never be satisfied, they would always want more. The corruption that lays waste the soul to want more, every day, in every way, is a corruption that seems to have gripped much of america today. what defined the 'criminal class' perfectly, 70 years ago, now defines many, if not most of the social/economic classes in the USA today.
ReplyDeletethe film referred to above is, 'Key Largo', released in 1948.
ReplyDelete