A message from the Primate on the tragedies of violence in Minneapolis.
In the midst of an ongoing crisis that has put a halt to almost every productive, communal aspect of living, our national life has been disfigured this week by violence that is deeply troubling to peace-loving, civilized people.
No one could view the images of lethal force used against an already subdued man—no matter what the circumstance—without feeling outrage in the deepest part of your being. The killing of George Floyd—in a police apprehension gone horribly, even criminally, wrong—has exposed yet again the raw, unhealed wounds that continue to cripple our society.
No one could view the images of a city under siege, rocked to its foundation by violent riots—no matter the motivation—without sensing that our society has become profoundly disordered. The greater fear, adding together all that has led us to this terrible moment, is that we may be approaching a point where peace can no longer be restored.
As Armenians, even the passage of a century has not allowed us to forget our people’s painful experience of lives lost, indignities endured, discrimination suffered and civil justice denied. Equally seared into our consciousness is the experience of being subjected to mob violence; to seeing homes and workplaces destroyed, neighborhoods set aflame.
And so we instinctively stand in solidarity with all who suffer violence. Yet we also insist, from the bitterness of our experience, that the only solution to the plague of violence is to end it, and not to perpetuate it.
This was a lesson taught to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. In his last confrontation with the cynical authorities of his day—a confrontation which ultimately would prove lethal to our Lord—his friends moved to repay the violence against their master with violence of their own. Any of us might do the same; but Jesus would have none of it. “Put back your sword into its place,” he said: “for all who take up the sword shall surely perish by the sword” (Mt 26:52).
Jesus had no illusions about the moral status of his persecutors. But he foresaw that the escalating path of violence, regardless of the cause, would only bring ruinous destruction on the just and the unjust alike. Once unleashed, violence would make no distinction between the good or the bad, the innocent or guilty, the blameless or the blameworthy.
What was true two thousand years ago is equally true for us today. A gruesome killing awakens a conflagration of destruction. Injustice suffered by one person, or one group, spreads to consume every group, and all people. The only way to combat violence is to end it altogether. And we are assured that our risen Lord knows well the sufferings of his children, and will remember them when he establishes his kingdom, where true justice will finally prevail.
It is to him we pray—today, in the days to come, and always—for the repose of the departed, for the healing of the spiritual and moral afflictions tormenting our world, and for an end to the violence that can only lead to ruin. In the immortal words of our liturgy: Ungal, getso, yev voghormya; Receive our prayers, save your people, and have mercy, O Lord.
With my prayers,
Bishop DANIEL
Primate
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