Christmas Prayers Sent to Armenia

About 200 members of the Forty Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church in Santa Ana gathered for a Christmas Mass on Friday, but their prayers were for the people of earthquake-ravaged Soviet Armenia.

The Armenian tradition is to celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6, the day they say Christ was born. On the Armenian Christmas Eve in Santa Ana, a candlelight procession and dinner party usually is held at the church. And on Christmas Day, festivities continue with an afternoon party.

But Friday’s mood was different. The parties and procession had been canceled. Many families said they also have canceled their own parties and limited gift exchanges so they could donate more to Armenian earthquake relief agencies. Only the traditional Mass was held.

The Dec. 7 earthquake killed tens of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Countries from around the world have contributed to relief efforts, including sending workers and equipment to help search for the wounded and dead amid the rubble. The deputy premier of Soviet Armenia last week said an estimated death toll of 55,000 was probably too high, but he did not give a new estimate.

“This year we are not happy,” church member Wartini Jakerian said. “We are praying for our people.”

The Rev. Moushegh Mardirossian, dressed in an ornate red robe, and the Rev. Ashod Kochian, in a black-and-white robe, stood before the congregation, reciting traditional chants and singing hymns. An attendant swung a metal incense holder through the air as smoke drifted toward elaborate gilded chandeliers.

Midway through the Mass, Mardirossian spoke, first in Armenian, then in English. He talked about love, peace and justice, not mentioning the earthquake.

“This year especially, we have to show our love in life, in work and in deed,” he said.

Later, Mardirossian said he hoped that members will continue helping with relief efforts. “At this time, our brothers and sisters need our love.”

Sossy Aharonian attended the service and thought about her aunt, a woman in her 70s whose home in the city of Leninakan was destroyed. The last news Aharonian heard came a week later when the American Red Cross in Los Angeles told her that the aunt was safe and had moved in with other relatives in Yerevan.

“At least I know that they are alive,” Aharonian said.

But she said her cousin in Glendale, who called Soviet Armenia a week after the earthquake, received bad news. The cousin’s aunt had a young granddaughter who had been hurt in the disaster and had to have her legs amputated at the knees.

Church member Garo Agopian said he talked with a cousin in Soviet Armenia on Sunday, after trying for 11 hours to get through on telephone lines. The cousin, whom Agopian had met for the first time in June, told him that he felt the temblor but that his house was not damaged.

Only a small number of people in the 2,500-family congregation know others in the quake-stricken area. But even those who don’t have family or friends there say they still feel close to the victims.

“Regardless of whether we have relatives there or not, we feel they are our brothers and sisters,” church treasurer Vasken Najarian said.