Rev. Deacon Asadur Minasian (right) with Bishop Mikael Mouradian at his ordination to the diaconate in September. Posted on 12/19/2021 4:48:39 AM PST by Cronos
Rev. Deacon Asadur Minasian (right) with Bishop Mikael Mouradian at his ordination to the diaconate in September.
The Armenian Catholic Church in America is about to make history again when it ordains the second married priest in its history. Officially known as the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States of America and Canada, it was created in 1981 by Pope John Paul II as the local jurisdiction over the region’s Armenian Catholic churches. While the notion of a married Catholic priest may sound contradictory, Asadur Minasian of St. Mark’s Church in Wynnewood outside Philadelphia will soon join the rare ranks of married Catholic priests.
One of the best-known disciplines of the Roman Catholic Church is that of clerical celibacy, which in its traditional meaning refers to priests remaining unmarried. What’s less known is that priestly celibacy is a discipline rather than a doctrine, meaning it is not universal. Within the global Catholic Church are the Eastern Rite Churches, which are in full communion with the Pope of Rome and yet maintain their own traditions. As such, the Armenian Catholic Rite, like the Armenian Apostolic Church, allows for its priests to be married, though until recently the Vatican confined the practice to each rite’s “traditional territories,” which did not include the United States or Canada.
The recent change to this rule opened new opportunities for married Armenian Catholics there who felt a calling to the priesthood but had been unable to pursue it. The first was Father Richard Shackil, a lifelong member of Sacred Heart Armenian Catholic Church in Little Falls, New Jersey, who was ordained in 2017. The second will be Asadur Minasian, who was born in 1971 to parents from Istanbul. As Minasian described: “One of the main factors for them leaving Turkey was because they did not want their children to live in a country where Christianity was suppressed. It was exceedingly difficult to be a practicing Catholic in a predominantly Muslim country, and my parents were staunch Catholics.” His parents moved to Philadelphia where they were welcomed into the local Armenian Catholic church St. Mark’s by Monsignor Stephen Stepanian, who had founded the church in 1924. Minasian was born shortly after, and started serving on the altar at the age of five. From a young age, he was inspired by the mass with its beautiful sharagans and felt multiple callings from God to serve the church.
“When you hear the phrase ‘God works in mysterious ways,’ believe it!,” posited Minasian. As an adult, the pieces started to come together one at a time. After meeting his future wife Arpy who was from New York, he learned that not only was she also Catholic, but her father was a lifelong altar-server and an encyclopedia on the badarak. This motivated him to begin learning the roles and responsibilities of the Diaconate under both his father-in-law Hovhaness Voskeridjian and St. Mark’s Jack Zarzatian. He felt a desire to do more, but he also felt an emptiness that the priesthood could not be an option for him. He considered joining a Diaconate program to be ordained a deacon, but being at the cusp of starting a new family, he was advised to take some time to get settled before dedicating himself to that undertaking. “I feel everything happens in its own time, and in fact this gave me the opportunity to learn and grow more,” reflected Minasian. He and Arpy had three children and opened a framing business.
Then came an opportunity that changed everything. In 2014, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Eastern Churches, signed an official decree which opened the way for married men of the Eastern Rites to be ordained outside the traditional territories. Minasian received the blessing of his family and His Excellency Bishop Mikael Mouradian to pursue this path. In 2018, he began his studies for a graduate degree in theology, which he completed last fall. While the pandemic resulted in delays to his ordination first as deacon and now as priest, Minasian has taken it in stride. “I believe things happen for a reason,” he said, “I waited 49 years to get here. I can wait a little longer.”
Finally, the Philadelphia community will gather on Saturday, December 18 for Minasian’s ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Mouradian. It is a particularly joyous moment for St. Mark’s parish, because while it has been well served by visiting pastors over the past years, it will once again have a permanent pastor in place. The Weekly will have continued coverage of the ordination day.
A scene from mass at St. Mark’s in Wynnewood outside Philadelphia.
Not “a church” - “the Church” - this is the Church with the High Priest Jesus.
We have a putz as the bishop of Rome, yeah, but he’ll be gone soon. However the kingdom of heaven, i.e. the Church, will continue - due to the grace of God.
This is quite in contrast to your little modernist interpretation.
A bishop could be married; it’s not an absolute impediment
The Scripture passage in question is not setting up requirements for bishops in the sense that a man chosen to be a Bishop must be married. If that were the case, St. Paul himself could never have been a bishop. What this passage is saying is that a man chosen to be a bishop should not have been married more than once. The fact that the word once is used shows clearly that passage is about limiting something rather than requiring.
Furthermore, to take this passage as literal requirements would mean a candidate for bishop must not only be a father but must also have more than one child, since the passage also says he must keep his “children” (plural) under control. Do you think that a bishop must be then father to at least 2 children, otherwise should not be a bish?
The main point of the passage is found in the last verse: “if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church?” All Paul is trying to say is that a bishop must be someone who has all of his affairs in order, who is a good steward of everything in his care. In the first generation of the Church, the priests came from men who already had families. But, over the years, the Church came to discern that men who were called by God to be celibate were better equipped to handle the demands of being a priest and shepherd of God’s flock.
While all of the Churches before the 16th century have celibate bishops - whether the Assyrian or the Coptic or the Ethiopian or the Orthodox or the Catholic.
someone has to.
Completely ignoring
Matthew 19:12 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”And
Rev 14:4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from mankind as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.And
1 Corinthians 71 Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: “It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman,...
6 This I say by way of concession,[d] however, not as a command. 7 Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God,[e] one of one kind and one of another....<
. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
The 73 books of scripture are God inspired words, not the complete Word of God - that is Jesus alone.
btw, if you followed Jesus, you would hold at least to the Lutheran concept of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Why don't you?
I don't want to tar our "Protestant" brethren with the brush used to reply to these people here
Your ilk did nothing of the sort.
The "genuine Christian faith" as seen in the Didache and the New Testament writings is seen in the way the mass is celebrated - with the Eucharist as the front and core of the worship.
What innovations have you, Luircin, brought in?
you really don't seem to understand that the Word of God is Jesus
If you refer to the 73 books of the Bible, then those were written by multiple authors and they all disagree with the sola scriptura, sola fide point of view
Thanks ZC. I would never imagine I would thank a Noahide for pointing out the nonsense spouted by the modernist sects of daniel1212 et al.
care to post any examples - or you want us to believe that you "read the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic" just on your statement with nothing else?
Interesting - and your fellow writer, Daniel, here, believes that it is just a cracker and not the Body and Blood of the Lord, right Daniel?
So, you must be WELS, then?CHAPTER 9
The Eucharist -- The Cup -- The Bread
1 And concerning the Eucharist, hold Eucharist thus: 2 First concerning the Cup, "We give thanks to thee, our Father, for the Holy Vine of David thy child, which, thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy child; to thee be glory for ever."
3 And concerning the broken Bread: "We give thee thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child. To thee be glory for ever.4 As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains, but was brought together and became one, so let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy Kingdom, for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever."
5 But let none eat or drink of your Eucharist except those who have been baptised in the Lord's Name. For concerning this also did the Lord say, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs."
CHAPTER 10
The final prayer in the Eucharist
1 But after you are satisfied with food, thus give thanks: 2 "We give thanks to thee, O Holy Father, for thy Holy Name which thou didst make to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child. To thee be glory for ever. 3 Thou, Lord Almighty, didst create all things for thy Name's sake, and didst give food and drink to men for their enjoyment, that they might give thanks to thee, but us hast thou blessed with spiritual food and drink and eternal light through thy Child. 4 Above all we give thanks to thee for that thou art mighty. To thee be glory for ever.
5 Remember, Lord, thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in thy love, and gather it together in its holiness from the four winds to thy kingdom which thou hast prepared for it. For thine is the power and the glory for ever. 6 Let grace come and let this world pass away. Hosannah to the God of David. If any man be holy, let him come! if any man be not, let him repent: Maran atha, Amen."
7 But suffer the prophets to hold Eucharist as they will.
Do you agree with the Adventists about soul sleep?
Do you agree with the Oneness Pentecostals that there is no Trinity?
Do you agree with the Baptists that there should be no infant baptism - or disagree with them and agree with the Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists that there should be?
Wow, spam me much? I must have really touched a nerve just with calling you out on your use of strawmen.
Oh, and daniel1212 and I have already discussed our differences at length; your tactic of attempting to sow strife is laughably transparent. And a sin.
History?
Hardly!
1 Corinthians 9:1-5 New King James Version
1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? <--- Wasn't this the first POPE???
I see that MARY is the largest figure on the altar.
--The Typo Police.
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