No doubt, all of our Armenians are sincere about their political and religious convictions.  
And, no doubt, many among us also consider ourselves a part of America’s mainstream.  
And, of course, the dregs of discrimination have dissipated dramatically since our people 
started coming to America after the 1915 massacres.  Speaking from an Armenian 
perspective, this has also given way to assimilation which in turn has thwarted us from 
holding onto some of our inbred customs.   


As to our past, how many among us are left who experienced the hardships of those early 
years when our people first came to America three generations ago?   From what I 
remember of my childhood, it wasn’t a ‘cake-walk’.   There were no jobs to speak of, and 
for those who were fortunate to find work, they were of the types paying the lowest 
wages, hardest labor, and longest hours.  And as far as America was concerned, our 
people soon became known as Starving Armenians and, for the most part, they were 
looked on as undesirable foreigners.


America’s streets weren’t paved with gold as they were told and climbing out of 
America’s poverty class was no easy job either.   They didn’t understand the host culture, 
they didn’t speak the language, and they were looked down on.  But thanks to desperation 
and their heroic make-up, along with the ever-improving laws of the land, coupled of 
course with the help of some fraternal and evangelical organizations who were aware of 
the 1915 Genocide and the plight of our people, they survived.  Overall, it took about a 
generation and World War II, but they finally put the term Starving Armenians behind 
them.


Meantime, as though all of their sufferings and losses during the massacres weren’t 
enough, there were many short-sighted politicals with unresolved issues among them and 
this eventually triggered the murder of an Archbishop, which in turn divided their 
religiously one churches and communities in two.

												
Today, the only remaining scar left over from our first generation Armenian past are our 
divided churches and communities throughout North America.  And even though there is 
more inter-relation between today’s religiously one but administratively divided 
Armenian churches, the walls of separation are still there.    And since reunification may 
threaten the present-day positions among some of our religious hierarchy, they 
condescendingly submit to non-religious divisive influences knowing beyond any 
question of doubt, that what they are allowing is not Christian much less according to the 
mandates of our 1,700 year old Armenian Apostolic faith.


Since 1984, I have made my feelings public about the 68 year old division of our 
Armenian churches and communities.  Accordingly, I have not been attending church 
services since that time.  However, I occasionally attend christenings, marriages, and 
funeral services in an Armenian church, but this is only out of my respect for the many 
families and friends whom I know and who are involved.  And even though I still have 
some affinity left for our Armenian Apostolic faith, I can not bring myself to be a part of 
it while power-seeking political factions and non-religious influences use it to further 
their non-religious ambitions.


From time to time, family members and friends have called me gorsuvudz (lost).  And to 
tell the truth, this saddens me, not because I feel gorsuvudz, but because I feel that the 
Armenian Church I was once dedicated to and involved in is gorsuvudz.


Joseph Vosbikian