www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Prayer Grateful Birth Announcement

Dear Brethren in Christ,

It is with inexpressible joy from the depths of my heart that I announce to you all the birth of our beloved son, Thomas. He was born on August the ninth and has the most common of all birth defects known as Down Syndrome. He has a further birth defect which necessitated his transfer to Children's Hospital to determine the cause of his inability to move his bowels. This inability caused his stomach to swell up so much that he had difficulty breathing due to the added pressure on his lungs (in addition to some other related problems). After a series of tests, it was confirmed that he has another not too uncommon birth defect called Hirshsprung's. This means a section of his intestines do not have the nerves needed to allow him to normally move his bowels which leads to obstructions. Therefore on Monday morning (the fifth day of his life) he underwent surgery to determine how extensive was the portion of intestines without the needed nerves. I'm grateful to be able to say that the bad intestines were not extensive and Thomas' surgery to remove them and reconnect the good ones was a success. He still has to have a bowel movement before my wife can begin nursing him for the first time. If all goes very well, we may have him home by this weekend: Shnorhagalem Asdvadz eem! (Thank you my God). Everyone's prayers are greatly appreciated.
Those who have known me for a while know what pride I take in announcing the origin and meaning of the names of my children. It will be no different with my greatly loved Thomas. Time will not allow me to do this as elaborately as I usually do. So I will give you all the short version and then, Lord willing, when Thomas is safe and at home, I will send you, as Paul Harvey says, �the rest of the story.�
In choosing his name we took the advice of an ancient father of the Church, Saint John Chrysostom (A.D. 344-407) who said, �Let us afford our children from the first an incentive to goodness from the name that we give them. Let none of us hasten to call his children after his forebears, his father and mother and grandfather and grandmother, but rather after the righteous - martyrs, bishops, apostles. Let one be called Peter, another John, another bear the name of one of the saints. Let the names of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children.� Here is an explanation of our son's name:

THOMAS:
Everyone who knows me well, knows that my grandmother Florence was like a mother to me from childhood, supplementing love and care for me on behalf of my unselfish mother who had to work because she was a single mother. My grandmother had a brother (who was my great uncle) who's name was Thomas. He was the one who when he first met me said, �he's just a little guy.� From that point on, growing up, my other name was �little guy.� My grandmother loved him very deeply and he loved her as well. She was very pleased to hear that we were considering someday naming a baby by this name. He always was very loving and kind to me and a dear, dear man. Thus our �little guy� now bears this name which happens to be the name of a very great Saint as well.
Many today remember Thomas the Apostle as �Doubting-Thomas.� Being unfamiliar with Church history and left with the Bible alone they unfortunately do not know �the rest of the story.� Thomas indeed had moments of doubt but also moments of fearless heroic faith (St. Jn. 11:16). When, after the Resurrection, our Lord appeared to him and invited him to examine his scars of crucifixion, Saint Thomas was the one who gave the magnificent confession, �MY LORD AND MY GOD� testifying both to the lordship and divinity of Jesus Christ (St. Jn 20:24-29). This has been the faith of the Church ever since.
This much is in the Gospels but history does not stop there and neither did Saint Thomas. This once doubter turned from his unbelief to go on to evangelize perhaps farther than any other Apostle of Christ. He evangelized almost exclusively outside of the bounds of the Roman Empire and ultimately went to the Indian people in the far East! Thus Christians who are part of the ancient Church of that region are -to this day- known as �St. Thomas Christians.� Ancient sources also reveal that Saint Thomas spent many years evangelizing the Syriac people of Osroene, and made many trips to Armenia before going on to the Persians -which regions were enroute to India by land travel. Not only this but this so-called �doubter� gave the ultimate witness, showing that his faith was far beyond any of us who today would dare call him a �doubter.� He did this by confessing Christ to the point of shedding his own blood in martyrdom. He was martyred by being speared to death by Indian Hindu priests. They did this because of their fear of his great success in converting Indians to the Orthodox Christian Faith. Thus this �doubter� was turned a �martyr� and we know him no longer as �Doubting Thomas� but rather as Saint Thomas.
Valerie and I pray that we, like St. Thomas, will turn all of our fears and doubts over to our Lord and have a similar heroic faith in Him. We know that our own Thomas is one of the greatest gifts the Lord could ever give us. We accept this great gift from God and will trust Him to allow Thomas our son, to teach us how to become true Christians just as the Apostle Thomas did for the peoples of Osroene, Persia, Armenia and India.

CYRIL:
St. Cyril of Alexandria (for whom Thomas is named) was one of the most influential theologians in the history of the catholic Church. He is recognized as one of our twelve Great Doctors of the Armenian Church. His explanation of Christology (our belief on who Jesus Christ is) has shaped the Church's dogma ever since he presided over the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 (a feast we celebrated last Saturday). This Council effectively put an end to the Nestorian heresy. Nestorius taught the heresy that in Christ was two persons and he also refused to refer to St. Mary as �Theotokos� or �Bearer of God� (Arm. = Asdvadz-a-zdeen) essentially denying that Christ was truly Divine. Instead, Nestorius insisted that St. Mary was only the Mother of Christ (Christo-tokos) or the mother of the man Jesus (Anthropo-tokos).
St. Cyril's reply for Nestorius was �Who� did St. Mary give birth too... �Who!�? This holy hierarch wisely pointed out to Nestorius that St. Mary did not give birth to just a NATURE but rather, she gave birth to a PERSON (St. Jn. 1:1-14). That Person is Christ our Lord. Christ is Divine, and therefore St. Mary gave birth to a Divine Person. As St. Cyril rhetorically asked: WHO IS CHRIST? The answer is: He is God's only-begotten Son and therefore of the same nature with Him. He is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Therefore St. Mary is the holy �God-bearer� or �Mother of God� since He whom she bore was, and is, Divine.
When Nestorius insisted on defiantly promoting his heresy in the Church, it was St. Cyril who, in 431 AD, presided over the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus. It was his wisdom which prevailed and the Holy Fathers of Ephesus unanimously recognized the truth about Christ and condemned Nestorius.
�During the remainder of his life St. Cyril wrote treatises that clarified the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation and that helped prevent Nestorianism and Pelagianism from taking long-term deep root in the Christian community. He was the mot brilliant theologian of the Alexandrian tradition and highly revered by the Church of Armenia. Accurate thinking, precise exposition, and great reasoning and skill characterize his writings. The Armenian and other Ancient Orthodox Churches profess Cyril�s famous Christological statement, �One nature incarnate of God the Word� [Grk. mia physis tou Theou Logou sesarkomene]. This statement re-enforced the universal Church�s dogma articulated through Holy Scripture, earlier Church synods and writings of the Church Fathers that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man in one nature and one person.� (from the AOTRI Domar).
I was blessed during this pregnancy to experience the genius of St. Cyril by reading his work �On the Unity of Christ� as part of my ongoing theological preparation for the subdiaconate. I encourage anyone who wants to experience St. Cyril�s depth of teaching to read this little book. Finally, the name �Cyril� comes from the Greek �Kyrios� which means �the Lord.� This will be a reminder to us that our son Thomas is our special gift from the Lord.

GHEVONT:
My Armenian great-grandfather was known by the English name �Lewis.� It has been explained to me by people who knew him that this was just an anglicized equivalent for his real name �Levont� which is pronounced �Ghevont� in Armenian. My father was given the name Lewis as his middle name and then it was passed on to me because I am his junior. Thus in giving our son the middle name �Ghevont� I mean to honor my own father, William Lewis, who is a man deeply committed to our Lord Jesus Christ and a good example for me as a Christian husband and father.
Saint Ghevont was a priest of the Armenian Church in the fifth century. He was a primary spiritual leader in the Armenian resistance against the Persian overlords who ordered Armenia to apostatize from the Christian faith or die. Persia, for political reasons, wanted Armenia to return to the pagan religion of Mazdaism (or fire worship) which they formerly held in common. St. Vartan Mamigonian, the great General who led the Armenian military resistance, replied to the powerful �King of Kings� of Persia with the following words which captured the entire spirit of this great battle and campaign for religious freedom called �Vartanantz�:

"Our religion is not like a garment that we might change according to the circumstances; it is part and parcel of our bones and blood and personality... we serve you loyally in your army and pay you taxes faithfully if you leave us alone in the matter of religion. If you try to force your will upon us we are ready to suffer, and to be tortured and even to die. However, you should know in advance that there is no power on earth which can force us to change our religion because our covenant is not with man but with the Almighty God."

�The Persians countered this boldness with a heavy hand. They sent to Armenia a huge army of some 220,000 strong, to crush the resistance and to convert the country to paganism by force. In 451 A.D. on the field of Avarayr (rhymes with fire), near mount Ararat, a band of 66,000 semi-trained and poorly equipped Armenian fighters, under the leadership of Vartan Mamigonian, their commander in chief, stood waiting for the invading army of Persians.
�The day before the battle, the Armenian soldiers spent the night in prayer and devotion. The entire army prayed and took Holy Communion. The head of the Church, Catholicos Hovsep (Joseph), was there together with his clergy. The priest Ghevont (Leontius), the most zealous among the clergy, together with Vartan Mamigonian, encouraged the soldiers with inspiring words.
�Towards the morning of a Saturday they heard, and dimly saw, the approaching Persian army [who even used elephants]. The clash of the two armies was fierce, with swords glittering and blood running profusely. The Armenians inflicted great losses on the enemy. In this battle which lasted only one day, and in the subsequent guerrilla wars, 1036 Armenians fell, against the Persian loss of 3544 soldiers. The battle of Avarayr came to an end with the fall of Vartan the brave. The Armenians, seeing that they were left without a commander, withdrew to their castles and inaccessible mountains to carry on a guerrilla war.
�In this battle Vartan and his comrades suffered a military defeat but in reality the victory was theirs. They lost the battle but in the end they won the war and attained their aim for which they were fighting. The Persians eventually stopped their scheme of converting the country to their religion, when they realized how steadfast the Armenians were in their faith and convictions. Their defeat became a moral victory.
�Some thirty years later, a nephew of Vartan, Vahan Mamigonian, brought this religious resistance to a successful end, even from the military standpoint; he dictated his simple terms to the Persians: a) full religious freedom, b) home rule for the country, and c) replacement of corrupt officers with men of dependable character.
�The Armenians still hold what the Vartanians were fighting for: their Christian faith and heritage. The Persians lost what they were trying to impose upon Armenians, their own religion, because they were themselves converted later to Islam.� (from Armenian Saints and Sacraments).
We pray that our Thomas, like St. Ghevont and his Grandpa William Lewis, will love the Lord Jesus Christ to the fullest of his ability.

GARABED:
The name Garabed was the real Armenian name of my above mentioned great grandfather�s brother. In English he was known as �Charles.� My grandmother always told me what a good man and loving husband he was. I also have a long time, faithful friend named Garabed. Finally, I have a beloved pastor who�s given name upon priestly ordination is also Garabed. He has been such a dear spiritual father and guide to me, especially now in our moment of need, I would like to honor him by naming our son with his name. May God bless Fr. Garabed for his dedicated service to Him, as I know He will.
Garabed is the Armenian word meaning �forerunner.� This is a title for St. John the Baptist because it was prophesied in the Old Testament by St. Isaiah the Prophet that such a one would come before the Christ: �Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.� St. John the Baptist was that forerunner and messenger who prepared the way for Christ. If interested, here is an explanation of his significance to the Orthodox Churches from the Orthodox Study Bible:

�John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins� (Mark 1:4). John the Baptist plays a crucial role in the history of salvation. Chosen before his birth to be the herald and forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:13-17), he knew his Lord from the beginning. Luke writes of the miraculous conception of John (Luke 1:24). He then records that when the Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth, who was then six months pregnant with John the Baptist, the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaped at the sound of Mary's voice (Luke 1:41).
�Jesus taught that John fulfilled the prophecy of the return of Elijah (Matt. 11:14), who was to precede the Messiah as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD'" (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23).
�Shortly before Jesus began His public ministry, John went out to the wilderness of Jordan to prepare the way for the Messiah. He carried out his prophetic role with a brotherhood of disciples characterized by: (1) repentance in expectation of the Kingdom, (2) baptism for forgiveness of sins, (3) bearing the fruit of righteousness, and (4) spiritual discipline. John himself lived by an ascetic rule of poverty and fasting; in fact, he may have been a lifelong Nazirite (see Luke 1:15; Num. 6). His eyes were set not on the body and its desires but upon Christ the Lord, and this influence was widespread (see Mark 11:32; Luke 7:29; Acts 18:25; 19:1-7).
�John prophesied that the Messiah was coming, One immeasurably greater than himself, "whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose" (Mark 1:7). This One would baptize not only with water but with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). When Jesus appeared before him to be baptized, John was humbled, realizing he himself was in need of being baptized by the Messiah, Jesus (Matt. 3:14). But Jesus knew what was fitting "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15), and John obeyed. Thus came the event so familiar in Orthodox icons: Christ in the Jordan, being baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descending on Him in the form of a dove. The Father's voice from heaven declares, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17).
�John's work was crucial to Jesus' ministry. Jesus considered John's testimony important not because Jesus, the Son of God, needed to be validated by any human witness but because the people's acceptance of John as a godly man prepared them to accept Jesus as well (John 5:33-35). Jesus' first disciples came from John's brotherhood (John 1:35-39), and the vacancy in the apostolic college was filled by one who had been John's follower (Acts 1:21, 22).
�John the Baptist died a martyr for Christ (Mark 6:24-29). The Orthodox Church commemorates him in special hymns every Tuesday, as well as on designated feast days throughout the year.�
I would only add that next to St. Mary the Immaculate Bearer of God, there is no one more recognized as an intercessor on our behalf among the Orthodox Churches than is St. John the Forerunner. A very ancient Icon, common throughout the Eastern Churches, depicts this truth by showing Christ enthroned on His judgment seat with St. Mary standing on his right and St. John the Forerunner standing on his left interceding on our behalf. It has always been the conviction of the ancient Churches that the Saints in heaven know of our plight here on earth and pray to the Lord on our behalf just as is alluded to in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John the Apostle (6:9-11).
In the Church�s Resurrection hymns and writings it is also noted that the Holy Forerunner went before our Lord into death descending into Hades. Even there he continued his mission of �preparing the way� by announcing to all the righteous the news of their imminent release. He proclaimed to them that Christ was coming to leed them captive out of captivity (Eph. 4:7-10).
It is also fitting that Thomas� future godfather, who is a beloved deacon in our parish, has the first name �Ovhannes� which is Armenian for �John.� Thus we ask that St. John the Forerunner (Soorp Hovhannes Garabed) will intercede for us and especially pray for the protection of our little guy, Thomas. We ask that you all too keep him (and us all) in your prayers. Thomas is blessed to have a bunch of brother�s and sisters who can�t wait to have him home so that they can smother him with love. :-) Thank you all for your prayers, this means so much.

Trusting in Christ's Light,
Wm. Der-Ghazarian

Prayers for little Thomas and his loving parents and family...

james

Welcome to this precious much loved child

May his Guardian Angel continue to look after Thomas during his say in Hospital and be with him when he comes home to his family.

Dear William,

Prayers for your newborn son, Thomas, and that the Lord will remove his burdens and bless him. May he be a joy to his parents, brothers and sisters. May he be able to soon be home wih his loving family, and experience the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and may our Lord grant him health and many years!

God grant many years to this growing, loving Christian family.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

PS You will also now have to update your family website to include Thomas in it as soon as he is well enough to be photographed.

Theosis comes in many ways. I pray that Thomas, gift of God, will show forth God to you and to all people he meets over the time of his life. I pray for many years to Thomas and his parents.

CDL

Prayers for Thomas and all the family.

Shalom,
Memo

Christ our God, bless your child Thomas and all his family.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Be assured Thomas and the rest of the family are in my prayers.

God bless!

P

May our Blessed Lady Theotokos protect you all with her veil of protection and and may she interceed for you and your family always, granting you abundant peace, happiness and love.

May God bless you and your wife, and may He bless your precious little boy Thomas.

With much love in Jesus Christ,
Alice

Dearest Lord Jesus,

May you always look after and bless this little boy Thomas. May he become his parents greatest blessing, and may his life bring joy to all that come in contact with him. May Your Glory shine through his pure and innocent smile...always!

Zenovia

So wonderful is the love of God for this tiny little creatin of his. May God grant your little Thomas much joy and happiness throughout his life. Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, dear Lady, may our Sweet Lord pour an abundance of grace upon this family that they continue to see the glory of God in their lives and all those he sends to them for love.

Bill, my beloved friend and brother,

Congratulations to you and Valerie. My prayers for young Thomas, that he grow strong and healthy, watched over and interceded for in Heaven by his Great-Grand-Uncle Thomas, of blessed memory. Prayers also for Valerie and you and your beautiful family [geocities.com] , Thomas' brothers and sisters, whom I'm sure eagerly await his homecoming to their loving embraces.

Many years,

Neil

William and Valeria,

Prayers for Thomas, that the Lord will bless him at all times, and that He will bless you and your entire family. May the Lord God grant to each of you many years in peace, health and blessedness.

Admin John

Blessings of peace and joy to your family.
Amen to all the good wishes here.
CS
(And welcome back to Neil!)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Thanks so much for your posts, congratulations and prayers. Thomas is still having his ups and downs (yesterday was a down). He is moving his bowels well but is not really eating. He's still being fed through I.V.'s. So we are not sure when we might be able to bring him home. Your continued prayers are appreciated and a great source of strength to us. I'll keep you posted.

Trusting in Christ's Light,
Wm. Ghazar