Page 160 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

Social Action 161

Armenian diaspora: the focus
of the Church's diakonia

While social service remained an area of
pivotal concern and active involvement for
the Church at all times, the historical circum-
stances and changing needs of our people
determined the priorities of the Church's
social ministry. After the fall of the Armenian
Kingdom in Cilicia, the social engagement of
the Armenian Church became limited in the
Ottoman, Persian and Russian Empires, and
later in Soviet Armenia because of restric-
tions imposed on religious activities. In the
diaspora, the situation was quite different.
After the genocide, the massive deportations
and dispersion of the Armenians deepened
the crucial urgency of diakonia, at the same
time considerably changing its priorities and
enlarging its parameters. The needs were
many in number and multiform in nature,
particularly in the communities of the Middle
East. Because these communities were made
up of the survivors of the genocide, they
were dominated by the presence of large
numbers of orphans, widows, and people
without homes and jobs.
In the midst of uncertainty and despair,
the Church concentrated on building a strong
community, both through its short-term and
long-term programs and its construction and
developmental projects. It built new parish