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Social Action 163

menian orphans, refugees, and needy fami-
lies. They worked closely with both the Ar-
menian Church and Armenian Evangelical
Church; and when they realized that the Ar-
menian churches were in a position to con-
tinue their diaconal ministry on their own,
they transferred their social and humanitar-
ian institutions to them, without any expec-
tations or conditions. I consider this fact of
history an eloquent and exemplary example
of what is called in the ecumenical move-
ment 'inter-church aid' or 'sharing resources.'

Social action: a continuing concern
Social action remains a major and an exis-
tential concern for the Armenian Church.
The following are some of the specific areas
of the diakonia of the Church:
The Birds' Nest, established in 1926 in
Jbeil, Lebanon by the Danish missionary,
Maria Jacobsen, played a determinative part
in gathering and educating thousands of the
orphans of genocide. In 1970 the orphanage
was transferred to the Holy See of Cilicia. It
continues its service to orphans and children
of broken families under the immediate care
and supervision of the Church.
The Home for the Elderly, which was
founded by the Swiss Friends of Armenians
in 1923 in Ghazir, Lebanon and moved in
1946 to Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon, continues