By a fortuitous calendar coincidence, the Armenian Genocide commemoration on April 24 and Easter are observed around the same time. The metaphor implicit here is too powerful to pass up. We have indeed risen as a nation since the genocidal nation of Turkey brought us close to extinction in 1915.
Yet surviving annihilation is only the first half of the equation. We must still rise to our feet and stand up to our enemies who have not relented in their murderous intent against the Armenian people. Let us turn this April 24, which follows the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, into the day of the rebirth of the Armenian nation, rebuilding the wounded homeland of Armenia and Artsakh and revitalizing the communities around the world, as His Holiness Aram I has called on us to do in this “Year of the Diaspora.”