In the scope of the project “Family environment and community services for children of Armenia” project public awareness campaign - In the framework of our partnership with the Child Support Center of the Fund for Armenian Relief, we have come up with a concept/format that was more effective for awareness campaign among some target groups about the fostering in Armenia. We have adapted the story of the forgotten tradition of foster care for children in Armenia. In the scope of the campaign, we collaborated with artist Asya Ghandilyan.
Centuries ago, there was a small town in Armenia where big and small families lived with their daily worries.
In large families, grandparents, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren lived under one roof. Everyone knew each other and lived peacefully. People went to Mass every Sunday and asked God for blessings in their prayers.
There were also children without parents in the community for various reasons. travel, illness, death...
The church took those children under its roof and took care of them, giving words of comfort.
One Sunday, the priest addresses the people who came to the service and says:
- All of you are decent and hardworking people, caring parents and grateful children. You know that there are children in our community who, unfortunately, lost their parents and found shelter in the church. They have nowhere else to go. The church takes care of them, feeding them so they don't go hungry, providing them with a warm place so they don't get cold. But these children need a family: a home and a place, parents, siblings, just as, with God's blessing, your children have.
The priest's speech was interrupted one by one by loud reflections of the gathered.
- Poor children, what a sin! How will they live alone in this difficult world?
- To whom will they tell their pain and suffering, from whom will they take an example?
The priest continues.
- We decided to offer to become the spiritual parents of these children of several princely families who enjoy respect and honor in our city.
Hearing this, those gathered in the church are first confused, looking at each other, whispering in each other's ear.
"So, did we get it right, and is that a good idea? Would anyone agree..."
Suddenly a man's voice is heard.
- Lord father, my family is ready to accept one child and we will take care of him as we take care of our own children.
He looks at his wife, who was silently but proudly looking around, listening to her husband's words. It was obvious from her silent attitude that she agreed with her husband. The husband continues.
- What is the child's fault for being alone? When the parents who gave birth to the child are gone, it is the duty of each of us to take on the role of parent. The people say: I will add a glass of water to the meal, it doesn't matter, both we and that child will live with God. The man's calm and confident speech surprises many.
The priest calls this brave man and his wife to the altar. He also calls one of the children who used to sit at the entrance of the church almost every day and look dreamily at the parents hurrying to the mass with their children.
The priest asks the woman and the child to stand close to each other, then he throws a wide shirt made of white sheet over them, prays and grants them the blessing of the church. Then the man, under the holy cross, lifts his shirt and takes the child in his arms.
After that ceremony, the priest calls them soul parents and soul children, that is, people who have become parents and children by their choice and faith.
During the following weeks and months, there were no more children left in the city who found refuge in the church, because every Sunday a family and a child were united by a special church ritual already accepted, becoming soul parents and soul children.
It was an honor for the believers to be chosen by the priest as a soul parent.
At the end of every liturgy, the priest asked for God's mercy and graces for the parents and families who welcomed a spiritual child into their hearth.
This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. The priest who spread welfare among the people was Nerses the Great, one of the celebrated saints of the Holy Apostolic Church. The name of the family that first took care of the orphaned child has not been preserved in the pages of history. However, thanks to this tradition, there have been no children left without families in Armenia for hundreds of years. There were only diocesan schools for educating children.
Although the ceremony itself has undergone changes, it is currently known among the followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Baptism Rite, and the spiritual and soul-giving rites are still alive today.