AJR68: Joint Resolution Text

LRB-3783/2

PJD:kmg:kjf

2001 - 2002 LEGISLATURE

2001 Assembly JOINT RESOLUTION 68

October 17, 2001 - Introduced by Representatives Plale, Ladwig, Turner, J. Lehman, Kreuser, Steinbrink, Stone, Richards, Starzyk, Owens, Staskunas, Jeskewitz, McCormick, Sykora, Freese and Gundrum, cosponsored by Senators Plache, Burke, Wirch, Grobschmidt and Rosenzweig. Referred to Committee on Rules.

AJR68,1,1 Relating to: the 1,700th anniversary of Armenian Christianity.

AJR68,1,5 Whereas, in the first century after the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Armenia was evangelized through the missionary efforts of His Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, and the seeds of Christian faith were sown in the land; and

AJR68,1,8 Whereas, in the year 301 A.D., by the grace of God and through the efforts of St. Gregory the Illuminator and King Tiridates, Armenia became the first nation in human history to adopt Christianity as its state religion; and

AJR68,1,12 Whereas, the Armenian people cherish the memory of St. Gregory, a witness to the Christian faith who overcame persecution and torture at the hands of pagans, through whom the Eternal Truth of Christianity was revealed to King Tiridates and the Armenian royal family; and

AJR68,1,15 Whereas, after his conversion and baptism, Tiridates and St. Gregory traveled throughout the country building churches and preaching the new faith to the people, as a result of which Christianity took firm root in Armenia; and

AJR68,2,5 Whereas, in the year 406, the monk St. Mesrob Mashdotz, with the support of Catholicos Sahag and King Vramshabuh, devised a unique phonetic alphabet for the Armenian language with which the Holy Bible and other religious texts were rendered into Armenian, so that the tenets of Christianity could be taught to the people; and

AJR68,2,8 Whereas, the 5th century Armenian translation of the Bible is so beautifully rendered and so faithful to the earliest exemplars that it has been termed the "Queen of Translations" by biblical scholars; and

AJR68,2,12 Whereas, in the year 451 A.D., an invasion from Persia which threatened to return Armenia to pagan worship was heroically resisted by St. Vartan Mamigonian who, with 1,036 comrades, was martyred for the sake of Christ on the field of Avarayr; and

AJR68,2,16 Whereas, in 484 A.D., the Armenians finally achieved victory over the Persians in the first war fought in defense of Christianity, and signed the Treaty of Nvarsak which allowed them to worship freely according to the tenets of the Christian faith; and

AJR68,2,20 Whereas, the exquisitely beautiful and divinely inspired artistic creations of the Armenian Church in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, liturgical music, and sacred literature comprise a permanent and noteworthy contribution of the Armenians to world culture; and

AJR68,2,23 Whereas, the Armenian people have remained steadfast in their Christian faith throughout the past 1,700 years, despite martyrdom, persecution, massacres, and genocide in Turkey, and official atheism in the Soviet Union; and

AJR68,2,25 Whereas, for the past 1,700 years, the Armenian Apostolic Church has been the unshakeable anchor of the Armenian people throughout the world; and

AJR68,3,4 Whereas, in the past half century the Armenian Apostolic Church, as an autocephalous branch of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, has played a leading role in international ecumenical dialogue that seeks to reconcile Christian denominations throughout the world; and

AJR68,3,8 Whereas, Armenians began arriving in America as early as 1619, bringing with them their faith and love of God, and, beginning in 1898, established numerous churches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, where they could worship freely according to their tradition; and

AJR68,3,12 Whereas, for over a century, Armenians fleeing religious and political persecution have sought refuge in Wisconsin, where they have lived in freedom, practiced their faith, and contributed to the progress of this state in every field of endeavor; and

AJR68,3,14 Whereas, the year 2001 represents the 1,700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity by the Armenian nation; and

AJR68,3,19 Whereas, on October 13, 2001, the 4 parishes of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Wisconsin, Holy Resurrection of South Milwaukee, St. Mesrob of Racine, St. Hagop of Racine, and St. John the Baptist of Greenfield, will celebrate the Feast of the Holy Translators, through whose efforts the Armenian nation was evangelized; now, therefore, be it

AJR68,3,23 Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the Wisconsin legislature designates October 13, 2001, as "Armenian Christianity Day," to be observed by all citizens of Wisconsin as homage to the 1,700-year Christian heritage of the Armenian people.

AJR68,3,24 (End)