Igreja Armenia Sao Jorge - São Paulo

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     There are a lot of pluses and minuses of business travel. The major plus for me was to get to see many parts of the world especially Latin America. I got to travel business or first class, we stayed in great hotels, and frequented fabulous restaurants. I visited the richest, poorest, and certainly most industrial parts of the major cities in Latin America. I made many friends and learned about the unique cultures of these countries that we Americans sometimes tend to lump into one large south of the Rio Grande category. The major minus was that I was travelling for business and not tourism. Therefore, in most places, I did much less tourism than I would have liked.
     I have done very little tourism in Brazil. All of my trips were to Sao Paulo, for example, were fly in and out, with most of my time spent in factories, warehouses, and offices. I did make friends with an Armenian fellow, Artur Der Haroutunian, who took me to an Armenian Restaurant and had me over his house for his son’s birthday. I had not been to a soccer game, Rio, the Amazon, the beaches, and any place tourists might want to go and see in this vast country.
     In my many trips to Sao Paulo, I always would pass by an Armenian Church on the way into the city for the airport. I recognized it immediately as an Armenian Church the first

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time I say it. On each successive trip, in passing by it again and again, I wanted to visit the church… just because it is Armenian. As I always say, being Armenian is closer to being a large club or fraternity than a small nationality. Because of this, we stop and engage when we hear the language or see an Armenian church that is not in Armenia or Los Angeles. This being said, I never did visit the church. Mostly, it was because I was never here on a Sunday which would have been the logical and most convenient day to visit a church.
     On this trip, with the School of Business of North Park University, I am here for ten days, as a tourist, and over a Sunday. Perfect. I would finally have my chance to visit the Armenian Church that I had passed by so often. As the trip neared, I went online to try to find the address and email of the church and clergy. I did find a website for Sao Jorge (St. George) and the photo was of the church the one I wanted. They had an inquiry email address that I sent an email to… and never got an answer.
      I asked our priest in Chicago, Very Reverend Ghevont Pentezian, to see he could get

me better contact information for the clergy. He, obviously being younger and more resourceful than I, found Bishop Nareg Berberian on Facebook. We both wrote him, he graciously responded, and I found myself getting into an Uber at 10 am to get to the mass which started at 10:30.
     What a beautiful church! The stained glass windows were both vibrant and exquisite, the paintings that adorned the church were very well done and quite special, the ceiling was elegantly frescoed. As it was Lent and the curtain was closed, only the Etchmiadzinesque top of the altar was showing. It is an impressive sanctuary and well worth the wait.

     The service was a typical Armenian mass or badarak meaning beautiful, ceremonial, and on the long side.  The sermon and announcements were, not surprisingly, in Portuguese while everything else was in Armenian.  The choir was in the loft in the back of the sanctuary and did a wonderful job with the Ekmalian hymns.
     The church was full as well which was a delight to see. I got to meet the Bishop after the mass and also met some other lovely Paulista Armenians. It was a real pleasure to be here as a tourist and finally get Sao Jorge.