Modern Saint of Family Unity
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 17 May 2010
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
Ascetical writers tell us that God is so great that He created billions of people each one with a unique personality that they cannot be duplicated. Besides, they add saying that God gave to each person at least one talent that makes that individual superior to the rest of the human race. In other words, each one of us is so important that we cannot ever be duplicated. Our main job in life is to help ourselves, as well as our children and friends, to discover this one superior talent we received as to use it to help change the world for the better.
Deeply Spiritual Man
Dr. Zareh Seropian who passed away recently in Lebanon was a very kind person. He was soft-spoken and viewed all the people of the world without exception as his genuine brothers and sisters. He was born on May 15, 1945 and he was Lebanese by nationality of Armenian origin. His education was quite extensive. He studied at the Armenian Theological University from where he got his Doctor of Divinity degree. Among other achievements he secured a graduate diploma in political studies and in photographic arts and painting.
He was quite fluent in Armenian, Arabic, English and French. Since 1967, Dr. Seropian worked as art director of photography and cinematography. He felt great interest in the welfare of his family members and friends at a very early age. He developed a special appreciation for fine paintings and fine music. After he married in 1972 he began to import and export business that related to photography and art materials. But his greatest desire was always to make substantial contributions toward the promotion of peace and harmony.
As he grew older, Dr. Seropian had four children that enabled him to understand clearly family needs. In the process of raising his family, he continued his studies in theology and later became bishop of the first Armenian Church of the Holy Trinity. Following this event, he proceeded to give free seminars and he revealed a special care for newly weds and the sick even paying his own money for such humanitarian causes. He lost his wife when the oldest of the children was 16 and the youngest was merely 2 years old.
In raising his children single handedly he proved to be not only a good father but a good mother as well. He led a very good Christian life loving everyone and forgiving anyone that might have done him harm. Besides, he proved to be a very good teacher who was deeply loved by everyone who knew him. By nature he was very altruistic and his primary concern was to make everyone he comes across feeling good and happy. Needless to say, he became involved in several humanitarian causes.
World Peace Ambassador
Dr. Zareh Seropian will be known mostly not by his academic and social achievements but by his kindness and dedication to others especially to those in dire need. To this end, he became involved with the International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP) which is a Non Governmental Organization of the United Nations with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). He became this organization’s World Peace Ambassador and participated in the IAEWP World Peace Congress in Malaysia before he passed away.
Needless to say, his son, Dr. Varant Seropian, will continue to promote everywhere the noble spiritual legacy of his father. He is the IAEWP National Chancellor of Lebanon, where he formed a good National Chapter to help implement the IAEWP goals and objectives, which may be summarized as follows: 1) promotion of international understanding and world peace through education, 2) environment protection from air and water pollution, 3) safeguard of human rights, as well as 4) disarmament and development of the human resources for constructive purposes.
All those who knew him well over the past few decades always tended to see Dr. Zareh Seropian as the Modern Saint of Family Unity. Based on the actions he performed he could not receive a better title that proves to be so true to his life and so highly significant. In view of what has been stated, it has been found very appropriate to establish a new peace award that may be given to those who proved to be so much devoted to family life and unity. It will be known as the Zareh Seropian Family Unity Award.
Those who are interested to learn more about this outstanding holy man of peace and harmony are free to communicate with his son, Dr. Varant Seropian, who lives in Antelias in Lebanon. His e-mail is: iaewp-un@live.com This good son of his has inherited from his beloved and kind father a lot of spiritual qualities that are so essential for all of us to promote world peace through love and harmony. Dr. Zareh Seropian had been blessed with unique spiritual talents that he used so well during his lifetime.
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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
-President, International Association of Educators for World Peace, Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
-Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 17 May 2010.
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