JOURNEYS - BELIEVING IN YOUR DESTINATION; with Guest ASTRID POGHOSYAN
SMITTEN BY FAITH Issue # 0002 14th August 2021
MEET MY GUEST TODAY - THE FIRST OF MARY’S MILLENNIALS -
ASTRID POGHOSYAN FROM ARMENIA
Management Team, Assistant to the President - Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Lead Violinist -The Polymorph Extra
I am truly delighted and honoured to have as our special guest today, the first of Mary’s 80 amazing Millennials from my book, ‘Millennials Meet Mary’. Aside from the fact that Astrid Poghosyan is from Armenia and that ‘A’ is the first letter of the Alphabet, Astrid’s commentary on Journeys and the importance of believing in the destination is a natural point for me to introduce you to Mary’s Millennials, all of whom are as unique and courageous as Astrid. Today, I will share with you below, not just Astrid’s beautiful commentary but also since we are on the subject of journeys, some very interesting vignettes about Astrid’s beloved Armenia !
Founded in 782 BCE, Armenia is certainly one of the oldest countries in Europe (and the world) with a rich and fascinating culture and a highly motivated and prosperous global diaspora. Around 300 CE Armenia was the first country in the world to officially embrace Christianity as a nation; with the early followers of Jesus already converted in the 1st century CE when the Apostles, Bartholomew ( also known as Nathaniel ) and Thaddaeus ( also known Jude ) preached in Armenia. Today, Armenia is a land of thousands of picturesque and beautiful churches and monasteries – at least 4,000 – most of them millennium old ! See below some wonderful pictures from Astrid. To name but a few, there is the oldest Armenian Catholic Church, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, a UNESCO protected site and whose name, ‘Etchmiadzin’ means ‘the Descent of the Only Begotten Son’. Then, there is the Geghard Monastery, a cave monastery where the entire church is carved inside a rock mountain; and the awesome Tatev Monastery, high up in the mountains with its breath-taking panoramic view.
Astrid grew up in historic Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia located by the Hrazdan River and one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. See below some amazing photographs of Armenia which Astrid kindly shares with us.
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia
Geghard Monastery
Tatev Monastery
The historic capital of Yerevan
ASTRID POGHOSYAN is a beautiful Armenian violinist and the first non-Chinese management employee in the 140-year history of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
After graduating from high school in Yerevan, Armenia when she was just 16 years old, she continued her studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as part of a government exchange program. Although Astrid arrived in Shanghai without knowing a word of the Chinese language, in 2017 she was able to successfully defend her Master’s Degree with a 15,000 Chinese-character thesis on the history of Armenian music which later became the world’s first academic paper written fully in Chinese on the subject. Immediately after her graduation she received an offer to work as part of the administration team of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and since 2017 Astrid serves the Orchestra in a diplomatic and managerial capacity as the Assistant to its President. Astrid was the Orchestra’s first foreign management employee and was in the first batch of graduates who were permitted to stay on in China after completing their studies. Her application number under the new visa regime was ‘001’and she found herself suddenly thrust into the public spotlight, appearing on bill-boards and local newspapers. She became the darling of the local media and a focus of much discussion on Chinese social media – all of which Astrid ‘survived’ with grace and aplomb.
Besides music management for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Astrid performs regularly as a lead violinist of the Shanghai-based immersive art collective ‘The Polymorph Extra’ – a group of more than 20 artistes from 15 different countries that present a circuit of art forms with live music accompaniment. Astrid is also a popular television personality recognized for raising awareness of Armenia and its culture amongst Chinese people as well as promoting Chinese Culture to the world. In 2012 she launched a series of charity concerts and activities titled ‘Turn ON Your Heart’ which regularly organizes different cultural activities and concerts for children and adults with autism and other physical disorders. In 2016 she initiated ‘The Power of One Bookshelf’ project, aimed at providing one bookshelf of new books to schools in rural China to help educate and also inspire children to reach their full potential.
For ‘Millennials Meet Mary’, Astrid was kind enough to share her moving thoughts on journeys when she gave her commentary on the painting by the Italian Gothic artist, Gentile Da Fabriano - the ‘Flight into Egypt’.
Gentile da Fabriano 1370-1427; Flight into Egypt; Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence ; Picture – public domain
This masterpiece above by Gentile da Fabriano depicts the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. I had asked Astrid to give me her thoughts on this pivotal moment in the life of the Virgin Mary, when with her baby son Jesus and her husband Joseph, they had to flee for their lives, away from Jerusalem and King Herod who was out to kill the baby Jesus. As part of the Armenian diaspora, Astrid is certainly no stranger to physical journeys. So, here below is Astrid’s Commentary extracted from ‘Millennials Meet Mary’. Astrid tells us how faith features so much in her own pivotal journeys; how she trusts and believes in the destination; just as the Virgin Mary did.
JOURNEYS - BELIEVING IN YOUR DESTINATION
By ASTRID POGHOSYAN
Journeys, trips, flights and roads…are these not the continuous driving forces that lead us in life, taking us from one journey to another, from one flight to another and from one dream to another? In my case, my ‘flight’ already started 26 years ago in a country that has one of the most beautiful mountains and landscapes that take one’s breath away. This country was the first Christian nation on this earth – a nation that believes in God as much as it believes in the power of its mountains and national unity. This country - my country - is Armenia where I was born.
The history of Armenia has been tumultuous. As a result, Armenians were spread just like seeds all around the world and we started to grow from nothing, to create and work in order to survive and adopting the habits of others. However, at the same time we stayed true to our values and became even more aware of our own customs and traditions. Our Armenian ‘seeds’ turned into trees and flowers in the countries we immigrated to, continuing into the next generations so we continue to grow and add our own beauty to the society where we settled in. And just like that, we became one of the nations which has the biggest diasporas in the whole world – we have around 3 million people living in our own country but 7 million living abroad! Perhaps that is also the reason why I was able to move alone from Armenia to an unknown country like China at such a young age of 16 to study music. It was a surprise destination that didn’t guarantee a clear pathway for my future. I was given the option of stepping forward into growth or stepping back into safety. I decided to step forward. I took it because sometimes we feel we know the unknown better. Now it has been more than a decade since that moment of ‘unknown known’!
China currently is my second home and one that I can't imagine living far away from. Shanghai - which gave me such a warm welcome and never let me feel like a stranger; people that I've met here who've helped me and treated me as one of their family. I started developing in China as a personality and all the initial values that I had since my childhood in Armenia, I turned into something even more valuable to me. My ‘unknown-known-journey’ made me believe in the power of my dreams, of hard work and will. I have learnt that every second counts; that if you catch the chance and believe in what you do; then the dreams you once had will become a reality!
This is what my journey has taught me. The power of stepping forward and trusting your destination. Whatever our journeys are all about, I believe that every ‘flight’ despite our confidence in its destination always carries with it, the uncertainty of the journey itself. And that is what unites us all, no matter the time, eras, nations or belief. We all take these flights with a hope and belief that keeps us going no matter what; as we carry our most important goal in mind - our destination.
I believe that this was the same for Mary. She took this flight through the desert hills and mountains, day and night – because she believed in her destination. This is what I see every time I look at this painting. It reminds me of the beauty of each unknown journey that trains us; tests us to discover the strength in us; and tests our values in order to see whether we deserve our initial destination which we set for ourselves. We never end a journey the same person as when we started. We change; we develop; we give up; we mistrust; we question; we quit; we change our minds; we rise up and we continue again. We change, but our values stay. And once we reach our destination, we become stronger and that strength is a preparation for another certain destination that will carry the uncertainty of its journey.
Astrid Poghosyan, Shanghai; August 14th, 2021
Editor’s Note :
Dear Reader, thank you for reading this weekly edition of SMITTEN BY FAITH.
ALL articles in every weekly issue are FREE.
For those who convert to PAID Subscribers, thank you so much. ALL proceeds go to the Regina Apostolorum Foundation to help Catholic higher education. PAID Subscribers will have additional access to the COMMENTS BOX, the Q & A and the Discussions. You will also receive the digital instalments of LATE HAVE I LOVED THEE and also some additional exclusive material from time to time.