They speak Aramaic, Jesus' language, and many also are conversant in Arabic, Farsi and English. Members of St. Paul Assyrian Chaldean Church in North Hollywood, who are primarily from Iraq and Iran, invited parishioners from local Eastern Rite churches --- of which there are seven in the San Fernando Region alone --- to participate in a St. Paul Jubilee liturgical celebration Jan. 16.

"This is the first gathering of local Eastern Rite Catholics from different churches to celebrate and pray together as a community," said Father Noel Gorgis, pastor of St. Paul who presided at the concelebrated Mass following a vespers prayer service.

Seven clergy members --- including four priests and three deacons --- from Chaldean, Byzantine-Romanian, Syriac, Russian and Greek Catholic Eastern Rite churches attended. A congregation of about 100 parishioners from several parishes participated in the liturgical service, where most of the congregational responses and prayers were chanted, rather than spoken.

In his homiletic reflection, Father Alexei Smith, archdiocesan director of ecumenical and interfaith affairs who is also pastor of St. Andrew Russian-Greek Catholic Church and administrator of St. Paul Melkite Greek Catholic Mission, pointed out that St. Paul, a persecutor of Christians before his conversion on the road to Damascus, was completely transformed by his encounter with Christ.

"St. Paul renounced his old life, giving himself totally to the ministry of reconciliation and the ministry of the cross that is salvation for all of us," said Father Smith. "If we remember nothing else from this year of St. Paul [and] the beautiful liturgy and reception this evening, I would ask we remember this phrase: 'God loved me and gave himself up for me.' In that, you and I will find all the strength we require."

Rita Khachadoorian, who attends both St. Peter Armenian Church in Van Nuys and St. Anne Church in Studio City, called the worship service "awesome and very spiritual…. The whole church was filled with the Holy Spirit."

Byzantine Romanian Catholic Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis from Holy Resurrection Monastery in Newberry Springs near Barstow, who had never attended a Chaldean Mass before, said it was "wonderful to experience a very ancient Eastern liturgy --- very different to ours and yet, at the same time, very similar, too."

St. Paul parishioner Jawan Isha, a native of Baghdad, Iraq, said having such an event "brings us together. We all believe in one God. We're all Christian. There's nothing different between us, only maybe the language and the countries; but we all believe the same."

Isha, who has recently lost two close family members due to the war in Iraq, said Christians back home are suffering. "It's very dangerous to go to church, but they still go." St. Paul parish council member, Edward Baba, agreed that Iraqi Christians, descended from those converted during apostolic times, "don't convert" to other faiths. For local Chaldean Catholics who have left Iraq, he noted with some pride, "As soon as we see each other, we speak in Aramaic --- the same language that Jesus spoke."