VICAR WILL BE IN CONNECTICUT
Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General, will visit the parish of St.
Stephen in New Britain, Connecticut, this Sunday, March 18, where he will
preside over the Liturgy and attend the parish’s general membership
meeting. Mr. Hagop Khatchadourian will attend the meeting as a representative
of the Prelacy’s Executive Council.
VICAR WILL HOST WCC STAFF MEMBER AT PRELACY
Bishop Anoushavan, Vicar General, will host a reception for Dr. Geiko
Muller-Fahrenholz, a staff member of the World Council of Churches (WCC),
who is currently visiting the United States. The reception will take place
at the Prelacy next Wednesday afternoon, March 21. Dr. Muller-Fahrenholz
is meeting with member churches to discuss the upcoming International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation and other projects related to the WCC’s
Decade to Overcome Violence.
Dr. Muller-Fahrenholz is the author of America’s Battle for
God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion, published recently
by Eerdman’s Publishing.
PRELACY LENTEN MEDITATIONS CONTINUE
The third of the six Prelacy Lenten Meditations took place yesterday evening,
Wednesday, March 14. The 2007 Prelacy Lenten program focuses on the seven
vices and seven virtues. Last evening, Professor Michael Papazian, Associate
Professor of Philosophy at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, spoke about
“Sloth and Diligence.” Professor Papazian began his lecture
with an explanation of the origins of the vices and virtues, explaining
that the current list of seven sins derived from a list of eight “evil
thoughts” first presented by the fourth century ascetic Evagrius
of Pontus. One of those eight was the sin of akadia, meaning
“indifferent” and “apathetic,” which eventually
turned into the modern sin of sloth. To listen to Professor Papazian’s
lecture click here.
Next Wednesday, Dn. Shant Kazanjian, director of the Armenian Religious
Education Council (AREC), will continue the series on the seven vices
and virtues by offering his meditation on “Greed and Charity.”
The annual Lenten series is sponsored by the Prelacy Ladies Guild, the
St. Illuminator’s Ladies Guild, and the Prelacy’s Armenian
Religious Education Council (AREC). All of the programs take place at
St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, 221 East 27th Street, New York City,
with the following general schedule: Lenten Service at 7:30 pm; Lecture
at 8 pm, followed by a light Lenten meal and fellowship. For a complete
schedule of lectures click here.
MUSICAL ARMENIA
The 2007 Musical Armenia concert will take place Sunday, March 25, 2 pm,
at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York City. Tickets are $25.
Featured artists are bass Serge Barseghyan (accompanied by Evan Solomon)
and the Ararat Trio, comprised of Patil Harboyan, piano; Van Armenian,
violin; and Hrant Parsamian, cello.
Serge Barseghyan has appeared as a soloist in the United States and Europe,
including New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, and Valencia. Patil
Harboyan was awarded first prize at the Margo Babikian Piano Competition
in Lebanon and the Armenian Allied Arts Association Competition in Los
Angeles. Van Armenian has served as concertmaster of the Pacific Music
Festival Orchestra in Japan and of the Colorado-based National Repertory
Orchestra. Hrant Parsamian was awarded highest prizes at the Houston Symphony
Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition and the Olga Koussevitzky Competition.
The Musical Armenia concerts have been presented since 1982. Its goal
is to showcase the talents of young Armenian artists. If you would like
to purchase tickets and/or become a sponsor of this year’s Musical
Armenia concert please contact the Prelacy at 212-689-7810 or by e-mail
to sophie@armenianprelacy.org.
For more information click here.
2007 DATEV INSTITUTE SUMMER PROGRAM
The 21st annual St. Gregory of Datev Institute Christian summer studies
program will take place July 1 to 8 in Elverson, Pennsylvania. For details
click here.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORDINATION OF
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN CHOLOYAN
The 40th anniversary of the ordination of our Prelate, Archbishop Oshagan
Choloyan, will take place in three different regions as follows:
On Saturday, May 5, the first of the three celebrations will take place
at The Marriott in Providence, Rhode Island, with the participation of
all of the parishes in New England, Connecticut, and Troy, New York.
On Saturday, May 12, the second celebration will take place at the The
Marriott at Glenpointe, in Teaneck, New Jersey, with the participation
of all of the parishes in the Mid Atlantic, which includes New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.
The final celebration will take place during the National Representative
Assembly (NRA) which is being hosted by St. Sarkis Church in Dearborn,
Michigan. This will take place on Friday, May 18, at Double Tree Hotel
in Dearborn, with the participation of the parishes in the Mid-West, as
well as the NRA delegates and guests.
SUNDAY OF THE JUDGE
Our journey through Great Lent continues. This Sunday, March 18, the fifth
Sunday of Lent, is the “Sunday of the Judge” (Datavori
Kiraki). The Gospel reading on this day describes the parable told
by Jesus about a widow and a judge (Luke 18:2-5). The judge in this parable
is seen as hard-hearted without principles, fear of God, or regard for
people. A widow of the same town has been ill-treated and she has come
to the judge for justice. Although her cause is just, he does not pay
attention to her case. However, she persists in coming with the same appeal
until at last the judge decides to see that she gets justice. He does
this not because he cares for justice, but in order to get rid of the
widow.
The message of this parable is that in life one must persevere and pursue
righteousness relentlessly with confidence that perseverance will be rewarded.
The parable especially teaches the importance of perseverance in prayer.
FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTIA
This Saturday, March 17, the Armenian Church commemorates the memory of
the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia. Although the background and identity of
the forty young soldiers are not certain, it is believed that they came
from Lesser Armenia. They served in the Roman army in the regions of Cappadocia.
In a general purge of Christians from the ranks, it became rumored that
in Sebastia there was an elite military unit whose members were Christian.
Forty youths of the unit confirmed being Christian and remained steadfast
to their faith. The young soldiers were tried and condemned to stoning.
Miraculously, when the sentence was being carried out, the stones would
not reach the intended targets, but rather came back striking those throwing
the stones. The young soldiers were than thrown into a frozen lake and
forced to stay there, with the admonition that if they would renounce
their faith they would be allowed to come out of the cold water and into
a warm bath. Of the forty, one chose to accept this offer, but he died
nevertheless. As one by one the youths died, halos came down upon them.
Seeing this, one of the guards threw himself into the lake and joined
the thirty-nine bringing the number to forty again.
Subsequently, some of our great church fathers like Basil, Gregory of
Nyssa, Ephraem the Assyrian, and Sisian of Sebastia, wrote panegyrics
about the forty martyrs. Their memory is commemorated each year during
Lent on the Saturday following the Median day of Lent (Meechink),
which was yesterday. The Armenians have also built and named churches
in their memory in various parts of the world.
AREC DIRECTOR WILL LECTURE AT ST. SARKIS
Dn. Shant Kazanjian, director of the Armenian Religious Education Council
(AREC) will lecture at St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York, on Sunday,
March 18, following the Mid-Lent traditional luncheon prepared and served
by the Ladies Guild. Dn. Shant’s topic is, “Great Lent: A
Biblical Map for our Journey of Faith.” For information contact
the church office, 718-224-2275.
IN CELEBRATION OF THE YEAR OF THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE…
“The hymnal of the Armenian Church, known in Armenian as the Sharaknots,
is, above all, a collection of spiritual poetry and sacred songs. No anthology
of ancient Armenian literature can be considered complete without the
inclusion of this genre. Until the tenth century, Armenian written poetry
consisted almost entirely of spiritual songs, the best specimens of which
are preserved in the Sharaknots. It is also a treasure of the
Armenian language. Considering that a significant part of it was created
in the fifth century and thus contains (according to Ghazar Parpetsi)
the very first authentic works written by genuine Armenian authors, it
follows that these very early songs constitute a prime source for the
study of the nascent literary language and shed light on our understanding
of the linguistic characteristics of the Golden Age.
“Of all forms of Armenian poetry, the sharakan (hymn) is
more or less the most singular and mysterious: singular in its nature,
mysterious in its subject matter and spirituality. This unique genre,
which expresses religious emotions and is intended to be sung chorally,
has an important place in the Armenian liturgy and religious literature.
Poems included in this category are dedicated to feast days of the Lord
and those of the apostles and saints; they are intended to glorify God
the Creator, the Incarnation of Christ, and the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Each feast day has its specific chants, which is probably why the genre
came to be called sharakan.” [The word sharakan
literally means “arranged in order or sequence.”]
The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Volume II, Wayne State University
Press
The Pontifical Message issued by His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, proclaiming 2007 as the Year
of the Armenian Language is on the Prelacy’s web page. To read the
message in Armenian click here.
To read the message in English click here.
DAILY BIBLE READINGS
Bible readings for today, March 15, is I Corinthians 8:5-9-23.
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as
indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet
for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for
whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things
and through whom we exist.” I Corinthians 8:5-6
For listing of the entire week’s Bible readings click
here.
LOST TOMB OF CHRIST
Several weeks ago all of the media outlets were filled with sensational
headlines about the lost tomb of Jesus, just prior to the “documentary”
shown on the Discovery Channel on March 4. Leading scholars and archaeologists
have called it a publicity stunt. If you would like to read three related
articles click
here and click
here.
FILM AT MOMA
A film, Stone, Time, Touch, directed by Garine Torossian and
featuring Arsine Khanjian, is being shown tonight at 6:30 pm, at the Museum
of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, and on Monday, March 19, at 8:30
pm. The film is described as a “richly lensed and layered diary
of a filmmaker’s journey to Armenia to reconnect with her roots."
The 70-minute film is in English and Armenian with English subtitles.
The musical score is provided by Zulal, the popular Armenian
a cappella trio.
A CORRECTION
Last week’s item about the Armenian Churches Sports Association
(ACSA) had an error in the teams competing in the Men’s division
championship. It should have read “St. Vartan Cathedral vs. St.
Sarkis Church.”
BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH
Today, March 15, is the Ides of March. The warning, “Beware the
Ides of March,” was a given to Julius Caesar as impending danger
before his assassination.
“What is still more extraordinary, many report that a certain soothsayer
forewarned him of a great danger which threatened him on the ides of March
and that when the day was come, as he was going to the senate-house, he
called to the soothsayer, and said, laughing: ‘The ides of March
are come”; to which the soothsayer answered, softy, ‘Yes,
but they are not gone.’ ” Plutarch’s Julius Caesar
(Langhorne translation).
ARRIVAL OF SPRING!
Next Wednesday, March 21, is the first day of spring. We remember the
words of our late father, an extraordinary gardener, that the sugar snap
peas must be planted by St. Patrick’s Day (March 17).We used to
eat the pea pods right off the vine—raw, sweet, crisp, and so delicious.
SPRING
O mild breeze, all through the early morning
You blow so gently, so soft, so cool,
Tenderly over the flowers
Over the maiden’s fine-spun hair.
Yet if you’re not a breeze from my homeland,
Pass on and away from my heart, be gone.
First stanza of “Spring,” by Mgrdich Beshiktashlian
(1829-1868)
Translated by Aram Tolegian
