PRELATE WILL PRESIDE AT ANNIVERSARY

PRELATE AND VICAR ATTEND LUNCHEON HONORING HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II

On Tuesday Archbishop Oshagan and Bishop Anoushavan attended a luncheon in honor of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians, hosted by Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Supreme Head of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East, at the Archdiocese Center in Paramus, New Jersey. Later in the afternoon the Catholicos and entourage visited the Hovnanian School in New Milford, New Jersey, where the students and faculty members of the Holy Martyrs School in Bayside, New York, joined the Hovnanian students and faculty to welcome the Catholicos.

His Holiness is visiting the United States to preside over a number of events including the official opening and dedication of the new campus of the Saint Nersess Seminary in Armonk, New York, the consecration of the Chapel, and the ribbon-cutting of the Karekin I Theological Center that will take place this weekend.

Clergymen gathered at a luncheon hosted by Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syrian Orthodox Church in honor of Catholicos Karekin II, at the Archdiocese center in Paramus, New Jersey on Tuesday.  Seen in the photo above with the Patriarch are His Holiness Karekin II,  Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, and Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian. 

ACOLYTES ORDAINED IN GLENVIEW

Last Sunday Archbishop Oshagan visited All Saints Church in Glenview, Illinois, where he celebrated the Divine Liturgy, delivered the sermon, and ordained 27 altar boys and girls. A luncheon followed at the parish’s Shahnasarian Hall celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the parish and the ordination of the 27 acolytes: Saro Aroian, Sevag Aroyan, Aren Banklian, Alek Banklian, Manuel Boyajian, Paul Boyajian, Hagop Demirjian, Shant Demirjian, Aren Garabet, Saro Garabet, Aren Hardy, Alek Hosepian, Armen Jerikian, Hovan Karagozian, Armen Krikorian, Karoon Krikorian, Talar Panossian, Ani Papazian, Sevana Papazian, Sona Papazian, Sosse Papazian, Nareg Sarrafian,  Raffi Sarrafian, Teny Sarrafian, Sophia Soulakian, Armen Surenian, David Torian.

Twenty-seven boys and girls kneel at the altar during the acolyte ordination ceremony officiated by Archbishop Oshagan. (photo by Maral Sosi)

Archbishop Oshagan and Very Rev. Fr. Ghevont Pentezian with the newly ordained acolytes. (photo by Maral Sosi).

PRELATE WILL ATTEND OPENING OF ST. NERSESS SEMINARY

Archbishop Oshagan will attend the official opening of the St. Nersess Seminary at its new location in Armonk, New York, this Saturday. The historic event will begin at 10:30 am with the ribbon cutting of The Karekin I Theological Center and the Consecration of the Chapel by His Holiness Karekin II.  A program and reception will follow.

Established in 1961 through the vision of Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, its first Dean, St. Nersess was originally in Evanston, Illinois, and then moved to New Rochelle, New York. Four years ago the Board of Directors approved the purchase of the current site in Armonk to build a new Seminary and facilities. Mr. and Mrs. Haig and Elza Didizian donated the land as well as the Chapel and The Karekin I Theological Center that includes an extensive library, classrooms, offices, and chapel.

BIBLE READINGS

Bible readings for Sunday, November 13, Tenth Sunday of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, are: Isaiah 25:9-26; Philippians 1:1-11; Luke 9:44-50.

“Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
  And an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But when Jesus perceived the thoughts of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
  John answered, “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you.”  (Luke 9:44-50). 

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart,  for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:1-11)

For a listing of the coming week’s Bible readings click here.

THE HOLY APOSTLES ANDREW AND PHILIP

The word apostle refers to the special inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, chosen by Jesus to accompany Him during His ministry, to learn from Him, follow His instructions and continue His work. 

This Saturday, November 12, the Armenian Church celebrates two Holy Apostles, Andrew and Philip. Andrew was a Galilean fisherman and the first-called of the followers of Christ, along with his brother Simon, who was later called Peter. Philip was from Bethsaida and after he had been called to be an apostle he brought in Nathanael (later called Bartholomew).

CATHOLICOS ARAM VISITS PRESIDENT-ELECT OF LEBANON

His Holiness Aram I, accompanied by the Prelate of Lebanon, Archbishop Shahe Panossian and the Dean of the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator, Bishop Norayr Ashekian, met with the President-elect of Lebanon, General Michel Aoun. The Catholicos extended the good wishes of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the people to the new president. He said he hoped that General Aoun’s election will bring national unity and economic prosperity, and open a new page in international relations. 

They discussed the situation in the Middle East, in particular the problems and challenges facing Christians in the region. Regarding Lebanon, they agreed on the importance of organizing the Lebanese diaspora and strengthening relations between Lebanon and its diaspora.

BOOK FAIR DEDICATED TO ANNIVERSARY

On Sunday, October 30, following the Holy Liturgy, the Catholicos, clergy, seminarians, and the faithful walked to the pavilion to take part in the annual Book Fair dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the printing of the Armenian Bible, which the Catholicos said is a call for spiritual awakening. In his message Catholicos Aram spoke about Vosgan Vartabed, a priest who dedicated his life to writing the definitive text of the Armenian version of the Bible, which he had prepared by studying and compiling biblical texts already translated into classical Armenian. The final version was printed in 1666. His Holiness reminded everyone that for the past three decades, the Catholicosate of Cilicia has been translating and printing the Bible in Western Armenian. 

The annual Book Fair lasts for three weeks and brings together Armenian publishers, authors, teachers, students, and the public. 

ST. SARKIS SATURDAY SCHOOL GALA

Last Saturday, Douglaston’s St. Sarkis Church Saturday School PTA hosted its 4th Annual GALA Dinner Dance Fundraiser at the Woodbury Country Club. This year's event was specifically held to help raise funds for the Saturday School's expansion plans. All attendees enjoyed an abundance of excellent food, great music, and numerous wonderful raffle prizes.  

During the evening, the Saturday School PTA, along with Mr. Veh Bezdikian, Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, and Dr. Aram Cazazian from the Church Board honored Fr. Nareg Terterian. He was commended for his selfless and tireless service, contributions and support to the school and to the children of the community. “It was a wonderful evening for all and the dance floor was never empty.  The PTA of the Saturday School would like to thank everyone who attended and supported the event,” said the organizing committee.

Bishop Anoushavan, Rev. Fr. Nareg, and Dr. Aram Cazazian with members of the PTA Gala committee.

BOOK PRESENTATION AT CATHEDRAL

Last Sunday His Grace Bishop Anoushavan, Vicar General, presided over the Divine Liturgy and delivered the sermon at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, in New York City, and afterwards, in Pashalian Hall packed with parishioners, His Grace made a presentation of “My Prayer Book,” authored by Archbishop Zareh Aznavorian, of blessed memory. 

The 139-page pocketsize prayer book (3¼  x 5 ¼) contains prayers for different occasions—prayers from the Bible, prayers from the Armenian Book of Hours (Daily Services), prayers from the Church Fathers, including Gregory the Illuminator, Mesrob Mashdots, Basil the Great, Sahag Bartev, Gregory of Nareg, Nerses Lambronatsi, Nerses Shnorhali, and Dn. Hovhannes (Vartabed). It also includes a few prayers written by His Eminence Archbishop Zareh. All of the prayers were translated into modern Armenian from the classical Armenian (Krapar) by Archbishop Zareh.  Over 25 percent of the prayers are also translated into English.

His Grace Bishop Anoushavan read and commented on a selection of prayers from “My Prayer Book” to give the audience a taste of the prayer book.

This Sunday, November 13, Bishop Anoushavan will present “My Prayer Book” at St. Sarkis Church of Douglaston, New York.

“My Prayer Book” is available at the Prelacy’s bookstore for $5.00 (plus S/H). To order, please email books@armenianprelacy.org or call 212-689-7810. 

Bishop Anoushavan presents “My Prayer Book” in the Cathedral’s Pashalian Hall last Sunday.

Antoine Meillet was one of the most influential French linguists of the early twentieth century. He made important contributions to Armenian Studies, particularly in the linguistic field, but also was well acquainted with other areas of Armenian culture.

Meillet was born in Moulins on November 11, 1866. He studied at the Sorbonne from 1885-1889, where he was a disciple of Ferdinand de Saussure, the pioneer of semiotics, and Michel Breal. He was appointed professor of comparative linguistics of Indo-European languages at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes until 1931. One of his students was Hrachia Adjarian, the foremost name of Armenian linguistics in the twentieth century. He completed his doctoral dissertation in 1897. In 1905 he was elected to the Collège de France, where he taught comparative and general linguistics until his death. He was the mentor of a generation of linguists and philologists, among them names related to Armenian Studies like Émile Benveniste and Georges Dumézil.

His approach, quite novel for his time, took into account historical grammar, philological evidence, and facts of cultural history such as language contacts and sociolinguistic influences. He covered nearly all branches of the Indo-European family in his enormous output of about two dozen books, more than 500 articles, and many book reviews. In 1903 he published his most important work, Introduction à l’étude comparative des langues indo-européennes (Introduction to the Comparative Study of the Indo-European Languages), which explained the relationships of Indo-European languages to one another and to the parent Indo-European tongue.

Meillet became engaged in learning the Armenian language and in elucidating its origin from the beginning of his studies. He studied Modern Armenian with Auguste Carrière, then the holder of the Armenian chair at the Ecole des Langues Vivantes (now the Institute Nationale des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, INALCO). He went to Vienna and studied Classical Armenian at the Mekhitarist Congregation from 1890-1891. As member of a research group in the Caucasus, in 1891 he visited Armenia and researched the manuscripts at the library of the monastery of Holy Etchmiadzin. He went back in 1903, while he was the holder of the Armenian chair (1902-1905). He was well acquainted with the ancient literary tradition of Armenian, as well as with its philological aspects. He dealt with textual problems of Armenian manuscripts, not least with the problems of the spelling in several ancient manuscripts of the Armenian Gospels and with the study of particular passages in works of Armenian authors.

In a great number of articles, Meillet treated various problems of Armenian etymology and historical phonology and morphology. The fact that he is still considered one of the founders of comparative studies of the Armenian language is primarily the result of his pioneering work on Armenian syntax, which had been more or less ignored by all Armenian linguists before him. The result of all his studies was distilled in two monographs: his authoritative Esquisse de la grammaire comparée de l’arménien classique (Outline of a Comparative Grammar of Classical Armenian, 1902), a fundamental historical phonology and morphology of the language, and a short introductory description of Armenian in his Altarmenisches Elementarbuch (Elementary Course of Old Armenian, 1913), with some emphasis on syntax. Meillet also devoted several minor studies to the influence of Iranian on Armenian vocabulary.

An engaged scholar and citizen, Meillet raised his voice in 1903-1905 against the confiscation of the properties of the Armenian Church in the Russian Empire and in 1915-1918, in the years of the Armenian Genocide. In 1919 he founded the Society of Armenian Studies with Frederic Macler and others, and was instrumental in the launching of the oldest Armenian Studies journal in Western languages, the Revue des études arméniennes, in 1920. A year later, he founded the Revue des études slaves.

Meillet’s scholarly merits were acknowledged with the French Legion of Honor. He was appointed member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1924 and elected as member of more than a dozen foreign academies of sciences. He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Berlin, Padua, Dublin, Oxford, and Brussels.

The great French linguist passed away on September 21, 1936, in Châteaumeillant, France. 

Previous entries in “This Week in Armenian History” are on the Prelacy’s web site (www.armenianprelacy.org).

A previous column (April 28, 2016) explained how Armenian աղ (agh) and English salt were related to each other. Now it seems fit to explore how salt, in the end, may become… sweet.

Salt gives flavor to all sorts of food, and, of course, it may be used in a metaphorical sense, as Jesus did in the Sermon of the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men” (Matthew 5:13). Without salt, let aside all other condiments, food loses an essential nutrient and much of its actual taste.

 The concept of flavor implies, by extension, that salt also provides taste, including “sweetness.” The Armenian language has reflected that in a few words. Classical Armenian had the word աղու (aghoo), which meant “tasty, sweet.” Villages and mountains in Eastern and Western Armenia were and are named Աղու (Aghoo). The name comes from the combination of the word agh and the suffix ու (oo), used in adjectives like հատու (hadoo, from had(el) “to cut” + oo, meaning “sharp”).

But we have more surprises: two common words that are only used in Western Armenian and also have agh as their source. One of them is the word աղուոր (aghoo + or = aghvor), with the meaning of “good, nice” (e.g. աղուոր աղջիկ / aghvor aghchig “nice girl”). The other is աղէկ (agheg), which means “good” (e.g. աղէկ պայմաններ / agheg baymanner “good conditions”).

Doesn’t it sound convincing? In such cases, comparative examples offer a solution. The Russian word for “salt,” from the same Proto-Indo-European source, is sol’ . Two surprising derivations of this word are “sweet” (sladkii) and “candy” (sladosti). Why? Such are the mysteries of language

Previous entries in “Armenian Language Corner” are on the Prelacy’s web site (www.armenianprelacy.org).

TOMORROW IS VETERANS DAY