PRELATE WILL TRAVEL TO MASSACHUSETTS

This Sunday (December 18), Archbishop Oshagan will travel to Watertown, Massachusetts, where he will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and ordain altar servers at St. Stephen’s Church. Following the Liturgy a celebratory banquet in honor of the newly ordained servers will take place in the church hall.

His Eminence will ordain to the rank of deacon the following sub-deacons, Ara Barsoumian, Jirair Barsoumian, Albert Barsoumian, Jirair Iskenderian. Also to be ordained are John Daghlian (subdeacon) and David Toramanian (stolebearer).

PRELATE WILL ATTEND MEETING TO DISCUSS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA IN THE UNITED NATIONS

This Tuesday evening (December 20), Archbishop Oshagan will participate in a meeting convened by Armenia’s Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Attending will be representatives of various organizations and institutions to discuss the upcoming 25th anniversary of Armenia’s entry into the United Nations. The Armenian tricolored flag was raised at the United Nations on March 2, 1992.

VICAR OFFICIATES IN GRANITE CITY

Last Sunday (December 11), Bishop Anoushavan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Gregory Church in Granite City, Illinois, on the occasion of the parish’s 62nd anniversary. His Grace ordained acolytes Zaven Nalbandian, Jr., Ryan Varadian, Sarah Varadian, and Naz Donjoian. He also ordained stolebearer Zaven Nalbandian, Sr. A banquet and program followed the Liturgy and ordinations. During the program two parishioners, Richard Asadorian and Sam Spataro, were awarded Prelacy Certificates of Merit in appreciation for their years of service.

Bishop Anoushavan and Rev. Fr. Torkom Chorbajian with the newly ordained altar servers.

Certificates of Merit were presented to Richard Asadorian and Sam Spataro.

COUNCILS TO MEET

The Religious and Executive Councils of the Eastern Prelacy will convene their monthly meeting tomorrow and Saturday at the Prelacy offices in New York City.

BIBLE READINGS

Bible readings for Sunday, December 18, Fourth Sunday of Advent are: Isaiah 38:1-8; 2 Hebrews 1:1-14; Luke 17:1-10.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”
  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
  “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” (Luke 17:1-10)

ST. JAMES OF NISIBIS

This Saturday (December 17) is the Feast of St. James (Hagop) of Nisibis (Mdzbin). He participated in the first ecumenical council in Nicaea (325), where he earned great respect from the Emperor Constantine and the other attendees. He was born and died in the city of Nisibis located in what is now southeastern Turkey, an important early Christian center in Asia Minor and a transit point of the caravans traveling east and west. 

James is one of the most beloved saints in the Armenian Church. He is also honored by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church, and the Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches. He was ordained Bishop of Nisibis in 320 AD.

St. James sought to find Noah’s Ark as proof for skeptics. On the eve of his ascent to the summit, an angel appeared and told him that he need not climb to the summit and gave him a piece of the Ark. The piece is kept at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The heavenly hosts rejoiced at the greatness of your feats by which you in the flesh became like the angels on high; we have you as intercessor for us before the Father in heaven. And we with a joyful voice celebrate your holy memory. O venerable witness of Christ, holy bishop James; we have you as intercessory for us before the Father in heaven. You decided on severe toils to see Noah’s Ark and  from the angel’s hand received a portion of the wood which served the human race as salvation; we have you as intercessor for us before the Father in heaven.”

(Canon to St. James, Bishop of Nisibis, from the Liturgical Canons of the Armenian Church)

2017 LITURGICAL CALENDAR POSTER

The 2017 color poster of the Liturgical Calendar of the Armenian Apostolic Church is now available at the Prelacy. At a glance, one can see the complete cycle of feasts and fasts and seasons.  

This 27x36 inch poster should be displayed in our Church halls and classrooms, particularly in our Sunday School classrooms.  

To order copies of the Liturgical Calendar poster, please contact the Prelacy at 212-689-7810 or AREC@armenianprelacy.org. The cost of the poster is $5.00 plus shipping and handling.

SUNDAY SCHOOL PROJECT BENEFITS ARMENIAN CHILDREN IN SYRIA

The Sunday School of Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, Rhode Island, decided to focus on service in honor of the “Year of Service.  This is the second year the Sunday School is donating the children’s weekly collections for the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund. This year’s effort took on a different urgency when at a family breakfast they heard guest speaker Minar Tarbinian, who grew up in Syria and explained that these Armenian children in Syria may look like us, but they and their families are being faced with extreme difficulties that have forced them to leave their homes, schools, and all the conveniences we take for granted here. After the speaker concluded her presentation, the children and their families made “giving jars” which they took home and used to put money aside for this cause. 

In addition to these jars, the Sunday School incorporated another fun craft to focus on this worthy cause. On two Friday evenings in October, the children came together to enjoy pizza and to make necklaces. They made more than one hundred cross necklaces. Each of these necklaces included a special cross made in Armenia. The necklaces were sold at the parish’s Armenian Food Fest in November and are continuing to be sold for $20 each with all proceeds going to help Armenian children of Syria. The Sunday School donated all of the supplies to make the necklaces, so all the money raised will benefit the children in Syria. Recently, Yeretzgin Debra Nazarian, the director of the Sunday School, forwarded a check to Archbishop Oshagan in the amount of $1,488 raised primarily through the sale of the necklaces during the parish's two-day Food Fest. The children will continue their effort until all of the necklaces are sold and will be forwarding another check soon.

The Sunday School students, teachers, and parents joined together to make the necklaces.

Students helped at the Sunday School’s booth at the Food Fest where Peter sold the first Armenian Cross necklace to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

SIMPLY CHRISTMAS AT ST. SARKIS CHURCH

St. Sarkis Church of Douglaston, New York, hosted its 8th annual “Simply Christmas” concert last Sunday. Festively decorated with poinsettia plants (donated in memory of Bedros Givelekian and Zaven Demirdjian) along the aisle and altar, the Zulal Armenian Folk Trio performed Armenian folk songs. The talented a cappella trio—Teni Apelian, Yeraz Markarian, and Anais Tekerian—paid tribute to the music’s ancient roots while introducing a new lyricism and energy. The audience joined in the second part of the concert with a sing-along of traditional Christmas carols. 

The “Simply Christmas” concert is a way to thank the parishioners of St. Sarkis Church for their support throughout the year. The concert was made possible by a number of sponsors.

Zulal Trio was featured at the 2016 “Simply Christmas” concert at St. Sarkis Church.

FOOD FEST IN RHODE ISLAND

Autumn is the season of bazaars and food festivals that for many of our parishes are the primary fundraiser during the year. Perhaps, one of the largest festivals is hosted by Sts. Vartanantz Church of Providence, Rhode Island. As in past years the Food Fest took place in the large facility known as Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet. After months of preparation the two day festival—believed to be Rhode Island’s largest indoor festival—took place with impressive attendance and wide publicity. The Mourad Armenian School dance group performed both days and live Armenian music was provided, along with many other activities and vendors with all kinds of goods.

The two-day Food Fest features wonderful food, fellowship, and fun for all ages.

The Mourad Armenian School Dance Group performed.

HONORING POET KHRAKHOUNI

The Getronagan-Esayan Alumni of New York organized a literary evening to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Zareh Khrakhouni (1926-2015), a prolific Turkish Armenian writer who became one of the most prominent names of Armenian poetry in the second half of the twentieth century. Dr. Vartan Matiossian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC), introduced the work of Khrakhouni and his contribution to the renewal and development of modern Armenian poetry. The event took place at the Armenian Society of New York last Sunday (December 11). Mrs. Silva Gomigyan, a well-recognized reciter was invited from Istanbul for the occasion. She presented a wide selection of works by Khrakhouni and other Armenian poets. The program also included poet Lola Koundakjian, who read an English translation of Khrakhouni’s poem “New York, New York,” dedicated to September 11, and composer-singer Berge Turabian, who offered three of his compositions with lyrics by Khrakhouni.

Dr. Vartan Matiossian spoke about the work and contribution of the Zareh Khrakhouni.

In the fateful years that led to the end of the Ottoman Empire, Johannes Lepsius was the one personality who tried to raise Armenian issues among German public, especially a voice of alarm to document the genocide of 1915-1916 from its very beginning.

Protestant missionary and Orientalist, Lepsius was above all a humanist. He was the younger son of Carl Richard Lepsius, the founder of Egyptology in Germany. His siblings also become prominent personalities in science and art. He was born on December 15, 1858, in Berlin (Germany). He studied mathematics and philosophy in Munich, and earned a Ph.D. in 1880. He was trained as a Lutheran pastor and was on the board of the Syrian Orphanage of Jerusalem from 1884-1886, where he met his wife Margarethe Zeller. She passed away in 1898, leaving six children.

Lepsius became a missionary in the Ottoman Empire in the 1890s. He came to public attention when he traveled in disguise to gather evidence on the Turkish massacres of 1895-1896. His report on the pogroms, Armenien und Europa (1896), stirred considerable controversy and significantly affected international relations with the empire. He also helped found the Deutsche Orient Mission (German Mission for the Orient) to operate orphanages and schools for Armenian children.

Lepsius traveled to Constantinople in 1915 and gathered information about the ongoing massacres and deportations, while he unsuccessfully appealed to Turkish authorities to stop them. He also tried to lobby the German government. In 1916 he published privately Bericht über die Lage des armenischen Volkes in der Türkei (Report on the Situation of the Armenian People in Turkey; French edition, 1918), where he meticulously documented and condemned the annihilation. Lepsius was forced to secretly publish the report due to official military censorship. However, Lepsius managed to distribute more than 20,000 copies after the book was forbidden and before censorship was enforced. In the second edition, Der Todesgang des armenischen Volkes (The Death Walk of the Armenia People), he included an interview with Enver Pasha, held in June 1915.

Shortly after the publication of his report, Lepsius left Germany for the Netherlands to escape pursuit by the German police, and later brought his family. In June 1917 he resigned from the Deutsche Orient Mission because of disagreements with the committee. In an article published in 1925 in the magazine of the Mission, Der Orient, he disclosed his collaboration with the German Foreign Office, of which even top officials were unaware: “Soon after I resigned from my old mission, a circle of political friends suggested that I should stay in Holland and report regularly on the Dutch and British press. It becomes clear that I was serving patriotic interests from the fact that, during my three-year stay in Holland, I sent press reports daily to the military office of the Foreign Office, which were sent to Berlin through the embassy courier in The Hague.”

The German responsibility in the Armenian genocide was a subject often discussed during World War I. In the first months following the defeat of Germany and Turkey, Germany faced allegations of war crimes in Europe and sought to avoid responsibility for crimes within Turkey. For his part, Lepsius was committed to unearthing the most comprehensive record possible of the genocide. Thus, while still in the Netherlands, he readily agreed to the foreign ministry's offer to let him prepare a series of books based on formerly secret German diplomatic records, beginning with a volume documenting German activities in Turkey and Armenia between 1914 and 1918:  Deutschland und Armenien 1914–1918: Sammlung diplomatischer Aktenstücke (Germany and Armenia 1914–1918: Collection of Diplomatic documents) (1919). Although German officials claimed that they had released a copy of the complete record, they actually supplied Lepsius with censored versions of many documents. A systematic comparison of the published documents with the originals revealed that there were a great number of abridgements or even forgeries, and that important references to German policy with regard to the genocide, joint responsibility, as well as involvement of German officers in repressions against the Armenians had been systematically held back. In addition, the names of important Turkish people involved in the genocide were generally omitted. In the end, Lepsius’ collection presented frank and detailed evidence of the Young Turks’ genocidal campaign, but tended, unwittingly, to absolve Germany of any responsibility. The uncensored version of the German documents was published in 2005 by researcher Wolfgang Gust (also available in English translation).

In June 1921 Lepsius testified for the defense in the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian, the assassin of former Turkish Interior Minister Talaat Pasha. 

Lepsius passed away on February 3, 1926, in Merano (Italy). Franz Werfel, who used his publications for his novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, portrayed him as a “guardian angel of the Armenians.” The “Johannes Lepsius Archive,” initially collected and organized by theologian Hermann Goltz at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, was moved in 2011 to the newly opened Lepsius House Museum, set in the house in Potsdam where Lepsius lived from 1908 and 1925, which also functions as a research center for genocide studies. A street in Potsdam is named after the German humanist, as well as a school in Yerevan.

Previous entries in “The Armenian Language Corner” are on the Prelacy’s web page
www.armenianprelacy.org

It is not usual that a vowel may also be a very meaningful word in a certain language. Such is the case of the vowel է (e), the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet.
Its most fundamental function is to be… the third person singular present of the verb “to be”: ան է (an e) = he/she is. This indication of existence has given origin to an interesting series of words.

The word է (e) itself appeared from very early as synonymous with Աստուած (Asdvadz = “God”). Since e indicates existence, it was natural that it could be adopted to symbolize God as “existing.” It appeared in the Armenian Bible, in the fifth century, in the expressions որ է (vor e), որ էն (vor en), and որ էնն (vor enun). For instance, we have the passage «Արդար է՝ որ էնն եւ է» (Artar e vor enun yev e), meaning “You are just, the one who is and who was” (Revelation 16:5). From here, ecclesiastic documents such as bulls by Catholicoi, letters, or notes had as their letterhead the letter Է (E), meaning “In the name of God.” The letter is also found in the front of churches or above the altars.
E also became the basis for several nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, such as the noun էակ (է+ակ, eag), by the addition of the suffix ակ (ag), meaning “creature, being” (մարդ էակ/mart eag “human being”).

Another word, by addition of the adjectival suffix ական (agan), is էական (eagan), which means “essential” and express existence (the verb “to be” is a էական բայ/eagan pay “existential verb”).

The adverbial suffix ապէս (abes) has helped create the adverb էապէս (eabes “essentially”).

Another interesting word is մանրէ (մանր+է, manre), where the word e has been combined with the adjective manr (“little, small”) to form this noun, which designates “virus” and “bacteria.”

Finally, the negative prefix ան (an) has generated the adjective անէ (ane), meaning “inexistent,” and the verb անէանալ (aneanal “to vanish”). While the former is a word more used in poetry, the latter can be used in less literary fashion.

It is fitting to end with a stanza from Taniel Varoujan’s poem “To My Muse,” which he wrote when he was barely 20-21 years old. It was published in his first collection of poetry (1906).

• Write and/or edit press releases.
  
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• Bachelor’s Degree in Communications or related field or Liberal Arts.
  
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• Knowledge of Armenian language and Armenian Church is a plus.
  

Please send a cover letter and CV to:

Dr. Vazken Ghougassian, Executive Director         

Vazken@armenianprelacy.org

• A moment to remember: Mr. Karnig Nercessian - Hear a past interview with Karnig and Fr. Nareg Terterian.
• An Interview with Mrs. Yeraz Markarian of Zulal

Click here or the Picture above to listen now!