December 19, 2019
START WITH A PRAYER
In Faith I Confess 14th Prayer - English

Read by Andre Katcherian of
St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church of Dearborn, MI.
Start off your Eastern Prelacy' Crossroads experience with a Prayer
 read by youth members of our Eastern Prelacy Parishes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (BUT MOST ARMENIANS MUST WAIT)
The Council of Chalcedon in 451 not only led to the schism between the Armenian Church and Rome. It also confirmed December 25 as the official Christmas date. The tradition had begun a century earlier in Rome, where the holiday was made to overlap with Saturnalia, a pre-Christian feast, possibly to win over the remaining pagan Romans.

The Bible does not mention the actual date of Jesus’ birth. The Armenian Church has remained faithful to the original date of January 6. This is in line with the practice originally observed in the Christian world. All Churches celebrated Epiphany on January 6 (Epiphany was a combined celebration of the birth, the baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, the First Miracle at the Wedding of Cana, and the visit of the Magi). 

MEDAL, AWARD BESTOWED ON ONNIK AND ARA DINKJIAN
On behalf of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Prelate, bestowed upon singer Onnik Dinkjian the Mesrob Mashtots medal of the Catholicosate for his long-time career in Armenian traditional music. Archbishop Anoushavan also presented the Gomidas award of the Armenian Prelacy to musician and oud master Ara Dinkjian, Onnik’s son, in recognition of his contribution towards promoting Armenian music on international stages. The award ceremony took place last Saturday as the Club 27 celebrated the holiday party at the Pashalian Hall of St. Illuminator's Armenian Cathedral.

The Dinkjians, whose ancestors were Genocide survivors from Dikranagerd, are recognized as leading exponents of Armenian folk music. Onnik’s discography includes Voice of Armenians and The Many Sides of Onnik , with a repertoire in the Dikranagerd Armenian dialect. Ara has recorded several discs with his band Night Ark, including Treasures , In Wonderland and Moments , as well as solo and with friends, like An Armenian in America and 1915-2015: Hope & Truth , among others. 

‘SIMPLY CHRISTMAS’ CONCERT
FEATURES ELIE BERBERYAN, CHOIRS
Canadian-Armenian singer Elie Berberyan, the Ariag - Montreal Armenian Choir and the Datevig Children’s Choir captivated the attendees of the annual Simply Christmas concert at St. Sarkis Church, in Douglaston, NY. The concert, which took place under the auspices of Archbishop Anoushavan, traditionally showcases an advent based program. This year’s edition was dedicated to the music of Gomidas Vartabed in commemoration of the 150 th anniversary of his birth, which also coincides with the 10 th anniversary of Simply Christmas. 

In his closing remarks, Archbishop Anoushavan shared his reflections on the concert, while conveying his deep gratitude toward the ever-growing support in the efforts of the parish.
NEW MEMBERS OF HOMENETMEN EXECUTIVE MEET PRELATE
From left to right: Ara Barsoumian, Aram Kayserian, Archbishop Anoushavan, Vahe Tanashian (Homenetmen central executive representative), Shant Jamgotchian and Harout Khatchadourian. (Not pictured in photo: Vrej Hagobian and Paul Kozukian).
Also last Saturday, Archbishop Anoushavan received the newly elected members of the Homenetmen Eastern US Regional Executive at the Eastern Prelacy headquarters. The Prelate expressed his support and wished them success in their endeavors. 

PRELATE TO PRESIDE SERVICE AT ST. ILLUMINATOR’S
On Sunday, December 22, Archbishop Anoushavan will preside over the Divine Liturgy at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, New York. Following Soorp Badarak, the Prelate will attend the Christmas Concert that will be performed in the church, featuring Hayk Arsenyan, Anahit Indzhigulyan and Anahit Zakaryan.

TONIGHT: PAPAZIAN PRESENTS BOOK AT PRELACY
The Eastern Prelacy will host a presentation of a new book The Doctor of Mercy: The Sacred Treasures of St. Gregory of Narek, by Michael Papazian on Thursday, December 19 at the Prelacy offices in New York City at 7 pm.

The author will be present and will speak about the genesis of his interest in the life of this Armenian poet and theologian, especially after Pope Francis named him a Doctor of the Church. Gregory has the distinction of being the only Catholic Doctor who lived his entire life outside the visible communion of the Catholic Church.

The Doctor of Mercy provides an introduction to Gregory’s literary works, theology, and spirituality and shows the contemporary relevance of his writings.

Dr. Papazian is Professor of Philosophy at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, since 1998 where he teaches a broad range of courses in philosophy as well as New Testament Greek. He received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. In order to research the early Armenian translations of and commentaries on Greek philosophical texts, he studied the classical Armenian language at Oxford University where he received a Master of Studies degree in classical Armenian in 1995. He has published many articles and studies on ancient Greek philosophy and medieval Armenian theology.

Copies of his new book will be available for purchase. Two earlier books, Light from Light: An Introduction to the History and Theology of the Armenian Church, and his translation of the Commentary on the Four Evangelists by Stepanos Siwnetsi, will also be available.

For more information and to RSVP call 212-689-7810

SUPPORT FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS IN ARMENIA
The St. Nerses the Great Charitable and Social Organization (Medsn Nerses) will soon begin supporting its beneficiaries who pursue college education: now the young who reach the age limit of 18 will receive aid that may be vital for their careers.

The College Sponsorship Program is being implemented in 2020. An annual stipend of $250 will help defray some of the costs for the young men and women who have enrolled in an institution of higher education.

This marks the latest evolution of a program that then-Prelate Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, of blessed memory, urgently put together right after the 1988 catastrophic earthquake. Back then, the priority was to provide immediate help for earthquake survivors. Soon thereafter, the Orphan Sponsorship Program emerged as a priority benefitting thousands of children. During the tenure of Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Medsn Nerses was expanded with a new office in Yerevan.

The programs have grown and blossomed greatly, and now also include aid to orphanages, schools, students, the elderly, disabled servicemen, and a summer camp.       

Yet that is not enough. As anybody who has been to the homeland lately can attest, Armenia has left those dark days of despair behind. Things are a far cry from the worst years of the Turkish-Azerbaijani blockade and the Artsakh war. Yerevan is a thriving city that attracts visitors from all over the world. But throughout the country and Artsakh, challenges abound, as every Armenian is painfully aware. Often, education is the key to overcome them.

With Armenia recognized now as an IT hub for the region, many openings are about to be created for which skilled professionals are needed. The orphans that the St. Nerses program has been supporting since their early days at nurseries and kindergartens are now on their way to becoming the workforce Armenia’s economy needs. 

Thanks to the commitment of many donors, for decades the Orphan Sponsorship Program has remained one of the central pieces of the activities of St. Nerses the Great. Donors have accompanied the children through their coming of age and forged strong bonds with them.

Now as then, your support makes a vast difference. 

Those sponsors, who have generously ensured a stipend for the children under their care, may continue to do so as they mature into young professionals.

Former members of the Orphan Sponsorship Program have become college students and will be needing new sponsors. With the highest standards observed since its inception, the St. Nerses the Great Charitable Organization will continue to track down potential candidates and bringing them to your attention.

If you would like to sponsor a young student in the College Sponsorship Program օr a young child in the Orphans Sponsorship Program, you may contact the Prelacy by email (sophie@armenianprelacy.org) or telephone (212-689-7810).

AN APPEAL TO HELP LEBANESE ARMENIANS
Volunteers box food staples for needy families. Volunteers administer this program so all donations are used for the distribution of food and goods.
The Christian Education department of the Holy See of Cilicia, under the patronage of His Holiness, Aram I, is planning to provide aid to around 200 Lebanese Armenian families in need as the country is going through a period of turmoil.

The department is seeking to hand out canned food, vegetables, meat and cleaning supplies, among other necessity goods. The aid will be distributed during the Holidays as we share our joy with our brothers and sisters.

Just like last year, the chair of the Christian Education Department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Sarkissian, has appealed to the Eastern Prelacy to ask our parishioners to support this humanitarian initiative, showing solidarity with the Lebanese Armenian community in these trying days. A $100 donation will provide the package of basic items described above to an entire family. You may also contribute other amounts.
This donation on occasion of the Holidays will be greatly appreciated.

Please send your checks to the following address:

Armenian Prelacy, 138 East 39 th   Street, New York, NY 10016։
Please make checks payable to the Armenian Apostolic Church of America,
writing “Gift for the Needy” in the memo line.

Your donation is tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS FOR MUSICAL ARMENIA
AT CARNEGIE HALL 
You may now reserve your tickets for the 2020 Musical Armenia Concert, which will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2020, at 2:00 pm at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. This is the 37 th edition of the much-loved series that began in 1982. Our 2020 event showcases three outstanding artists who will present a stimulating and inspiring program: pianist Tatev Amiryan, v ocalist Anna Hayrapetyan, and cellist Laura Navasardian.

Musical Armenia, established by Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian and the Prelacy Ladies Guild, is dedicated to promoting young Armenian artists and to the performance of music by Armenian composers. Over the past 38 years, many of our performers have established solid professional careers. The Prelacy thanks Musical Armenia’s devoted supporters for their contributions to the artists’ development. 

As in the past, Musical Armenia’s sponsors and supporters can make a key contribution to the development of these artists. Prospective sponsors may join any of these categories: diamond ($1,000 donation), platinum ($500), gold ($300), or silver ($200). Diamond, platinum, and gold sponsors will receive two complimentary tickets.

Tickets for the concert cost $25. For further information or to purchase tickets, please contact the Prelacy at 212-689-7810 or via e-mail at sophie@armenianprelacy.org.

BIBLE READINGS
Bible readings for Sunday, December 22, Fifth Sunday of Advent are: Isaiah 40:18-31; Hebrews 4:16-5:10; Luke 18:9-14.

Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 4:16-5:10)

***

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”   (Luke 18:9-14)


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

DAVID THE PROPHET KING; HOLY APOSTLE JAMES
This Monday (December 23) the Armenian Church commemorates David the Prophet King and the Holy Apostle James the Brother of the Lord.

David was the youngest of eight brothers and was brought up to be a shepherd where he learned courage, tenderness, and caring. David became the second King of Israel. In the Bible, the name David belongs solely to him, which indicates the unique place he had as an ancestor and forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament there are more than 50 references to David, including the title given to Jesus—Son of David. David was a poet and the author of some of the Psalms.

James the Apostle, called “Brother of the Lord,” probably because of his close relationship with Jesus, was granted a special appearance of the Lord after the Resurrection. He is believed to have been a first cousin of the Lord, or as some biblical scholars have suggested, a son of Joseph. After the Resurrection and the Ascension, while the other apostles scattered all over the world, James remained in Jerusalem where he served as the Bishop and became a leading spokesman of the early church.
ST. STEPHEN, FIRST DEACON AND FIRST MARTYR
On Tuesday (December 24) the Armenian Church commemorates St. Stephen, the first deacon and proto-martyr. After Christ’s ascension, the apostles went about spreading the Word. It soon became apparent that more people were needed to serve the growing church community. Seven worthy individuals were called upon to serve the Holy Altar and called “deacons” ( sarkavag ). The most noteworthy of the seven was Stephen, described as a “man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). The Feast of St. Stephen is a popular and important commemoration in the Armenian Church; it is a day to honor all deacons of the church. Stephen became the first martyr of the Church and is therefore called the “proto-martyr.” The only information about his life and death is in the Book of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6:8 and 8:2).
FROM OUR SCHOOLS
NAREG STUDENTS THRILLED WITH ARA DINKJIAN
Ara Dinkjian not only is a renowned musician: he is also a native a New Jersey and he entertained an audience of his youngest fans at Nareg Armenian Saturday School in his home state. Dinkjian, recognized as one of the finest oud players in the world, spoke about his love for his art and introduced the students to this stringed instrument found in the music of Armenia and other nations of Asia Minor and the Middle East. The performance and talk by the illustrious visitor on December 7 thrilled Nareg students, making them proud of their Armenian heritage.
FROM OUR PARISHES
BOOK PRESENTATION AT THE CATHEDRAL
On Sunday, December 15, immediately after the Divine Liturgy, the parishioners of St. Illuminator’s Cathedral gathered at Pashalian Hall for the presentation of the newly published “Praying with the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church” by Archdeacon Shant Kazanjian, Director of Christian Education of the Eastern Prelacy. This new publication contains the English translation of the prayers from the Book of Hours of the Armenian Church ( Zhamakeerk ), translated from the original classical Armenian ( Krapar ).

The Book of Hours ( Zhamakeerk ) contains the daily cycle of seven services of the Armenian Church. These services include fixed Psalms and scriptural readings, hymns and canticles, diaconal litanies and proclamations, prayers, and various rituals. “Praying with the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church” comprises the English translation of only the prayers from the Book of Hours.

“Praying with the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church” is available at the Prelacy Bookstore for $10, plus shipping and handling (books@armenianprelacy.org, 212-689-7810).
SALT & LIGHT PAYS EMOTIONAL VISIT TO ST. MARY’S KIDS
Last Saturday, 17 kids, along with Der Nareg and 4 facilitators from the St. Sarkis Salt & Light Youth Group, visited St. Mary's Children's Hospital in Bayside, New York. Prior to this day, the youth group had collected money to purchase gifts for the hospital, and on their visiting day, our kids took over $430 worth of young children's toys with them to donate to the hospital. During their time there, the youth group members worked one on one with the hospitalized children making Christmas crafts and listening to Christmas music in the hospital's activity room. The mood was festive and jolly, and our members did a wonderful job bringing cheer to the sick children. Before we left the hospital, Der Nareg gathered with our members in the Chapel to reflect on their experience. He reminded them to thank God for our everyday blessings, to be weary not to let greed overshadow feelings of gratitude and to pray for the children that they just met. 
Some Salt & Light members shared their impressions with us:

“Visiting the St. Mary’s children’s hospital was a very moving experience that I will never forget. It brought us closer together as a youth group because we saw the conditions of these kids together. It was a very emotional experience as most of the kids were around our age, and their childhoods were taken away from them because of their sicknesses. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for them. This experience opened my eyes and made me very grateful for all the blessings God has given me. Blessings as simple as two legs and ten fingers. I enjoyed spending my Saturday morning having fun with these kids and I am really looking forward to visiting the hospital again!”
Olivia Abajian


“The Salt & Light Youth Group went to St. Mary's Hospital last Saturday. We brought activities and gifts for the children there. Personally, I enjoyed my experience at the hospital because it was humbling and rewarding at the same time. It made me appreciate more things in life, I got to understand how people with certain diseases live, and we made them happy that day. Most of the time at the hospital, I spoke with a kid named Chris. Chris was 15 years old, and he was in a wheelchair. At one point he said he doesn't like sports because he can't walk or do any physical activity. That little sentence tore my heart into pieces because kids take running around and playing for granted, while you have kids like Chris who dream to run, or even walk. Chris and I spent our time together making Christmas crafts to decorate his hospital room. I then met a little 8-year-old girl who somehow always managed to keep a smile on her face no matter what she faced. That smile on her face made my day. I would love to come with Salt & Light and experience this again, this trip really changed me.”
Andrew Gorgissian

“I think this trip was a great experience and it was very fun. It makes you realize that no matter what, you have to think before you talk to the kids because of how they look or act. They are kids just like the rest of us. The trip also showed us that we should all be grateful for the simple blessings we have in life that we take for granted. The trip was fun and it was good to spend time with the children.”
Tonee Marino

NORTH ANDOVER CHILDREN GET READY FOR SANTA
North Andover, MA, St. Gregory Armenian and Sunday School children gathered last Sunday to practice their year’s end party and decorate the Christmas tree in Jaffarian Hall. The kids were led by Director Sossy Jeknavorian.
The Prelacy’s Orphan Sponsorship program was established in 1993 and continues to be the central mission of the Prelacy’s projects in Armenia and Artsakh. As part of the program, letters are received regularly from sponsored children addressed to their sponsors. We are pleased to share some of these letters through Crossroads .

This week’s letter is from Yana* who is sponsored by Manouel and Hasmik Rakoubian.
Hello!

This is Yana from Kapan City. I will be two years old soon, that is why my mom will write about me. I am a very lively and a very sweet troublemaker. I love to move, to dance, and to enjoy everything. Every day I find new wonders trying to discover the world, and the grown-ups try to stop me. I listen only to my older brother Ashot –his advice is very important to me.

I love people and the sun… In my world everything is wonderful and beautiful.

Love you. Thank you for everything. May God protect you.

Yana

* In order to protect the privacy of the children we use only their first names.

PLEASE CONSIDER SPONSORSHIP:
Currently there are children on the waiting list for the Prelacy’s Sponsorship Program. If you would like to sponsor a child please click here for quick and easy online sponsorship. You may also contact the Prelacy by email ( sophie@armenianprelacy.org ) or telephone (212-689-7810), ask for Sophie. 
“A HISTORY OF ARMENIAN WOMEN’S WRITING, 1880-1922”
Victoria Rowe
Victoria Rowe’s book explores the literary output of six Armenian women writers—Srpouhi Dussap (1841-1901), Sibyl (1863-1934), Mariam Khatisian (1845-1914), Marie Beylerian (1880-1915), Shushanik Kurghinian (1876-1927), and Zabel Yessayan (1878-1942)—within the context of the Armenian intellectual and cultural movement known as the Zartonk (Awakening) in the waning of the Ottoman and Russian Empires. In addition to analyses of each author’s contribution to the pressing issues of the day, including women’s rights, national development and the problem of state-sponsored violence, the volume provides biographical information on each writer and examines the cultural institutions—the school, the periodical press, the philanthropic organization, and the salon—which made Armenian women’s entry into the literary and intellectual spheres possible.

Copies of this book may be purchased from the Prelacy Bookstore ( books@armenianprelacy.org  or 212-689-7810)
Death of Nikolai Marr
(December 20, 1934)
Georgian linguist, archaeologist, and ethnographer Nikolai Marr was a noted scholar of the Caucasus, particularly interested in Armenian studies, including language. Later in his life, roughly coinciding with the early decades of the Soviet Union, he would shift into linguistics and become the author   of the so-called “New Linguistic Doctrine.”

Marr was born in Kutaisi (Georgia), on January 6, 1865, of a Scottish father and a Georgian mother. His father, James Murray (Marr, in phonetic adaptation), was the founder of the botanical garden of the city. After attending the gymnasium in his hometown, Marr entered the Department of Oriental Languages at St. Petersburg University in 1884 and graduated in 1888. After passing his Master’s examinations in 1891, he was appointed a lecturer in Armenian Studies. He was awarded an associate professorship in 1900 and his habilitation in 1901, becoming a full Professor of Armenian and Georgian literatures in 1902.

He dedicated the early part of his career to Armenian and Georgian studies. He discovered various Georgian, Armenian, and Arab manuscripts during expeditions to Mt. Athos in 1898, and to the peninsula of Sinai and Jerusalem in 1902, and published them, along with others, in different scholarly editions. He also conducted pioneering excavations in Ani (1892-93, 1904-17), Garni (1909-10), and the Urartian fortress of Toprakkale (1916). His linguistic works include Old Armenian (1903), Laz (1910), and Old Georgian (1925) grammars, as well as an Abkhazian-Russian dictionary. Marr wrote most of his works in Russian, but some of them are in Georgian or Armenian.

His work in the field of Caucasian studies brought him widespread scholarly recognition. In 1909 he was elected an adjunct of the Historical-Philological Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences and became full member of the Academy in 1912. From 1911-1917, he served as the Dean of the Department of Oriental Languages of St. Petersburg University. In 1915, he received the Uvarov Prize, the highest award of the Russian Archeological Society.

In the late 1900s, Marr gradually began to shift the focus of his research to comparative linguistics. He dedicated significant efforts to proving the relationship of “Japhetic” languages with a string of ancient languages, postulating a common origin: Armenian (1910), Abkhazian (1912), Elamite (1914), Urartian (1915), Burushaski (1916), Basque (1920), Etruscan (1921), Pelasgian (1921), Sumerian (1921), Dravidian (1922), Chuvash (1924), and others.

Such hypotheses required to account for large-scale migrations, for which there was no tangible proof. Therefore, Marr decided to re-interpret the similarities of “Japhetic” languages in different terms: “Japhetic” and Indo-European languages were not related to genetically different families, but rather represented two subsequent stages of one process of language genesis. He went even further and proclaimed that all the languages of the world descended from a single proto-language, which had consisted of four exclamations (sal, ber, yon, rosh). They constituted the first acts of human speech and their combinations had yielded all the words of attested human languages.

The official name of this now discredited hypothesis was “New Linguistic Doctrine.” Marr was able to successfully present his doctrine as the only Marxist alternative to “bourgeois” comparative linguistics. Thus, he directly linked the stages of linguistic development he proposed to socio-economic formations as described by Marx and Engels.

His use of Marxist phraseology helped him advance his personal career. In the 1920s he held various positions as head of the Academy of the History of Material Culture, the Japhetic Institute (later renamed the Institute of Language and Thought), the Leningrad Public Library, the Institute of the Study of Ethnic and National Cultures of the East, and the Section of Materialist Linguistics of the Communist Academy. He was awarded the Order of Lenin in January 1934 and passed away on December 20 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).

Marr’s pseudo-scientific theory remained part of the official Soviet orthodoxy till the end of the 1940s. His teachings were declared anti-Marxist in an article signed by Stalin and possibly even written by him in Pravda, the central Soviet newspaper. Subsequently, traditional historical linguistics and its practice were rehabilitated. Today, his late writings are of interest mainly for Sovietologists and historians of linguistics.
Previous entries in “This Week in Armenian History” are on the Prelacy’s web site ( www.armenianprelacy.org ). 

The Left Is Good Too
Ninety per cent of the world population is right-handed and the number of left-handed people in the United States was over 11 per cent in 1972 (up from 2.1 per cent in 1932). There are countries where left-handed people are still forced to write with the right hand.

These few pieces of information may help us understand how come “dexterity” (related to dexter , “right-handed”) means “skill in performing tasks” and “sinister” (perhaps derived from the Latin sinister , “left”) means “evil or criminal.” In other words, the prevailing belief from ancient times is that “right is good, left is bad.” The fact that the sign of the cross is done with the right hand, regardless of what your dominant hand is, tells you something. Jesus sat at the right hand of God and the just will also sit at His right hand (աջակողմեան դաս/achagoghmian tas in Armenian, literally “right-side group”), even though God’s left hand is the hand of judgment.

Such beliefs are also reflected in the Armenian language. Let’s establish first that the word աջ (ach) means “right” in the sense of direction. A right-handed person, a “righty,” is called աջլիկ (achleeg).

Then, let’s take look at a few words. If you are a supporter or an assistant, the word is աջակից (achageets), literally “(the one) who is alongside the right one,” and if you are someone successful, the word is յաջող (hachogh), where the յ (currently pronounced h) is an addition to the root “ach.” If you bow to kiss the hand of a high-ranked churchman, you will be offered the right hand, and the ceremony of kissing the hand is called աջահամբոյր (achahampooyr, “kissing of the right”).

Of course, the idea of success goes hand in hand with progress, and when you combine the prefix առ (ar “to, towards”) with the word աջ (ach), you have the word առաջ (arach) “ahead” (literally, “to the right”). Arach, in turn, is the source for the much-used words առաջին (aracheen) “first” (literally, “being to the right”) and առաջնորդ (arachnort) “leader, guide; primate, prelate.” 

What happens with the “left”? The word ձախ (tzakh) means “left,” from which we have several words related to something wrong: ձախորդութիւն (tzakhortootioon) or ձախողութիւն (tzakhoghootioon) “failure”; ձախողիլ (tzakhoghil) “to fail,” and the like. However, if you consider that the list of left-handed U.S. presidents in the twentieth century and early twenty-first century includes Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, and that other famous lefties are Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Babe Ruth, Napoleon Bonaparte, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marie Curie, then you can hardly say that left is necessarily bad.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES...
To commemorate the first anniversary of the 1988 earthquake in Armenia the Prelacy sponsored a three-city tour of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra with Loris Tjeknavourian conducting concerts in Symphony Hall in Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. This photo is from the sold-out Carnegie Hall performance on December 7, 1989. All three concerts were reviewed and extensively covered by the media.

ANY COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS FOR CROSSROADS?
Please send your inquiries and comments (English and/or Armenian) to crossroads@armenianprelacy.org . Please remember that the deadline for submitting items for Crossroads is on Wednesdays at noon.

All parish news, photographs, and calendar items should also be emailed to crossroads@armenianprelacy.org .

Comments received may be shared from time to time. We are looking forward to yours.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
( Calendar items may be edited to conform to space and style )
December 22 —Christmas Concert at 2 pm, organized by the Board of Trustees of St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, New York City, under the auspices of H.E. Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate of the Eastern Prelacy, featuring Anahit Zakaryan, Hayk Arsenyan, and Anahit Indzhiguyan.

December 29 — Presentation of a new publication: "Praying with the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church” by Archdeacon Shant Kazanjian, Director of Christian Education (Eastern Prelacy), immediately after the Divine Liturgy at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church of Ridgefield, New Jersey.

December 31 —Save the date. Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, New Jersey, New Year’s Eve dinner/dance.

March 15, 2020 —Save the date and watch for details for the Eastern Prelacy’s 37 th annual Musical Armenia concert, 2 pm at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, West 57 th Street at Seventh Avenue, New York City.

March 28, 2020 —“Faith Building Women 2020 Symposium,” A daylong conference to heighten awareness of women in the Bible, organized by the Adult Christian Education department of St. Peter Armenian Church. The Symposium will take place at Holy Trinity Armenian Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Keynote speakers Dr. Roberta Ervine and Arpi Nakashian.

May 13-16, 2020 —National Representative Assembly (NRA) of the Eastern Prelacy hosted by St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of Philadelphia. The Clergy Conference will begin on Wednesday, May 13; the full Assembly will convene on Thursday, May 14 and conclude on Saturday, May 16.

May 31, 2020 —Save the Date. St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York, 30 th Anniversary Banquet.
Follow us on Social Media
The Armenian Prelacy 
Tel: 212-689-7810 ♦ Fax: 212-689-7168 ♦ Email: email@armenianprelacy.org

Visit the Catholicosate webpage at  http://www.armenianorthodoxchurch.org/en/