May 3

TOP STORY   

Feast Of Ascension Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Feast of Holy Ascension marks the ascent of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven on the 40th day after His glorious Resurrection. The timing is clearly specified in the Acts of the Apostles, where it is stated that Christ presented himself alive to the Apostles, "appearing to them during forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3).

On the 40th day, after he finished speaking to the Apostles, "as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sigh." (Acts 1:9). The Gospel according to Mark sums up the same story as follows: "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16: 19). The same account is also in the Gospel according to Luke: "While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). There are also several references to this event in some of the other books of the New Testament."

May 5, 2024

SUNDAY

SCHEDULE

Morning Service 

10:00 AM

Holy Badarak 

10:30 AM

Celebrant

Rev. Fr. Hovsep Karapetyan 

Usher

Sara Arabian

Parish Council Members on Duty

Catherine Sahakian

Choir

Mrs. Edita Kalayjian

Organist

Mrs. Karine Muradyan

Bible Readings:

acts 20:17-38

1 John 3:2-6

 John 9:39-10:10

HOKEHANKIST

REQUIEM SERVICE

To request a Hokehankist/Requiem Service 

Please contact the Church Office

by 12:00 Noon on Thursday

202-363-1923

or Click here to see the form

Prayer of the Week

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He made me lie down in green pastures and leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

   Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

   Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Please tune in to St. Mary YouTube channel for the upcoming services and Badaraks

Attention All High School and College Graduates!

As the graduation season approaches, we are eager to celebrate the wonderful achievements of our high school and college graduates. We invite all graduates or their parents to submit the graduates' names, schools, and future plans to St. Mary’s Church office at stmarychurchdc@gmail.com. 

We look forward to recognizing and honoring their hard work and dedication. Let’s celebrate this significant milestone together!

Join Us for the St. Mary Annual Spring Food Festival!

At St. Mary, we are very excited to host the 14th Annual Armenian Spring Food Festival on May 17th, 18th, and 19th, again bringing the culinary delights and cultural riches of Armenian heritage to the Greater Washington, DC area.

Our community is hard at work preparing for the Food Festival, but we need your support and sponsorship for it to be a success.

Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to enjoy great food, connect with your community, and support St. Mary in our biggest event of the year.

To donate, pre-order, or sign up to contribute, please visit the links provided below. Your generosity and spirit are what make this festival possible.

All donations are tax-deductible.

St. Mary Annual Armenian Spring Food Festival

Dear Parishioners,



St. Mary is preparing for its 2024 Spring Food Festival, and we are seeking your participation. The workshops are an opportunity to learn how to make traditional Armenian food and learn from our culinary experts in these classic dishes.

Please click on the link below to complete the volunteer form, if you would like to participate in any of the workshops. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Across the World on Martyrs Day, Vows to Remember

His Holiness Karekin II began this year’s solemn April 24 commemoration by visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Dzidzernagapert, to lay wreaths and offer prayers at the eternal flame.

Leading a delegation from the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians joined the great throng of fellow Armenians paying their respects on the occasion. Accompanying the Catholicos was the visiting Roman Catholic Archbishop of Marseille, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline.

At Holy Etchmiadzin on the same day, Catholicos Karekin II presided over the Divine Liturgy at St. Gayane Monastery, marking the Feast of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. As part of the service, a holy relic of one of the Genocide Saints was brought out for reverence by the faithful.

In a message to the public on the occasion, His Holiness observed that this year’s Genocide commemoration comes at a time “when our people are facing new existential threats and the most serious security concerns. After the genocidal actions inflicted upon our people of Artsakh, and the collapse of Artsakh’s surrounding regions, we now worry about the dire situation threatening Armenia’s own borders.”

But he expressed confidence that “our people will find strength in their heroic past, and the determination of our ancestors to never submit to evil.”

Click here to read the entire message. Click the following links to view photos, and to find video of the Martyrs Day ceremonies on Holy Etchmiadzin’s Facebook page.

Half way around the world, in New York City on Sunday, April 21, Diocesan Vicar Fr. Simeon Odabashian, representing Primate of the Eastern Diocese Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, offered a closing prayer for the Times Square Genocide Commemoration, organized by the Knights of Vartan and a host of Armenian groups.

“The souls we remember today endured their martyrdom 109 years ago,” he prayed. “But we are aware, Lord, that the hostility they faced, the cause they died for, did not end, but continues to this day, against the Armenian land and people of our precious, holy Artsakh. We feel grief that our people—your people—still live under this shadow of destructive hatred, aimed at us, our children, our homeland, our entire civilization.”

“In that awareness, Lord,” he went on, “we ask you to keep watch over your faithful people; strengthen those who have fled persecution seeking refuge; and protect the holy soil of Armenia—now and always.” Click here to watch a video clip of Fr. Odabashian’s prayer in Times Square.

In his own message to the faithful on Wednesday, April 24, Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan echoed the thoughts expressed by Catholicos Karekin II, adding: “Today, we stand united, hearts intertwined, as we remember the sacred memory of our holy martyrs: the brave souls of the Armenian Genocide. These were men, women, and children who, in their darkest hour, held onto their faith with unwavering love and dedication to our nation and homeland. They accepted the crown of martyrdom—and in doing so, they left us a legacy of their indomitable spirit and sanctified sacrifice.”

Finally, the significance of April 24, 1915, as the start of the Armenian Genocide was explicitly noted in a message from the White House and U.S. President Biden. Click here to read it.

Half-Way to Reaching Our Goal!

Readers of this newsletter are aware that our Diocese is undertaking a major project to restore and renovate the great edifice that unites our community of faith: St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral.

Our beloved Diocesan cathedral currently stands under a network of scaffolding, as exterior restoration work moves forward. This first phase is making desperately-needed repairs to the structure’s limestone facing and roof.

A renovation of the interior will follow in subsequent phases. In the meantime, St. Vartan Cathedral remains open for worship, candle-lighting, and visits of prayer—as it was throughout Holy Week and Easter.

Last week, the cathedral restoration committee announced that it has reached the halfway point in its goal of raising $28 million to fund the project!

Still, the committee remains hard at work raising the necessary funds, and creating resources to inform and involve the public—including an attractive website titled “Renewing the Vision, Cementing the Future,” where people can learn more about the project and watch its progress.

 Click the links below to:

• VISIT the Cathedral Project website.
• WATCH the promotional video.
• MAKE A GIFT to the Cathedral Restoration Project.

Helping Children of Artsakh Put Down New Roots

Just in time for the start of spring, the Fund for Armenian Relief’s “Ayo!” platform has launched a new campaign for children of Artsakh now living in Armenia, called “Put Down Roots.”

In partnership with the Yerevan Botanical Garden, Ayo! aims to establish a therapeutic garden for forcibly displaced children of Artsakh, where they can find relief from stress, get their hands dirty, and learn about nature. Once completed, this dedicated area within the Botanical Garden will remain accessible to children and youth for years to come.

To bring this vision to life, Ayo! is working to raise just over $25,000 this spring. The funds will be used to build the special garden equipped with an educational pavilion, benches, raised gardening beds, an irrigation system, lighting, accessible bathrooms and other features.

You can learn more about the “Put Down Roots” campaign by clicking here: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/ayoisyou/



The Eastern Diocese’s ACYOA Central Council was so excited by “Put Down Roots” that it generously committed to donate half of the proceeds from the upcoming Bishop’s 5k Run/Walk towards the project!

A Displaced Doctor Focuses on Helping Families

When she moved to Artsakh in 2014, Dr. Irina Saghyan dedicated her medical practice to supporting new mothers. As an Ob/Gyn, she has helped to bring 289 children into the world, safely and healthily. And she still remains in touch with the families of many of those babies.

Through the years, she has witnessed their moments of joy, and also the challenging realities that life in Artsakh presented to these new parents. But nothing compared to the 2023 blockade, when Irina felt powerless to fully assist mothers-to-be—especially those who were in the most delicate stage of pregnancy. The subsequent evacuation of Artsakh’s Armenian population—when Irina herself was forced to flee her home, along with countless refugees—only compounded the crisis faced by her patients.

Eventually, Irina was able to settle in Yerevan. And she gives thanks to the one helping hand that allowed her to move forward in this stressful time: the Fund for Armenian Relief. It was FAR that gave her financial support while Irina pursued her residency in Reproductive Medicine at Yerevan State Medical University. As a result, she is now working at the city’s Astghik Medical Center, where she plans to focus on in vitro fertilization (IVF) to assist couples desperate to start their own families.

“This has been the fulfillment of a primary passion in my medical career,” Dr. Saghyan says today. You can learn more about programs to support displaced healthcare professionals on FAR’s blog.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

RECYCLING PROGRAM NEWS

Thanks to our Recycling Committee for their work in sorting and bringing home the recyclables every Sunday, especially during our recent Food Festival. What has been discouraging, though, is that people continue to throw half-full coffee cups and food into the container, which makes it very messy for us. Please put only the following in the container:

Empty plastic bottles

Empty aluminum cans

Empty glass bottles

Nothing else!!

No paper, no plastic silverware, no coffee cups, no paper plates, no food. We are trying to keep things simple.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please email Roxanne Paul at rangerrox@msn.com. Thank you for being so supportive in helping keep our planet cleaner!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Special Gift for St. Mary Gift Shop

St. Mary gift shop is offering limited numbers of imported bottles of medieval Armenian health elixirs formulated from ancient manuscripts deciphered at the Matendaran Museum of Ancient Armenian Manuscripts. These elixirs are made in Armenia by Armen Sahakyan, a pharmacologist and botanical scholar who has been working at the Matenadaran Museum for the last several decades. A trained medical doctor ordained a deacon in 1997, Sahakyan has dedicated his life to the maintenance of Armenia’s sacred botanical traditions.

The three different batches available at our gift shop (Royal Elixir, Arates Elixir and Arates Tonic) are made from a codified recipe of medieval Armenian medicine, using a special distillation process. They contain medicinal and aromatic plants, known for their healing properties. Through the distillation and aging process alcohol is created, so think of them as perhaps Armenia’s first (healthy) cognac! 

The supplies are limited and each bottle is numbered, including the batch and year of production. All of the bottles were donated to St Mary Church, so 100% of the proceeds will go to the St Mary Endowment Fund, with a portion also going to support Armenian clergy serving in Artsakh.

"Embrace the Future" Endowment Fund

Dear Parishioners and Friends, 

This year, we celebrate the 92nd Anniversary of the St. Mary Community and Church. "Embrace the Future" Endowment Fund was established on the occasion of the 90th anniversary and continues to help ensure our church has the resources needed to continue serving our beloved community.  

Just as you plan for your future and that of your family, please join us in planning for the future of St. Mary Church. 

We are asking for your support so that St. Mary will be able to continue to fulfill her mission for future generations.  

The link below lists various opportunities for you to make a meaningful gift of lasting significance that will help support our church's long-term security, visibility, and vitality. Please consider making either a one-time gift or pledge, which would allow you to make payments over a five-year period.

Join St. Mary's Prayer Group

We are initiating a new form of ministry at St. Mary Armenian Church. For parishioners who would like to make an electronic prayer request, they can do so by Clicking Here

A group of volunteers will receive the request and pray at their earliest convenience. Additionally, a new physical prayer request box will be placed at the entrance of St. Mary Armenian Church with blank forms that anyone can fill out and drop in the box. These requests will be retrieved weekly and delivered to the members of the volunteer prayer group. If you would like to become one of the volunteers of the Prayer Group please email us. 

Please click on the link below to present your request. 

Buy a Brick and Leave Your Legacy at

St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church

Bricks can be ordered and purchased by clicking below and

filling out a simple online order form.

You can choose to have a 4" x 8" brick

which includes your preselected

3 lines of 20 characters per line of text.

Or you can choose to have the

Armenian Cross artwork on the 4" x 8" brick

which includes your preselected

3 lines of 15 characters per line of text.

Order Today While Quantities Last!

Payment can be made with PayPal or a Credit Card.

Legacy Brick Donations are Tax Deductible.

May 8 Backgammon Tournament (see flyer for details)

May 9 Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

May 17, 18,19 Spring Food Festival

June 8 Dinner Dance with Bartev (see flyer for details)

ST. MARY ARMENIAN CHURCH WED EDUCATIONAL

FUND SCHOLARSHIP

Application for the WED Educational Fund Scholarship is now available at St. Mary's website www.stmaryaac.org. The application deadline for the 2024-2025 academic year is

May 31, 2024.

Click here to access the scholarship application. If you have questions, contact the St. Mary Church office at stmarychurchdc@gmail.com

39 Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.10 "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.7 Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(John 9:39-10:10)

39 Եւ Յիսուս ասաց. «Դատաստանի համար եկայ այս աշխարհը, որպէսզի, ովքեր չեն տեսնում, տեսնեն, եւ ովքեր տեսնում են, կուրանան»։ 40 Փարիսեցիներից ոմանք, որ Յիսուսի հետ էին, այդ լսեցին ու նրան ասացին. «Միթէ մե՞նք էլ կոյր ենք»։ 41 Յիսուս նրանց ասաց. «Եթէ կոյր լինէիք, դուք մեղք չէիք ունենայ, բայց հիմա ասում էք, թէ՝ տեսնում ենք. եւ ձեր մեղքը ձեր մէջ հաստատ է մնում»։10 «Ճշմարիտ, ճշմարիտ եմ ասում ձեզ, ով ոչխարների փարախը դռնով չի մտնում, այլ ուրիշ տեղով է բարձրանում, նա գող է եւ աւազակ. 2 իսկ ով դռնով է մտնում, հովիւ է ոչխարների։ 3 Դռնապանը նրա համար բացում է դուռը, եւ ոչխարները լսում են նրա ձայնը. նա իր ոչխարներին անուններով է կանչում եւ նրանց դուրս է հանում։ 4 Եւ երբ իր բոլոր ոչխարներին հանի, նրանց առջեւից է գնում, եւ ոչխարները հետեւում են նրան, որովհետեւ ճանաչում են նրա ձայնը։ 5 Օտարի յետեւից չեն գնայ, այլ կը փախչեն նրանից, որովհետեւ չեն ճանաչում օտարների ձայնը»։6 Յիսուս նրանց այս առակն ասաց, իսկ նրանք չէին իմանում, թէ ինչ էր այն, որ նա իրենց ասում էր։ 7 Դարձեալ Յիսուս նրանց ասաց. «Ճշմարիտ, ճշմարիտ եմ ասում ձեզ, որ ես եմ ոչխարների դուռը։ 8 Բոլոր նրանք, որ ինձնից առաջ եկան, գողեր էին ու աւազակներ, ուստի ոչխարները նրանց չլսեցին։ 9 Ես եմ դուռը. եթէ մէկը իմ միջով մտնի, կը փրկուի. կը մտնի ու կ'ելնի եւ ճարակելու բան կը գտնի։ 10 Գողը գալիս է միայն, որպէսզի գողանայ, սպանի եւ կորստեան մատնի. ես եկայ, որպէսզի կեանք ունենան եւ՝ առաւել եւս ունենան։

(Յովհ. 9:39-10:10)

Our gift shop is furnished with distinctive and unique items from Armenians all over the world. Some of the items are Armenian crosses, jewelry, paintings, religious tiles, tapestry icons, children's and adult books, T-shirts, hats, bags, Armenian CDs, Armenian artwork, and much more. 

The Gift Shop is open every Sunday after Church service and by appointment, call the church office at 202-363-1923 or send an e-mail to stmarychurchdc@gmail.com