Every Armenian is familiar with ԿոմիտասՎարդապետ, Komitas/Gomidas Vartabed, revered musicologist and priest of the Armenian Church, whose 150th anniversary of birth we celebrate this year. While his collection and transcription of folk songs are perhaps his most important legacy, he …
Christian Doctors of the Church—the ultimate vartabeds—are a rare breed of scholar, theologian, and champion of the faith in Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church, which is the most systematic about this designation, reserves the title for those who made a …
Our title this week mimics that of an essay by the cultural critic Walter Benjamin. In that essay, Benjamin suggests that translating a text from one language into another is not simply reproduction, but is productive: the translator, making not …
And when the Apostles of Christ were preparing to leave the world, they chose God-fearing and wise men from the believers, appointed them in their place at the head of the people in the cities and in the country and …
St. Gregory of Narek (945-1003) is one the most revered saints of the Armenian Church. He has been widely influential due to his penitential flavor of prayerful expression, particularly through his renowned and deeply introspective Book of Prayers. He has …
What are icons, and how are they used in the Armenian Church? Simply stated, an icon is an artistic image, likeness, or representation of someone or some event. Often they are paintings depicting Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, angels, …
For Armenians, going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land is hardly a novel tradition. From the first recorded Armenian pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the 4th century to the early 20th century, when Catholicos Khrimian Hayrig penned his Invitation to the …
