Among this day’s readings is the parable of the wedding banquet. Guests thoughtlessly ignore a king’s invitation to a banquet and so the king throws open the invitation to others. Our baptism constitutes an invitation from Christ to belong to …
The hauntingly beautiful Խաւարում (Khavaroom) vigil recalls the last night of Jesus’ life in the Garden of Gethsemane, his agony and prayer, his arrest, and Judas’ blatant betrayal (Matthew 26:36-43, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46). (Note: Although this all-night vigil begins on …
In the Armenian Church, Holy Week (Աւագ Շաբաթ) begins not on Palm Sunday, but on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. It is not a fasting day or a saints’ day, even though Lazarus is a saint in the …
From the perspective of the liturgical calendar, this week could very well be one of the strangest of the year. As we have discussed before, the temporality of the Armenian Apostolic Church emerges from the quality of different “kinds” of …
Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday, is the fullest week of liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Church. Services commemorate the events of the Gospel and the Life of Christ that are the culmination of His earthly ministry: …
Alexandria is a city almost synonymous with learning. The Library of Alexandria was the foremost repository of the written word in the ancient world. It was most likely established by Ptolemy II, ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt between 308 and 246 …
Right before St. Stephen is stoned to death, the Book of Acts tells us that “he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this against them.’” (Acts 7:60). This prayer, moments before his martyrdom, should …
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 …
Last week, we discussed the խազ/khaz, the enigmatic signs dotting the liturgical books of the Armenian Apostolic Church. For centuries, these were the only system of notating Armenian liturgical music, the only way of writing down melodies and rhythms that …
Every deacon and many choir members have encountered the enigmatic symbols in the pages of liturgical books such as the Շարակնոց/Sharagnots (Hymnal) or the Ժամագիրք/Jamakirk (Book of Hours). They appear as squiggles and lines above and between the rows of …