Hampartsoum: 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 following 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... Read More »

Second Palm Sunday

  The name of the feast is derived from Palm Sunday, which precedes Easter. The Second Palm Sunday is the commemoration of the triumphant entry of the Ascended Christ into the Heavenly Jerusalem, where the angels meet him with great happiness and delight. According to old beliefs, during St Gregory the Illuminator’s imprisonment in the... Read More »

The Feast of Pentecost: Hokekaloust

  “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ... Read More »

Commemoration of the Prophet Elijah

  Welcome the Stranger: Elijah He was a man of holiness and generosity; but also a man who could countenance the cruelest violence. His very name confessed his loyalty to God; but also prefigured the loneliness that can follow any man with such loyalties. He was Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah “the Stranger”: the Hebrew prophet... Read More »

Commemoration of St Hripsime and her Companions

  St Hripsime, along with her companions in martyrdom, are venerated as the first martyrs in Armenian history. Noble Hripsime was one of the 37 Christian nuns who, together with the Abyss Gayane, lived during the period of the reign of the Roman King Diocletianus (284-305) in the Monastery of St Paul located in the... Read More »