Although there seems to be no ecclesiastical origin or significance for Red Sunday, the colour red recalls numerous themes within Christianity and the tradition of the Armenian Church. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that redeems and heals us, the source of life which spilled into the ground from the Cross to give... Read More »
This feast is celebrated 28 days after Easter Sunday and is dedicated to the Apparition of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. At noon on May 19, 351AD, a bright, luminous cross appeared over the skies of Jerusalem, centred over an area spanning from the Mount of Olives (where Christ was betrayed and arrested) to... Read More »
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 »
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 »
“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 »
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 »
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 »
The Commemoration of St Gayane takes place on the day following the Commemoration of St Hripsime. St Gayane, the abbess and St Hripsime, along with their companions, remind us of the central role of strong, determined, faithful women at the root of Armenian Christianity. While the recounting of the conversion to Christianity usually centres... Read More »
The Armenian Church commemorates the day when the relics of St John the Forerunner (the Baptist) and Bishop Atanagine were transferred to Armenia. Mariam, the wife of St Gregory the Illuminator, had a brother named Atanagine. He was the Bishop of Pitacton and died while defending the faith. After his consecration in Caesarea, St... Read More »
The Feast of St Gregory the Illuminator’s deliverance from the pit is also known as Khor Viraben Yelkuh. Gregory is revered as the patron saint of the Armenian Church. He is recognised and memorialided in both eastern and western hierarchical churches. The Armenian liturgical calendar reserves three feast days in his honour: Entrance into... Read More »