Church Calendar

  • Commemoration of the Beheading of St John the Baptist

      The Saturday following the Holy Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Armenian Church commemorates the beheading of St John the Baptist (also known as The Forerunner). The writers of the Gospels, St Matthew and St Mark, have explained the history of beheading of St John the Baptist, who had... Read More »

  • New (Renewal) Sunday

      New Sunday or Renewal Sunday (Nor Giragi) is also called Second Easter (Grgnazadig), which means “Easter repeated” as it is the eighth day of Easter and a day similar to Easter in readings and hymns. Easter means freedom and the new Sunday is a day of double freedom. God has set us free from... Read More »

  • Sunday of the World Church (Green Sunday)

      The second Sunday of Easter commemorates Sunday of the World Church (Ashkharhamadoor), the first Church of Jerusalem, established by Christ. On the first day of the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus instructs two of the Apostles, Peter and John, to go into Jerusalem and meet a man, who would direct them to a house... Read More »

  • Commemoration of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide

      The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century. The lives of 1.5 million Armenians were lost, who were massacred by Ottoman Turkey’s “Young Turk” government beginning in 1915. The deportation and mass extermination of Armenians continued until 1923. Planned and executed during World War I, the Armenian Genocide saw the virtual... Read More »

  • Red Sunday

      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 »