The New Year (Gaghant, Amanor or Navasart) has generally been a feast of joy and happiness for the Armenian people. It is customary to exchange gifts with family members and close friends and to bring delight to children with gifts. It is also customary to set the family table to the extent of... Read More »

  Eve of Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Candlelight (Lucernarium) Divine Liturgy According to the Armenian Church, the day changes at 5:00 pm and thus the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ starts on the eve, on the evening of January 5... Read More »

  Each year, on January 13, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Feast of Naming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As Evangelist St. Luke writes in his Gospel, according to the  Jewish tradition “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him... Read More »

  The birth of St John the Baptist is described in detail in the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 1:5-25). One day Zechariah, father of St John the Baptist, was doing his work as a priest in the Temple and was burning incense on the altar. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and... Read More »

  St Anthony the Hermit is the founder of ascetic and monastic life. He was born in the village Koma, Egypt, in 251, in a noble family. After his parents’ death Anthony inherited their wealth. Whilst in church, he listened to the evangelical commandment, in which Jesus says: “If you want to be perfect, go... Read More »

  The Armenian Church commemorates Theodosius I, the Roman Emperor (379 to 395) who put an end to the last of paganism and the Arian heresy in the empire (The doctrine denying the true divinity of Christ, named after the Alexandrian priest Arius c. 250–c. 336). He was recognised as a “just and mighty Christian... Read More »

  Patriarchs St Athanasius and St Cyril are among the most prominent figures of the Universal Church, who devoted their lives to the promulgation of the orthodoxy of Christianity, and the struggle against false conceptions and erroneous teachings. St. Athanasius (295-373 A.D.) was born in Alexandria, to a Greek Christian family.  He received his higher... Read More »

  St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory of Nazianzus), has left a rich literary heritage, which was translated into Armenian in the 5th to 8th centuries AD. In all probability, St. Moses of Khoronk created part of the translations into Armenian. St. Gregory the Theologian is one of the most prominent figures of... Read More »

  The blessing of grapes takes place immediately after the Divine Liturgy. The ceremony is rich in symbolism and emphasises the important role the Virgin Mary assumed in the revelation of God. In the Northern Hemisphere, the blessing takes place on the day of the Feast of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God. However, in... Read More »

  The Fast of Catechumens is peculiar only to the Armenian Church. It begins three weeks before Great Lent. In ancient times people could eat only bread and salt during the fast of Catechumens. In those days the Divine Liturgy was not celebrated either. The meaning of the Fast of Catechumens is the purification of... Read More »

  On the fifth day (Friday) of the Fasting of Catechumens, the Armenian Church commemorates the remembrance day of the Prophet Jonah. However it is celebrated not as the feast of the Prophet Jonah, but as the memory of an example of great repentance and abstinence, which Jonah urged. Prophet Jonah is one of the... Read More »

  ST SARKIS THE WARRIOR AND HIS SON ST MARDIROS (MARTYROS) The feast day honoring St. Sarkis is movable.  It occurs between January 11th and February 15th.  Each year it follows the five day Fast of Catechumens. Sarkis was a Greek from the area of Cappadocia on the Anatolian plain.  He was a proud, brave... Read More »