The date for Christmas was changed from January 6th to December 25th to override a pagan feast dedicated to the birth of the Sun. Since the Armenian Church was not part of the Church of Rome and it had no such Pagan holiday, it remained faithful to the traditions of their forefathers, and continued to celebrate Christmas on January 6th until today.
Hamasdegh was a leading Armenian-American writer and became a highly regarded name in the Armenian literature of the Diaspora.He was born Hampartsoum Gelenian in the village of Perchenj, in the region of Kharpert, on November 26, 1895.
Nalbandian was born on November 14, 1829, in Nor Nakhichevan, the town close to Rostov-on-Don founded in the late eighteenth century by Armenian emigrants from Crimea, in the family of a craftsman. He studied in his hometown at the school of Gabriel Patkanian, and for a while he was classmate of his son, the future poet Rafael Patkanian (Kamar Katipa).
On Sunday, November 9, St. John the Baptist Armenian Church celebrated its 79th anniversary with Divine Liturgy followed by a banquet and program. The Diocesan Vicar of the Eastern Diocese, Very Rev. Fr. Simeon Odabashian, was the guest celebrant.
Everyone has seen, in person or in picture, Yervant Kochar’s iconic statue of David of Sassoun in front of the train station of Yerevan. Fewer people are aware that a second, equestrian statue of the hero of the Armenian epic poem Saroyan stands in front of the courthouse in Fresno, California.
