Entries by stjohn

OPENING OF THE YEREVAN SUBWAY

The Karen Demirchian Yerevan Subway, colloquially known as the Yerevan Metro, seems to have been around forever, but it started barely forty years ago. It is a government-owned company overseen by the City of Yerevan. Yerevan experienced substantial growth after World War II. The city’s very uneven landscape only left an underground system as the real alternative to moving large numbers of people in an efficient manner. The first plans for a rapid transit system began to be formed in the late 1960s,

GREAT LENT – Day 21: Sunday of the Steward

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager, as with other parables found in the Gospels, is about the Kingdom of God. Through the observable realities in the parable, Jesus reveals the invisible truths. Many have wondered as to why our Lord Jesus describes the dishonest manager as an example to emulate. It is important to note that our Lord Jesus does not praise the dishonesty but the shrewdness of the manager and his resourcefulness and approach to money. “And his master commended the dishonest manager because he …

SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON

Our journey through Great Lent continues. This Sunday, March 16, is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. The parable of the prodigal son shows God’s fatherly love and eagerness to forgive those who repent.

SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON

The Parable of the Prodigal Son as a whole is considered to be a wise masterpiece amongst short stories. Only our Lord Jesus Christ, who knows the human heart, can describe so well the journey of repentance and the path to return to life. In this story, Christ describes the passions and desires of the young man who departs from his father’s home and finds himself in extreme poverty after throwing away his inheritance. He slips into desperation, living in squalor and eating from the pods of the pig…

BIRTH OF BOHDAN GEBARSKI

Bohdan Gebarski was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the family of a Polish railway engineer, on February 27, 1905. He received his education in Russian schools and graduated in 1923. A year later, he moved to Warsaw (Poland) with his family. He studied at the Institute of Oriental Living Languages of Warsaw. He fought actively against Nazism during World War II and was a leading force in the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, where he remained …

“BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU…”

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’” (Jeremiah 1:4-8)

SUNDAY OF EXPULSION – ARDAKSMAN GIRAGI

Many believe that God sent Adam and Eve away from the Garden merely because of the sin of eating the forbidden fruit. Certainly, they did not obey God’s word, and due to their disobedience, they were expelled from the garden. However, their disobedience was only one of the reasons for their expulsion. The more crucial reason was that they did not accept their sin, and they did not claim responsibility for their own wrongs. The Holy Scriptures tell us that after they had sinned, God asked Adam, “Have you …

DEATH OF MESROB MASHDOTS

On February 17, AD 440, St. Mesrop Mashtots was called to be with the Lord. Today, we pause to honor his memory and seek his intercession, celebrating a saint whose life and legacy continue to shine a light on the path of faith and cultural identity for our people. While visiting the Mother See for the Supreme Spiritual Council meeting, I was blessed with the profound privilege of paying respects at the resting place of this great Saint of the Armenian Church. Standing in this sacred space this morning, I …

DEATH OF LOUIS DARTIGE DU FOURNET

Louis Dartige du Fournet was the French officer who completed the epic resistance of Musa Dagh by rescuing the Armenians that had taken to the mountain to fight the Turkish order of deportation in 1915. He was born in Putanges-Pont-Écrepin on March 2, 1856. He entered the French Naval Academy and graduated as his class valedictorian. He served in various ships from 1874 and 1885, while climbing the ranks to lieutenant (1883).

SUNDAY OF THE EXPULSION | ԱՐՏԱՔՍՄԱՆ ԿԻՐԱԿԻ

As of Monday we entered the period of Great Lent (Medz Bahk), and the Church has taken on a somber, mournful, and penitential manifestation. Beginning last Sunday, which was Poon Paregentan, the altar is closed with a dark curtain, symbolic of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.