Entries by stjohn

BISHOP MESROP CELEBRATES ST. JOHN’S ANNIVERSARY

Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan intended to celebrate St. John the Baptist Armenian Church’s 80th anniversary in fall 2022 but was still recovering from serious injuries sustained in a car crash. On Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, Bishop Mesrop, fully recovered after five surgeries, presided over the parish’s 81st anniversary liturgy and banquet. In his sermon, Bishop Mesrop linked St. John’s commemoration with the 125th anniversary of the Armenian Diocese in North America. The two events are inseparable, …

DEATH OF LOUISE NALBANDIAN

Louise Nalbandian was born in San Francisco on September 12, 1926. She taught junior high and high school, and she was a lecturer of Armenian history at UCLA (1960-1961). She had completed her doctorate at Stanford University (1959), where she wrote her thesis on Armenian political parties, which was later published by the University of California Press under the title The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The Development of Armenian Political Parties through the Nineteenth Century …

THANKSGIVING 2023: THANKING GOD

Thanksgiving Day is an American national festival of thanksgiving, first celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621, and proclaimed annually by the President of the United States on the fourth Thursday in November.
The roots of the Thanksgiving celebration are deep within the Bible. The Hebrew people observed a thanksgiving holiday called Sukkoth, as a reminder of God’s protection and care during their sojourn in the Sinai dessert on their way to the Promised Land.

BIRTH OF VARAZDAT HARUTIUNIAN

Varazdat Harutiunian was one of the best-known names in the study of Armenian architecture in Armenia during the second half of the twentieth century. He was born in Van on November 29, 1909. The Harutiunian family emigrated from Van after the heroic resistance of April-May 1915 against the Ottoman army during the Armenian Genocide. They first went to Etchmiadzin and then to Tiflis (nowadays Tbilisi). Varazdat Harutiunian studied at the local Armenian high school from 1919 to 1927 and then taught in two …

GRATITUDE

If we pause and reflect on our lives, we’ll discover countless gifts and blessings for which we ought to be deeply grateful to God. It’s from the depths of our hearts that we should express our sincere thanks.The power of gratitude is well-known to parents. When children continually ask for more without expressing appreciation for what they already have, a parent’s heart may grow heavy with …

PRESENTATION OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD TO THE TEMPLE

On Tuesday, November 21, the Armenian Church commemorates the Presentation of the Holy Mother of God to the Temple (Undzayoum Sourp Asdvadzadzni), one of the eight feast days devoted to Mary in the Armenian liturgical calendar. The doctrine of …

ALLELUIA!

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!” Psalm 150:1

“Alleluia” in the Hebrews means “Let us bless God.” The verb “to bless” in this Psalm is used in the sense of “to praise” and in an imperative manner. This means it is not an offer or an invitation, but a command addressed to each of us. This is best seen in the last verse of Psalm 150 when the psalmist calls out: “All souls, bless the Lord.” All with souls are called to bless and glorify God “with joy… with sweet words… with audible speech… with the voice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 150:4-6).

DEATH OF LEVON MIRIJANIAN

Poet Levon Mirijanian had a wide literary and public activity in Armenia from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Mirijanian was born on January 22, 1933, in Yerevan. He finished the Khachatur Abovian high school in 1950 and the School of Armenian Language and Literature of Yerevan State University in 1955. In 1962 he passed the courses and exams for the Ph.D. program of the Institute of Literature Manuk Abeghian of …

RESTORATION OF HUMANKIND

In 1972, a mad and distressed Hungarian geologist attacked and severely damaged one of the world’s most famous sculptures, Michelangelo’s Pieta, located in St. Peter’s Cathedral at the Vatican.
After arresting the culprit and assessing the amount of damage he caused, the officials immediately started the restoration of the statue. Although this masterpiece of art was broken, it was not thrown aside but was carefully repaired and is still to this day, one of the crown jewels of the St. Peter’s Cathedral, restored with its new beauty.

SPEAKING OF HOPE

If you meet drivers who bought an expensive car and ask them about their car, they will talk for hours about its advantages and multifunctional capabilities. If you ask someone who bought a new computer about their computer, they will tell you about its power and capabilities. If you ask a gardener about his garden or greenhouses, he will tell you at length about the quantity and quality of his crops.