Entries by stjohn

BIRTH OF MESROVB J. SETH

Mesrovb Jacob Seth (Setiants) was a pioneering scholar of the history of Armenians in India who also fell in love with Classical Armenian and continued its use as a medium of expression until the end of his life. He was born on March 15, 1871, in New Julfa near Isfahan, Iran. His father was the brother-in-law of noted writer Mesrop Taghiadiants. Seth received his primary education at the local Protestant missionaries’ school. He showed exceptional qualities, which led his father to the decision of moving to Calcutta (nowadays Kolkata), India, in 1889…

PALM SUNDAY | ԾԱՂԿԱԶԱՐԴ

Sunday, March 24, 2024, is Palm Sunday commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week. The Church is joyful after forty days of repentance.

GREAT LENT – DAY 35: SUNDAY OF THE ADVENT

For thousands of years, believers have looked up at the sky, waiting for God’s revelation. As the prophet Isaiah exclaimed, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). This expectation and longing were first fulfilled with the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The heavens opened, and God’s Only Begotten Son took on human flesh, born in a manger in Bethlehem. We are told in the Gospels that people joined the angels above, singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom He favors!” (Luke 2:14). The One who split open the heavens and came down to earth on that silent night in Bethlehem also promised that in the last days, He will come again to judge the living and the dead (Matthew 24:36-44).

SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Sixth and final Sunday of Great Lent, known as Sunday of Advent (Kalstyan Giragi). Sunday of Advent is in preparation of the following Sunday, Palm Sunday, which is the celebration of the glorious entry of our Lord into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week.

MID-LENT LUNCH AND TALK AT ST. JOHN

Milwaukee, WI- On Sunday, March 10, 2024, following divine liturgy, St. John the Baptist Armenian Church marked Michink (Mid-Lent) with the community’s traditional vegan potluck lunch. This year, lunch was served with a talk on the meaning of the Lenten fast by Rev. Fr. Elijah Mueller.

Fr. Elijah is pastor of SS. Cyril & Methodious Orthodox Church, Milwaukee. His father, Rev. Fr. Thomas Mueller, conducted Bible study at St. John in the ‘90s. In past years, our two congregations collaborated on other religious events.

GREAT LENT – Day 28: SUNDAY OF THE JUDGE

In his Gospel, St. Luke introduces the parable of the “Unjust Judge” by first telling us the meaning and context of the parable: we must always pray and not lose heart. The circumstances around which Jesus tells this parable and how St. Luke records it for his audience show that the parable is directly connected to their reality, where the audience had concerns regarding prayer. Our Lord Jesus Christ encourages His disciples to be steadfast in their prayer life and not to lose heart since perseverant and steadfast prayer is not an easy task.

Perhaps for some, it is easy to pray, but the difficulty arises when they do not receive the answers to their prayers within their desired timeframe. When we pray for the healing of a loved one and no positive results are observable, we experience frustration. When we plead to God to deliver us from hardships and then find ourselves in difficult circumstances, it may feel as though water is poured on the flames of our prayers, extinguishing that fire.

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…