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The Armenian Church remembers St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a fourth century Bishop of Myra, Lycia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Nicholos was a defender of orthodoxy and because of many miracles attributed to his intercession he is called “the Wonderworker.” He was a secret and generous giver of gifts, and some believe …
In 2002, during my last year at the Etchmiadzin Seminary, I had a disagreement with the deputy dean. It wasn’t just a small misunderstanding—it was serious. He was trying to expel me. In my mind, everything I had worked for was slipping away. I had given my heart to serving God, yet here I was, facing a battle I didn’t know how to fight.
One day, after a tough conversation with him, I went to a friend’s room, simply needing to speak, to breathe, to make sense of what was happening. And there on his wall was a verse—Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”…
After an existence of almost three centuries, the Armenian state of Cilicia fell in 1375. Levon V was the last Armenian king.
The future king of Armenia, born in 1342 in Sis, was the younger son of Jivan Lusignan, grandson of King Levon III (1270–1289) and of a Georgian mother (or Armenian, according to some sources). His mother and her sons Bohemund and Levon escaped Cilicia in 1345 for Cyprus, fleeing the persecution of King Constantine II (1345-1363).
After the death of his brother Bohemund in 1359, Levon became a pretender to the throne. In 1374, with the support of Pope Urban V and the agreement of Catholicos Constantine V, Levon arrived in Cilicia and was crowned king on September 14, 1374, in the cathedral of …
A famous American psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, was once asked what he would tell a person who felt like they were on the edge of a breakdown. People expected him to say, “Go find a doctor. Take care of yourself. Take this or that medication.” But his answer was surprising: “Lock up your house, cross the tracks, find someone in need, and help that person.”
Modern science has proven that when we help people, and they thank us, our bodies respond. Stress decreases. Inflammation goes down. Our immune system gets stronger. We sleep better. Our relationships deepen. Even our motivation increases…
Friends, a few weeks ago, early in the morning, I was driving from Boston to New York. The sky was still waking up, the roads were quiet, and I had a long stretch of time to think, pray, and listen. Somewhere between Massachusetts and Connecticut, I tuned into a podcast by Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist from Stanford.
He was talking about how gratitude can literally change your brain. It can rewire your neural circuits to choose joy instead of anxiety, peace instead of stress. He said when you practice gratitude, inflammation …
In almost every home, there is a thermostat and a thermometer. Though they may sit on the same wall, they serve very different purposes.
A thermometer only reflects the temperature around it. If the room is cold, it registers cold. If the room is warm, it registers warm. It simply mirrors whatever atmosphere it is placed in.
A thermostat, however, does something far more active. It sets the temperature. It shapes the atmosphere. It brings the environment into alignment with the setting it carries within.
In the same way, we often act like thermometers. Someone is in a bad mood, and we pick it up. Work is stressful, and we start feeling that stress…
This Saturday, November 29th, the Armenian Church commemorates Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew, two of the twelve apostles who were the first evangelizers of Armenia, and were martyred there, giving the Armenian Church its apostolic identity and earning them the title, “First Enlighteners of Armenia.”
Thaddeus came to Armenia about 43 AD to preach Christianity. He was martyred in southeastern Armenia. His tomb lies in the Armenian monastery of St. Thaddeus (Iran) ….
In 2003, when I was still a deacon, I remember one Sunday during Holy Badarak at Etchmiadzin, while I was watching the celebrant at the Altar, something stirred inside of me. I felt a strong, unshakable desire—almost a pull—to be on that Altar myself, to celebrate the Badarak one day.
A few weeks later, I was with His Holiness Karekin II when he suddenly turned to me and asked, “Are you ready for ordination this coming Sunday?” It was like the voice of God confirming what He had already planted in my heart. This is how God works in our lives: He places a desire in your heart, then provides signs, confirmations, and opens the right doors at the right time…
Cyrus Melikian was an Armenian American coffee industry pioneer credited with several inventions, like the coffee vending machine and the first fresh-brew machine in the U.S. that gave great impulse to coffee consumption among the American public. He was also instrumental in the invention of coffee pods.
Khoren Cyrus Sirak Melikian was born on November 24, 1920, in Philadelphia to refugees from the Armenian Genocide. He graduated from Northeast High School and was working while attending the University of Pennsylvania when he was drafted.
While serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1944, Melikian wanted a cup of coffee in Ohio, but it was not available between meals in the cafeteria. He and a friend…
Life often feels more like a marathon than a sprint. There are days when the journey stretches on endlessly, the climbs feel overwhelming, and the weight of obstacles presses hard against you. In those moments, it’s easy to want to slow down, step aside, or even give up.
But when exhaustion or discouragement sets in, Scripture speaks a steady word of hope: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
