Entries by stjohn

COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

On Saturday, March 1, 2025, the Armenian Church commemorates the 150 Fathers of the Council of Constantinople, the second ecumenical council convened by Emperor Theodosius in 381. This council confirmed the work of the first council at Nicaea and added articles to the Nicene Creed regarding the Holy Spirit, the Church, Baptism, and Resurrection.

POON PAREGENTAN

Poon Paregentan ushers the faithful into the Lenten period of fasting, penance, and reconciliation. Paregentan Sunday is the last day before the start of Lent. It is marked with good and abundant food, merriment, entertainment, and festivities of various kinds.

GRIGOR GURZADYAN

Astrophysics in Armenia became linked to the world-famous name of Victor Hambardzumian. One of his students would become an important name in cosmic astronomy. Grigor Gurzadyan was born on October 15, 1922, in Baghdad (Iraq), the child of survivors from the Armenian Genocide. He emigrated to Soviet Armenia with his family when he was just a child. Gurzadyan’s most important achievement in the design of orbital telescopes was the series “Orion,” which contributed to important scientific results.

HAGOP OSHAGAN

Hagop Oshagan was one of the most important novelists and literary critics in twentieth-century Armenian literature. In the last twenty-five years of his life, he put together a prodigious amount of literary production, including several lengthy novels.

SOSE MAYREEG

Sose, the wife of famous fedayee Serop Aghpyur, was one of the most famous names that transcended history and remained as a symbol of pride and self-sacrifice. She was born in the village of Teghud, in the region of Sasoun, in 1868. In 1881, at the early age of thirteen, she married Serop Vartanian, from the nearby village of Sokhourt.

ARAM MANOUKIAN

Aram Manoukian was one of the main protagonists in the foundation of the first independent Republic of Armenia in 1918.

Born as Sergei (Sarkis) Hovhannisian in the village of Zeyva (nowadays David Bek, district of Kapan in Siunik) in 1879, he graduated from the Diocesan School of Shushi, in Gharabagh, one of the main Armenian schools in the region.

BAROUYR SEVAG

Paruyr Ghazarian was born in the small village of Chanakhchi (now Zangakatun), in the district of Ararat, in Armenia. His parents were humble villagers. He attended the local school and graduated with honors in 1940. He had written his first poetry at the age of thirteen…

SUNDUKIAN ACADEMIC THEATER

The National Academic Theater of Armenia was founded in Yerevan in 1921. It opened its doors on January 25, 1922 with the performance of Gabriel Sundukian’s (1825-1912) classic play “Pepo.” Until 1938 it functioned at the worker’s club named after Stepan Shahumian (in the place of today’s Marriott-Armenia Hotel).

NUBAR PASHA

Nubar Nubarian, the first Prime Minister of the modern day Egypt, was born in Smyrna (Izmir) in 1825. He was the son of an Armenian merchant, Mgrdich Nubarian. His mother was a relative of Boghos Bey Yusufian, an influential minister of Muhammad Ali, Viceroy of Egypt (1805-1849) and the founder of the modern Egyptian state.