This author has not written his bio yet.
But we are proud to say that stjohn contributed 710 entries already.
On Saturday, October 4, 2025, the Armenian Church commemorates the 72 Holy Disciples of Christ. The reference comes from the Gospel of Luke (Chapter 10, Verse 1): “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself…
This morning I woke up at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin — the beating heart of our Armenian Church. (I’m visiting Armenia this week with the FAR board to see their programs firsthand). As the sun rose, I stepped outside to pray and walk around the Cathedral, just like I often do. But today, something stopped me in my tracks. Right there, in front of the ancient Cathedral, workers were installing a medieval khachkar — a cross-stone from the year 1279.
Now, most of the Armenian crosstones don’t show Christ on the cross; they proclaim victory, His resurrection, the triumph of life. But this one was different. It is called Amenaprkich — All-Savior. In its center, the crucified Christ. Not to dwell on defeat, but to declare unstoppable love. On its sides, in ancient script, were these breathtaking words: “The hands that created the heavens you spread on the cross.”
Each weekend, I travel to different parishes to celebrate Badarak, ordinations, and milestones. But ministry is never confined to the altar alone. One of its greatest joys is going beyond church doors and stepping into homes and hearts. It means sitting beside those who cannot come to church because of age, illness, or limitation. It means carrying the Church to them, bringing Christ’s presence into quiet living rooms and hospital rooms.
Yesterday in Philadelphia, I had one of those beautiful moments. With Der Hagop Gevorgyan, we visited Ethel Terzian (shared here with her family’s permission), a lifelong member of Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cheltenham. For decades, she poured her love into her parish — praying, serving, giving. Today her steps may be slower, but her faith is still vibrant; her heart still shines with God’s light. When I walked into her room, I felt the presence of the Lord there.
Statues, parks, and special coins in France, Armenia, and other countries have remembered French Armenian chansonnier Charles Aznavour since his death in 2018, including a monument built in Stepanakert (Republic of Artsakh) in 2021 in front of the cultural center named after him, which has become a victim of Azerbaijani vandalism after the forced evacuation of Artsakh in 2023. He recorded more than 1,200 songs in various languages and wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs, which made him a familiar name worldwide
Charles Aznavour was born Shahnour Vaghinak Aznavourian in Paris on May 22, 1924. His parents ran a small Armenian restaurant until the Depression.
When I last visited St. Nersess Seminary, Der Mardiros Chevian proudly showed me the little garden behind his residence. You could see the joy on his face as he talked about each plant, each flower. He loves tending it, watering it, watching it grow. But he also said something that struck me. He said, “The hardest part of gardening isn’t planting the seeds—it’s dealing with the weeds.”
Gardeners know that weeds are persistent. You can cut them down at the surface, but if you don’t pull them up by the root, they’re coming right back. You can prune the leaves, you can cut them with shears, but unless you deal with the root, the problem isn’t going away.
And that is a picture of the world we live in. Humanity has tried every tool in the shed to solve its deepest problems…
Sunday, September 28, 2025, is the Feast of the Holy Cross of Varak, a feast that is unique to the Armenian Church. The Hripsimiants Virgins, after coming to Armenia, lived near Mount Varak. Hripsime always carried a small wooden cross believed to have been made from…
On Saturday, September 27, the Armenian Church commemorates St. George (Kevork) the Commander. St. George was a third century Roman general who challenged the Emperor’s persecution of Christians by publicly tearing up the Emperor’s decree, and he urged …
Recently, I read something fascinating about the lodgepole pine tree growing in the forests of the American West. Its cones are sealed tight with a resin so strong that no amount of rain can soften it. The wind can’t break it open. Even time itself won’t release what’s inside. The only thing powerful enough to open those cones is the intense heat of a wildfire.
After the flames pass through, the cones open, the seeds fall into the rich ash-filled soil, and a brand-new forest begins to grow. What seems like destruction is actually the beginning of new life. Out of ashes, a new forest takes root.
That’s how it is in your life. You carry seeds of potential inside of you—dreams, gifts, callings, things God has planted deep within your heart. But some of those seeds will never come out just by waiting. They won’t be released by comfort, ease, or time. Sometimes, it takes the fire.
The other day, I wrote about my years in the Divanatun—the chancellery of the Holy See—as God’s training ground. There I learned many lessons, but one of the greatest was this: a single word carries power. One word can shape the meaning of a sentence. One word can shift the way we understand an entire thought.
One word I intentionally use in my writing and sermons is ‘season.’ Because life is not a constant state—it moves, it shifts, it grows. Life is made up of seasons: seasons of joy and seasons of pain; seasons of waiting and seasons of breakthrough. And when you begin to look at your life through this lens, everything starts to look different.
The Holy Scriptures remind us: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Kevork Pamukciyan was a prolific Turkish Armenian writer, historian, and biography researcher.
He was born on February 23, 1923, in Üsküdar, Istanbul. He completed his primary education at the Nersesyan-Yermonyan School in 1937 and continued his education at the Saint-Joseph French College until the tenth grade and dropped out in 1945. He published his first article in 1943 in the Armenian weekly newspaper Nor Lur in Istanbul. In 1949, another article in the New York magazine Hayastani Gochnag brought him into contact with the Armenian press abroad. Between 1942 and 1956, he researched and compiled approximately 2,000 tombstone inscriptions found in the Üsküdar, Edirnekapı, and Balıklı Armenian Cemeteries.
