HOLY WEEK 2024 AT ST. JOHN

By David Luhrssen

(Milwaukee, WI) The Milwaukee Armenian community began its celebration of Holy Week on Sunday, March 24, 2024, with the Opening of the Doors (Turun-Patsek), marking the end of the Lenten closed curtain season in the church sanctuary. Following the Palm Sunday liturgy, parishioners gathered in the church hall for St. John’s annual Palm Sunday brunch, a fundraiser prepared by Sunday School teachers and parents.

For the first time in memory, St. John observed the full Holy Week schedule, including the Commemoration of the Ten Maidens on Tuesday, March 26. Ten young girls from the community took part in the evening service. As Rev. Fr. Guregh Hambardzumyan explained in his short homily, the ancient rite is a unique treasure of the Armenian Church commemorating Jesus’ parable of the five wise and the five foolish bridesmaids; the wise women came with oil in their lamps, the oil symbolizing the Holy Spirit and the love and mercy enacted in their lives that prepared them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Commemoration of the Ten Maidens occurs during Holy Week to remind the faithful that only the bridesmaids who showed love and mercy were ready to meet the parable’s bridegroom, meaning Jesus.

On Thursday, March 28, as in previous years, Der Guregh conducted the Washing of the Feet. Twelve boys came forward to the altar to have their feet washed in a rite, observed by Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, that reenacts an event from the first Holy Week when Jesus, the Son of God, went to his knees and washed the feet of his disciples. As Der Guregh said in remarks afterward, it was not only a gesture of humility from God Himself, but a reminder that an essential aspect of Christianity is service—to God and each other. Following the Washing of the Feet, the Vigil (Khavaroom), commemorating Jesus’s betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, was conducted with Rev. Fr. Sahag Kashian assisting.

The Rite of Burial (Gark Taghman) was performed on Holy Friday, March 29, with the Tomb of Christ (Kerezman) covered in flowers, representing life. On the evening of Saturday, March 30, the Prophesies were read, followed by Badarak.

The ceremonies of Holy Week are meant to remind the faithful of the final days of Jesus and His death on the Cross before his Resurrection on the first Easter Sunday. The Resurrection was commemorated with Easter Badarak performed by Der Guregh on Sunday, March 31, with St. John’s former pastor, Rev. Fr. Nareg Keutelian, conducting the choir.

In his sermon, Der Guregh quoted from an article on the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, a project that involved repairing the building’s cracked facade and also entirely updating the hidden systems heating and cooling the structure. Dirty stained-glass windows through which sunlight struggled to penetrate were cleaned, allowing light to fill the church once again. Der Guregh compared the work of Jesus in the lives of believers to that renovation. Through the example of his life and sacrifice, humans can be restored to our original likeness with God and are given the possibility of partaking in a New Creation.

Afterward, the St. John community gathered in the culture hall for an Easter lunch prepared by members of the congregation.