ST. JOHN HONORS CULTURE MONTH

by David Luhrssen

(Milwaukee, Wis.) Armenian Culture Month was observed on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006, at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church. The celebrant for holy liturgy, Archbishop Yegishe Gizirian, the former Armenian primate of Great Britain, delivered a powerful homily on love and unselfish giving as the driving force of Armenian Christianity, and spoke at the luncheon afterward of the legacy of Armenia in the arts and spirituality. October, he reminded his listeners, has been proclaimed as Culture Month in the Armenian Church because the Feast of the Holy Translators falls on Oct. 14. Through the efforts of Saints Mesrob, Yeghishe, Moses the Poet, David the Philosopher, Gregory of Narek and Nersess the Graceful, important literary, historical, philosophical and theological texts were translated from Greek into Armenian, and meaningful new works were composed.

The program’s keynote speaker, Christina Maranci, is associate professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a rising figure in the field of Armenian studies. With the aid of a power point presentation illustrating Armenian churches and monuments from the seventh and eighth centuries, Maranci gave her audience a preview of a paper she will deliver at the Byzantine Studies Conference in St. Louis on Nov. 12, and of her book-in-progress, Geometry of Power, which offers a close and innovative examination of early Armenian religious sites.

Maranci spoke of Armenian churches as having additional functions beyond their use as settings for religious rites. In contrast to the churches of neighboring lands, Armenian churches were sculpted objects inside and out, their “richly engraved and carved exteriors” acted as markers of time and memory for residents, sojourners and visitors. Sundials were carved on the facades of many churches to trace the passage of the hours. She called attention to an inscription on the face of the ruined church at Mren in eastern Asia Minor, dense with information regarding the year of its consecration. The carved lines of text record the year in the reign of the Byzantine emperor, as well as the names of the ruling Armenian prince, the local lord, the diocesan bishop and the family who endowed the church’s construction. Maranci emphasized that the multiple spheres of power mentioned in this single inscription are valuable for understanding the web of politics and religion governing Armenia at a crossroads in its history as a borderland between warring civilizations.

With her lively style of speaking and striking use of visuals, Maranci was able to explain cutting-edge research into little understood areas of Armenia’s past to a receptive audience. Her paper for the upcoming Byzantine Studies Conference elaborates the ideas in greater depth, adding new levels of understanding to the stone churches that have become familiar emblems of Armenian identity and treasures of world history.