Tag Archive for: Armenian Church

A DIVINE HOMECOMING: BISHOP MESROP’S RETURN DIVINE LITURGY

The Primate, who had been consecrated as a bishop at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin a week earlier by His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians, presided over the special badarak before a large gathering of clergy and lay people from near and far. A most blessed and joyous homecoming took place on Saturday, October 14, when newly-ordained Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan returned to New York City’s St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral to celebrate his first episcopal Divine Liturgy as bishop of the Eastern Diocese.

Read more

BLESSING OF HOLY MURON AT HOLY SEE OF CILICIA 2022

His Holiness Catholicos Aram I blessed the Holy Muron before a crowd of thousands of faithful outside St. Gregory the Illuminator’s Cathedral at the Holy See in Antelias, Lebanon. A tradition that is repeated every seven years, this is the 13th time that the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia holds the ceremony at its current seat in exile, following the 1915 Genocide.

Read more

A NEW PRIMATE FOR THE EASTERN DIOCESE

The 120th Diocesan Assembly of the Armenian Church of America, the clergy and delegates elected a new Primate, in the person of the Very Rev. Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan. Pending confirmation by His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians, Fr. Mesrop will become the 13th Primate of the Eastern Diocese.

Read more

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ARMENIA

A biblical land, Armenia is cited in the Old Testament by the name “Kingdom of Urartu” (Ararat). In the foothills of its mountains, Noah would have cultivated vines and become inebriated drinking the wine he produced. Thanks to the Armenian translation of an apocryphal gospel, we know the names of the three Magi: Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. Although according to tradition the apostles Bartholomew and Jude Thaddaeus were the evangelisers of Armenia, it is likely that it was instead the work of missionaries from Syria and Cappadocia. In any case, it was so successful that in 301, thanks to the apostolate of St. Gregory the Illuminator, Armenia became the first nation that embraced Christianity and proclaimed it a state religion, even before the Edict of Milan of 313,

Read more