Tag Archive for: Dave Luhrssen

ST. JOHN CELEBRATES 82 YEARS OF SERVING FAITH AND HERITAGE

“It’s good to be back home,” said Rev. Fr. Tadeos Abdalian, the celebrant and guest speaker for the 82nd anniversary celebration at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church, Greenfield. The November 10 event was a special occasion for Der Tateos and Milwaukee’s Armenian community. St. John was his first parish, the beginning of four decades of service in the Eastern Diocese. His years in Milwaukee were also a turning point for St. John, with Der Tateos taking the lead role in building the sanctuary that continues to be central to Armenian spiritual life in Milwaukee.

Der Tateos’ sermon was a reminder to parishioners who knew him in the ‘80s of his penetrating intelligence grounded in faith. He spoke of the power of silence, referencing the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:7, as a way to hear the voice of God in a world of noise and distraction. It’s a voice, he said,…

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ARMENIAN WINES FOR TASTING AND SALE IN MILWAUKEE

On Sunday, Oct. 27, Victoria Aslanian from ArmAs Estate gave a presentation and a wine tasting at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church in suburban Milwaukee. ArmAs Estate has become a leader in Armenia’s “wine renaissance,” earning some 50 awards worldwide including gold and silver medals at the Mundus Vini wine festival in Germany, silver and bronze at London’s Decanter World Wine Awards and silver and bronze at the Vyno Dienos International Wine Competition in Lithuania. ArmAs has been favorably mentioned in publications ranging from Wine Enthusiast to Forbes and Foreign Affairs.

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EXALTATION OF THE CROSS CELEBRATED WITH ARMENIA SERVICE PROJECT PROGRAM PRESENTATION

Milwaukee, WI — On Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, Milwaukee Armenians gathered to celebrate one of the major feast days on the Armenian Church calendar, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The ceremonies at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church, Greenfield, included the Blessing of the Four Corners of the World (Antasdan) and the Blessing of the Basil, commemorating the discovery of the True Cross in a field of basil outside of Jerusalem in the year 326. The basil used this year in the service was grown in the parish’s garden.

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MILWAUKEE ARMENIAN FEST A SUCCESS

Milwaukee Armenian Fest drew more than 1,000 visitors to the grounds and culture hall of St. John the Baptist Armenian Church in suburban Greenfield on Sunday, July 21. It was a joyful get-together for Armenian families from southeast Wisconsin. However, many visitors had never been to Armenian Fest and had no knowledge of Armenia. They were drawn to the event by social and other media publicity as well as prominent signage in front of the church.

Several visitors to this year’s Milwaukee Armenian Fest commented on how professionally organized it was…

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EVENTS FOCUSED ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE THEN AND NOW

The last several years have seen peace and stability shattered across the world. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine occupied headlines, until pushed aside by Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and Israel’s assault on Gaza. But there have been other bloody conflicts ignored by the American media and America’s politicians.

Last September in the Caucasus Mountains of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan attacked a self-governing enclave called Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh), forcing more than 100,000 Armenians to flee a land inhabited by their ancestors for centuries.

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ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS CELEBRATED AT ST. JOHN

St. John the Baptist Armenian Church celebrated the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord (“Armenian Christmas”) on January 7, in keeping with the community’s longstanding custom of observing the holiday on the Sunday closest to January 6. In his Nativity homily, St. John’s parish priest, Rev. Fr. Guregh Hambardzumyan, spoke of the mystery of the Incarnation: Why did God become human? One answer is that through his birth in Bethlehem, Jesus, the Son of God, lowered Himself to …

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BISHOP MESROP CELEBRATES ST. JOHN’S ANNIVERSARY

Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan intended to celebrate St. John the Baptist Armenian Church’s 80th anniversary in fall 2022 but was still recovering from serious injuries sustained in a car crash. On Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, Bishop Mesrop, fully recovered after five surgeries, presided over the parish’s 81st anniversary liturgy and banquet. In his sermon, Bishop Mesrop linked St. John’s commemoration with the 125th anniversary of the Armenian Diocese in North America. The two events are inseparable, …

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“APATHY KILLS”: KERKONIAN ON ARTSAKH AND THE THREAT TO ARMENIA

When international lawyer Karnig Kerkonian was invited to speak at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church, hope remained that Artsakh could survive. But by the time he spoke at the Milwaukee, Wis. church on Sunday, Oct. 15, Artsakh had fallen to Azerbaijan. The Western media, and Western governments, largely averted their eyes from the carnage.A graduate of Harvard and the University of Chicago, Kerkonian is an authority on international law and its application in U.S. courts. He warned his audience that what he was about to say “will be difficult to hear, difficult to digest and even difficult to believe.” The events of the past months constitute a “second Armenian Genocide.”

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MILWAUKEE ARMENIAN FEST BREAKS RECORDS

Attendance and attention grew steadily over the years with many returning customers (many wanting to reconnect with their roots) and always new faces as Milwaukee Armenian Fest found new marketing tools through social media as well as legacy media. Food was always and remains central to the festival, with an affordable menu of shish kebob dinners, lahmajouns, boregs, hummus, paklava, kadiyif and more. But in the ‘90s the role of the festival as a one-day embassy of all things Armenian became important. The number of people gathered at this year’s Milwaukee Armenian Fest (July 16) had already grown large at the advertised opening time. By 11 a.m., festivalgoers were already lined up from inside the church hall and out the door, waiting deep ..

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SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN ARMENIANS OBSERVE MARTYRS DAY

For many decades, the four Armenian churches of Southeast Wisconsin jointly observed Martyrs Day on April 24 with requiem services (prior to 2015) and other commemorations. This year, the four churches marked Martyrs Day by celebrating Sunday liturgy together on April 23 at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church, Greenfield. Priests, deacons, sub-deacons, choir members and…

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