The yearly transition to summer is a special time in the Armenian Church calendar. In quick succession, we observe our Lord’s Ascension, Pentecost, St. Gregory’s release from the pit, and the birth of Holy Etchmiadzin.
Memorials and Memory
In the Armenian Church, memorial days of one kind or another are quite common: we observe merelots after the major feast days; we remember our departed loved ones on the karasoonk of their passing, and thereafter through annual hokehankisd services.
Welcome the Stranger
He was a man of holiness and generosity; but also a man who could countenance the cruelest violence. His very name confessed his loyalty to God—but also prefigured the loneliness that can follow any man with such loyalties. He was Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah “the Stranger”:
In Praise of Mothers
“Mothers are the ambassadors of God’s love and providence on earth,” wrote the saintly Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian in this classic Mother’s Day homily.
Feast of the Lord’s Ascension
On May 9 this year, the Armenian Church will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The day marks the ascent of our Lord into heaven, on the 40th day after his resurrection.