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.
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”:
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.
A Cross Appears in Eastertide
For the Feast of the Apparition of the Holy Cross (April 28), a lost sermon by the late Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan.
Ordinary Saints: Holy Apostles and Holy Martyrs
Saints and martyrs loom large in Armenian Christian spirituality. We look up to them; but could we ever be like them? Is saintliness an unattainable ideal? Or something more ordinary?