“Poor working girl perseveres through the adversities of life and love—but finally makes it big.”
It sounds like the outline of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale—or, given a more contemporary spin, a Danielle Steel novel. But in fact it’s the life story of one of the saints of the Armenian Church: Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, and discoverer of the Holy Cross of our Lord.
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.
On Thursday, April 5, 2018, the Vatican unveiled a statue of St. Gregory of Narek, in the presence of Roman Catholic Pope Francis and His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
Worshipers gathered at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral on Easter Sunday to take part in the Divine Liturgy and witness the traditional “Release of Doves” ceremony. This year’s Easter celebration was especially notable because 2018 marks the cathedral’s 50th anniversary.
The Easter Message of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,
Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
