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| 2016: YEAR OF SERVICE
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, has declared 2016 as the “Year of Service.” In his Pontifical Message the Catholicos writes about the vital role of service and describes service at the “Essence of the Christian Faith.” He goes on to show the depiction of service in the Bible and in the writings of the Church Fathers, as well as the role of service as an obligation and duty of all Christians. His Holiness writes, “By declaring the current year The Year of Service, we want to remind our people that it is necessary to participate with great dedication in our nation’s noble work, with the brave knowledge that God will bless our service, and history will remember and honor not what we had, but that which we gave, not our beautiful words, but our good deeds.”
The Pontiff’s message in Armenian and English will be available in next week’s Crossroads.
HOME BLESSING AND CHRISTMAS RECEPTION
The Prelate’s annual Christmas reception took place yesterday evening, January 6, filling the Prelacy’s Vahakn and Hasmig Hovnanian Reception Hall with many well-wishers from the metropolitan New York area who were welcomed by the Prelate, Archbishop Oshagan, and the Vicar, Bishop Anoushavan. The traditional Home Blessing service was offered by Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, pastor of St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, with the participation of area clergy and deacons.
The Armenian tradition of Home Blessing can be done at any time, but is especially popular with the faithful during the holy days of Christmas and Ester. During this ceremony, the officiating clergyman blesses bread, water, and salt, all considered to be essential to life. It is customary to burn incense, echoing the words of the psalmist, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.” (Psalm 41)
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| PRELATE CELEBRATES CHRISTMAS LITURGY
Archbishop Oshagan celebrated the Divine Liturgy, delivered the sermon, and officiated over the Blessing of Water service at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York City yesterday, January 6.
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|  | Archbishop Oshagan delivers his sermon. | |  | The Prelate with Der Mesrob, deacons, choir, and altar servers. | |
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|  | Archpriest Rev. Father Antranig Baljian, pastor of St. Stephen’s Church, Watertown, Massachusetts, conducts the Blessing of Water service. Apig Badrigian served as Godfather. | |
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CHRISTMAS IN NORTH ANDOVER
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|  | St. Gregory Church of North Andover, Massachusetts, conducted the traditional Water Blessing ceremony during Armenian Christmas. Taking part, from left, Deacon John Saryan, Rev. Fr. Stephan Baljian, and Nicholas Kochakian, godfather of the water blessing. | |  | Yeretzgin Alice Baljian gave a presentation on “Essential Oils of the Bible” during an Avak luncheon that followed the services. | |
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| PAGEANT IN WHITINSVILLE
“I believe in Christmas, I believe in Jesus, I believe the story is true, I believe forgiveness came down to us from heaven, I believe in Christmas, do you?”
Those were just some of the beautiful lyrics to the theme song of this year’s Christmas play presented by the students of Soorp Asdvadzadzin Church Sunday School in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. The students presented a Christmas Pageant entitled “A Christmas to Believe In.” The play was filled with touching and humorous moments that really entertained all who were present and the spirit of Christmas was upon everyone as they sang traditional Christmas carols together accompanied by Sunday school students and Talia Markarian on keyboard, and John Berberian on Oud.
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|  | Scenes from the Christmas Pageant in Whitinsville. Photos courtesy of Tom Vartabedian.
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| FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN IN WATERTOWN
St. Stephen’s Church of Watertown, Massachusetts, celebrated its name day and the Feast of St. Stephen on December 27.
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|  | Archpriest Fr. Antranig Baljian, pastor of St. Stephen’s Church, with Choirmaster Emeritus, Deacons, and Sub-Deacons. | |  | Der Antranig with deacons and choir members, choir director, and organist. | | | |
FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN
St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York City celebrated the Feast of St. Stephen, the protodeacon, on December 27. The Cathedral’s deacons, Shant Kazanjian, Kevork Hadjian, Krikor Esayan, and Hagop Haddad, were honored and granted to wear the liturgical crowns (Saghavard). Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General of the Prelacy, congratulated the deacons and wished them strength in their service to St. Illuminator’s Cathedral and community.
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| BIBLE READINGS
Bible Readings for Sunday, January 10 are: Hebrews 12:18-27; Luke 1:39-56.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of her servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Luke 1:39-56)
For a listing of the coming week’s Bible readings click here.
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| FEAST OF THE NAMING OF OUR LORD
On Wednesday, January 13, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Naming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in accordance with the Hebrew tradition. The commemoration of this event (Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:30-32; Luke 2:21) comes seven days after the Feast of the Nativity (the eighth day of the octave of Nativity). This event of the naming and circumcision of our Lord is the basis for the tradition of baptizing children eight days after birth—a tradition that is rarely followed now. “After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21)
BIRTH OF ST. JOHN THE FORERUNNER
On Thursday, January 14, the Armenian Church commemorates the Feast of the Birth of St. John the Forerunner (also known as St. John the Baptist). John is an important figure in the New Testament and is mentioned prominently in all four Gospels, which indicates that he had an effective ministry baptizing those who repented their sins. He announced the coming of “on greater” than himself who is “to come baptizing not with water but with the Spirit.” (See Matthew 3:11-12; Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:16-17; John 1:26-27). According to the Gospel of Luke, John was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary. John is considered to be the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. John is one of the two prime intercessors to Jesus Christ, the other being Mary, the mother of our Lord.
“Hasten to our help from on high, Saint John, apostle and prophet and forerunner and baptizer of the Son of God and intercede for us before Christ. You are the priest who offered himself on the cross; beseech him to grant purification from sins to me who composed this hymn and to those who celebrate your memory; Saint John, intercede for us before Christ.”
(Canon for the Nativity of John the Baptist according to the Liturgical Canons of the Armenian Church)
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| THIS WEEK IN ARMENIAN HISTORY
Prepared by the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC)
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| Birth of Nikol Duman (January 12, 1867)
Nikol Duman was one of the protagonists of the Armenian national movement of liberation from its early days until his death, from the expedition of Khanasor until the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. As national hero General Antranig once wrote, “Duman could rule over everyone and give orders, and everyone would know where to be and what to do.”
He was born Nikoghayos Ter-Hovhannisian in the village of Kishlak (nowadays Tzaghkashat) of the district of Askeran (Mountainous Gharabagh). His father, a priest, sent him to the Diocesan School of Shushi in 1876, from where he graduated in 1887. For the next four years, after a short stint at the Ecclesiastical Council of Shushi, he worked as a teacher at the Armenian schools of the Northern Caucasus.
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The revolutionary movement had started among the Armenians of the Caucasus with the foundation of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Geneva, 1887) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Tiflis, 1890). Education was the way to sow the seeds of the future and to attract the sympathy of the people. In 1891 Ter-Hovhannisian’s former schoolmate Hovnan Davtian was appointed principal of one of the Armenian schools of Tabriz, in Iranian Azerbaijan, and invited him as a teacher. Tabriz was a hub of revolutionary activities. In 1892 Ter-Hovhannisian participated in the first general assembly of the A.R.F. and, after Davtian’s departure to Geneva as newly-appointed editor of the party organ Droshak, he took a new teaching position in the nearby city of Salmast in 1894. A year later, he went to the nearby monastery of Derek, a center of revolutionary activity, and participated in the victorious self-defense fights against Turks and Kurds. The tall, black-bearded fighter was one of the leaders in the combats of Saray-Boghazkiasan a few months later. The defeated Kurds, deeply impressed by his bravery, called him Duman (“storm”) in their songs. Nikoghayos Ter-Hovhannisian, whose first name was already shortened to Nikol, became Nikol Duman. In the same year, Duman went to Van with a group of fifty fedayees (freedom fighters). In 1896 he came up with the idea of avenging the death of the young Armenians who had defended Van during the Hamidian massacres and who had perished in an ambush by the Kurdish Mazrik tribe during their retreat to Persia. The outcome was the expedition of Khanasor (July 1897), in which Duman was one of its leaders. He later went back to the Caucasus and settled in Baku. In 1904 he attempted to cross into Western Armenia to help the rebellion of Sassoun with a group of fedayees, but he engaged in combat with Kurdish gangs near the Turkish-Persian border and could not reach his aim.
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 | Nigol Duman, seated, with his band of fedayees. |
| Nikol Duman led the Armenian self-defense forces in the province of Yerevan and the plain of Ararat during the Armeno-Tatar inter-ethnic conflict of 1905-1906. Later, he left the Caucasus and went to Europe to avoid the persecution of the Czarist police. One of the “intellectual fedayees,” he stated his opposition to the “Caucasian Project” approved in the crucial 4th General Assembly of the A.R.F. (Vienna, 1907), which allowed the party to enter in an alliance with Russian revolutionaries. He also published a booklet, Project of Popular Self-Defense (Geneva, 1907), which became one of the mainstays of the strategic literature of the Armenian liberation movement.
In 1910 he was one of the representatives of the A.R.F. in the congress of the Second International held in Copenhagen (Denmark). A year later, he participated in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, where the party had been active since 1908, and led the victorious defense of Tabriz against the counter-revolutionary forces in September 1911. When the Russian intervention turned the tide against the revolution, in late 1911 Nikol Duman gathered his group of fedayees and went to Western Armenia, where he stayed until 1913. Finally, he returned to the Caucasus.
At the beginning of World War I, Duman was opposed to the organization of the Armenian volunteer battalions in the Caucasus, since the 8th General Assembly (Erzerum, 1914) had not approved it. He was a natural candidate to lead one of them. However, his wandering and active life had taken its toll on his health. After his arthritic pains, he had got infected with tuberculosis. He could not stay in the hospital, waiting patiently for death while his comrades were in the battlefields. He had only one solution: on September 27, 1914 he committed suicide. He was buried in the cemetery of Khojivank, in Tiflis, near Simon Zavarian, one of the founders of the A.R.F
Previous entries in “This Week in Armenian History” are on the Prelacy’s web site (www.armenianprelacy.org
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| ARMENIAN LANGUAGE CORNER
Prepared by the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC)
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| The Cousin of the Candle
You may have often lit candles during Christmas and New Year celebrations, and you perhaps know that its name in Armenian is mom (մոմ), a word that comes from the fifth century (borrowed from Pahlavi, one of the languages spoken in Iran) and actually meant “wax.”
The source of candle (Old English candel "lamp, lantern, candle") is the Latin word candela ("a light, torch, candle made of tallow or wax"), which comes from the verb candere ("to shine"). There is nothing strange: a dozen or so languages have borrowed the same word candela, from French chandelle (here one is reminded of English chandelier) to Turkish qandil.
However, there is an Armenian word much closer to English candle: gantegh (կանթեղ). In ancient times, it designated a candle, an oil lamp, or a torch. It existed in the fifth century, and it was used by writers like Koriun, the disciple of Mesrob Mashdots; Agatangeghos, the mysterious author of the account on the conversion of Armenia to Christianity; and Ghazar Parbetsi, the historian of the post-Avarayr period. At the time, it was pronounced kantheł (th as in Thomas, while the ł represented a sound between a l and a gh, which has disappeared today), closer to its current pronunciation in Eastern Armenian (kanthegh).
Latin was also the source for Classical Greek, where the word became kandḗlē (κανδήλη) and became the source for Classical Armenian gantegh. In this case, the Greek delta (δ) became the Armenian to (թ); otherwise, if the source had been Latin, the Latin d would have been ta (դ).
In conclusion, a candle and a gantegh are second cousins. The meaning of the Armenian word, however, has changed. We do not think of it when we light a candle or a torch (chah / ջահ), but when we turn on a lamp or a chandelier. For instance, Loosavorichi ganteghe (Լուսաւորչի կանթեղը) is the “lamp without cord” that St. Gregory the Illuminator hung from the sky to protect the Armenian world in times of darkness. Famous poets like Hovhannes Toumanian and Vahan Tekeyan wrote about it.
Previous entries in “The Armenian Language Corner” are on the Prelacy’s web site (www.armenianprelacy.org)
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| PLEASE DO NOT FORGET:
SYRIAN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY NEEDS OUR HELP MORE THAN EVER
The crisis in Syria requires our financial assistance.
Please keep this community in your prayers, your hearts, and your pocketbooks.
PLEASE DO NOT FORGET OUR ONGOING RELIEF EFFORTS FOR THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN SYRIA WHERE CONDITIONS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY MORE DIFFICULT.
THE NEED IS REAL.
THE NEED IS GREAT.
DONATIONS TO THE FUND FOR SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF CAN BE MADE ON LINE. TO DONATE NOW CLICK HERE AND SELECT SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF IN THE MENU. OR IF YOU PREFER YOU MAY MAIL YOUR DONATION TO:
Armenian Prelacy
138 E. 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Checks payable to: Armenian Apostolic Church of America
(Memo: Syrian Armenian Relief)
Thank you for your help
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| LISTEN TO THE PODCAST WITH FATHER NAREG
(Pastor of St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York)
This week’s podcast features:
Christmas Reflections With Veh & Der Nareg
An Interview With His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan, Prelate
Click on the image above to link to the Podcast
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| Web pages of the parishes can be accessed through the Prelacy’s web site.
To ensure the timely arrival of Crossroads in your electronic mailbox, add email@armenianprelacy.org to your address book.
Items in Crossroads can be reproduced without permission. Please credit Crossroads as the source.
Parishes of the Eastern Prelacy are invited to send information about their major events to be included in the calendar. Send to: info@armenianprelacy.org
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