In May, yes, Nareg got his first “haircut” in church, from our priest Der Arakel. This is an ancient Armenian tradition which isn’t done too often anymore, but we’ve found it to be quite sweet, and it is genuinely important to us to integrate liturgy and regular life milestones whenever feasible.
We’ve done this service twice now, once for Hagop and now for Nareg. After the service at coffee hour, someone came up to us and and Der Hayr, and mock-offendedly asked, “why not for girls?” But you CAN do this service for girls too! We just haven’t cut our Zabel’s hair yet. (Our 2nd child, a girl.)
This all started with a coffee hour chat years ago, when Hagop was little, when an older Armenian woman asked if we’d do this service. Thank you Digins everywhere, for continuing to be nosey and opinionated and educating well-meaning Odars everywhere.
I made these 11×17 “posters” to print out at work, before the Vartanantz Day Demonstration at the Massachusetts State House (yes, this was months ago). I was intending for the kids to color them in, in addition to making their own.
Well, I never made it to work to print these, and Vartan and the kids never made it to the demonstration because the kids fell asleep in the car on the way and things fell apart. But… Maybe it saves you time?
Because tragically, six months later, this bullshit continues, and everyone in Artsakh still needs support, advocacy, and our prayers.
Just a quick post to share four pieces of art I’ve done recently. They were all pretty fast, made as gifts for people, not commissions, so they’re fun but not as “perfect” as I might make pieces sometimes.
These were for teacher appreciation week. My kids decorated the frames, and drew pictures on the back (not pictured).
This was for a friend of Hagop’s 😊. I used a LOT of glitter pen on this one, so that was fun.
Known as Tiridates the Great ( Armenian: T’rdat) Saint T’rdat the King was the King of Arsacid (Arshakuni) Armenia (A.D. 287–330).
Tiridates III was the son of Khosrov II of Armenia by an unnamed mother, the latter being assassinated in 252 by a Parthian agent named Anak under orders from Ardashir I of Persia. Tiridates had one known sibling, a sister called Khosrovidukht and was the namesake of his paternal grandfather, Tiridates II of Armenia. Anak was captured and executed along with most of his family, while his son, Gregory (who would later be “the Illuminator” of Armenia) was sheltered in Caesaria, in Cappadocia. Being the only surviving heir to the throne, Tiridates was quickly taken away to Rome soon after his father’s assassination while still an infant. He was educated in Rome and was skilled in languages and military tactics. In addition, he firmly understood and appreciated Roman law. The Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi described him as a brave and strong warrior who participated in the battles against enemies. He personally led his army to victories in many battles.
Kingship
In 270, the Roman emperor Aurelian engaged the Sassanids, who had now replaced the Parthians on the Persian eastern front and he was able to drive them back. Tiridates, as the true heir to the now Persian-occupied Armenian throne, came to Armenia and quickly raised an army and drove the enemy out in 287. When Tiridates returned to Armenia, he made the city of Vagharshapat (later known as Etchmiadzin) his capital in the kingdom as Vagharshapat was the capital of his late father. For a while, fortune appeared to favour Tiridates. But as tensions grew with a powerful re-organized Persian Empire, Armenia was again under attack. Tiridates once more took refuge with the Romans. The Roman-Armenian alliance grew stronger, especially while Emperor Diocletian ruled the Roman empire. This can be attributed to the upbringing of Tiridates, the consistent Persian aggressions and the murder of his father by Anak. With Diocletian’s help, Tiridates pushed the Persians out of Armenia. In 299, Diocletian left the Armenian state in a quasi-independent and protectorate status possibly to use it as a buffer in case of a Persian attack. Tiridates married an Alani Princess named Ashkhen in 297. They had three children: a son called Khosrov III, a daughter called Salome and an unnamed daughter who married St. Husik I, an early Catholicos of the Armenian Church.
At the Armenian royal court, Queen Ashkhen would befriend Princess Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates. Together the Queen and Princess would learn of the then underground Christian movement. At that time they were pagans, along with the King and many other Armenians – both nobles and commoners alike – and followers of Zoroastrianism. The persecution of Christians throughout the Roman world was rampant and Tiridates, an ally of Rome and true to his pagan roots, ordered the execution of Christians in Armenia.
Line art by Kalyn Babikyan, based on icon by Daniel Varoujan Hejinian at Saints Vartanantz Armenian Orthodox Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Overview written by Deacon James Magarian.
Here’s one thing we’re doing for Lent with the kids this year: a prayer chain. I wish I could claim credit for the idea, but nope – I Googled, “Orthodox Lent with little kids” and someone had commented on some orthodox Mom blog with this idea. So, I made one!
Basically we picked 40 things to pray for, printed them, then cut them into equally(ish) sized strips of paper. Every night of Lent, we’ll pick one, and add it to the chain, and say a prayer as a family for that thing/person.
The project includes prayers for things that are very specific to our family (i.e. all of our kids, grandparents, etc.), things that are relevant in the world right now (30,000 kids under blockade in Artsakh, earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria), but then also more universal things – for instance, we basically copied over the prayers from Badarak every Sunday for “Travelers, Prisoners & captives, Anyone who is sick and suffering” etc. I hope we’ll be able to use it with minor tweaking for the next few years.
You’re welcome to use the template too, and adjust as needed for your family:
Vartanantz was this week. Hagop came home from school with all sorts of cute coloring pages and Katch Vartan (Brave Vartan) crafts. Lovely. I tried to search for those or similar coloring pages online, so Zabel could do them too, but couldn’t find any. So I made my own, from images I found online. I can’t read Armenian well enough to credit the original artist, but the PDF they came from was hosted on: http://sourphagop.org/ I took the images and ran them through some software to make them cleaner for coloring. Enjoy!
Born in the province of Vaspurakan, in the village Narek around 945, Gregory of Narek was a mystical writer, poet, musician, and philosopher.
He received his education under the guidance of his father, Bishop Khosrov Antzevatsi, author of the earliest commentary on the Divine Liturgy, and from his maternal uncle Anania Vartabed, Abbot of Narek Monastery south of Lake Van. At an early age, he and his two brothers entered the monastic life and grew up in an intellectual and religious atmosphere. He became a priest at the age of 25 in the same Monastery of Narek where he lived till the end of his life. A chapel was built at the place of his hermitage, where his grave lies.
As a monk, St. Greogory dedicated himself to God completely, always searching for the truth. He taught at the monastic school and launched his writings with a commentary on the “Song of Songs,” which was commissioned by an Armenian prince. Despite his reservations that he was too young for the task, he wrote the commentary, which is famous for its clarity of thought and language, and its excellence of theological presentation. Other writings include accolade on the Virgin Mary, the twelve Apostles and Seventy-Two Disciples, and St. James of Nisibis. He wrote anthems in honor of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Church and the Holy Cross. Further works include hymns, sacred odes and 36 poems. As a musician, Narekatsi brought new life to the old school of the medieval Armenian vocal art.
Gregory’s genius is reflected in his masterpiece – Book of Lamentations. It is commonly called “Narek,” or “The Prayer Book”, and was published in 1673 in Marseille, and later translated into at least 30 languages. He called his book an “encyclopedia of prayer for all nations.” It was his hope that it would serve as a guide to prayer by people of all stations around the world.
The Book of Lamentations is written in the form of a free verse, which is typical to old Armenian poetry. However, certain sections are written in rhymes. The poem is a turbulent pondering of the mind, where each section is an emotional and intellectual limitless outpour. The core of the poem is the inner world of humanity. Through limitless confession and description of infinite sinful life humans lead, the writer tries to approach God and beg mercy. His breathless and tumultuous flow of confession is presented in an unprecedented use of the Armenian language. Some of the terms Narekatsi used in his poem do not exist in any Armenian dictionary. Often, he created words, which were much more expressive than any poetic phrase.
Gregory of Narek is also recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. His name is listed among the saints in the Martyrologium Romanum. Pope John Paul II referred to Gregory of Narek in several addresses and in his Apostolic Letter for the 1,700th Anniversary of the Baptism of the Armenian People.
On February 21, 2015, it was announced that Saint Gregory of Narek would be named a Doctor of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis. His being given this title was not an equipollent canonization since he had already been listed as a saint in the Martyrologium Romanum. On April 12, 2015, Divine Mercy Sunday, during a Mass for the centenary of the Armenian Genocide at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Basilica at the Vatican, Pope Francis officially proclaimed Gregory of Narek as Doctor of the Church. This special designation was commemorated by the Vatican City state with a postage stamp issued September 2, 2015.
It is noteworthy that of the 36 Doctors of the Church, St. Gregory of Narek is the first to have lived outside direct communion with the Bishop of Rome.
St. Gregory of Narek is considered the greatest poet of the Armenian nation and its first and greatest mystic. His writing style and command of the Armenian language are unparalleled, and his saintly person has been an inspiration to the Armenian faithful for centuries. St. Gregory’s poetry is deeply biblical and is filled with images and themes of sacred history, while also distinguished with an intimate and personal character. Numerous miracles and traditions have been attributed to him and he is referred to as “the watchful angel in human form.”
—
The Armenian Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of St. Gregory of Narek in October of each year together with the Holy Translators. In the Roman Catholic Church, the feast is commemorated on February 27.
Book of Prayers
Written shortly before the first millennium of Christianity, the prayers of St. Gregory of Narek have long been recognized as gems of Christian literature. St. Gregory called his book an “encyclopedia of prayer for all nations”. It was his hope that it would serve as a guide to prayer by people of all stations around the world. The masterpiece took on the name of Book of Lamentations, and also simply Narek.
A leader of the well-developed school of Armenian mysticism at Narek Monastery, at the request of his brethren he set out to find an answer to an imponderable question: what can one offer to God, our creator, who already has everything and knows everything better than we could ever express it? To this question, posed by the prophets, psalmist, apostles and saints, he gives a humble answer – the sighs of the heart – expressed in his Book of Prayer, also called the Book of Lamentations.
In 95 prayers, St. Gregory draws on the potential of the Classical Armenian language to translate feelings of suffering and humility into an offering of words thought to be pleasing to God. Calling it his last testament: “its letters like my body, its message like my soul”, it is an edifice of faith for the ages, unique in Christian literature for its rich imagery, its subtle theology, its Biblical erudition, and the sincere immediacy of its communication with God.
The actual date he wrote the book is not known, but he finished it around 1001–1002, one year prior to his death.
For Narekatsi, peoples’ absolute goal in life should be to reach to God, and to reach wherever human nature would unite with godly nature, thus erasing the differences between God and men. As a result, the difficulties of earthly life would disappear. According to him, mankind’s assimilation with God is possible not by logic, but by feelings.
Excerpt:
Accept with sweetness almighty Lord my bitter prayers. Look with pity upon my mournful face. Dispel, all-bestowing God, my shameful sadness. Lift, merciful God, my unbearable burden. For you are glorified by all creation, forever and ever. Amen.
Line art by Kalyn Babikyan, based on icon by Daniel Varoujan Hejinian at Saints Vartanantz Armenian Orthodox Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Overview written by Deacon James Magarian.
Finally, as promised, two new Anki flashcard decks for Western Armenian, which you can access :
Armenian Simpler Vocab: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1989759679 Words in Western Armenian that Vartan and I are currently working through. It has many simpler words that we already know and are comfortable with, which feels like just enough of a confidence boost to handle some of the harder/newer-to-us ones on the list. We made this deck based on words we (and other people) might actually USE on a daily basis. (So it’s not thematic, it’s by frequency of use.)
Western Armenian Conversational Phrases: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1525990605 Vartan and I copied phrases out of “Let’s Speak Armenian: Armenian everyday phrases for the adult learner,” which is a great book for anyone who is a little more intermediate with their Western Armenian. It has phrases that you might want to use on their own, OR are really helpful to use as a base for other sentences, to learn grammar. i.e. “do you permit me to (may I) interrupt?” & “you’ll get used to it” (See more examples below.)
Two other Western Armenian decks (not by us) on Anki right now are:
Western Armenian – Vocab Audio, IPA, Pictures, Sentences: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2113364761 Has tremendous potential, has sample sentences, audio files, etc. But I’m finding it a little too clunky to use right now. There are too many cards, too many different types of cards, and they took it straight from a dictionary so it has words we’d NEVER use. They mention that they plan to prioritize the cards in terms of actual daily use & frequency… but don’t seem to have done that yet. (Maybe I will? Or I should at least email them!)
AGBU-AVC AL132 Elementary Western Armenian:https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/360634598 This is a great one! These are all flashcards that someone created from the Armenian Virtual College’s Elementary Western Armenian course. Somehow they got the audio for these as well. I’m definitely planning on using these. My only small gripe is just in how the course is organized in general… by topic, instead of actual frequency of use for the words. i.e. learning “surrounding” before “bird” – but you can always reorganize those cards in the system too.
Ankiweb is a separate system from the computer and phone app now, so you’ll need to have accounts with both in order to open shared decks. For more on why we love Anki’s flashcard system, see: Learning Western Armenian with Anki flashcards
Students at Mesrob Mashdotz Institute, years ago. Vartan and me in the back. Heyyy!
Kalyn here, with a periodic reminder about the Mesrob Mashdotz Institute – ONLINE Western Armenian classes. The Winter session starts up next week on January 23rd. It’s relatively affordable, you have the option to do classes Monday OR Wednesday nights, and Annie, Berj, and Rita are fantastic teachers. Once again they’re VIRTUAL, so anyone from anywhere can sign up. I really wish I had the bandwidth to do these lessons this winter, but 7pm is a pretty impossible time with our kids being so young (bedtime). I really hope someone out there seizes this opportunity. This is how I made most of my progress in learning Armenian, after trying just books and Armenian Virtual College and a private teacher. Something about the small group style is really effective. Anyway, here’s the blurb from our St. James Church bulletin, for the official info:
MESROB MASHDOTZ INSTITUTE ADULT ARMENIAN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION
Enroll Now! Winter Semester classes begin Monday, January 23. *All classes are currently held remotely via Zoom.* Are you an adult interested in learning Armenian? It’s never too late! Sign up for the Mesrob Mashdotz Institute Western Armenian Language Classes, now in its 41st year. Classes held Monday OR Wednesday nights from 7-9 pm. Please e-mail Annie Chekijian for further details.
Hye Home 