Irony of Cross and Independence

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Armodoxy for Today: Irony of Cross and Independence

Between two feasts celebrating the Cross of Christ is the Anniversary of Independence for Armenia. Last Sunday was the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross. Next Sunday is the feast of the Holy Cross of Varak.

Armenia is a landlocked country. It is surrounded by hostile neighbors, some of which openly proclaim their desire to do away with the country of Armenia and its people. For the size of the country and its population, Armenia has a well-organized diaspora, nevertheless its populations is small, with less than three million in the country.

While Armenia may not have military power nor military strategy, it has survived against all the odds:  peril, barbarism, exile, massacres and even genocide. Its survival strategy is rooted in the Cross. “If anyone desires to come after Me,” says Jesus, “Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

The Cross is a symbol of sacrifice. In the message of the Cross you understand that you are loved by God, so much so, that God continually blesses you.

Struggle is a part of life and therefore the Cross is the symbol of a fulfilling life. Your Christian identity carries with it responsibilities that are predicated on sacrifice. Life lived for others is the most fulfilling life because ego is placed in check. When ego is out of the way, God has room to work. With God’s help, you can conquer all of your difficult and the challenges before you. God will not let you go. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” writes St. Paul. (Romans 8:31)

A Christian who has put on Christ cannot say no to difficulties. Ironically, in the scope of independence, a Christian has no other choice but to help the oppressed, the sick and the troubled. Herein the Christian understands true independence in service to others.

Military strategies may be classified as top secret, but I share this survival strategy because it was never meant to be a secret. Just the opposite it was meant to be evangelized, that is spread.

We pray, Christ, protector and guardian of the faithful, protect and deliver us under the shadow of Your Holy and Precious Cross in peace. Deliver us from enemies visible and invisible. And we glorify you with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Muiron, Connecting the Drops

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron, Connecting the Drops

From Armenia Muiron has been prepared and blessed, and now enters your home. We began this deep-dive with, and end it with, Jesus Christ – the alpha and the omega, the a and z, the ayb and keh, the center of our Faith. The Holy Muiron is blessed at the same location where Jesus descended and designated where the Church of the Armenian people would be built. From that same place, Holy Etchmiadzin, the Light of Holy Muiron now needs to radiate to the world.

Our starting point of this series was the story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (26), of a woman anointing Jesus. Jesus took a break from the mundane workings of the world and focused on the act of love, charity and care offered to him. Our world today is no different from the time of Christ. Sure, there are more people and we may believe our troubles are more complex, but in reality we – people – are driven by the same urges, passions and temptations. Pride, envy, anger, laziness, gluttony, desires and lust were the reasons and are the reasons for all of our problems. Every seven years our Church takes a break from the mundane and celebrates the Love of Christ with this eccentric and beautiful tradition.

The Holy Muiron is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit communicating with us – each of us. On the eve of our Lord’s birth the angels proclaimed, “Peace on Earth and goodwill toward one another.” At the end of His ministry, our Lord says, “Peace I leave you…” but so that we are not orphaned, He promises the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, the Christian Church – the Body of Jesus Christ – is established by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Christian Church has had one consistent message for two millennia, no different from the message proclaimed at the Manger: Peace on Earth and goodwill toward one another.

Drop-by-drop the Holy Muiron was prepared over time and blessed with the most expensive and extravagant items found on Earth: the trees, their sap and fruit, the flowers and vegetation, the oils and nectars, the energy of Ararat, the Sacredness of Etchmiadzin, the power of the Holy Cross, the words of the Holy Gospel, the Holy Geghart, and mixed by St. Gregory the Illuminator and the entire assembly of saints, from the time of Christ forward, who add their prayers, tears, and joy to this mix. In other words, all that is necessary – everything we need – to bring about peace and goodwill toward one another is before us.

Every seven years, against the backdrop of a hurting world, this exotic elixir is mixed and blessed in Armenia and distributed as a tonic for the world. It is the gift of God, presented through the Armenian Church to the world. As Jesus announced, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16)

Having this background, you are now invited, to mix your prayers to this Muiron, to say “Amen” to the anointing that unites us to our past, our future, and all of eternity. This is the seventh year. This is the blessing of Holy Muiron.

We pray, from the prayer of the blessing of Holy Muiron, O Merciful Lord, send down your all-powerful Holy Spirit, and make this an anointing of holiness, spiritual grace, life for my life, protector of my spirit and my body, a joyful oil which was given to us through the law but enlightened through the new Covenant, with which You anointed your Holy Apostles, and to all of us through the new birth of the holy font of baptism… so that, kept away from evil, we may come to know You in holiness as Your children, and be with You always, having You Father and Holy Spirit with us and Christ in our heart, always. Amen.

Muiron Blessed

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron Blessed

At some point oil becomes Muiron. For days, the oil has been absorbing the prayers and energy from Etchmiadzin and the sacred land in the shadow of the Biblical Mount Ararat. The Catholicos of All Armenians, with representatives of the hierarchical sees of Cilicia, Jerusalem, Constantinople and the Dioceses in Armenia and the Diaspora, now gather for the blessing. When the Catholicos mixes the Muiron from the previous batch to the oil, he then refers to the content of the cauldron as Muiron.

There are four sacred articles with which the Catholicos blesses the Muiron: The Holy Cross, The Gospel, the Lance, and the Relic of St. Gregory the Illuminator.

The Cross – Surb Khatch – which the Catholicos uses to bless the Muiron, sits in his hand. It is ornate and decorated with precious and semi-precious stones. It should be because it houses a piece of the Cross of Christ. The ornate shell or case in the shape of a cross was prepared for Catholicos Pilibos (Phillip) in the middle of the 17th century. St. Helena, the Mother of Emperor Constantine (4th century) is credited with finding the Cross of Christ at Golgotha. Several fragments of the Cross are kept at Holy Etchmiadzin.

The Gospel – the Holy Avedaran – refers to the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Here is documented the life, ministry, teaching and events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. These books are housed in an ornate  metallic covering, and held by one of the assisting bishops.

The Lance – the Holy Geghart – was brought to Armenia by the Apostle Thaddeus. The Gospel of John (19:34) records that a Roman guard pierced the side of Jesus while he gasped on the Cross. Scripture records that blood and water spilled out. The name of the soldier is Longinus (from the Gospel of Nicodemus). Most tourists who visit Armenia visit the monastery of Geghart, which is carved out of a mountain. The Holy Geghart was kept there for centuries.

The Relic of St. Gregory the Illuminator – Loosavorchi ach – is a fragment of the bone from the right arm of the first Catholicos who blessed the first batch of Muiron after Armenian’s acceptance of Christianity in 301 A.D. The relic is housed inside a life size gold arm, which the Catholicos lifts, stretch across Cauldron, blessing the Muiron and then blessing the people.

We pray today, a prayer from the Blessing of the Holy Muiron, Christ, our God, You are a sweet aroma to those who believe in You, and to those who are connected to You through Your love. Through Your love for humanity, You have welcomed us into the eternal habitats, and You make us worthy to work for You, with all of our senses, all the days of our life. Lord, fill us with the gifts of that sweet smell, and place within us the graces of the Holy Spirit. Allow us to stand before You clean and without blemish. Amen.

Muiron: Manger to Resurrection

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron Manger to Resurrection

Armenia was blessed by the visit of two of Christ’s Apostles, Saint Thaddeus and Saint Bartholomew. They came to Armenia to evangelize the Gospel three to four years apart from one another, in the years 41 and 45 A.D. respectively. To put it in context, they arrived in  Armenia less than 10 years after the life-changing and history altering events of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, to which they were both eye-witnesses! Yesterday I shared the story of Thaddeus’s part in the formation of the Holy Muiron. St. Bartholomew’s story is considered apocryphal yet inspiring and is one more connection with Jesus and the Muiron.

When the Blessed Mother, the Asdvadzadzin, passed away, all of the Apostles attended her funeral except for Bartholomew. When Bartholomew returned to Jerusalem and was informed of Mother Mary’s passing, he requested to see the Blessed remains one last time. When they opened her tomb, her body was not there. She was assumed into Heaven by her Son.

During Jesus’ infancy, scripture tells us many events took place and “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) When Jesus’ umbilical cord fell off, Mary kept it in an alabaster box. When Bartholomew came to pay his respects to Holy Mother’s life, he was given the box, which he kept close to his heart.

Bartholomew brought this box with him to Armenia. He was martyred there for his faith in and commitment to Jesus Christ. Before he was executed, he was able pass along the small alabaster box to the members of the underground Church in Armenia. The box and its content – the umbilical cord of our Lord – were secretly kept by the Church until the Conversion of Armenia in the year 301 A.D. by St. Gregory the Illuminator. At that time the box was turned over to Gregory who had ascended to the Apostolic Throne as chief bishop. Gregory blessed the first batch of Holy Muiron at that time and added the content the alabaster box to the oil, along with the Oil that Jesus had sent with Thaddeus. Because in each new batch the previous batch is added, there are molecules from the time of Jesus Christ, with his DNA giving a direct physical connection to the Lord, from the Manger to the Resurrection.  Indeed, the Muiron is what binds us together into one family – the family of Christ – or Christian. Is it any wonder that Armenian names end with the suffix “ian”? The “ian” refers to “the family of…” In this case, a Christ-ian is a member of the family of Christ.

During the Blessing of the Muiron, in the prayers offered by the Catholicos, he refers to the mixture as yiugh, that is “oil” up to the point where the previous batch is added, at which time it is properly referred to as Holy Muiron.

We pray today, Lord Jesus Christ, Keep ever before my mind your precious and holy words, that “My family are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:21) Through the intercession of your beloved disciples Bartholomew and Thaddeus, I ask that you fortify with me the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love so that I may be worthy be called a Christian. Amen.

Muiron, the Christ Connection

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Armodoxy for today: Muiron, the Christ Connection

King Abgar, was born in the first century B.C. and died in the middle of the first century A.D.  This Armenian king is considered to be the first royal to have converted to Christianity. He suffered from a skin disease which many speculate was leprosy.

Abgar wrote a letter to Jesus, asking, “… Having heard all these things concerning you, I have concluded that one of two things must be true: either you are God, and, having come down from heaven, you do these things, or else you, who does these things, are the son of God. I have therefore written to you to ask you if you would take the trouble to come to me and heal all the ill which I suffer. For I have heard that the Jews are murmuring against you and are plotting to injure you. But I have a very small yet noble city which is great enough for us both.” With those words, Abgar invited Jesus to Armenia.

Jesus replied in a letter dictate to a scribe, “Blessed are you who has believed in me without having seen me… In regard to what you have written me, that I should come to you, it is necessary for me to fulfill all things here for which I have been sent, and after I have fulfilled them, thus to be taken up again to Him that sent me. But after I have been taken up, I will send to you one of my disciples, that he may heal your disease and give life to you and yours.” *

When the Apostle Thaddeus arrived in Armenia in the fourth decade A.D., Jesus promise to the King was fulfilled. He brought with him holy oil blessed by Jesus. It was used to heal King Abgar. Thaddeus is regarded as the first illuminator of Armenia.

It is important to remember that the Christian Church in Armenia was an underground movement. Thaddeus, before his martyrdom in Armenia, hid the remaining holy oil under an evergreen birch tree in the Armenian province of Daron. After the proclamation of Christianity in Armenia in 301, St. Gregory the Illuminator discovered the oil, through a vision. That oil was mixed into the first batch of Muiron which was blessed at Holy Etchmiadzin by St. Gregory. And at each subsequent blessing of Muiron, the previous batch is mixed in with the new. Molecules from the original oil blessed by our Lord Jesus are present in the Muiron that is blessed today, thus giving us a spiritual and absolute physical connection with Jesus Christ. Every child and person who is baptized, every building that is consecrated, every khatchkar that is wiped – that is, everyone and everything that comes in contact with the Holy Muiron received a seal of incorruptible heavenly gifts.

We pray today, a prayer from the christening sacrament of the Armenian Church: Nourish me, Lord God Almighty, protect me in purity through Your Holy Spirit so that I may do your will blamelessly and may attain eternal life in freedom from sin. Amen.

 

* References: Leclercq, Henri (1913) “The Legend of Abgar” Catholic Encyclopedia, New York and The Church Father, Book 1, Euebius

Muiron Continuity

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Armodoxy for Today: Continuity

The ingredients of the Holy Muiron are mixed together prior to the day the Catholicos of All Armenians blesses the new batch. For forty days and forty nights the olive oil, essence of balsam and the flowers sit in a cauldron before the Holy Altar at Etchmiadzin, soaking in the prayers, chants and energy from that most unique sacred space at the base of Mount Ararat where Jesus Christ descended, hence the name, Etchmiadzin, the descent of the Only Begotten.

The Holy Muiron is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit and connects us directly to Jesus Christ, not only spiritually but physically as well. During the blessing service, the Catholicos will add Muiron from earlier blessings. Each blessing throughout the centuries contains muiron from the previous batch. And since the Holy Muiron dates back to the time of Christ, there are molecules in today’s Muiron from the time of Jesus Christ, containing all the oil, flowers, prayers, the tears and laughter from the all the centuries, all the blessings to this date. The history, the scriptures, the saints, the martyrs, the sacred spaces, the innocent, and the sweet wishes of mothers and fathers are in this Muiron. The Holy Spirit has a vehicle in the Muiron, but now we understand how we are connected to the whole of history through the power of God.

Furthermore, throughout the centuries, when the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin was under attack or when enemies were too close for comfort, the Catholicos and Catholicosate was moved to other cities for safety. Tvin, Ani, Aghtamar, Sis were some of those towns where Muiron was also blessed.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed the Catholicos of Cilicia was invited by the Venerable Catholicos of All Armenians Vazken I, to bring the Muiron from the Catholicosate to the Mother See and add it to the mix. Giving it the name, “The Muiron of Independence” His Holiness accented the unifying power of the Muiron for a resurrected people.

The Armenian Church is Apostolic, in that its roots can be traced in a lineage to Jesus Christ and his Apostles. In the Armenian Church the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew are referred to as the first enlighteners of Armenia. In the next two days we will learn how the Muiron that was touched by Jesus Christ is in today’s Muiron.

We pray, Lord Jesus Christ, touch my life with your presence, as you touched the lives of those throughout the centuries who were pleasing to you, by their actions to live and love. Amen.

 

What Did Jeremy Allen White Say During Bleeped Emmys Speech? (indiewire.com)

Muiron’s Beauty in Suffering

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron’s Beauty Suffers

To the olive oil and oil of balsam is added the essence of forty different flowers to make the Muiron. This formula is one that somehow has become popularized and is recited effortlessly by most everyone who speaks of the Muiron. “Olive oil + balsam + 40 flowers = Muiron” reads like a cookbook recipe. I have intentionally waited to this point to introduce the flower ingredient so that with the background I’ve given thus far, we should not understand this as merely “recipe” for the mixture. In fact, the flowers, as we will see today, are greater than the sum of their parts.

Flowers are the beauty of nature. Their outward beauty is essential for the flow of life. Beauty and vibrant colors attract insects that pollinate the seeds which give us the food for the continuity of life. In the Holy Muiron, however, the beauty of flowers is not based on their superficial attractiveness. Rather, they are ground up, losing any resemblance to their former self standing in the field. The essence of the flower is extracted and it is that essence that is mixed into blend we call Muiron.

Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16) The life of a Christian is not flowery. It is defined by the crosses we meet and greet in our lives and the manner in which we carry those crosses. It is in the suffering that we are “ground up” so that superficial charms and beauty are inconsequential next to the essence of our being. Our lives are measured and find their worth by the sacrificial nature – the crosses – with which we live. Our Lord teaches, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20) In giving we lose the self and keep the essence which is aligned with the Divine expression of love.

The essence of forty different flowers are mixed into the Muiron. The number forty is symbolic. Whereas at one time, the flowers from Armenia were used, today, with a vast diaspora, flowers from ever country and area where Armenians live, are used.

Today we pray the prayer of the Holy Cross, Lord Jesus, I humble myself before your Holy Cross. Giving us the example of humility you instructed us to follow the path of sacrifice. In the shadow of Your Cross, may I lose myself, isolating my ego from all selfish desires and find the path of giving, sharing and loving which is the path to peace. Amen.

Muiron’s Natural Energy

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Armodoxy for today: Muiron’s Natural ingredients

The ingredients of Muiron are all natural. Forty days before the Blessing of the Holy Muiron the ingredients are placed in a large ceremonial cauldron before the Altar Table at Holy Etchmiadzin. With prayers recited by the priests and bishops, the olive oil, oil of balsam and the essence of different flowers are added and there they will stay absorbing the energy of Etchmiadzin and the prayers of the people, as we discussed in the last session with the example of the Curtain that continued to bless the homeless population on the streets.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Gulag prison system, and won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote this beautiful short prose poem dedicated to a duckling.

A little yellow duckling, flopping comically on its white belly in the wet grass and scarcely able to stand on its thin, feeble legs, runs in front of me and quacks: “Where’s my mommy? Where’s my family?”

… this one is lost Come on then, little thing, let me take you in my hand.

What keeps it alive? It weighs nothing; its little black eyes are like beads, its feet are like sparrows’ feet, the slightest squeeze and it would be no more. Yet it is warm with life. Its little beak is pale pink and slightly splayed, like a manicured fingernail. Its feet are already webbed, there is yellow among its feathers, and its downy wings are starting to protrude. Its personality already sets it apart …

And we men will soon be flying to Venus; if we a pooled our efforts, we could plough up the whole world in twenty minutes. Yet, with all our atomic might, we shall never-never! — be able to make this feeble speck of a yellow duckling in a test tube; even if we were given the feathers and bones, we could never put such a creature together.*

Like the life in our breath, the cells of a trees, the splash of an ocean wave or in the feather of the duckling Solzhenitsyn describes here, everything is of God. Here we understand the lifeforce that is essence of Holy Muiron, as the ingredients from nature enter the mix.

We pray, from the Book of Sirach,  From the beginning good things were created for the good, but for sinners good things and bad. The basic necessities of human life are water and fire and iron and salt and wheat flour and milk and honey, the blood of the grape and oil and clothing. All these are good for the godly, but for sinners they turn into evils.

*Excerpt from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Short Stories and Prose Poems. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1971. Bantam 1972

Breaking in Remembrance of 9/11

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Armodoxy for Today: 9/11 Break for the Good

Every September 11, since 2001, we here in America take a moment to reflect on true evil and its manifestation in the world today. Of course, if you’re in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, the DRC, Ethiopia, or Armenia, you really don’t need to take a moment, hour or day off to realize this. In many places of the world, the devastation and the obscene acts of destruction and hatred that we saw at the 9/11 terrorist attacks here in the United States, is a matter of life and living.

Tragically, evil exists. It always has. Because evil is demonstrated in such an overwhelming and destructive manner, it is easy to overlook the extent to which good plays in the world. As we reflect on the over 3,000 people that perished in the cowardly attacks on the American people on September 11, 2001, we remember also the heroes of the day, who selflessly put life and safety to one side to help those in dire need.

The images of the twin towers at the World Trade Center, with two jumbo jets crashed into the side of the buildings, fire, smoke, jumpers and then finally the horrific collapse of the buildings are forever engraved in our memory. The images we may have missed are those of the first responders, the New York City fire firefighters who entered the buildings with the knowledge that they may not come back out alive. The police and EMT professionals who went into destroyed buildings and sifted through rubble looking for signs of life and pulled out living and dead bodies, only to continue to their search for the next body.

And then there is Mychal Fallon Judge, a Roman Catholic priest and Franciscan friar who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. His prayers for the firefighters offered them encouragement. He ministered to the homeless, people with AIDS, the sick and injured. The morning of 9/11, upon hearing that the towers had been struck by jet liners, he went directly to ground zero. There he prayed and comforted others. He died that morning becoming the first certified fatality of the September 11 attacks.

Firefighters picked up his breathless body and took him a few blocks away to St. Peter’s Catholic Church where they placed him before the altar. A picture capturing that moment has since been called “An American Pieta.”

We take this break on 9/11 to reflect on the beauty that we call life and remember that the power of good is always greater than the power of evil.

Today hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  – John 15:13

From the Armenian Church’s requiem prayer, O Christ, Son of God, forbearing and compassionate, have mercy in Your love as our Creator, upon the souls of those who are at rest, especially on your servant Fr. Mychal Fallon Judge and those who perished in the attack of September 11, 2001. Be mindful of them on the great day of the coming of Your kingdom. Number and glorify them with the company of Your saints at Your right hand. Amen.

Muiron: Objects and Curtains with Blessings

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron participation through a Curtain

The Blessing of Holy Muiron is an event that brings together blessings from the centuries – from the time of Christ – to the present, and in that present we – you and I – stand. As we heard the “noises from the ridge” (yesterday’s lesson), the members of the here and now – you and I – are now part of the living history of the Church.

Several years ago, while I was serving as Parish Priest of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center in Glendale, a generous individual donated a new altar curtain to the church. It was ornate and donned two large, embroidered crosses. The curtain we were using had served us well since the time we installed it when we first opened the center. It was made of a heavy upholstery-type material, in a nice dark royal red shade.

When vestments, or items used for the Sacraments, have reached their end-of-life cycle, ordinarily they are disposed of by burning them. But the weight of this curtain was measured by much more than the fabric from which it was made. For ten years it had collected the smoke of the incense and the candles, but its true weight came from the thousands of prayers that had been offered around it. They were filled with the prayers of a community of immigrants who, having come to this new land, shared their thanksgiving as well as disappointments, their fears and their strengths, their faith and their doubts, in conversations with Christ. The prayers of repentant hearts, who knowing their wrongs had turned for forgiveness in a spirit of, “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” This curtain was much too heavy to burn!

The next day, I put out a call to all available sewing machines and their owners to come to the church. A dozen or so ladies arrived with sharp scissors in their hands, sewing machines in tow, and a love for their fellow human being. They cut up the curtain and sewed the edges. The curtain would now live on as individual blankets for our homeless population – the least of our brothers and sisters on the streets. We went down to Los Angeles’ “skid row” and passed out these blankets filled with prayers and incense, knowing the recipients would be comforted and sheltered by a powerful force. And we had the satisfaction of knowing that night, there were homeless individuals walking around the streets as royalty, donning the Armenian Church curtain as a cape and would later fall asleep in its comfort.

Objects carry blessings, manifesting the power of the Holy Spirit. The curtain transferred blessings to the indigents on the streets. The priest holds a cross in his hand and blesses a family or a grave. The woman touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and is healed. (Matt. 9) Jesus makes a paste with his saliva and “anoints the eyes of the blind man with the clay,” and he sees. (John 9). Bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Muiron is the oil which carries the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s prayer comes to us from the sharagan – the hymn of the Armenian Church dedicated to the Holy Spirit: Source of light, distributor of graces, O Spirit, who has come down from on high. You have divided Your incorruptible gifts among the apostles. May I be worthy to receive the same. Amen.

Read an article by the Very Rev. Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian about: A Blessed Fate of the Blessed Curtain