Armodoxy for Today: Score Card for Muiron Blessing

“You can’t tell the players without a scorecard,” is a phrase that comes to us from a time long ago, before large-screen monitors at stadiums, way back when baseball players didn’t even have their names written on their shirts, those fans sitting way up in the bleachers at a baseball games were too far away to identify the players. The only way to tell who was who was by purchasing a scorecard.

As we continue in this deep dive into the Muiron Blessing, today’s message is to help you identify who’s who at the Blessing. Among the thousands of pilgrims attending the ceremony, there will be clergy from throughout the world, and those participating in the ceremony will be donning special ornate vestments of the occasion. Get your scorecard ready and let’s start with the very basics.

In the Christian Church there are three orders of clergy: deacon, priest and bishop. All the prefixes that are added to these orders, such as “avak” or “arch” are honorary titles. The orders are conferred through ordination and, in the case of priests and bishops, through consecration with Holy Muiron. In the Armenian Church, we have a fourth order, that of Catholicos – the chief bishop of the Church – who is consecrated to his order.

Deacons, sagavac in Armenian, are ordained to serve at the “table” as noted in Holy Scripture (Acts 6) and many of the deacons today limit their work to serving at the holy altar on Sundays. There are deacons who are assigned to positions such as chaplaincies.

The priest is ordained and consecrated to minister within the Church. The priest may officiate at all of the Sacraments except ordination, which is reserved for the bishop. All priests, kahana in Armenian, are ordained in the same manner. The monastics, that is the monks, take a vow of celibacy following their ordination and are assigned to one of the monastic brotherhoods of the Church. They are referred to as abegha in Armenian. The outward appearance of monastic clergy is highlighted by the head covering in the shape of the Armenian dome and referred to as a veghar.

A priest who finishes his doctoral dissertation may then receive a doctoral degree and accordingly is referred to as a vartabed, a “doctor” of Church. The degree of vartabed and, after more study, the degree of dzayrkouyn vartabed (higher level) is conferred through an ecclesiastical service. These degrees were given on scholastic merit and not on marital status, as is popularly assumed because following the massacres of the 1800s and the Genocide in 1915, many of the monastic institutions and these traditions were skewed due to the massive clergy shortage and the necessity to place monastics in the parishes. Today, with the increasing demands put upon the priests to engage with their parishioners, parish priests graduate with degrees, yet the Church has been slow to return to its early form.

From the monastic community bishops are selected. They are consecrated by the Catholicos. They are the overseers and assigned to dioceses – geographic areas – to oversee and direct the Church. They are referred to by their Greek name, episcopos. On the small finger of their right hand they wear an episcopal ring.

From the bishops, a Catholicos is selected and consecrated. The position, which is an administrative one, is for life. The Catholicos of All Armenians, has a small diamond cross on his veghar and the ring of authority is on his right ring finger.

Tomorrow we will fill your score card with the different functions these clergy hold within the church. Let us pray, Lord, you created order out of chaos, and paradise is a reflection of that order. We thank you for the order you have given to your Holy Church to meet the needs of our world. Amen.