Tag Archive for: St. Mary

Alabaster Box with the Umbilical Cord

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Armodoxy for Today: Alabaster Box

Now that the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, Asdvadzadzin, has passed I share with you this fascinating story that connects all Christians who are baptized and confirmed in the Armenian Church.

When the Asdvadzadzin passed away, all of the Apostles except for the Apostle Bartholomew were in Jerusalem and attended her funeral service. 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 to honor Bartholomew’s request, her body was not there. She was assumed into Heaven by her Son. Hence the word “Assumption” is used to describe Asdvadzadzin’s entrance into Heaven. It differs from the Resurrection, which was a singular event, where in Jesus, on His own power, resurrected. In the case of St. Mary, she was assumed into Heaven.

There is a short apocryphal story which follows. 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 placed it in an alabaster box and kept it with her through the years. When Bartholomew came to pay his respects to Holy Mother’s life, he was given the box, which he kept close to his heart.

In the fourth decade A.D., Bartholomew came to Armenia to preach the Gospel. He was martyred in Armenia 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 consecrated the first batch of Holy Miuron at that time and added the remains of the umbilical cord to the first miuron. This Holy Chrism, which is used for consecration of the faithful, priests, bishops and holy sites, is renewed every seven years. In each new batch, the previous batch is added, meaning there are molecules in the Holy Miuron from the time of Jesus Christ!

This is year there will be a blessing of the Holy Miuron. In the coming episodes we will share the mystery of the Holy Miuron with our listeners.

We pray today, Mary’s Song, referred to as the Magnificat, in Armenian, Medzastzudzeh.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Amen.

Strength in Humanity

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Armodoxy for Today: Power In Humanity

The Beatles’ song, “Let it Be” has a nice and warm spiritual tone to it for a few reasons. The opening chords set the tone of the song. The words of the refrain, “Let it Be” are the definition of the word “Amen.” There are a few references to Mother Mary. She “comes to me” and speaks “words of wisdom” according to the song. The connection with the Blessed Mother is an easy one to make but we find that it is a connection which we infer because of our prejudices. According to the song’s writer, Sir Paul McCartney, this Mother Mary reference is to his own mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, who he lost at an early age. The song is written about a dream in which his mother came to him with words of wisdom.

Our religious prejudices play a large part in how we perceive and interact with the world. Because St. Mary, the Asdvadzadzin is singled out in history to bear the Christ Child, we rightly commemorate her celebrations and feasts by focusing on her holiness. But the strength of St. Mary – as well as all the saints – is in her and their humanity.

Saints, including St. Mary, are not gods. They are not worshipped in the Armenian Church. Rather, they are venerated, that is, they are regarded with great respect and reverence. Because they are human, we can look at them as examples for our life. This is a very important function of saints. As people, they have all the frailties and difficulties that humans have. They had the same temptations and doubts that all of us have. The difference, however, is that they rose from their humanity to touch the divine. It so doing, they give us hope that we too can rise from our humanity and touch or share in the divine realm.

She was asked to bear a Child out of wedlock. The night she gave birth to the Child Jesus, there was no room for her in the inn, or in the world. She witnessed the murder of the innocent. She kept in her heart all the details of Jesus childhood. She was at the Foot of the Cross when the her Son was nailed to a Cross and destroyed by His own creation.

At the feast of Assumption we are invited to reflect on the Blessed Mother Mary, her struggles and challenges and how she overcame each of them to become “Blessed among women.” (Luke 1:42)

We pray from a prayer of the Church, We ask you, Holy Saint Mary, full of glory and birth-giver of God, Asdvadzadzin, to lift up our prayers to your beloved Son that He may forgive our sins. Amen.  

Love Conquers

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Armodoxy for Today: Love Conquers

St. Mary, who’s assumption is remembered in the month of August, is referred to with many titles that are also descriptors. Blessed Mother, Asadvadzadzin, the Bearer of God, Our Lady and Queen of Heaven, are among some of the more conventional names. They all point to the unique place she occupies in human history.

She said “Yes” to God and thereby Christ was made incarnate. She bore and delivered Pure Love to the world.

A few years ago, while serving as a parish priest in Glendale, I became aware of the problem of domestic violence within the local community. Like many other places, denial was widespread. Some even shunned me for daring to voice a concern about domestic violence.

As priests we often become the first point of contact for people in need. One night, after a violent scene between a husband and wife, and after hours of counseling and finding a safe haven for a young mother and her children, I asked her if we could pray together before I turned her over to the shelter. Of course, she wanted that bit of solace in her upside-down world. Instinctively, she reached out her hand so I would hold it during prayer, and instinctively I did. She screamed! I let go only to find her hands were crushed and disfigured by the act of her husband.

The domestic violence problem grew with very little mention of it by community leaders. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back came one night when a lady who had been on the receiving end of domestic violence for 20 years finally had the nerve and the strength to escape from her husband’s tortures and left the house, knocking on the doors of neighbors, asking – begging – for help. She was told by neighbors that “amot eh!” as in, “Don’t bring shame to the family… Go back home before you bring disgrace to your family… This is not something we Armenians do…”  From home to home this continued for 15 minutes until she finally reached a house that did not close the door on her and took her in. She was an African American woman who recognized the seriousness of the situation and immediately called the police. That night we met with her in a sanctuary area.

That was the marking moment when as a community we could no longer stay quiet. We established a grass-roots organization called, “Datev Outreach.” Datev is the name of a celebrated saint in the Armenian Church, it also was a play on words, da-tev, that is, to “give wings.”

During the short-lived life of Datev Outreach we heightened awareness tremendously within the Glendale area. We organized walks through the streets of Glendale where we received the support of many families who came out to voice their oneness with us and the scorn of others who heckled us as we walked by: “There’s no such thing! You’re making it up!” Datev Outreach organized classes for women, gave women opportunities to educate and self-determine their lives. It was a powerful program in the community.

Like many good things, politics got into the way and we closed up our offices after two years, but not before establishing firm ties with the YWCA and ensuring that victims would have a place to find sanctuary.

One of the remaining treasures of Datev Outreach is the beautiful icon of the Blessed Mother. Artist Gregory Beylerian created this icon which cried out to the world the double message that Violence Hurts – there’s no denying it – and Love Conquers – providing the solution! The icon, with the Asdvadzadzin and the Baby Jesus, is a new icon for the contemporary world. It is an icon of Armodoxy because it has a double message boldly proclaiming the horror of violence and articulating the solution in reference to St. Mary, the bearer of Love.

Saints are living today. They are active in our lives today. While many descriptors are ascribed to the Blessed Mother, we must never forget that she takes away pain (cf. Gyumri’s Yot Verk Church) and answers with solace in her capacity to bring Love to the world.

Let us pray, the prayer of intercession of the Armenian Church, Christ, our God, who chose and embraced those who witnessed You and partakers in Your passion. We ask for the intercession of all saints in order that through their fervent prayers and mediation You may grant us peace and protect us from enemies both visible and invisible. Grant us, O Lord, the vision to follow in their path. Amen.

Connection to Tragedy

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Armodoxy for Today: Connection

We just celebrated the Assumption of the Holy Asdvadzadzin. In our last message, I spoke about the connection between the grapes and the Blessed Mother. Even more, we cited the passage from the Gospel of St. John about the Jesus being the vine, the Father the vinedresser and we, the branches, are called to bear fruit.

In traditional churches such as the Armenian Church, it is easy to lose the connection between these celebrations and the purpose of these celebrations. Every celebration, every feast, every event, in the Armenian Church has to point to Jesus Christ. Without Christ, these stories are only a part of a history which may be interesting but bear no connection to “the vine.”  In other words, they are irrelevant to the lives we lead.

This past week, the blockade in Artsakh continued. Here in Southern California hundreds of protesters took to the Los Angeles freeways, stopping traffic, demanding attention to the plight of the Armenians in the Artsakh, who are now facing another genocide. Meanwhile, the Armenian Churches celebrated the Assumption of St. Mary, with grape blessing ceremonies and people flocked to those churches to taste the fruit of the vine, without understanding the implications such as ceremony and story have on their lives.

St. Mary, who is revered as the Queen of Saints, and whose icon adorns the altars of Armenian Churches from Armenia to Los Angeles, to New Zealand and India, is an example of humanity elevating to godliness. St. Mary’s greatest action in life was that she said, “Yes” to God. “I am the servant of the Lord.” With that yes, she took on bearing Christ in this world.

The sad reality was too unnerving this past weekend and church after church offered commemorations of the Assumption and performed grape blessings without a connection to the reality that is unspeakable – a reality, Armenians have promised, “never again” and today find themselves begging others to the resolve for them.

The “Yes” that St. Mary said to the Lord is the example she lays for each of us. We read in the Luke chapter 1 that she is asked to bear Jesus. The consequences for pregnancy without marriage in those days was death by stoning. She asks, “How can this be, she has never known a man.” And the reply is, “Nothing is impossible for God.” She said Yes to God in the face of the death.

Today, the struggle in Artsakh requires extra ordinary, supernatural resolution. We know this, and yet we continue to appeal to governments that could care less about a group called Armenians. The only people who will care about this group is the Armenians and we have the power to do something. God has asked us to bear Christ, just as He asked St. Mary. We have not tried this option, if we had we would not be blocking freeways and protesting in foreign lands. The protest would take place in Azerbaijan.

In Yerevan, Zinvori Tun (the Soldiers’ Home), stands as a testament to the ugliness of war. Soldiers in the 2020 war were young children. They were killed and those who lived are in immense need of physical and psychological recovery. Our In His Shoes ministry has been supportive of these recovery efforts. Earlier this summer we visited the Home and saw first-hand the recovery effort. At the entrance of Zinvori Tun is a room which houses a khatchkar (Armenian Cross Stone). The president of the home, Haykuhi Minasyan, explained that the work they are doing for these “soldiers” is beyond human powers, and the khatchkar is placed as a reminder that their work is possible only with a prayer and God’s assistance.

This is the connection that we must receive from the Church, and if we don’t, then all of our efforts are futile and in vain. History shows us that we have to rely on our own resources and those resources accented by God are a powerhouse. Our smallest efforts are magnified with God.

This week, in the shadow of the Assumption, I’ll be sharing the connection of St. Mary’s Yes, and the grapeblessing to our real world problems. Join me, on these Armodoxy for Today sessions.

The reading today is from Luke chapter 1, the annunciation, “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest.

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. For with God nothing will be impossible.

Then Mary said, “Behold the servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Cover Photo: khatchkar at Zivori Tun

St. Mary and the Grape Connection

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Armodoxy for Today: St. Mary and the Grape Connection

My grandmother was one of four sisters. She was the oldest. Her name was Marie, a derivative of Mary. Her sister’s names were Lousaper (the Light-bearer), Srpuhi (the Holy One) and Diruhi (The Lady, as in the feminine of Lord). These names were names attributed to St. Mary. No other saint is revered as much as St. Mary by Armenians, and the fact that in one family, four daughters are named after the blessed Mother is a testament to the respect and devotion she has had among the people.

St. Mary is referred to as the Asdvadzadzin which means the bearer of God, referring to her unique position of giving birth to Jesus, the Son of God. While the traditional churches celebrate the Assumption of St. Mary, only the Armenian Church has the unique tradition of the blessings grapes on that day.

My grandmother would recall how the first-fruits, the best fruits, were taken to the church on that day for a special blessing. The offering of the fruits was a gesture of thanksgiving, thanking God for the blessings He has bestowed upon the people, the temperance of weather, the fertility of the soil and the abundance of sunshine which yield the grapes. In fact, she would add that the townspeople would not eat the fruit of the vine until they were blessed on this day.

One of the reasons given for the connection between St. Mary and the grapes is that grapes can be propagated without seed, alluding to the virgin birth. But the best reason comes from Christ himself who sets up this analogy, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:1-4)

As always, Christ’s metaphors are simple and to the point. In this case the metaphor points to productivity. It is impossible to bear fruit without being connected to the vine. The life of a Christian is completely dependent on an unfaltering connection to Christ himself. Jesus presents the picture of the vine, the branches, and the fruit. And the operative is God the Father who prunes the branches. Just as the soil, weather and sunlight are necessary for delicious and juicy grapes, so too, our connection to Jesus the Vine is necessary for our lives to be flavorful and beautiful.

The grape blessing service is a call to productivity. God gives us a world and we are the stewards of this beautiful life. Armodoxy attests that Christianity is not an escape from this world to another, but the importance being the agents that make Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray. This is from the grape blessing prayer that is offered on the feast of Assumption,  Bless, O Lord, the grapes. May we enjoy that which You have created in this world and grant that we may be worthy to eat and drink with You from the bounty of Your most fruitful vine at the table of Your Father’s Kingdom, according to the just promise which You made, to the honor and glory of Your coexisting Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the most Holy Spirit to whom is due glory, power, and honor, now and forever. Amen.

And it doesn’t end here…

Enlightenment at Assumption

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Next Step #480: The missing piece to the Asdvadzadzin puzzle – how to put it together based on the Gospels and Scriptural passages given by the Church Fathers. More puzzle pieces found: Clarification on Australia: Apples and Grapes. Back route details en route to the Eclipse, parked in Reno.
Morning has Broken by Cat Stevens
Australia Holy Resurrection Church
Yettem Pictures
Bible Studies and YouTube Armodoxy Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/armodoxy
Total Eclipse of the Sun
Engineered by Ken Nalik
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org
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Boldness in Flavor and Action

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Next Step #479: A wrong grave site and a wrong head stone lead into a discussion on faith and religion – the non-science of the day. Grapeblessing and the Asdvadzadzin – Fr. Vazken reveals a message that is lost in the vines: revealed through the passages of the day.
“We Used to Bach” Ian Anderson www.JethroTull.com
“We Used to Know 29 Years Later” blog by Fr. Vazken
AC101 on Grapeblessing
Bible Study on productivity (8/7/17)
Engineered by Ken Nalik
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org
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Happy Produce

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Next Step #428: On the St. Mary “Asdvadzadzin” factor, grapes and the call to production. Loss for words and finding them in metaphor. Flash back: Jack LaLanne’s tips from the 60’s to today, still an element of happiness to be found. A chance to swap-out with the Mother, and tolerance at the foot of the Cross. And much more.
Song: Vardan Ovsepian from Aragast
Jack LaLanne “Anything is Possible”
On Happiness
AC101 – GrapeBlessing
Engineered by Ken Nalik
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org
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Love: A challenge to excellence

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Next Step #427: The passing of Blake Krikorian: From silence to learning the lesson of life and love. Olympic Gold – from the knob to the button, technology for split-second judgement of the “also-ran.”  St. Mary Asdvadzadzin, bearing Love in the face of a missing God. The tradition of grapeblessing – giving it all, to others and therefore God… the challenge of excellence. Changes at In His Shoes and the ministry.
Song – Davigh – Avedis Khatchadourian
With the Krikorians
St. Mary the Birthgiver of Love
Grapeblessing
Adam Krikorian Coach of USA Water Polo Team
Blake Krikorian
“Identity in Christ” say divers
Cover photo: Asdvadzadzin at Shushi by Fr. Vazken (2014)
Engineered by Ken Nalik
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org
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Gender Equalizer through the Grapevine

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Next Step #375: Gender equality issues that you didn’t hear through the grapevine! Fr. Vazken connects the dots between St. Mary, the Asdvadzadzin, grapes and our work – our mission – the rhyme and reason for life, in a unique manner – Gender equality is achievable in a most personal way. Putting the St. Mary history lesson to one side, we find the answer to the mystery question of: “If God created everything, then who created God?” And the great Burger King/McDonalds caper.
Song: “Havoun Havoun” by students of Vazkenian Seminary
St. Mary the Birthgiver of Love
Blog by Dr. Harry Hagopian
Blog by Dr. Anna Harmandarian
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Engineered by Ken Nalik
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Listen via Stitcher Radio on demand!