The first Divine Liturgy of 2022 will be celebrated on Sunday, 2 January 2021 at 10.30 am. The Celebrant & Homilist of the day will be Fr. Miuron Avedisian. Parishioners are invited to donate pomegranates to the church on the same day before divine liturgy.
The Season of Advent refers to the coming of Christ and in the Armenian language it is termed “Hisnag” (or Yisnak), derived from the word for “fifty”. Hisnag refers to the fifty-day period of preparation in celebration of the Nativity and Theophany of Jesus Christ. What type of preparation does this involve? During Advent, we can rededicate ourselves to Christ through our actions, thoughts, and prayers. This is a good time for us to improve our habits and offer them as gifts to God. Perhaps Advent can also be an occasion to discover God’s gifts all around us. We need to have an open heart to receive Christ—God’s greatest gift of all! Fasting during Hisnag In the Armenian Church, the season is introduced by a week of fasting, called “the Fast of the Beginning of Hisnag”. The second fast, of a week’s duration, follows the third Sunday of Hisnag. This fast is known as “the Fast of St. James, Bishop of Nisibis.” The commemoration of the latter takes place on the following Saturday. The third and final fast, again of a week’s duration, precedes the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord Jesus Christ. During the remaining weeks of Hisnag, when there is no fasting, the Wednesdays and Fridays are regularly observed as fasting days. Commemorations during Hisnag During the Hisnag we commemorate some of the important and major saints of the Christian Church. Among them are the 4th-century founders of Christian theology St. Gregory the Wonderworker and St. Basil of Caesarea; the Holy Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, the enlighteners of Armenia; the Egyptian fathers; the early bishops of the church, such as St. Clemens, St. Ignatius, St. Polycarpus, St. Nicholas; St. James of Nisibis; and at the very end of the year, King David commemorated as a prophet; the Holy Apostle James, Brother of the Lord; St. Stephen the Protomartyr; the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul; the Holy Apostles James and John, both of them surnamed as Sons of Thunder. Advent begins on the day after the Sunday nearest November 18. It lasts between six and seven weeks, depending each year on the duration of the period between Assumption (Sunday closest to August 15) and Theophany (January 6).
One of the feasts dedicated to the Holy Virgin is the presentation of three year old Mary (Holy Mother of God) to the temple. All Christian Churches celebrate this feast on November 21. According to the Holy Tradition of the Church, when Mary turns three the parents of the Holy Virgin, Joachim and Anna, fulfilling their promise, bring Mary to the Temple and present her to God. Mary remains in the Church till her engagement. The establishment of the feast is related to the Cathedral, which was built by the King Justinianos in honour of St. Mary, the Holy Mother of God, in the place of the old Jewish temple, on the hill of Moria. The cathedral was consecrated on November 21, 543 AD. After 638 AD, when the Cathedral, built by the King Justinianos, was converted into a Moslem temple, the celebration of the feast spread throughout the entire Christian world. The Feast of the Presentation of St. Mary to the Church was included in the Armenian Apostolic Church Calendar in the nineteenth century.
