November 29th, Second Sunday of Advent. ºñÏñáñ¹ ÎÇñ³ÏÇ Հիսնակաց Պահոց

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1 Morning Service - 8:30am Badarak - 9:45am Sunday School - 10:00am Sunday, December 20, 2015 from 1-3pm The ACYOA Presents 2nd Annual Chocolate and Cooke Christmas Social! UPCOMING EVENTS ²è²æÆÎ²Ú ØÆæàò²èàôØܺð Schedule of Services Thursday, December. 24, 2015 Celebration of Feast of St. Stephan First Deacon and First Martyr, Eve of Western Christmas, Caroling - 5 P.M. Reception to follow - All welcome Tuesday, January 5, 2016 Morning Service at 10 A.M. Armenian Christmas Eve Badarak, 5 P.M. Candle lighting ceremony Following Badarak Home Blessing following Badarak Wednesday January 6, 2016 Armenian Christmas Badarak 10 A.M. Sunday January 10, 2016 Theophany and Baptism of Our Lord And Savior Jesus Christ 9:00 a.m. Matins 10:00 a.m. Badarak 11:30 a.m. Blessing of the Water Annual Christmas Dinner and Sunday School Program to Follow Limited Seating Reservations Only - Call to the Church November 29th, 2015 Rev. Fr. Vart Gyozalian - Pastor Daily Lectionary Readings ²êîàô²Ì²ÞÜâ²Î²Ü ÀܺðòàôØܺð Isaiah 36:22-37:11. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-11. Luke 13:1-9. Second Sunday of Advent ºñÏñáñ¹ ÎÇñ³ÏÇ Հիսնակաց Պահոց Hokehankist ÐáÏ»Ñ³Ý Çëï For the souls of Herach Mooradian (1 year), Mary Mooradian (4 years) requested by:mr and Mrs. John Mosto, Melanee Naroian and Family, Mr. and Mrs. Aram Mooradian, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mosto and Family, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Aziz

2 UPCOMING HOKEHANKISDS ²è²æÆβ Ðà ºÐ²Ü Æêîܺð Sunday, December 6th, 2015 for the soul of Esther Bonin requested by: M/M Arthur Bonin and Family Sunday, December 6th, 2015 for the souls of Sahag & Marie Sahagian, Khatoon & Avedis Sahagian, Harry & Mary Alexander, Rosemarie & Nathan Brady, Leo Sahagian, Mary Sahagian Ahlin & Great Grandfather George Ohanian requested by: M/M Scott Sahagian & Sons, Mark Sahagian & Sons NAME DAY ²Ýí³Ý³ÏáãáõÃÛ³Ý úñ Thaddeus and Bartholomew HOKEHANKISD DONATIONS Ðà ºÐ²Ü êîú²ü Üìð²îìàôÂÚàõÜܺð Hokehankisd Donations for the Soul of Cora Ozoonian: Babigian Family, Katherine Meranian, Mary Tatoyian, Lu Sirmaian, M/M Anthony Giragosian, Eva Naroian, M/M Charles Bazarian, M/M Scott Sahagian, Rose Q. Azarian, M/M Michael Naroian, M/M Mel Menasian, M/M Larry Pahigian, Annette Der Minassian & Emmanuel Baghdayan, Arpi Kazanjian & Family, Sylvia tavitian, M/M Barbara & Richard Naroian ALTAR DONATIONS ÜíÇñ³ïáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñ êáõñµ Êáñ³ÝÇÝ Altar Candles and Alter Flowers from: Great grandchildren Gabriella, Molly, and Maxwell Mosto in loving memory of Great Grandparents Herach and Mary Mooradian

3 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY úñí³ ²ëïáõ³Í³ßÝã³Ï³Ý ÀÝûñóí³Íù 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body[b] in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister[c] in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. TODAY S GOSPEL READING ²Ûëûñí³ ²í»ï³ñ³ÝÁ Luke 13: At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. 6 Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil? 8 He replied, Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down. THE HOLY MARTYRS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Vartabed Findikyan ONLY GOD CREATES SAINTS The church does not create saints, God does. Canonization is rather the Church s official recognition that a certain person or group of persons is already a saint; that that person or group truly epitomizes the highest virtues of Christian life. By declaring someone a saint the Church is acknowledging that this person is an example to us of the lives we should lead as Christians. There are many more saints in heaven than the few hundred that the Armenian Church has officially canonized. Some saints are walking among us today. Of course all of our sister churches have their own registers of saints. The late Pope John Paul II canonized more saints than all of his predecessors combined. He himself was recently canonized a saint by the Catholic Church. Many saints have been recognized by several churches of differing denominations. St. Gregory our Illuminator, for example, is also cherished by the Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Roman Catholic Churches, who know him as St. Gregory of Armenia. Pope Francis recently declared our beloved mystic, St. Gregory of Narek ( 1004), to be a doctor of the church. This exalted title, which is unique to the Catholic Church, has only been bestowed on a few dozen of the Catholic Church s most esteemed theologians. This was an unexpected and extraordinary declaration with enormous ecumenical implications because St. Gregory of Narek was never in communion with the Catholic Church. Other saints were local heroes whose fame never spread beyond their immediate

4 church boundaries. We are accustomed to designating the martyrs and saints known only in Armenia as national saints or Armenian saints, and distinguishing them from non- Armenian or foreign saints. This is a helpful distinction to a point. However, we must remember that all saints, regardless of their ethnic heritage or venue, are saints of the Body of Christ, the one, holy, universal and apostolic Church that we profess every Sunday in the Nicene Creed. Our newly canonized martyrs of the Armenian Genocide are surely interceding with God in a special way for the Armenian Church and people, the homeland by which the new martyrs have been designated. To be sure, however, they are models of Christian virtue for all mankind and they are indeed interceding for the salvation of the world. When the Church canonizes saints nothing changes in heaven. What changes is the Church on Earth. Every time a local church recognizes a new saint, it submits to its people and to the world another real-life example of a human being that was able to cultivate a profound love for God and for neighbor by following Jesus Christ. The so-called communion of the saints is the Church s honor roll. By looking at the names and lives of the saints, we perceive the highest ideals of the Church: who we aim to be, what we believe, what our priorities are, and what our mission is. The saints are our witnesses to that ideal, but they should also challenge the Church and every one of its members to grow toward the ideal that they embody. The saints provide a useful gauge for the Church to refine its work and commitments, to reform itself where necessary, in order to remain faithful to its sacred mission. HOW DOES THE CHURCH CANONIZE SAINTS? Historically canonization was usually a grass roots process, not a top-down decree of the Church hierarchy. When a Christian exhibited extraordinary holiness, either by one s godly way of life, through that person s luminous preaching and teaching, in some notable cases by having worked miracles, or perhaps by martyrdom itself, this was something first observed by those who knew that person most closely: relatives, friends, and townspeople. In the case of the martyrs, they were well known to the local population, who would have witnessed their holiness and their death. The tomb of the martyrs became the focal point for Christians to recall and celebrate that holy life, and to pray for the saint s intercession. Most of the earliest church buildings in the world were built over the tombs of beloved martyrs. In Rome we have the Basilicas of St. Peter (the Vatican) and St. Paul built over the places where these apostles were martyred. In Armenia we have the magnificent churches in Etchmiadzin built over the tombs of the great martyr-heroes of Armenia s Christian conversion: St. Hripsimé and St. Gayané. Veneration of the saints, especially the martyrs, was a natural instinct for the earliest Christians. The formal canonization of the saints by church authorities developed as a means of regulating a form of popular piety that was beginning to take on a life of its own. In some communities individuals were being venerated whose lives fell far short of Jesus example. In other places the veneration of the saints competed with, rather than complemented the worship of Jesus Christ. For this reason, well after the turn of the first millennium, the churches began to develop procedures for canonizing, literally, for regulating who is and who is not a saint. The Catholic Church developed a highly legalized and bureaucratic process for determining which holy people nominated by local communities would merit veneration by the entire Catholic Church. Only those officially canonized saints would be assigned an annual day of commemoration in the church s calendar and have hymns, devotional services, and icons created in their honor. The process involved an extensive investigation into every aspect of the candidate s life, which was undertaken by a dedicated department of the Holy See. It was decreed, among other things, that the candidate must have performed a certain number of

5 verifiable miracles. Yet the Catholic Church s complicated and often highly politicized canonization process is unique in Christendom. In the eastern churches the procedures are much less complicated. In general, once the decision to canonize a saint or saints is made by the synod of bishops and confirmed by the Patriarch, a date is set and the new saints are officially proclaimed during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy that day. During this grand Eucharistic celebration, the lives of the saints are read, an official icon is released and newly-composed hymns in honor of the saints are sung. In the Armenian Church the acknowledgement of new saints may have been even more spontaneous. The process of venerating new saints and martyrs in Armenia seems usually to have been a largely local affair, which very gradually spread throughout all segments of the Church. Centuries-old manuscripts containing the calendar of feasts and saints commemorations are often very different one from another. A calendar copied in one region of Armenia contains saints unknown in a calendar from another region of Armenia, or, if known, the saint may be commemorated on a different day. Several medieval Armenian historians tell the stories of valiant Armenian martyrs who gave their lives in faithfulness to Jesus Christ and who were immediately commemorated as saints of the church with an annual commemoration. Yet in time the names of the martyrs were forgotten and their commemorations died out. It was only in the late 18th century with the printed edition of the Տօնացոյց / Donatsooyts, the Armenian Church s Directory of Feasts, that Catholicos Simeon of Yerevan brought cohesion and uniformity to the veneration of the saints throughout the expanse of the church. It is only in the last 200 years or so, in other words, that the entire Armenian Church and all of its hierarchical sees, with few exceptions, celebrate the very same saints on the very same day.

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7 The Bible What is the position of the Bible in the Armenian Church? The word Bible comes from the Greek word Biblia, meaning books. The Armenians could conceivably have chosen Keerker (books) as their word for the Bible.but they didn t. Quoting Vehapar Karekin I when he was a Vartabed in The full name for the Bible is Asdvadzashoonch Matean, which means Divinely Inspired Book. But the Bible is often called simply Asdvadzashoonch, which means the Breath of God. The word itself (Asdvadzashoonch) denotes, in a pointed way, the very heart of the Armenian attitude to the Bible. This choice of a title is a profound revelation that our people received from God. Our Armenian forefathers truly believed the writers of the books of the Bible were inspired (God-breathed) by God in a very special way to record the truth as only God knows it. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correcting, for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 What is the Bible? The bible is a collection of inspirational writings that reveal God to man and is divided in two parts. 1) Old Testament - old agreement between God and the people of Israel. It begins with the story of the creation of the world and then records the history of the people of Israel and their expectation of the messiah to come. It also contains doctrine (teaching) and prophecy.

8 2) New Testament - new agreement between God and man. It records the coming of the Messiah (Jesus Christ) as well as His words, deeds, death, resurrection and ascension. When was the Bible written? The Bible as we know it today was not always available in one book. The different chapters were written at various times over a period of approximately 1500 years from about 1400 BC to 100 AD. Who wrote the Bible? God is the author of the Bible. Webster defines author as writer or originator. God handpicked not less than 35 different human writers to record His Word in written form. These men were from all aspects of life (shepherds, prophets, poets, fisherman, kings) and lived in different times and in different countries. Yet, when all of their writings were brought together into one volume, there was marvelous unity and harmony from beginning to end. This can be accounted for in only one way there was one mastermind behind all these writers God. 2 Peter1:21 For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Why did God give us the Bible? 1) To reveal Himself to us. 2) To teach us right from wrong. 3) To teach us how to live a happy, prosperous life on earth. 4) To teach us how to receive eternal life. Someone once said of the Bible: Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be right.