Saint Paul Armenian Apostolic Church

08/07/2026

50/50 Raffle Winners from the picnic:
Mr. Dolan
Mr. Koshkarian
Mr. Saryan
Thank you to all that participated!

07/31/2026

Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday, August 2, 2026 from 12pm - 3pm for our Annual Shish-Kebab Picnic and Grape Blessing Fundraiser!
If you did not place a pre-order, no worries, most items will be available to purchase the day of.
Thank you for your support!

07/21/2026

Don't forget to get your pre-orders in TODAY to receive the discount!
You may still order after today, however, the discount will not be applied.
Thank you for your support! We look forward to seeing everyone on August 2nd!

07/12/2026

Armenian Feasts:
FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

Today, Sunday, July 12, the Armenian Church observes one of its five major feasts, the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ (Aylagerbutiun/Vartavar). This Feast is observed fourteen weeks after Easter, and therefore can fall between June 28 and August 1. It commemorates an episode in the New Testament recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Peter, recalling Christ’s ascent up Mount Tabor with disciples John, James, and Peter.

The Transfiguration took place on the “holy mountain” (believed to be Mt. Tabor) where Jesus went with his three disciples. As He was praying, “His face shone like the sun and his garments became white as light.” Moses and Elijah appeared at his side, representing the law and the prophets. It was at this moment that his appearance was “transfigured” revealing himself as God to his disciples as a voice from above said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” Jesus urged his disciples to keep silent about what they saw, but the incident was recorded in the Gospels.

The pre-Christian festival Vartavar (Festival of Roses) was assimilated into this new Christian holiday. Armenians would decorate the temple of the goddess Asdghig (goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and water) with roses, release doves, and engage in water games on this popular pre-Christian holiday. St. Gregory the Illuminator combined Vartavar with the Transfiguration. The fifth century historian Yeghishe wrote the prayer that is recited in church on this feast: “O Lord, bless the harvest of this year and defend from all the perils, and may your right hand, O Lord, protect us for the whole year.”

Vartavar became a traditional day of pilgrimage to churches named in honor of St. John the Baptist. The most popular destination was the Monastery of Sourp Garabed of Mush, founded by Gregory the Illuminator in the province of Taronnear Mush. (Garabed means Forerunner, referring to John the Baptist). The monastery was large and expansive and built like a fortress in the mountains. More than one thousand pilgrims could be accommodated. After 1915, the complex ceased to exist. The monastery was destroyed by the Turkish army, and the ravages of time, weather and scavengers completed its destruction. The once large and thriving Armenian monastery is now a mass of stone and rubble. This Sunday is the name day for those named Vartkes, Vartavar, Vart, Vartouni, Vartanoush, Vartiter, Varvar, Vartivar, Alvar, Sirvart, Lousvart, Hyvart, Baidzar.

07/11/2026

Armenian Feasts:
COMMEMORATION OF THE OLD ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THE FEAST OF THE NEW ONE—THE HOLY CHURCH

Today, Saturday, July 11, the Armenian Church commemorates the Old Ark of the Covenant and the Feast of the New Holy Church. This combined commemoration takes place on the Saturday before the Feast of the Transfiguration. Celebrating the old and new shows the perpetuity of the Church. God revealed Himself to humankind gradually through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. The church existed from the beginning, and that is why the Old Testament is accepted as part of the Holy Scriptures and recognized as a preamble to the New Testament. The hymn designated for this day proclaims, “Who from the beginning established your church with wisdom, O, Father of Wisdom, who revealed to Moses upon Sinai.”

07/11/2026

Sunday, July 12, Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ (Aylagerbutiun/Vartavar)

1 John 1:1-7

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.



***

Matthew 16:13-17:13

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

07/03/2026

A short speech by Abraham Lincoln has become a historical referent and can be said to be a foundational text of the modern United States. His Gettysburg Address is memorable from the first line to the last: at fewer than three hundred words, it was shorter than most news pieces we hurriedly read every day.

Yet it is the last words that are etched in our individual and collective memory: “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Today the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 is remembered as much for Lincoln’s speech as for its military significance. Commending the heroism of the fallen, President Lincoln had famously said: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”

Indeed, the opposite has been true. As Senator Charles Sumner observed only two years later, in 1865, “The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it.” In Sumner’s words, “The battle itself was less important than the speech.”

While his statement that the battle was less important than the speech is debatable, Senator Sumner’s assessment of the enduring significance of the Gettysburg Address still holds true. More importantly, President Lincoln, at that painful time for a country that had not yet reached its centennial and was deciding by force of arms what course the nation organized by the Founding Fathers would take, had the providential foresight to envision the America we live in today 250 years after the first, seminal Fourth of July, a country reborn in freedom, with a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The Gettysburg Address also helped shape the language through which Americans have come to understand their nation as “one nation under God,” a phrase later incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance. How could words best summarize the magnificent conception of this incredibly rich and diverse, ever renewing nation, under Divine Providence?

Perhaps we can sense an echo of Matthew 22:21 in the spirit of these words: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” One extraordinary attribute of the great American nation is how remarkably both spheres have coexisted and contributed to a mutually enriching environment, making the United States a fiercely free and profoundly faithful nation at the same time. As St. John Chrysostom had said in his interpretation of Matthew’s verse, what is rendered to Caesar—in this case, the government—should not come at the expense of piety.

And it is precisely in that fine balance that the extraordinary American experiment lies, one that, under the caring gaze of our Lord, turns 250. May God bless America every day it is reborn in freedom.

ARCHBISHOP ANOUSHAVAN
Prelate

07/02/2026

Please join us on Sunday, August 2nd from 12pm - 3pm for our Shish Kebab Picnic and Grape Blessing!!

You can join us IN-PERSON or pre-order and pick up.
*We will be offering our delicious traditional lamb shish-kebab dinners at a PRE-ORDERED DISCOUNT of $30!!! The price will be $35 on the day of event! Pease be sure to place your orders in advance to take advantage of the discounted price!*

August 2, 2026 / 12pm -3pm
St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church Family Picnic!
https://st-paul-armenian-apostolic-church.square.site/

07/02/2026

06/28/2026

We can only imagine the joy of finding possessions of the Holy Mother. This Sunday, June 28, is the feast of the Discovery of the Belt of the Theotokos. Because there are no relics of the Holy Mother’s earthly body (she was assumed into Heaven), her personal belongings became the object of devotion and veneration. During the time of the early Church, when Christians were persecuted, her possessions were kept hidden and secret. Her belt was the first item to be discovered in Jerusalem in the fifth century. This discovery is the basis for the first of the eight feast days in the Armenian liturgical calendar devoted to the Holy Mother.