THE E-BULLETIN OF ST. JAMES ARMENIAN CHURCH (EVANSTON, IL)

 
August 17 - 23, 2014
SUNDAY, August 17, 2014
Feast of the Assumption of the Hole Mother-of-God               
      
Morning Service:
Divine Liturgy:
Bible Readings:
9:15 AM
10:00 AM
 Song of Solomon 4:9-15, 8:14;    Isaiah 7:10-16; 
Galatians  3:29-4:27;                  Luke 2:1-7

Blessing of the Grapes

Blessing of College Sudents

 

ZADIG Youth Choir of St. James under the direction of Dn. Kavork Hagopian will be joining St. James Church Choir in singing this Sunday's festive Badarak.

Feast of the Assumption of the Holy Mother-Of-God  

St. Mary is known in the Armenian Church as Asdvadzamayr or Asdvadzadzin, the "Mother-of- God" (Theotokos) or the "Bearer of God," a title/position doctrinally established at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in the 5th century. Her life of holiness and purity, and her graceful acceptance of the role which God assigned her, together make Mary one of the preeminent exemplars of Christian faith. Thus, her birth and very conception are occasions for celebration in the church.

 

Only those aspects of St. Mary's life that are directly related to Christ are recorded in the Gospel. The remainder of her biography is attributed to oral tradition and ancient ecclesiastical literature. In all likelihood, Mary was born in Bethlehem or Nazareth some twenty years before Christ's nativity. Her parents, Joachim and Anna, were a devout couple whose earnest prayers for a child were answered with the birth of a daughter.

Although she was born through natural childbirth, St. Mary is considered morally pure and immaculate. It is for this reason that the church celebrates not only her birth but also her conception, which the Armenian and the Greek Orthodox churches observe on December 9 and the Roman Catholic Church celebrates on December 8. Because of Mary's moral purity, in 1854, the Catholic Church accepted the position that she too was born of an Immaculate Conception. The Armenian Church, however, does not accept this doctrine as we believe that only Christ was Immaculately conceived.

Nonetheless, Mary's purity is unquestioned in our Church. According to Church doctrine, at the time of the Annunciation, when the Holy Spirit entered Mary, she was cleansed of all original sin as she was to be the vessel through which God Manifest was to be incarnated. According to tradition, following Christ's Ascension, St. Mary lived out the rest of her days in Jerusalem and was cared for by St. John the Evangelist.  She died in Jerusalem some fifteen years after the Ascension and was buried in her family tomb in Gethsemane.

After she passed away, all the apostles--except Bartholomew who was absent at the time--conducted her funeral with great ceremony at a cave-like tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, St. Bartholomew returned and wished to see Mary one last time. He convinced the apostles to open the tomb, but they could not find her body inside. Instead, angelic voices were heard for three days and three nights. The apostles interpreted the angels' singing as a sign that our Lord had assumed, or taken up, His mother into heaven as He had promised her. They accepted the empty tomb as confirmation of Christ's promise to His mother for she had not died but had merely fallen asleep. For this reason, the church refers to the end of Mary's earthly life as "dormition" rather than "death."

 

Click here to watch a brief video about St. Mary in the Armenian Church.

Prayer of the Week
Lord, receive, our supplications through the intercession of the holy Mother of God, the immaculate bearer of your only-begotten Son, and by the supplications of all your saints. Hear us, Lord, and have mercy on us; forgive,expiate and remit our sins; make us worthy to give you thanks and to glorify you together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Special Blessing for College Students

Following Badarak on Sunday, August 17th, we invite all college students who will be leaving their family homes and St. James, their spiritual home, to participate in a short Blessing of College Students.  This short ceremony will give each of us an opportunity to wish our students all the best in their educational endeavors.

Articles Used in the Sanctuary

VEIL 
(DZADZGOTZ)
The word Dzadzgotz is used for a number of items 
within  the church, first and foremost for the piece of material covering the Communion chalice. It can refer also to any of the covers of holy objects like the fine cloth over the Holy Dove.

 





WIN(KEENEE)

Only pure Red wine is used during the Divine Liturgy and is spiritually transposed to the blood of Christ.  


WAFER (NUSHKHAR)

The Nushkhar is a wafer prepared with unleavened and unsalted flour usually be the priest, though it may be prepared by a sub-deacon or deacon. Imprinted on the bread is commonly a scene of Christ's suffering on the cross. During preparation the back side is pricked, symbolizing Christ's sufferings (nail holes). During the Divine Liturgy the Nushkhar is first dipped into the wine, and then cracked in four pieces to represent Christ's death. The celebrant receives communion each time he celebrates the Liturgy and also saves a portion called the Reserved Sacrament. 

 

By Very Rev. Haigazoun Vartabed Melkonian. 
Let's Learn Armenian
 
Did You Know That... 
The Badarak, not counting the priest's prayers, is about 4,700 words long, but has only 1,400 different roots, of which 200 constitute approximately 80% of the text. Եւ (Yev = and) is the most common word; it occurs 438 times and constitutes nearly 10% of the text. This means that if you knew only the word եւ , you'd already understand 1 out of every 10 words of the Mass. Moreover, if you knew only 200 words and their variants you would understand 8 out of every 10 words in the Mass.
 
Every week you can learn two of the 50 most commonly used words in the Badarak here:

 

Armenian

Phonetic

English

գառն

karn

lamb

լույս

luys

light

 

Here are the words you have already learned: եւ (yev), սուրբ (soorp), 

ի (ee),Տէր (der), Աստուած (Asdvadz), օրհնեա, օրհնեալ (օrhnya, orhnyal), ես, է (es, e), իմ (im), Քո, քեզ, դու (ko, kez, tu.), Ինք, իւր (ink, yur), մեր, մեք, մեզ (mer, mek, mez), հայր (hayr), որդի (vorti), հոգի (hoki), թող (togh), փորձութիւն (portsutyun), փրկեա, փրկիչ (prgya, prgich), արարիչ (araritch), չար (char), փառք ի բարցունս (park i partsuns), տուր, տայ (dur, da),  խաչ (khach), մարմին (marmin), հաց (hats), արիւն (aryun), գինի (kini).


 
Workers Needed

Street Logo

The St. James Taste of Armenia Street Fair is fast approaching on Sunday, August 24th.  In order to have another successful event, everyone's help will be needed both on Saturday, August 23rd, and in all areas during the day on Sunday, August 24th.  If you can help skewer meat, make hamburgers, set up tents and tables, serve food and desserts, cut bread, help in the cultural tent, supervise games, sell tickets or do any of the many tasks that need to be done, PLEASE VOLUNTEER.  

Contact Debbie DerAsadourian (847.259.6053/ derfamily@wowway.com) or Wendy Farsakian (847.657.0027) to be scheduled. Or sign up online (click here).

We appreciate everyone's efforts.  Thank You!

Taste of Armenia Street Fair Restaurant Raffle


Street Logo

Along with the festivities at St. James Taste of Armenia Street Fair, this year we will hold our innovative raffle called the "Restaurant Raffle".   One thousand dollars ($1,000) in restaurant gift certificates will be given away, including:

Brindille ($100), Trattoria #10 (2X $100), Sayat Nova ($100), Wildfire ($100), Union ($150),  Dinotto Ristorante ($100), Siunik Armenian Grill ($150), and L. Woods ($100).

 

Raffle tickets are being offered for $5.00 each or 6 tickets for $25.00.

 

Click here for more information.


Altar Guild's Wish List

1.  Two jajanch radiances (ostensorium). $300-600 each . Pledged.

2.  Painting of St. James of Nisibis. $1000. Donated.

3.  Painting of St. Stephen the Protodeacon. $1000. Not pledged.

4.  Priest's 'half-vestments'. $500. Not pledged.

5.  Censer stand. $400. Pledged

 

Sunday School's Wish List

1.   Cabinet for storage of books and supplies. Not pledged.

2.   Room furniture for students and teachers. Not pledged.

 

Calendar of Midwest Armenian Picnics

August 15-17
August 17
August 24
September 7

All Saints Armenian Church (Glenview, IL)

St. George Armenian Church (Waukegan, IL)

St. James Armenian Church (Evanston, IL)

Knights of Vartan (Lincolnwood, IL)


Calendar of worship services and events at St. James

August 16

August 16

August 17

August 17

August 17

August 24

September 14

September 14

September 20

Saturday Evening Service- Kirakamtits (6:00 PM)
Rest Service (9:30 PM) and All-Night Vigil Service
Feast of the Assumption of the Holy Mother-of-God
Blessing of College Students
Daniel Nersesian's Presentation "My Trip to Armenia"
Taste of Armenia Street Fair 
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Sunday School Open House
Annual Church Picnic


St James steeple
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TRADITIONAL CELEBRATION OF THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HOLY MOTHER-OF-GOD


 
AUGUST 16-17, 2014

Click here to see the complete schedule. 
DONATE GRAPES

Grapes

Click here to print the form 
OR
ACYOA JRS. INVITES YOU TO 

DANIEL NERSESIAN PRESENTATION

"MY TRIP TO ARMENIA"



SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014
After Divine Liturgy

AUGUST 24, 2014

Street Logo

Taste of Armenia 

Big Raffle Tickets are available.

 

$100.00 per ticket.

 For more information click here.

ANNUAL DEFIBRILLATOR TRAINING
The Parish Council asks that all committee leaders and anyone else interested be present for our annual defibrillator training on 
Sunday, September 7 
immediately after Badarak 
in the vestibule area. This is a very important skill to have in the unfortunate event of an emergency medical condition requiring the use of automated external defibrillator (AED)

Meg Kamajian, a registered nurse, will be leading the training.
BECOME A STEWARD

St. James' Stewardship Committee encourages you to become a steward. To date we have pledged only $26K. Please consider becoming a steward of St. James and help our parish meet its $50K goal for 2014.

Contact Parish Council Chair and Stewardship Committee Chair, Gevik 
Anbarchian, for additional information.

Click here to donate online

ALTAR FLOWERS

 

Please consider donating flowers to adorn the Holy Altar. You may either bring flowers or make a monetary donation towards the purchase.

Sign-up sheet is in the Nishan Hall.
SAVE THE DATE!!!

ANNUAL CHURCH FAMILY PICNIC

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

THE SUMMER'14 ISSUE OF 
DESEELK (VISION) NEWSLETTER 
IS READY

The Summer'14 issue of DESEELK (Vision) Newsletter can be found on our website as a PDF document. 
Click here to view the Newsletter or go to our website  
www.stjamesevanston.org to download current issue.
If you are unable to open the file, you may need to update your Acrobat Reader. This can be done by visiting  

We hope you enjoy this latest issue.

SUNDAY BULLETIN
(pdf)

E-BULLETIN ARCHIVE IS NOW AVAILABLE

Missed or accidentally deleted any of the previous E-Bulletins? 
You can read all our previous issues in the archive here.
PARKING

Parking is FREE on Sundays at the parking garage on Maple street. Main entrance on Maple Avenue & Clark Street.

ST. JAMES ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH
Rev. Fr. Hovhan Khoja-Eynatyan, Pastor
816 Clark Street, Evanston, IL 60201