May 5

TOP STORY   

The Apparition of the Holy Cross

On May 7 in the year 351, those living in Jerusalem witnessed an intensely illumined cross appear in the sky extending from Golgotha to the Mount of Olives; a span of almost two miles. As it remained visible for several hours, the population of Jerusalem assembled in the church to praise Jesus Christ for the miraculous sign, but this apparition not only affected the locals. St. Cyril the Bishop of Jerusalem wrote about the miracle in a letter to the Emperor Constantius of Constantinople who at the time, believed in the Arian heresy which denies Jesus is God and claims He was a created being, subordinate to God the Father. Upon reading the letter, Emperor Constantius was deeply moved and returned to the orthodox teaching of the Church that Jesus is God, equal in nature to the Father.

May 7, 2023

Morning Service 

10:00 AM

Holy Badarak 

10:30 AM

Celebrant

Rev. Fr. Hovsep Karapetyan 

Usher

Mr. Garbis Chubukian

Parish Council Members on Duty

Mr. John Asadoorian

Choir

Mrs.Edita Kalayjian

Organist

Mrs. Karine Muradyan

Bible Readings: 

Acts 17:1-15

1 John 1:1-10

 John 7:14-23

For the Souls of :

Parkouhi Maroonian ( 1st anniversary) & Aramayis Maroonian 

Requested by :

(daughters) Emma, Hasmik, Ashot, Gegel, and Knar, their families, and Grandchildren 

For the Soul of :

Virgin Maghrablian

Requested by :

Levon & Silvana Maghrablian

Hospitality Table is Hosted by:

Haddadian, Zohrabian, Maroonian, Babakhani & Movsessian Families

To request a Hokehankist/Requiem Service 

Please contact the Church Office

by 12:00 Noon on Thursday

202-363-1923

or Click here to see the form

Prayer of the Week

Jesus, Wisdom of the Father, grant me wisdom that I may at all times think, speak, and do before you that which is good in your sight. Save me from evil thoughts, words, and deeds. Have mercy upon your creatures and upon me, a great sinner.

    Lord, please keep watch over your faithful people and the holy soil of Artsakh and Armenia, now and always. Foil every aggressor against our homeland. Defend the innocent and voiceless, Lord. Deliver the world from every single conflict, and bestow your peace on all mankind. Amen.

Shnorhali School Commemorates the Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide

On April 30, the Armenian Genocide was commemorated at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington, D.C. Shnorhali School students paid their tribute to the Armenian victims of the Genocide by staging a short play called "Rescue the Armenians: on efforts of American missionaries and Armenian Fedayees."

 The theatrical performance consisted of 4 scenes that told the story of the Abdul-Hamidian massacres of the 19th century. The play depicted the determination and the heroic struggle of the Armenian fedayee and freedom fighters, the heroic defense of the city of Van during 1915 on one end, and the pious activities of Clara Barton, George Knapp, and other notable American missionaries and their remarkable contribution in saving Armenians on the other hand. The play was authored by Haykaram Nahapetyan, the history teacher at Shnorhali School, and staged by Shnorhali School teachers and students.

 From the play, our students learned about one of the most tragic pages of our bloody past, got acquainted with one of the heroic episodes of our history and the incredible efforts of our heroes, learned about the historical figures who sympathized with our pain, and were able to unconstrainedly present it to the audience spiced with songs and dance.

 We deeply thank Haykaram Nahapetyan for the script, Armine Khachatryan for the musical accompaniment, Vahag Babayan for technical assistance, and the Armenian language teachers, students, and parents for the beautiful presentation of the event. We hope that the enjoyable impressions of the event and the lessons learned from the event will remain in our children’s memory for a long time.

St. Mary Food Festival -Sponsorship Opportunities

Dear Friends,

At St. Mary, we are very excited to host the 13th Annual Armenian Spring Food Festival on May 19, 20, and 21, again bringing the culinary delights and cultural riches of Armenian heritage to the Greater Washington, DC area.

Our community is hard at work preparing for the Food Festival, but we need your support and sponsorship for it to be a success.

Please Click on the Link Below to BECOME A SPONSOR.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Join the Recycle Committee



Are you interested in getting a recycling program started at St. Mary? We are looking for parishioners who can help with this effort.

If you are interested please email Roxanne Paul at rangerrox@msn.com.  

UPCOMING EVENTS

Help Needed for 2023 Spring Food Festival

WED Educational Fund Scholarship



Application for WED Educational Fund Scholarship is now available at St. Mary's website www.stmaryaac.org. The application deadline for the 2023-2024 academic year is

May 31, 2023.

Click here to access the scholarship application. If you have questions, contact the St. Mary Church office at stmarychurchdc@gmail.com

There is a wonderful opportunities for our children to participate in Armenian camps and conferences this summer. St. Vartan Camp and St. Nersess Summer Conferences and trainnigs are now oper for registration. If your child is interested please contact the the church office at stmarychurchdc@gmail.com and provide your name, contact information (phone and email) and your student’s name/age. Put "St Vartan Camp," or "St. Nersess" in the subject line.  An interest meeting will be arranged, where parents/students can ask questions and arrange carpools.

This year, through generous donations made to a number of memorial funds, St. Mary will be able to offer a discount for each camper.   

Special Gift for St. Mary Gift Shop

St. Mary gift shop is offering limited numbers of imported bottles of medieval Armenian health elixirs formulated from ancient manuscripts deciphered at the Matendaran Museum of Ancient Armenian Manuscripts. These elixirs are made in Armenia by Armen Sahakyan, a pharmacologist and botanical scholar who has been working at the Matenadaran Museum for the last several decades. A trained medical doctor ordained a deacon in 1997, Sahakyan has dedicated his life to the maintenance of Armenia’s sacred botanical traditions.

The three different batches available at our gift shop (Royal Elixir, Arates Elixir and Arates Tonic) are made from a codified recipe of medieval Armenian medicine, using a special distillation process. They contain medicinal and aromatic plants, known for their healing properties. Through the distillation and aging process alcohol is created, so think of them as perhaps Armenia’s first (healthy) cognac! 

The supplies are limited and each bottle is numbered, including the batch and year of production. All of the bottles were donated to St Mary Church, so 100% of the proceeds will go to the St Mary Endowment Fund, with a portion also going to support Armenian clergy serving in Artsakh.

"Embrace the Future" Endowment Fund

Dear Parishioners and Friends, 

This year we celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the St. Mary Community and Church with the launch of the new "Embrace the Future" Endowment Fund to help ensure our church has the resources needed to continue serving our beloved community.  

Just as you plan for your future and that of your family, please join us in planning for the future of St. Mary Church. 

We are asking for your support so that St. Mary will be able to continue to fulfill her mission for future generations.  

The link below lists various opportunities for you to make a meaningful gift of lasting significance that will help support our church's long-term security, visibility, and vitality. Please consider making either a one-time gift or pledge, which would allow you to make payments over a five-year period.

Join St. Mary's Prayer Group

We are initiating a new form of ministry at St. Mary Armenian Church. For parishioners who would like to make an electronic prayer request, they can do so by Clicking Here.

A group of volunteers will receive the request and pray at their earliest convenience. Additionally, a new physical prayer request box will be placed at the entrance of St. Mary Armenian Church with blank forms that anyone can fill out and drop in the box. These requests will be retrieved weekly and delivered to the members of the volunteer prayer group. If you would like to become one of the volunteers of the Prayer Group please email us. 

Please click on the link below to present your request. 

Armenian Speaking Caregivers Available

For information please contact the church office at 202-363-1923 or  stmarychurchdc@gmail.com

Part-time help needed

Rockville Town Center (a few minutes walk from the Rockville Metro stop on the Red Line), for details, contact Lilit at "Saints Valley" Boutique:   https://www.instagram.com/saintsvalley/?hl=en

Buy a Brick and Leave Your Legacy at

St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church

Bricks can be ordered and purchased by clicking below and

filling out a simple online order form.

You can choose to have a 4" x 8" brick

which includes your preselected

3 lines of 20 characters per line of text.

Or you can choose to have the

Armenian Cross artwork on the 4" x 8" brick

which includes your preselected

3 lines of 15 characters per line of text.

Order Today While Quantities Last!

Payment can be made with PayPal or a Credit Card.

Legacy Brick Donations are Tax Deductible.

121st Diocesan Assembly Convenes Next Week

Next week, the 121st Diocesan Assembly will convene at the Marriott Hotel in Plano, TX. St. Sarkis Church of Carrollton, TX, will host the Clergy Conference (meeting May 2-4), and the Diocesan Assembly (meeting May 4-6), bringing together hundreds of Armenian Church leaders from the Eastern Diocese.

Diocesan Primate Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan will preside over the gathering—which is the first Diocesan Assembly since his election as Primate last year.

This will also be the first full-scale Diocesan Assembly since 2019. St. Sarkis Church was slated to host the assembly in May of 2020, but the event was postponed with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the intervening years, the parish completed the construction of, and consecrated, its impressive new church and cultural facility (above), which will provide a magnificent backdrop for the social and liturgical gatherings scheduled for the assembly weekend.

The General Sessions—scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, May 4 through 6—will go forward under the theme “Growing In Faith Together.” That name refers to the Diocesan “action plan” that was released to the public earlier this year. As part of his official address on Friday morning, the Primate will introduce the plan, and delegates will then spend time in roundtable discussions, exploring their ideas to implement the plan at the local parish level.

Other highlights include a presentation on the campaign for the restoration of St. Vartan Cathedral, and reports from the Fund for Armenian Relief, the Armenian Church Endowment Fund, and Diocesan program departments, ministries, and auxiliary organizations.

Assembly business will also include elections for seats on the Diocesan Council and other official committees.

The annual awards banquet will take place at St. Sarkis Church, in its elegant “Hall of Lights” on Friday, May 5. At that time, Mr. and Mrs. Elie and Ela Akilian will be honored as this year’s “Armenian Church Members of the Year,” and architect David Hotson will receive the “Friend of the Armenians” award.

The Divine Liturgy, with the Primate presiding, will conclude the gathering on Sunday, May 7.

Find detailed information on the schedule of events by clicking here. Check the Eastern Diocese’s website and Facebook page for updates on the Diocesan Assembly proceedings.

Across the World on Martyrs Day, Vows to Remember—and Act

His Holiness Karekin II began this year’s solemn April 24 commemoration by visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Dzidzernagapert, to lay wreaths and offer prayers at the eternal flame. Leading a delegation from the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians joined the great throng of fellow Armenians paying their respects on the occasion.

At Holy Etchmiadzin on the same day, Catholicos Karekin II presided over the Divine Liturgy at St. Gayane Monastery, marking the Feast of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.

In a message to the public on the occasion, His Holiness lamented that “One hundred and more years ago, one and a half million Armenians testified their loyalty to our God-given homeland and faith, at the cost of their lives.”

He continued that on this day, Armenians across the world are united in prayer: “We raise a prayer to God, asking for the intercession of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide, so that with unity and an indomitable will we may face every disaster and threat, fight for the victory of Armenian justice, and contribute to the prevention of genocidal acts and crimes in the lives of our people and in the world.”

Click here to read the entire message. Click the following links to view photos, and watch a video clip of the Martyrs Day ceremonies, on Holy Etchmiadzin’s Facebook page.

Halfway around the world, in New York City on April 23, Eastern Diocese Primate Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan struck a similar chord in his closing prayer for the Times Square Genocide Commemoration, organized by the Knights of Vartan and a host of Armenian groups.

“The souls we remember today endured their martyrdom 108 years ago,” he prayed. “But we are aware, Lord, that the hostility they faced, the cause they died for, did not end, but continues to this day. We feel grief that our people—your people—still live under this shadow of destructive hatred, aimed at us, our children, our homeland, our entire civilization. We ask you to keep watch over your faithful people, and especially to protect the holy soil of Artsakh and Armenia—now and always.”

The Primate concluded: “As the proud descendants of the Genocide martyrs, we accept that the duty to remember, to speak out, to preserve and defend, now falls upon us. We all must shine with the light of our saintly Genocide martyrs, so that the example of the Armenian people—living, departed, and yet to be born—will always be a Light of Truth, to honor the memory of our martyrs, and to glorify you, our God.”

Click here to watch a video clip of Fr. Mesrop’s prayer in Times Square.

FAR is Hiring a Development Director

The Fund for Armenian Relief is searching for a “Director of Institutional Marketing and Development.” The position will be responsible for the overall strategic development and management of the set of communications that FAR deploys to reach its audience.

The Development Director is expected to contribute to strengthening FAR’s image in the market and to further developing trust among the diaspora and make it the foundation of choice for individuals to consider when planning their charitable giving efforts. This position will report to Garnik Nanagoulian, Executive Director.

For complete information, click here.

Ayo is the crowdfunding platform of Fund for Armenian Relief, the social arm of the Eastern Diocese. We’re passionate about partnering with Armenians all over the world to promote sustainable development through low-budget, big-impact projects.

This summer, Ayo! is partnering with GOALS (Girls of Armenia Leadership in Sports) to organize a sports camp for kids aged 11-17. It will intertwine learning and fun through games, promoting positive values such as teamwork, leadership, respect, and gender equality. 

The camp will be held in the rural Shirak region for 70 boys and girls from surrounding villages. In addition to soccer, basketball, and tennis, lacrosse will be introduced this year!

It costs $125 to sponsor one village child’s unforgettable week of camp.

Get involved!

• Donate tax-deductible through Ayo’s website here:

www.weareayo.org/donate

• One day of camp, including meals, costs $25/month

Click Here to DONATE!

We’re turning 10 this year!

With the support of Hilton, we’re organizing a special all-expenses paid trip to Armenia for one lucky person (chosen at random).

Enter here!

May 12 90^th Anniversary Endowment Fundraising Garden Reception @ 7 pm 

May 12 ACYOA Juniors End of Year /Graduation Party

May 18 Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

May 19, 20 & 21 Spring Food Festival

May 28 W.G.Hampartzoom program and lunch

14Տօնակատարութեան կէսին Յիսուս տաճար ելաւ եւ ուսուցանում էր։ 15Հրեաները զարմանում էին ու ասում. «Սա ինչպէ՞ս գիտէ Գըրուածքները, քանի որ բնաւ չի սովորել»։ 16Յիսուս նրանց պատասխան տուեց ու ասաց. «Իմ ուսուցումն իմը չէ, այլ՝ նրանը, ով ինձ ու¬ղարկեց։ 17Եթէ մէկը ուզում է նրա կամքը կատարել, կ՚իմանայ այս ուսուցման մասին, թէ Աստծո՞ւց է արդեօք, թէ՞ ես ինքս ինձնից եմ խօսում։ 18Ով ինքն իրենից է խօսում, իր համար է փառք փնտռում, իսկ ով փնտռում է նրա՛ փառքը, ով իրեն ուղարկել է, նա ճշմարիտ է, եւ նրա մէջ սուտ բան չկայ։ 19Օրէնքը ձեզ Մովսէսը չտուե՞ց, բայց ձեզնից ոչ ոք Օրէնքը չի կատարում։ 20Ինչո՞ւ էք ուզում ինձ սպանել»։ Ժողովուրդը պատասխան տուեց ու ասաց. «Քո մէջ դեւ կայ, ո՞վ է ուզում քեզ սպանել»։ 21Յիսուս պատասխան տուեց նրանց ու ասաց. «Մի գործ արեցի, եւ ամէնքդ զարմացել էք։ 22Մովսէսը դրա համար ձեզ տուեց թլփատութիւնը (թէեւ այդ ոչ թէ Մովսէսից էր, այլ՝ հայրերից)։ 23Եւ շաբաթ օրով մարդ էք թլփատում։ Իսկ արդ, եթէ մարդը շաբաթ օրով թլփատւում է, որպէսզի Մովսէսի Օրէնքը չըխախտուի, իմ վրա՞յ էք բարկացած, որ շաբաթ օրով մի ամբողջ մարդ բժշկեցի։

(Յովհ. 7:14-23)

In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The Jews marveled at it, saying, "How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him, there is no falsehood. Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" The people answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?" Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man upon the sabbath. If on the sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the sabbath I made a man's whole body well?"

(John 7:14-23)