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May 11, 2023
PONTIFICAL VISIT, STRATEGIC PLANNING TO TOP ASSEMBLY AGENDA

The pontifical visit of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I in October and a session on strategic planning will be the key issues of the National Representative Assembly of the Eastern Prelacy that will convene on May 18-20 in Providence, RI.   

“I always look forward to this opportunity to get together with the clergy and representatives from all parishes to plan the year ahead,” said His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate. “It has never failed to exceed my expectations.”

Delegates from all parishes gathering at Sts. Vartanantz Church will also look into by-law amendments and finances, including the Prelacy’s budget for 2023-24, in addition to other agenda items, such as the election of religious and lay councils. 

ARCHBISHOP ANOUSHAVAN IN TROY

On Sunday, May 14, Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, will attend the Divine Liturgy at Holy Cross Church in Troy, New York and preside over the installation of Rev. Fr. Vahan Kouyoumdjian, as Visiting Pastor of Holy Cross Church. On this occasion, Rev. Fr. Vahan will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and deliver the sermon.
 
Our faithful may follow the Divine Liturgy via live streaming.

SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF FUND

Click here to make your donation
Click here to read the list of donors

THE EASTERN PRELACY'S ANNUAL RAFFLE: ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT!

The annual raffle drawing of the Eastern Prelacy will take place on May 19, 2023, during the National Representative Assembly.  
   
Please consider purchasing one or more tickets ($100 each). The top prize is $5,000; 
second prize is $2,000; and third, fourth, and fifth prizes are $1,000. 
 
We are all winners in this raffle, because the money raised is for the exclusive benefit of our Prelacy’s educational and religious programs. 
 
For information, please contact your local parish or the Prelacy office (
email@armenianprelacy.org or 212-689-7810). You may also purchase tickets by clicking here. 

 

THERE ARE 101 ORPHANS WHO NEED SPONSORS

This week, two children from a hero of the 2020 war were added to the waiting list of the St. Nerses the Great Organization of Armenia, raising the number in the list to 101 war orphans.   
 
Currently, we have 416 individual and institutional sponsors from the United States, Canada, France, and Armenia who have taken care of 1,470 minors and university students enrolled in our Orphan Sponsorship Program, administered by the Prelacy through the St. Nerses the Great Organization of Armenia. The overwhelming majority of sponsors come from 26 states of the United States. Since 1993, a total of 3,624 orphans in Armenia and Artsakh have been sponsored.   
    
We are grateful to all the sponsors who support our efforts with an annual contribution of $250 per child, as well as with additional amounts as special gifts. The contribution brings much needed relief to the financial burdens of the recipients and their families, and also boosts their morale.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Children are admitted into the Orphan Sponsorship program only when a sponsor is secured for them. 
 
They remain a beneficiary until the age of 18 or longer if they decide to pursue higher education in a university of their choice. 
  
Our program’s General Fund consists of one-time donations, in-lieu-of-flowers donations, and generous donations from some of our sponsors. It helps sponsored children receive their bi-monthly stipend even if their sponsors cannot continue their initial commitment, submit their payment late, or skip a year of their contribution for any reason. The fund will supply their stipend until another sponsor is secured for them or they become 18.      
      
If you cannot make a long-time commitment but would like to contribute to the Orphans General Fund, please visit
https://armenianprelacy.org/programs/orphans-fund/ and choose the option “Other” for your tax-exempt charitable donation to the program.   
      
You can always contact the Prelacy by email (
sophie@armenianprelacy.org) or telephone  for the sponsorship of both minors and university students. It is also possible to make donations of shares or IRA contributions. 

Click here for online sponsorship of minors up to the age of 18.

Click here for online sponsorship of orphans who become students at a higher education institution upon turning 18.

The Prelacy’s Orphan Sponsorship program, established in 1993, remains the centerpiece of the Prelacy’s mission in Armenia and Artsakh. We are pleased to share some of the letters that children regularly address to their sponsors.   

This week’s letter is from Gor,* who is sponsored by Armenian American veterans.  

* We use only the first names of the children to protect their privacy. 

Dear Sponsor,  

This is Gor, born on July 4, 2008 in the city of Yeghegnadzor . I was the first-born in the family. I am sure that my birth brought light and happiness to my parents’ lives. I love to talk about them. 

My father was a very kind, hardworking, honest, and extremely patriotic person. He wanted to see the same qualities in me. He was an officer in the Armenian army. During his service, he would be away often. I was waiting impatiently for his home leaves, because he would turn our days into holidays, fill the time with joy, so that the homework would seem easier and studying more fun.

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A Note about the Readings: Beginning Monday (April 17) and continuing until Pentecost (May 28) each day the four Gospels are read in the following order: 1) Morning—Luke; 2) Midday—John; 3) Evening—Matthew; 4) Evening dismissal—Mark. By Pentecost the four gospels are read up to the passion narratives. 


Bible readings for Sunday, May 14, Sixth Sunday of Easter, are: 1) Luke 14:25-15:32; 2) Acts 20:17-38; 1 John 3:2-6; John 9:39-10:10; 3) Matthew 16:13-17:13; 4) Mark 8:27-9:12.  

To read this Sunday's Bible Readings
click here.

"BOSPHORUS NIGHTS:
THE COMPLETE LYRIC POEMS OF BEDROS TOURIAN"

 
(Translated by James R. Russell)
 
Bedros Tourian (1851-1872) is generally acknowledged as the creator of the modern Western Armenian poetic language. Strongly inspired by the French Romantics, Tourian produced in the last few years before his death from consumption a corpus of forty-odd poems. They have been the touchstone and primer for generations of Armenian symbolists, decadents, and revolutionary realists. 
  
Most of Tourian’s lyrics address the agony of unrequited love, illness, and the expectancy of death; but they also include visionary flights whose intricacy of language and imagery hark back to the earliest of the Armenian tradition. 

                                                                     

Click here to purchase your copy from the Prelacy bookstore

THE CHILD TO THE CROSS
(Bedros Tourian, 1851-1872)

O Tree of the Cross 
Thou four-armed 
Whose brow 
Is love’s Sun, 
Jesus nailed 
Breathed, humble 
Soul and light, 
Love towards the world, 
Receive also my little meek soul, radiating glory 
Beneath your arms, and teach me faith, 
Love, hope, with which my tender breast may throb, 
And dispel by your light the dark from my despairing heart. 
May I learn prayer 
To ascend to Thee 
When the tripping foot 
Makes me stumble  
Of black Satan 
Who strives ever eagerly 
To bewitch the soul 
To darkness and grief.   

(Translated by James R. Russell)  

Death of Asdghik (May 14th, 1884)

Siranush (Mehrube Kantarjian, 1857–1932) was the Sarah Bernhardt of Armenian theater in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Few are aware that she had an elder sister who preceded her on the stage and died prematurely. 

Amber Kantarjian was born on June 30, 1852 in the neighborhood of Pera (nowadays Beyoglu), in Constantinople. She was interested in theater from a young age and participated in family performances at the home of her grandmother. She entered the theatrical group of Hagop Vartovian at the theater Osmaniyeh of Gedik-Pasha during the theatrical season 1870–1871, aged eighteen, getting the pseudonym of Asdghik (“Little Star”). 

 
WE WELCOME YOUR LETTERS AND NEWS REPORTS
Crossroads welcomes your letters, as well as school and parish news in English and/or Armenian. Letters should be addressed to the Editor and may be edited for clarity and style. Please indicate the city, town, and state where you are writing from, as well as the country if you are writing from outside the United States. The deadline for submitting items is Tuesday evening.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

May 3 to June 7 — Six-part virtual Bible Study program on The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), presented by Archdeacon Shant Kazanjian, Director of Christian Education. Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30 pm (EST). 
May 14— Introduction of Rev. Fr. Vahan Kouyoumdjian as Visiting Pastor of Holy Cross Church (Troy, New York). 
May 18-20 — National Representative Assembly of the Eastern Prelacy hosted by Sts. Vartanantz Church of Providence, Rhode Island.  
May 21Annual celebration. St. Gregory Church, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. 
July 2-9 St. Gregory of Datev Institute Summer Program for youth ages 13-18, at St. Mary of Providence Center in Elverson, PA. For information, contact Dn. Shant at 212-689-7810 or
shant@armenianprelacy.org.  
July 30 Annual Church Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes. St. Stephen’s Church, Watertown, Massachusetts.  

August 6 — Annual Church Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes. Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, Rhode Island. 
September 24 — Annual celebration. Holy Cross Church. Troy, New York.   
October 1 — Annual celebration. St. Gregory Church. North Andover, Massachusetts.  
October 8 — Annual celebration. St. Sarkis Church. Dearborn, Michigan.  
October 19 to November 21 — Pontifical visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, to the Eastern Prelacy. 

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