Major Feasts of the Armenian Church
Feast of the Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Տօն Սուրբ Ծննդեան եւ Աստուածայայտնութեան Տեառն Մերոյ Յիսուսի Քրիստոսի
On January 6, the Armenian Church celebrates the Birth and the Baptism of our Lord as one feast. We call it Աստուածայայտնութիւն, Theophany, the revelation of God. Nearly every other church separated these two days long ago. We kept the ancient practice, and the reason is worth knowing.
One of the five great tabernacle feasts (տաղաւար), Theophany is observed over an octave, the eight days from January 6 to 13.
Inage sourced from shnorhali.com
FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD
ՏՕՆ ՅԱՐՈՒԹԵԱՆ ՏԵԱՌՆ ՄԵՐՈՅ
At the center of the Church's year, and at the center of everything we believe, stands the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In a world measured by time, where everything living comes to an end, one morning something appeared that had never appeared before: a life that will not end, present within our own. The One who rose from the dead dies no more.
This is not one teaching among others. It is the ground on which the whole faith stands, and the Armenian Church has guarded it from the beginning.
Inage sourced from shnorhali.com
FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
ՎԵՐԱՓՈԽՈՒՄՆ ՍՈՒՐԲ ԱՍՏՈՒԱԾԱԾՆԻ
The oldest of all the feasts kept in honor of the Holy Mother of God, this day remembers her falling asleep and her being taken up to her Son. Our tradition tells us that after the Ascension she lived out her remaining years in Jerusalem, cared for by St. John the Evangelist, and was laid in her family tomb at Gethsemane. What the Church proclaims on this day is that she did not remain there.
One of the five tabernacle feasts, it is kept on the Sunday nearest August 15, and its commemoration continues for nine days.
Inage sourced from shnorhali.com
FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
ՏՕՆ ԽԱՉՎԵՐԱՑ
The Cross on which our Lord died is no longer an instrument of death. What Rome made a symbol of shame, Christ has made the sign of our salvation, and we do not hide it. On this day the Church lifts it up before the faithful, as St. James the Apostle did in Jerusalem in the earliest years, as Bishop Cyril did after St. Helena recovered it, and as the Armenians did when they carried it home from Persian captivity. Խաչվերաց is the greatest of the four feasts we keep in honor of the Holy Cross and one of the five tabernacle feasts of our Church. It is observed on the Sunday nearest September 14, preceded by a week of fasting, and followed by days given to the Holy Church herself, since the Cross and the Church cannot be spoken of apart from one another.
The Armenian Church marks the day with the Antasdan, in which the four corners of the world are blessed, a memory of the joy with which our people once received the Cross on its journey home.
Sourced from armenian-history.com
FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD
ՏՕՆ ԱՅԼԱԿԵՐՊՈՒԹԵԱՆ ՏԵԱՌՆ ՄԵՐՈՅ
Just after Peter confessed him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Lord told his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem to suffer, to be killed, and to rise on the third day. They could not bear to hear it. Days later, he took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, traditionally Mount Tabor, and there he was changed before their eyes. His face shone like the sun, Moses and Elijah stood beside him, and from a bright cloud the Father's voice declared him His beloved Son.
He showed them his glory before he showed them his cross, so that when the hour came, they would know who it was who suffered. In Armenian, we keep this feast as Վարդավառ.
Inage sourced from shnorhali.com