Crossroads E-Newsletter – July 24, 2014

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apost. Church of America and Canada
H.E. Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
Prelate, Easter Prelacy and Canada
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
Web:

July 24, 2014

The Armenian Prelacy =99¦ 138 East 39th Street =99¦ New York, NY
10016

tel: 212-689-7810 =99¦ Fax: 212-689-7168 =99¦ Email:
[email protected]

COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL
PLANNED IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL

The following announcement was released to the press by the National
Centennial Committee to Commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

Leaders of the Armenian Church in the United States have joined to
plan a special remembrance of the Armenian Genocide next
year. Commemorating the passage of 100 years since the start of the
first genocide of the 20th century, a schedule of events including an
ecumenical prayer service at the National Cathedral, a memorial
concert, public exhibitions and a Pontifical Divine Liturgy will take
place from May 7 to 10, 2015, in Washington, DC.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia, will both journey to the United States to lead and
participate in the commemorative events.

A National Centennial Committee has been formed under the auspices of
the Diocese and the Prelacy to oversee and guide the commemorative
activities. The Committee, chaired by Dr. Noubar Afeyan, Boston-based
entrepreneur and philanthropist, includes leaders from Armenian
religious, political, and civic organizations from across the United
States. The Committee includes Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of
the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America; Archbishop
Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian
Church of North America; Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America;
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of
the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, and Archbishop Vicken
Aykazian, Legate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America.

`We are organizing these events in the nation’s capital in
order to involve the country’s political leaders, raise awareness in
the non-Armenian community, and honor countries and individuals that
have helped Armenians during and after the Genocide,’ said committee
chair Dr. Afeyan. `We are honored that Catholicos Karekin II and
Catholicos Aram I will be among us, blessing the occasion, as together
we stand up for the Armenian presence in America and in the world,’ he
added.

The National Centennial Committee has met several times and is working
together with Washington D.C.-based sub-committees to plan the various
events and activities. The Committee is working closely with the
Central Commemorative Committees for the United States and Armenia to
coordinate the activities.

TEACHERS’ SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY ANEC

The Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC) will sponsor a
teachers’ seminar to be held on August 23, at the Prelacy headquarters
in New
York, from 10 am-4 pm. All schools and teachers are invited to
participate. The program will have the following lectures:

Sossi Essajanian: `Supporting the Next Generation: Early Childhood
Development, Best Practices, and the Armenian Language Teacher’;
Anahid Garmiryan: `To Be or Not to Be a Teacher: the Challenges of
Bilingualism’

For more information, please email ANEC at [email protected] or
call (212) 689-7231/7810.

SIAMANTO ACADEMY WILL RESUME ITS ACTIVITIES

The Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC), jointly sponsored by
the
Prelacy and the Armenian Relief Society, sponsored for many years the
Siamanto Academy for young adults. After a recent hiatus, the Academy
is ready to resume its activities. The Academy offers courses on
Armenian history, culture, and contemporary issues. Classes will take
place on a monthly basis, every second Saturday, beginning in
September at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian
Apostolic Church (Ridgefield, New Jersey), from 2 pm-5 pm. For
additional information, please contact ANEC at
[email protected].

Bishop Anoushavan prepares to honor Chris Bohjalian’s newest book with
a `wine blessing.’

LATEST BOHJALIAN BOOK FETED

The latest novel by Chris Bohjalian, Close Your Eyes. Hold Hands, was
introduced at Sts. Vartanantz Church in Ridgefield, New Jersey, on
Sunday, July
13. The book was honored with the traditional `Kinetzon,’ by Bishop
Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General of the Prelacy.

Bohjalian’s works have been critically acclaimed, and a number of his
novels were adapted for television and Hollywood. His 2012 The
Sandcastle Girls about the Armenian Genocide was on the New York Times
best seller list for a number of weeks.

BIBLE READINGS

Bible readings for Sunday, July 27, Feast of the Transfiguration of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, (Aylakerputiunm / Vartavar) are Wisdom
7:25-8:4; Zechariah
14:16-21; 1 John 1:1-7; Matthew 16:13-17:13.

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 over-shadowed 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 do 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. (Matthew 17:1-13)

For a listing of the coming week’s Bible readings click here
().

THE OLD ARK OF THE COVENANT AND
FEAST OF THE NEW HOLY CHURCH

This Saturday, July 26, 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 prior to the Feast of the
Transfiguration. Celebrating the old and the 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.’

FEAST OF TRANSFIGURATION

This Sunday, July 27, the Armenian Church observes one of its five
major feasts, the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus
Christ (Aylakerputiunm / 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. (See
today’s Bible reading for the text from the Gospel according to
St. Matthew).

The Transfiguration took place on the `holy mountain’ (believed to be
Mt. Tabor) where Jesus went with John, James and Peter to pray.
As He was praying, `His face shone like the sun and His garments
became white as light.’ The Patriarch Moses and Prophet Elijah
appeared at His side. 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.’

The pre-Christian festival, Vartavar (Festival of Roses), was joined
with this new Christian holiday. Armenians would decorate the temple
of the goddess of Asdghig (goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and
water) with roses, release doves, and engage in water games on this
pre-Christian holiday. St.
Gregory the Illuminator combined Vartavar with 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 Moush, founded by Gregory the Illuminator in the
province
of Taron near Moush. (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,
Vartouhi, Alvart, Sirvart, Nevart, Lousvart, Baidzar, Vartanoush,
Vartiter, Varvar.

MONDAY IS MEMORIAL DAY

The Monday after each of the five major feasts of the Armenian Church
is a
Memorial Day, Remembrance of the Dead.

NEWS FROM THE CATHOLICOSATE

KHATCHIK BABIKIAN FOUNDATION

His Holiness Aram I presided over the 2014 Khatchik Babikian
Graduation in
Armenian Studies and Distribution of Inter-School competition awards
on Sunday, July 6, following the Holy Liturgy. The ceremony recognized
the winners of the inter-school competition in Armenian language and
culture and the
graduates of the two-year intensive course in Western Armenian
language and culture.

Sarkis Guiragosian, Director of the Department of Armenian Studies of
the Catholicosate, welcomed everyone and spoke ab9out the unique
contribution of these two activities of the Khatchik Babikian
Foundation for the Armenian
community ihn Lebanon and the Diaspora. Silva Bakarian-Karaoghlanian
thanked His Holiness on behalf of the graduates and award winners.

After the distribution of diplomas and awards, His Holiness addressed
the audience. He congratulated the students and thanked the families,
directors, and teachers for their commitment to safeguarding the
western Armenian language and culture. `The message of this gathering
today is clear: the Armenian school is alive and will continue its
difficult task of sustaining western Armenian, while responding to its
linguistic changes. In this way it remains the relevant means of
transmitting our spiritual, cultural, and historical heritage and
documenting of our new experiences,’ His Holiness said.

CATHOLICOS MEETS GUESTS

During the past week Catholicos Aram met with several religious and
political leaders at his summer residence in Bikfaya, including the
following:

Jean-Louis Kordahi, a former member of the Lebanese government, who
discussed projects related to the property of the Catholicosate in
Byblos and issues linked to the postponement of presidential elections
in Lebanon.

Archbishop Rafael Minassian, Prelate of the Armenian Catholic Church,
who informed His Holiness of the activities of his church in Armenia,
as well as their planned conference on `Christian Communication in
Armenia: Organization and Networking.’ The Archbishop invited His
Holiness to send his representative to the conference.

Matthias Wilkes, governor of Bergstrasse, Germany, and Dr. Steven
Brian Fera, Honorary Ambassador of Germany to Armenia, visited His
Holiness to discuss issues related to the commemorations of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

THIS WEEK IN ARMENIAN HISTORY
(Prepared by the Armenian National Education Committee[ANEC])

Self Portrait, 1874

Birth of Ivan Aivazovsky
(July 29, 1817)

Ivan Aivazovsky is considered one of the greatest marine painters in
history. Famous Russian story writer Anton Chekhov popularized the
winger word
`worthy of Aivazovsky’s brush,’ used for `describing something
ineffably lovely.”

Aivazovsky was born Hovhannes Aivazian on July 29, 1817, in Feodosia,
a port on the Black Sea in Crimea. He received parochial education at
the local
St. Sargis Armenian Church and was taught drawing by a local
architect. He
attended the Russian gymnasium of Simferopol from 1830-1833 and then
studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts from 1833-1837, graduating
with gold medal two years in advance.

The promising painter was sent by the Academy in 1840 to study in
Europe. He first traveled to Venice, where his brother Gabriel was a
member of the Mekhitarist Congregation (he would leave the
congregation and return to the
Armenian Apostolic Church in the 1850s). Aivazovsky studied Armenian
manuscripts and became familiar with Armenian art. After a four year
sojourn in Italy and France, with visits to half a dozen European
countries and prolific exhibitions, he returned to Russia in 1844.

Upon his return, he was appointed academician of the Imperial Academy
of Arts, from where he had graduated seven years before, and appointed
the official artist of the Russian Navy. After traveling to the Aegean
Sea and Constantinople in 1845, he settled in his hometown,
Feodosia. The Academy gave him a title of professor of seascape
painting in 1847, while the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences elected him a member in the same year.

He married English governess Julia Graves in 1848 and had four
daughters. They separated in 1860 and divorced in 1877 with permission
from the Armenian Church, since Graves was a Lutheran.

Aivazovsky would receive many honors throughout his life: first
non-French
artist to receive the Legion d’Honneur in France (1857), Order of the
Medjidie (Ottoman Empire, 1857), honorary member of the Moscow Art
Society (1857), Order of the Redeemer (Greece, 1859), Order of
St. Vladimir (Russia, 1865), Order of Osmanieh (Ottoman Empire, 1874),
member of the Academy of Arts of Florence (Italy, 1876), honorary
member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Stuttgart (Germany, 1878),
and others. He held fifty-five solo exhibitions over the course of his
career in the Russian Empire, Europe,
and the United States (New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, 1893),
and participated in many collective exhibitions. He was one of the
most prolific artists of his time: he created around 6,000 paintings
during his almost sixty-year career. The vast majority of his works
are seascapes, but he often
depicted battle scenes, Armenian themes, and portraiture. He never
painted
his pictures from nature, but from memory. His artistic memory was
legendary. The Ninth Wave
() (1850, State Russian
Museum, St. Petersburg) is generally considered his masterpiece.

American Shipping off the Rock of Gibraltar, 1873

Aivazovsky visited Russian Armenia for the first time in 1868. The
next year, he participated in the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal
in Egypt, and
became the first artist to paint the Canal. He continued his travels
abroad during the next three decades, including a trip to the United
States in 1892. In 1880, he opened an art gallery in his Feodosia
house, which became the third museum in the Russian Empire, after the
Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery of
Moscow. Two years later, he remarried to a young Armenian widow, Anna
Burnazian. He said that he `became closer to [his] nation’ by marrying
her. His career across the civil ranks of Russian government reached
its highest position in 1896 when, at the age of 79, he was promoted
to the rank of full privy councillor.

Aivazovsky was deeply affected by the Hamidian massacres of 1894 and
1896.
He painted a number of works on the subject. More symbolically, he
threw the medals given to him by the Ottoman Sultan into the sea and
told the Turkish consul in Feodosia: “Tell your bloodthirsty master
that I’ve thrown away all the medals given to me, here are their
ribbons, send it to him and if
he wants, he can throw them into the seas painted by me.” He spent his
last years in his hometown, to which he contributed many efforts to
its improvement.

Aivazovsky passed away on May 2, 1900, in Feodosia and was buried in
the courtyard of the St. Sargis Church. A quote in Classical Armenian
from Movses Khorenatsi’s History of Armenia is engraved on his
tombstone: =80=9CBorn as a mortal, left an immortal memory of himself.

FROM THE BOOKSTORE

The Prelacy Bookstore has an extensive collection of books (in
Armenian and English) about the Genocide including histories,
historical novels, memoirs, eye witness testimonies, essays, and
poetry. From now through next April we will feature one or two books
each week from the Bookstore’s collection.

A new release:
The Grandchildren
The Hidden Legacy of `Lost’ Armenians in Turkey
By Ayse Gul Altinay and Fethiye Cetin
Foreword by Gerard Libaridian
Translated by Maureen Freely

The Grandchildren is a collection of testimonies by grandchildren and
great-grandchildren of Turkey’s `forgotten Armenians’=80’the orphans
adopted and Islamized by Muslims after the Armenian Genocide. One of
the authors, Fethiye Cetin, wrote an earlier memoir titled My
Grandmother that disclosed her grandmother’s true Armenian heritage
resulted in wide interest in Islamized Armenians that prompted this
newly released book.

215 pages, hardcover, $49.95 plus shipping & handling

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SYRIAN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY NEEDS OUR HELP MORE THAN EVER
The crises in Syria, including the recent upheaval in Kessab, require
our financial assistance Please keep this community in your prayers,
your hearts, and your pocketbooks.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET OUR ONGOING RELIEF EFFORTS FOR THE ARMENIAN
COMMUNITY
IN SYRIA WHERE CONDITIONS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY MORE DIFFICULT.

THE NEED IS REAL.
THE NEED IS GREAT.

DONATIONS TO THE FUND FOR SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF CAN BE MADE ON LINE.
TO DONATE NOW CLICK HERE
() AND SELECT SYRIAN
ARMENIAN RELIEF IN THE MENU. OR IF YOU PREFER YOU MAY MAIL YOUR
DONATION TO:
Armenian Prelacy
138 E. 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Checks payable to: Fund for Syrian Armenian Relief

Thank you for your help

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

July 26-St. Stephen’s Church, New Britain, Connecticut, Ladies Guild
Cooking Class, `Short Cuts to Armenian Cooking,’
11 am, Boereg. $15 for each class; $40 for three classes.

August 3-St. Stephen’s Church of Greater Boston, Annual Picnic at Camp
Haiastan, Franklin, Massachusetts. Lunch beginning at 12 noon,
includes delicious shish kebab and refreshments. Blessing of Madagh at
3 pm. Live Armenian music.

August 3-Annual Shish-Kebob Picnic and Grape Blessing, St. Paul
Church, 645 South Lewis Avenue, Waukegan, Illinois, 12 noon to 4
pm. Armenian
dinners and pastries available; dine in or takeout available. For
information and/or pre-order requests, 847-244-4573.

August 4-St. Asdvadzadzin Church, Whitinsville, Massachusetts, Annual
Golf Tournament.

August 10-Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church, Providence, Rhode Island,
Annual Picnic at Camp Haiastan, 12 noon to 6 pm. Under the auspices of
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan. Games and the Bouncing
Bubble for children. Delicious shish, losh and chicken kebab
dinners. Choreg and Armenian pastries. Live music by Michael Gregian
and Ensemble. Madagh and Blessing of the Grapes at 3:300 m with
participation of New England clergy. For information: 401-831-6399.

August 10-Annual Church Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes, Holy
Trinity Church, 635 Grove Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Join us
for a fun
filled day and enjoy our delicious food, music by DJ Shaheen,
backgammon tournament, children’s activities. Begins at
noon. Admission is free. For information [email protected] or
508-852-2414.

August 15-17-Armenian Fest / Blessing of Grapes, All Saints Church,
Glenview, Illinois.

August 17-St. Asdvadzadzin Church, Whitinsville, Massachusetts, Annual
Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes.

August 17-St. Sarkis Church (Dearborn) Grape Blessing Family Fun
Picnic at Kensington Park, Kensington, Michigan. Good food, music,
biking, soccer, dancing, magician, swimming, playscape, kids games,
door prizes, face painting, tavloo tournament and more.

August 17-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, New Jersey, Annual
Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes, 1-5 pm at Saddle River County Park,
Wild Duck Pond area. Music, delicious Armenian food and desserts, arts
and
crafts, and playground for children, cards, and tavloo, and more.

August 23-Teachers’ seminar sponsored by the Armenian Education
Committee (ANEC), at the Prelacy offices in New York, 10 am to 4
pm. All schools and teachers are invited to participate. Lecturers:
Sossi Essajanian, `Supporting the Next Generation: Early Childhood
Development, Best Practices, and the Armenian Language Teacher’ and
Anahid Garmiryan, `To Be or Not to be a Teacher: The Challenges of
Bilingualism.’ For information: [email protected] or
212-689-7810.

September 7-Picnic Festival, St. Gregory Church of Merrimack Valley,
158 Main Street, North Andover, Massachusetts, featuring musicians
Leon Janikian, Jason Naroian, Johnny Berberian, and John Arzigian;
presentation by Siroun Dance Ensemble of Central Massachusetts. 12:30
to 5:30 pm, church
grounds. Shish, losh, and chicken kebab dinners, veggie plates,
Armenian pastries, family games and activities.

September 7-St. Stephen’s Church of New Britain and Hartford,
Connecticut, Annual Church Picnic after Sunday services will take
place
at The Quartette Club, 225 Wooster Street, New Britain. Armenian
music, dancing, and food.

September 7-Holy Cross Church, Troy, New York, Annual Armenian Picnic,
12pm to 4 pm. Shish Kebob dinner, Lahmajoun for sale, Armenian
pastries, live music. For info: [email protected].

September 14-St. Sarkis Church, 38-65 234th Street, Douglaston, New
York, Annual Picnic on the church grounds following church
services. Admission is free. Enjoy excellent kebabs and
salads. Terrific entertainment for everyone and special activities for
children in the `KidZone.’ Music, food, and friends…a wonderful
afternoon. For information 718-224-2275.

September 18-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, New Jersey, 12th
Annual Golf Classic, River Vale Country Club, River Vale, New
Jersey. Rain or Shine. 11 am registration and Grilled Lunch Buffet; 1
pm Tee Off. Format: Shotgun Scramble (All player levels welcome). Golf
Outing Reservation: $195; limited to first 128 paid golf
reservations. Reservation includes: Grilled lunch buffet, dinner
banquet, golf, cart, and range balls. Contests and
Prizes. Sponsorships available. For information: 201-943-2950.

September 21-Ladies Guild of St. Stephen’s Church of New Britain and
Hartford, Connecticut, will host a Tea party at noon in the church
hall, 167 Tremont Street, New Britain, Connecticut. Brought back by
popular demand. Guest speaker from the Bigelow Tea Company. Goodie
bags for all. Raffle prize is being provided by Armeny Custom Jewelry
Design.

September 21-St. Gregory Church, Philadelphia, `Designer Bag Bingo’
luncheon in Founders’ Hall at 2 pm. Fifteen lucky
winners of designer bags, including top labels, Gucci, Prada, Fendi,
Laboutin, Judith Leiber, Chanel, and others. Join us for a fun game of
Bingo, Chinese auction, and enjoy the lavish Chanel inspired theme and
décor, along with champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. Ticket
sales limited. For reservations and information: Cissy DerHagopian
856-313-6848; Donna Walter 484-354-0388.

October 3-St. Sarkis Armenian Church, Douglaston, New York, Saturday
School Dinner Dance Gala.

October 19-St. Asdvadzadzin Church, Whitinsville, Massachusetts, His
Eminence Archbishop Oshagan will ordain sub-deacon Ara Stepanian
during the Divine Liturgy and preside over the parish’s 57th Annual
Banquet.

November 7 & 8-St. Stephen’s Church, Watertown, Massachusetts, 58th
Armenian Bazaar, 10 am to 9:30 pm at Armenian Cultural & Educational
Center, 47 Nichols Avenue, Watertown, Massachusetts. Meals served from
11:30 am to 8:30 pm (take out is available). Enjoy delicious meals,
Armenian pastries, gourmet items, arts and crafts, books, raffles,
attic treasures. For information: 617-924-7562.

November 21, 22, 23-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, New Jersey,
Annual Bazaar, Food Festival, and Hantes. Mezze and Kebab dinners
(chicken, shish, luleh); dessert table and trays of home-made
delicacies; Boutique
Booths; Chinese Auction; Supervised Game Room for children;
Pre-packaged Monte, Sou Buereg, Kufteh, and Lehmejun; Take-out
available; Live Music for dancing and listening. Traditional Kavourma
dinner on Sunday served immediately after church service. For
information: 201-943-2950.

December 7-Ladies Guild of St. Stephen’s Church of New Britain and
Hartford, Connecticut, will host a Wine Tasting Party at noon in the
church hall, 167 Tremont Street, New Britain. A wine talk and tasting
will be provided by Taylor Brooke Winery, Woodstock, Connecticut,
owned by Linda Varjabedian Auger.

Web pages of the parishes can be accessed through the Prelacy’s web
site.

To ensure the timely arrival of Crossroads in your electronic mailbox,
add
[email protected] to your address book.

Items in Crossroads can be reproduced without permission. Please
credit Crossroads as the source.

Parishes of the Eastern Prelacy are invited to send information about
their major events to be included in the calendar. Send to:
[email protected]

http://www.armenianprelacy.org/
https://t.e2ma.net/click/4vs2e/4f4cee/04ctib
https://t.e2ma.net/click/4vs2e/4f4cee/gxdtib
https://t.e2ma.net/click/4vs2e/4f4cee/wpetib

Erdogan says Israel should be tried at international criminal court

Erdogan says Israel should be tried at international criminal court

July 24, 2014 – 22:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, July
24, Turkey would push for Israel to be tried at an international
criminal court if it kept up its assault on Gaza and he accused the
Jewish state of “spitting blood”, according to Reuters.

Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, was once
Israel’s closest regional ally but has become one of its most
vitriolic critics, with Erdogan last weekend accusing it of
“surpassing Hitler in barbarism” with its Gaza offensive.

“If Israel continues with this attitude, it will definitely be tried
at international courts,” Erdogan, who is campaigning for a
presidential election on Aug. 10, told a rally of supporters in the
southern port city of Mersin.

“We will see this happen and Turkey will struggle for this,” he told
the cheering crowd.

Turkey was once considered by Washington as a credible broker in the
Middle East peace process, particularly given its channels of
communication with Islamist group Hamas, but that changed as Erdogan
adopted an increasingly anti-Israel stance.

“At the moment, Hamas is prepared for everything in order to achieve a
ceasefire… (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas is prepared too,”
Erdogan told CNN news channel in an interview.

“Israel is not even approaching such a thing and is spitting death,
spitting blood,” he said, in comments translated by the broadcaster
from Turkish and aired on Thursday, according to Reuters.

He stood by his comments likening Israel’s actions to those of Hitler
and said the Jewish state was committing genocide.

“It is beyond comprehension that Israel is still defended by the West
and the world is silent about it. Therefore we cannot remain silent
and we will not be silent,” Erdogan said.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/181059/

The Next Step: A Choice Between Death and Life

The Next Step: A Choice Between Death and Life

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – 24 July 2014, 19:54

Serzh Sargsyan announced in Argentina about the “concerns of the
Armenian people” about the Russian arms supply to Azerbaijan. After
this statement people in Armenia wonder what the next step will be.
And everyone says rightly that it is lip service unless it is followed
by action.

What steps can be taken and what should be done in general not to let
things get too far for Armenia?

The political scientist Manvel Sargsyan says Armenia may revise the
nature of its relations with and commitments to Russia. In fact,
Russia has given reason for this for multiple times through its
inadequate and sometimes even stupid steps.

Russia has tied Armenia’s hands and completely isolated it. The
Armenian government has waived its foreign policy and the right to
make decisions. And here we are in an absurd situation: the global
developments and tendencies are highly favorable for Armenia, almost
fully in line with the interests f Armenia but our country is
bypassing them or “lingering” around them.

Armenia has gained a potentially leading position but is unable to
make use of it and respond to beneficial proposals from neighboring
Iran and other leading countries located further, such as China and
the United States.

The reason is, first of all, the nature and qualities of the political
and economic “elite” representing Armenia, its worldview and outlook.
Their only dream is to have a foreign sponsor to rule thoughtlessly
inside and gain personal possessions. They do not care for the future
of Armenia or even the current national issues.

However, there comes a time when it is clear that there is no and
cannot be any foreign sponsor and it is necessary to assume
responsibility otherwise they will personally suffer.

Apparently, the time has come, and Serzh Sargsyan in faraway Latin
America and the representatives of the Armenian “elite” in Armenia are
hesitantly muttering something about “concerns”.

There are examples when a tough statement by the Armenian side
produced its results, in particular, the statement of the leadership
of the Armenian army that actually neutralized the biggest provocation
in Kaabakh. And Serzh Sargsyan’s statement was followed by the Russian
ambassador’s statement that Armenia may sign the agreement on
membership to the Eurasian Union only under conditions that favor
Armenia.

It is time to act further. In particular, it is necessary to revise
the deals and commitments laid down on 2 December 2013. These deals
have deprived Armenia of the right to make decisions in line with its
political, economic and other interests.

At the same time, it is necessary to set up partnership with
interested powers, including Russia, establishing relations based on
interest. There is an opportunity coupled with contemporary
developments in the world.

The next key step should be the demand to withdraw the Russian
military base and border guards from Armenia and acquisition of modern
weapons from other countries. In this case Armenai will demonstrate
its readiness to assume responsibility but also makes the interested
foreign parties to assume responsibility. Armenia will demonstrate
that it is not a security consumer but also a participant of security
building.

Steps and opportunities are many, the rest is a matter of thinking and morality.

Will Putin be angry? Maybe but who cares for Putin’s anger and the
phobias of the Armenian “political elites” except the same elite?
Putin will destroy the elite in any way so the letter can make a
choice between death and life, choosing life for Armenia. In that
case, they will also stay alive.

Armenia has never had a better opportunity. Not using it would be the
worst crime against the Armenian people and state.

– See more at:

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/32767#sthash.JCvODLW2.dpuf

Births on the rise in Artsakh

Births on the rise in Artsakh

Thursday,July 24

212 babies were born in Nagorno Karabakh in June 2014 as compared with
192 in June of last year, Armenpress news agency was informed by Agapi
Hayruni, acting head of the NKR Health Ministry’s Statics Department.

175 births were recorded in Stepanakert maternity hospital. The number
of babies born in maternity homes of NKR’s five regions is the
following: 13 in Martakert, 14 in Martuni, 5 in Hadrut, one in Shushi,
4 in Kashatagh. 85 boys and 92 girls were born in the republican
maternity hospital in June.

http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2014/07/24/birth-grow/

Armenia’s Atlantis European takes delivery of first aircraft

Armenia’s Atlantis European takes delivery of first aircraft

17:16 24.07.2014

Atlantis European Airways (TD, Yerevan) has taken delivery of its
first aircraft, an A320-200 formerly with the now defunct carrier,
Armavia (U8, Yerevan). According to Skyliner Aviation, EK-32008 (cn
229) will be used for leisure flights and is currently undergoing
maintenance checks in Praguehaving been in storage in Yerevan since
Armavia’s demise last year, ch-aviation.com reports.

Atlantis European already codeshares on Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna)
flights from Yerevan to Vienna and on CSA Czech Airlines (OK, Prague)
flights to Prague and has done so for several years without operating
its own aircraft.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/07/24/armenias-atlantis-european-takes-delivery-of-first-aircraft/

Internet service interruptions eliminated -Ucom

Internet service interruptions eliminated -Ucom

YEREVAN, July 24. / ARKA /. Ucom Armenian telecom said today Internet
service interruptions caused by a damage to the trunk cable connecting
Europe with Armenia through Georgia, have been eliminated. The outage
was reported at 8.20 pm July 23.

“Our experts together with Georgian peers worked throughout the night
to eliminate the outage. Now the Internet connection is available to
all subscribers. However, if there are subscribers whose Internet
service is being interrupted, they should call Ucom support center by
dialing 011 444 444,” the company said.

Ucom (Universal communications) was founded in 2007 and is engaged in
providing telecommunications services. With assistance from Ericsson,
the company has created a broadband network providing Internet
services, IP-TV and fixed telephony. -0-

– See more at:

http://telecom.arka.am/en/news/internet/internet_service_interruptions_eliminated_ucom/#sthash.J2o4eyjj.dpuf

Heritage Party considers Volodya Avetisyan to be a political prisone

Heritage Party considers Volodya Avetisyan to be a political prisoner

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, July 24, 12:23

Sentencing Karabakh war veteran Volodya Avetisyan for 6 years in jail
is a political put-up job aimed at suppressing freedom of speech and
expression of the people’s will, says Heritage Party’s statement sent
to ArmInfo.

Heritage considers Volodya Avetisyan to be a political prisoner and
urges people to join efforts to create free and law-governed
statehood.
To note, on July 17, the Trial Court of Yerevan’s Arabkir and
Kanaker-Zeitun communities sentenced Avetisyan to six years in jail.
Avetisyan pleads non-guilty. He says that the ruling regime is just
punishing him for the protest action he organized before the arrest.

Avetisyan was arrested on 19 Sept 2013. On Sept 20, 2013, Armenia’s
Defense Ministry reported that Avetisyan took a $2,000 bribe from some
Zakaryan against promise to exempt his grandson from military service.
Avetisyan’s comrades are sure that the charge has been framed up.
Before the arrest Avetisyan held a sit-down strike in Liberty Square
to claim better social conditions for Nagorno- Karabakh war veterans.

Charges brought against Azerbaijani saboteurs in Nagorno Karabakh

Charges brought against Azerbaijani saboteurs in Nagorno Karabakh

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Prosecutor General’s Office of Nagorno Karabakh Republic has brought
charges against the detained Azerbaijani saboteurs, the press service
of NKR Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

Shahbaz Jalal ogli Guliev, 46, and Dilham Gardashkhan Ogli Askerov,
54, were charged under the NKR Criminal Code Article 316 (spying),
Article 350 part 2 (violation of the NKR border by an organized
group), Article 245 part 3 (carrying of arms and ammunition), Article
129 part 3 point 1 (kidnapping, actions committed against a minor with
the use of weapons), Article 103 part 2 point 7 (murder, combined with
a kidnapping committed by an organized group out of ethnic hatred),
and Article 103 part 1 points 7 and 14 (attempted murder of two or
more people by an organized group out of ethnic hatred).

The Prosecutor’s Office said earlier that according to an autopsy, the
body of Smbat Tsakanyan, 17-year-old resident of Nor Erkej village of
NKR’s Karvachar region, had numerous gunshot wounds. Tsakanyan’s body
was found in July 15.

“According to information of the preliminary investigation, S.
Tsakanyan was kidnapped by Guliyev, Askerov and a third member of the
commando group who offered resistance during his detention and was
neutralized. His identity has not been established yet,” the NKR
Prosecutor’s Office said.

TODAY, 15:37
Aysor.am

For Arab Christians and secular Arab nationalists, Isis may be the

For Arab Christians and secular Arab nationalists, Isis may be the death knell

In a Middle East rebuilt on intolerant ideologies, there is likely to
be little place for beleaguered minorities

William Dalrymple
The Guardian, Wednesday 23 July 2014 16.47 BST

An Iraqi security officer guards the Church of the Virgin Mary in the
northern town of Bartala, near Mosul, in 2012. Photograph: Karim
Sahib/AFP/Getty Images

The past decade has been catastrophic for the Arab world’sbeleaguered
12 million strong Christian minority. In Egypt revolution and
counter-revolution have been accompanied by a series of anti-Copt
riots, killings and church burnings. In Gaza and the West Bank
Palestinian Christians are emigrating en masse as they find themselves
uncomfortably caught between Netanyahu’s pro-settler government and
their increasingly radicalised Sunni neighbours.

In Syria most of the violence is along the Sunni-Alawite fault line,
but stories of rape and murder directed at the Christian minority, who
used to make up around 10% of the population, have emerged. Many have
already fled to camps in Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan; the ancient
Armenian community of Aleppo is reported to be moving en masse to
Yerevan.

The worst affected areas of Syria are of course those controlled by
Isis. Last weekend it issued a decree offering the dwindling Christian
population of eastern Syria and northern Iraq a choice: convert to
Islam or pay a special religious levy – the jizya. If they did not
comply, “there is nothing to give them but the sword”. The passing of
the deadline led to possibly the largest exodus of Middle Eastern
Christians since theArmenian massacres during the first world war,
with the entire Christian community of Mosul heading off towards
Kirkuk and the relative religious tolerance of the Kurdish zone.

Even before this latest exodus, at least two-thirds of Iraqi
Christians had fled since the fall of Saddam. Christians were
concentrated in Mosul, Basra and, especially, Baghdad – which before
the US invasion had the largest Christian population in the Middle
East. Although Iraq’s 750,000 Christians made up only 7% of the
pre-war population, they were a prosperous minority under the
Ba’athists, as symbolised by the high profile of Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s
foreign minister, who used to disarm visiting foreign dignitaries by
breaking into Onward, Christian Soldiers in Aramaic, the language of
Jesus.

According to tradition it was St Thomas and his cousin Addai who
brought Christianity to Iraq in the first century. At the Council of
Nicea, where the Christian creed was thrashed out in AD325, there were
more bishops from Mesopotamia than western Europe. The region became a
refuge for those persecuted by the Orthodox Byzantines, such as
theMandeans – the last Gnostics, who follow what they believe to be
the teachings of John the Baptist. Then there was the Church of the
East, which brought the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato, as well as
Greek science and medicine, to the Islamic world – and hence, via
Cordoba, to the new universities of medieval Europe.

Now almost everywhere Arab Christians are leaving. In the past decade
maybe a quarter have made new lives in Europe, Australia and America.
According to Professor Kamal Salibi, they are simply exhausted: “There
is a feeling of fin de race among Christians all over the Middle East.
Now they just want to go somewhere else, make some money and relax.
Each time a Christian goes, no other Christian comes to fill his place
and that is a very bad thing for the Arab world. It is Christian Arabs
who keep the Arab world ‘Arab’ rather than ‘Muslim’.”

Certainly since the 19th century Christian Arabs have played a vital
role in defining a secular Arab cultural identity. It is no
coincidence that most of the founders of secular Arab nationalism were
men like Michel Aflaq – the Greek Orthodox Christian from Damascus
who, with other Syrian students freshly returned from the Sorbonne,
founded the Ba’ath party in the 1940s – or Faris al-Khoury, Syria’s
only Christian prime minister. Then there were intellectuals like the
Palestinian George Antonius, who in 1938 wrote in The Arab Awakening
of the crucial role Christians played in reviving Arab literature and
the arts after their long slumber under Ottoman rule.

If the Islamic state proclaimed by Isis turns into a permanent,
Christian-free zone, it could signal the demise not just of an
important part of the Arab Christian realm but also of the secular
Arab nationalism Christians helped create. The 20th century after
1918, which saw the creation of the different Arab national states,
may well prove to be a blip in Middle Eastern history, as the old
primary identifiers of Arab identity, religion and qabila – tribe –
resurface.

It is as if, after a century of flirting with imported ideas of the
secular nation state, the region is reverting to the Ottoman Millet
system (from the Arabic millah, literally “nation”), which represented
a view of the world that made religion the ultimate marker of
identity, and classified Ottoman subjects by their various sectarian
religious “nations”.

Despite sizeable Christian populations holding on in Lebanon, Jordan
and Egypt, there is likely to be little place for Christian Arabs in a
Middle East rebuilt on intolerant ideologies like those of Isis. Their
future is more likely to resemble that of the most influential
Christian Arab intellectual of our day, Edward Said. Born in Jerusalem
at the height of Arab nationalism in 1935, Said died far from the
turmoil of the Middle East in New York in 2003. His last collection of
essays was appropriately entitledReflections On Exile.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/23/arab-christians-secular-arabs-isis-middle-east-minorities

OSCE concerned about freedom of mass media in Armenia

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 23 2014

OSCE concerned about freedom of mass media in Armenia

23 July 2014 – 12:37pm

Dunya Miyatovich, a representative of the OSCE for freedom of mass
media, expressed concerns about the decision of the Armenian court of
the Kentron and the Nork-Marash administrative districts obliging
Armenian mass media to name their sources of information, Arminfo
reports.

Miyatovich reminded that journalists had the right for secrecy of
information, as one of the principles for self-expression.

The Graparak paper and iLur.am published information, stating that
Shirak Police Chief Vardan Nadaryan had stopped the car of Artur
Alexanyan, hit him and threatened him and his brother with a gun. The
Special Investigative Service initiated a criminal case. Prosecutor
General Gevork Kostanyan said that the journalist should give his
source of information in cases of grave and exceptionally grave
crimes. The National Press Club demanded an appeal.

http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/58034.html