Author: Badalian Vardan

Historic Ordination of a Deaconess in the Tehran Prelacy

Badalian Vardan
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Ani-Kristi Manvelian was ordained a deaconess by the Tehran Prelate

BY HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN

The Prelate of Tehran ordained a young woman as a deaconess in Tehran’s St. Sarkis Mother Church on September 25, 2017. Even as the office of deaconess had existed in Armenian Church convents for centuries, this was a historic first. It is the first time that a lay woman, not a nun, was ordained a “parish deacon.”

Twenty-four year old Ani-Kristi Manvelian, an anesthesiologist by profession, was ordained — along with Mayis Mateosian — by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, the Primate of the Diocese of Tehran.

“What I have done is in conformity with the Tradition of the Church and nothing else,” said Archbishop Sarkissian. This was his personal initiative as a diocesan primate in order, as he explained, “to revitalize the participation of women also in our church’s liturgical life,” adding, “do not be surprised, a woman could also become a servant of the Holy Altar.”

Ani-Kristi Manvelian on the altar at St. Sarkis Church in Tehran

Deaconess Ani-Kristi has been involved in the life of the church in Tehran since she was very young. She used to perform the duties of an acolyte (դպիր) during church services, such as reading the psalms and carrying the ceremonial candle.

In explaining the purpose of the ordination, Archbishop Sarkissian said: “Today, our Church is confronting the imperative of self-examination and self-critique. It is imperative to rejuvenate the participation of the people in the social, educational and service spheres of the Church. It is our deep conviction that the active participation of women in the life of our Church would allow Armenian women to be involved more enthusiastically and vigorously, and would allow them to be connected and engaged. They would provide dedicated and loving service [to the people]. The deaconess, no doubt, would also be a spiritual and church-dedicated mother, educator, and why not, a model woman through her example. It is with this deep conviction that we are performing this ordination, with the hope that we are neither the first nor the last to do it.”

According to the Prelate, parish priests in Tehran are watchful and keen to recruit more women who fit the profile of prospective deaconesses.

What is special and novel about Deaconess Ani-Kristi Manvelian’s ordination is that she is a “parish” deacon — that is, she is not a member of a convent or a religious order, like the Kalfayan Sisters in Istanbul or Gayanyants Sisters at Birds Nest in Jibel, Lebanon, who have a few sisters among their ranks and are not ordained deaconesses.

Like her male counterparts in the Armenian Church, if and when Deaconess Ani-Kristi marries, she will continue to serve as a deaconess.

Deaconesses have been part of the Christian tradition from the early years of the faith. There are numerous references in the Epistles and early Church writings.

In the Armenian Church tradition, the development of the office of female diaconate is divided into four historical periods according to Fr. Abel Oghlukian, the author of a study on the subject: (a) 4th-8th centuries in Greater Armenia; (b) 9th-11th centuries in Eastern and Cilician Armenia, where the term “deaconess” is included in the book of ordination (Մաշտոց); (c) 12th century and on, where there are “literary references and rites for the ordination of deaconesses in liturgical texts in Cilicia and eastern Armenia; and (d) 17th century renewal of female diaconate.

The last ordained monastic deaconess in the Armenian Church was Sister Hripsime Sasounian in Istanbul. The late Patriarch Shnork Kalustian of Constantinople ordained Sister Hripsime of Kalfayan Sisters (established in 1866) as a deaconess in 1982, using the canon of ordination used for male deacons (Ձեռնադրութեան Մաշտոց). Damascus-born Deaconess Hripsime was 54 years old at the time. She passed away in 2007.

In North America, Seta Simonian Atamian was the first adult women ordained as an acolyte (դպիր), a lower rank, by Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian of the Western Diocese in 1984 at St. Andrew Armenian Church, in Cupertino, California. However, when in 1986 she moved to the East Coast of the United States, she was not allowed by the local diocese to serve on the altar in the Armenian Church.

Even as this is a most welcome step by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian and the Prelacy of Tehran (under the jurisdiction of the Catholicosate of Cilicia), the Armenian Apostolic Church has yet to formally restore the office of female diaconate.

Today the question is how to revive the female diaconate for the pastoral life of local parishes rather than in monastic settings or convents, which are virtually non-existent as viable institutions.

Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian is a scholar at University of Oxford (www.hratch.info).





Member of EEU Armenia has no advantage over its neighbors

Badalian Vardan
  • 15:07 | January 9,2018 | Politics
  • Armenian:
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Karen Chilingaryan, Head of Consumer Advice Center, considers that the rise in prices in 2017 has begun in the middle of the year.
“At first, the price of butter has increased, then the price of meat. The price of beef has risen by 15-20 percent, and the authorities have mentioned that this was due to the drought and the rise of prices of forage. However, there were also exports from June to September. 2000 large and medium-sized cattle were exported to Arabian countries. Export is a good thing, but it should be organized so that it does not have a negative impact on your citizen. So, the inflation of prices has continues. “Chingaryan says.

According to the Head of Consumer Advice Center, becoming a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has not brought any advantage to Armenia, but, on the contrary, the prices continue to rise in 2018. Karen Chilingaryan notes that Azerbaijan and Georgia are not members of EEU, but they use the EEU market, so Armenia has no advantage over its neighbors.

Music: Rotting Christ metal band coming to Armenia with a concert in 2018

Badalian Vardan
Pan Armenian, Armenia
Dec 27 2017
– 16:10 AMT
Rotting Christ metal band coming to Armenia with a concert in 2018

Famous Greek metal band Rotting Christ is coming to Armenia with a concert in 2018, a Facebook event reveals.

The Greek metal artists will be performing in Yerevan on April 13, 2018 at the Hovhannes Tumanyan Puppet Theater.

The concert is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Zhesht Events, which organizes rock concerts in Armenia.

Rotting Christ are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within their region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creating the signature Greek black metal sound prevalent in the early 1990s.

Ara Asoyan: The flu usually comes from Russia

Badalian Vardan
  • 14:14 | December 22,2017 | Social
  • Armenian:

Ara Asoyan, chief epidemiologist of the Republic of Armenia, says that this year the number of acute respiratory diseases is decreasing.

“No doctor can give exact numbers, as not all patients are registered. The real and registered number of patients are very different. We can only present the average comparison of those numbers. If compared with previous years, the picture of the illness is 2-3 times less this year, ” says Ara Asoyan.

This image the epidemiologist connects with a relatively warm winter. He also notes that the flu usually comes from Russia.

“After we hear that there is a flu, then in two or three weeks there is the same picture in Armenia. Acute respiratory illnesses in the regions are less common, as these diseases usually occur in densely populated cities, ” says the epidemiologist.

“Acute respiratory diseases are the most common in schools and since vacations are already coming, there will be no acute outbreaks in the next 2-3 weeks,” says Ara Asoyan.

Ara Asoyan adds that the Ministry of Health has brought a significant amount of vaccine against the flu and all the health care workers are vaccinated. Other Armenian citizens may also voluntarily be vaccinated against the flu.

Travel: Video presenting Armenia tourism attractions is made public

Badalian Vardan
News.am, Armenia
Dec 7 2017
Video presenting Armenia tourism attractions is made public Video presenting Armenia tourism attractions is made public

17:53, 07.12.2017
                  

A video presenting the tourist attractions of Armenia’s has been publicized.

“The video reveals Armenia with all its beauty,” the respective statement reads, in particular. “The video presents, through the eyes of a tourist touring our homeland, an ancient country with a rich culture and history.”

The video was made with the support by the State Tourism Committee of Armenia, and the Tourism Development Fund of Armenia.

View the video at
         

Cyprus Football Association representatives pay tribute to Armenian Genocide victims in Yerevan

Badalian Vardan
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 13 2017

Ahead of today’s friendly match against Armenia, a group of representatives of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Armenian capital city Yerevan and laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.

The group featured the association’s vice president, financial director and director of the international affairs, the CFA said in a Facebook post.

To note, the Armenia-Cyprus friendly is scheduled for Monday, at 6pm Armenia time, at Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium.

Head of the State Food Security Service of Armenia considers it inappropriate to implement GMO products on the territory of the Republic

Badalian Vardan 
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
November 9, 2017 Thursday
Head of the State Food Security Service of Armenia considers it
inappropriate to implement GMO products on the territory of the
Republic
November 09
Yerevan
Naira Badalyan. The head of the State Food Security Service of the
Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia, Ishkhan Karapetyan, considers it
unreasonable to sell GMO products on the territory of the republic.
"I, as a citizen, do not want to eat food that contains GMOs," he told
journalists on November 9 after a government meeting.
The head of the department recalled that around the genetically
modified organisms in science have long been various discussions. At
the same time, within the framework of its powers, the State Service
is currently carrying out appropriate actions and studying the process
of import and turnover of these products. "Now the volume of seeds
imported by Monsanto does not exceed 1% of total imports, I do not
think that this, at the moment, contains big risks," Karapetyan said.
Next year, the food safety state service planned large-scale
monitoring programs to detect the presence of pesticides, nitrates and
GMOs in plant products. "After summing up the monitoring results, we
will get the full picture, which will allow us to assess the part of
the control," he said. At the same time, according to the official,
according to the imperative of the Armenian legislation, there must be
a marking on the products indicating the presence of GMOs. The same
principle is followed by the technical regulations of the Customs
Union, where the permissible threshold of GMO content in food is set
at 0.9%. In turn, as the Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Ignaty
Arakelyan noted, at present the agency is studying the activities of
the company Monsanto, which has been registered and functioning in the
country for 20 years. "Today we are studying possible risks from the
company's activities, also in terms of environmental protection," the
minister said. It is noteworthy that, as Arakelyan pointed out in
response to the question of ArmInfo, as early as 2013, the Ministry of
Nature Protection acted with the legislative initiative on GMO
products in Armenia, but for some unknown reasons the process was
suspended. "We plan to return to the legislative initiative and
understand how relevant it is today, and whether there is a need for
it," he said.
At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture sees the
danger that the use of GMO seeds will spoil the soil and will
jeopardize the development of organic farming in Armenia. "The danger
exists always, we need to understand how true this is, what is being
said today, what are the risks," concluded the head of the Ministry of
Agriculture of Armenia.
Note that on November 1, the efforts of the US Embassy in Armenia in
Yerevan hosted a presentation of the activities of Valmont and
Monsanto. Both companies are well known in the world market: the
former is engaged in the sale and maintenance of mechanized irrigation
equipment, and there are no complaints about it. The same can not be
said about the transnational corporation Monsanto - this company is
engaged in the production of transgenic seeds and poisons for their
processing. And then the charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in
Armenia Rafik Mansur marked the entry into the Armenian market of a
whole presentation. In an interview with reporters, Alexander
Zvyagintsev, Sales Manager for Monsanto in the CIS, assured that the
company will not offer Armenian partners to work with genetically
modified products, since they "do not do this in countries where it is
prohibited." But for about 20 years now, the company has been selling
seeds in Armenia and advising farmers. In turn, the US Embassy in
Armenia reported that Monsanto has been selling its products on the
Armenian market since 2006. Speaking about the objectives of the
presentation of the Monsanto and Valmont companies (the sale of
irrigation equipment) in Armenia, the US Embassy explained that the
event was held in the context of US policy to stimulate US investments
in the Armenian economy. The topic of a possible entry into the
Armenian market of the American GMO giant was not left indifferent by
the soloist of the rock band System of a Down, Serge Tankian, who, in
his Facebook page, called on Armenia to "stay away" from the American
company Monsanto. In particular, he wrote: "Because of its policy,
Monsanto has earned a reputation in the United States and Europe for
a" corporation of evil. "Unlike in the United States, in Armenia, I
have the opportunity to enjoy the taste of organic, crunchy apples - a
product of long-term agricultural work. then it will be like this.
"Thanks to Monsanto, I can not find such apples in the US," Tankian
writes. In the end of September, The Guardian published an unmasking
article that Monsanto officially spent about 300,000 - 400 on lobbying
for its interests in the European Parliament 000 euros per year, and
internal correspondence was also made public where the company's
employees discuss ways to better prevent the normal study of the
glyphosate pesticide and its recognition as dangerous, and correspond
with some US officials and scientists about it. that the European
organization EFSA, responsible for product safety, copied its 2015
report on glyphosate from the Monsanto 2012 authorship report.

Film: Armenian Genocide Not Up for Debate in ‘Intent to Destroy’

Badalian Vardan
Jewish Journal
Nov 8 2017


BY Avishay Artsy | PUBLISHED Nov 8, 2017 | Arts

There’s no question among reputable scholars and historians that the slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II constitutes genocide. So why, after a full century, is it still considered controversial to declare the murder of approximately 1.5 million Armenians a genocide? That’s the driving question of award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s scathing new documentary, “Intent to Destroy,” which opens in Los Angeles on Nov. 10 and eviscerates Turkey’s campaign of denial.

The film’s title comes from the international legal definition of genocide, in which acts of violence are “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Berlinger explores why, despite volumes of evidence of the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of Armenians from 1915-23, the present-day Turkish government still is determined to suppress the issue. Several countries, including the United States and Israel, refuse to fully recognize the genocide in order to maintain a strategic military and economic alliance with Turkey.

“Intent to Destroy,” which won the best documentary film award at 2017 DOC LA — The Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, is a documentary hybrid. The movie includes elements of a traditional documentary, including archival interviews with survivors and black-and-white photographs depicting scenes of carnage. There are also interviews with historians and activists who describe the events of the genocide and the century-long efforts to repress those facts.

 But what makes “Intent to Destroy” different from past documentaries on the subject is the “structural springboard,” as Berlinger calls it, of a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a 2016 feature film about the Armenian genocide, “The Promise,” starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac.

Berlinger is Jewish and has “always been kind of obsessed with the Holocaust,” and that led him to learn more about the Armenian genocide that preceded it. He knew the Ottomans also had deported Armenians in cattle cars to concentration camps, forced them on death marches and carried out mass executions — with assistance from the German military.

“Many of the deportation orders are actually signed by … German military officers that went on to have illustrious careers in the Third Reich,” Paul Boghossian, a professor at New York University, says in the film. “It’s very clear that German ideas about population control stemmed partly from their experience in the Ottoman empire.”

Berlinger knew that on the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler instructed his officers to kill Polish men, women and children without mercy, stating rhetorically, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Berlinger’s films tend to focus on events happening in real time, such as the “Paradise Lost” trilogy about three teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for murder; “Some Kind of Monster,” spotlighting the rock band Metallica; and “Chevron,” which explores the environmental lawsuit filed by Ecuadorians against the oil giant.

He had been interested in the Armenian story for a long time, but didn’t know how to tell it until he heard about “The Promise.”

“Intent to Destroy” also explores how Turkish pressure has made it so difficult for Hollywood filmmakers to tell the Armenian story. Franz Werfel, a refugee from the Holocaust, wrote the 1933 best-selling historical novel “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” which told of an Armenian community that fought off Turkish soldiers until the French Navy rescued them. He penned it as a historical cautionary tale to warn the world about Hitler as the Nazis were consolidating power in Germany.

Documentary director Joe Berlinger films actor Christian Bale holding a child on the
set of “The Promise.” Photo courtesy of Survival Pictures, LLC. Photo by Jose Haro

Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer secured the film rights in the early 1930s, before it was published in English, and tentatively cast a rising young actor named Clark Gable in the starring role. Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Münir Ertegün, successfully pressured the United States State Department to scrap the project by threatening to ban all American films from screening in Turkey.

Several documentaries and low-budget films have since been made about the genocide. But the long-simmering effort to make an epic historical drama heated up when Armenian-American casino mogul Kirk Kerkorian set aside $100 million in his will to make a dramatized film about the Armenians. Terry George, the director and writer of 1994’s Oscar-nominated “Hotel Rwanda,” wrote and directed “The Promise,” and is also a central character in “Intent to Destroy.”

Berlinger embedded himself with the production, traveling with the cast and crew to Spain, Portugal and Malta (filming in Turkey was out of the question) for 72 days as they filmed a love story set against the backdrop of village burnings, death marches and mass executions. “Intent to Destroy,” like “The Promise,” was funded by the Kerkorian Foundation. Berlinger enjoyed full access to the set, interviewing the cast and crew, as well as extras who were descendants of genocide survivors.

“If it were truly a Hollywood production where a studio was making that film, like Warner Bros. or Paramount or whatever, there’s no way that I would have been allowed … on that set for even more than a couple of hours,” Berlinger said.

Berlinger is used to inserting himself into volatile situations, whether it’s a murder trial or a world-famous band’s psychotherapy sessions, and is aware that his presence might have had a disruptive effect on the making of “The Promise.”

“The artistic process is a very precious thing that is difficult to define. And throwing somebody into the mix, you don’t want that to affect or change the outcome,” he said.

“The Promise” had disappointing results at the box office (grossing just $10 million, far below its $90 million production budget) and was not well-received by critics. But Berlinger thinks it still achieved Kerkorian’s goal before his death: having his ancestors’ story told on screen for a mainstream audience.

“It created tremendous dialogue and that was the goal,” Berlinger said. “All the reviews invariably mentioned the Armenian genocide of 1915 as a historical fact.”

The memory of the genocide is engrained in Armenian identity, just as denying that it happened is critically important to the Turks. “Intent to Destroy” does interview a couple of historians who blame the mass killings on a “pogrom,” “forced migration,” “a war of mutual extermination,” and even “Holocaust envy,” instead of genocide.

But whatever word one uses to describe it, “Intent to Destroy” makes the case that genocide did happen, and we must now ask why it happened and how can it be prevented from happening again. The successful denial of genocide emboldens other leaders to carry out ethnic cleansing campaigns with impunity, whether it’s in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia or Darfur.

Berlinger has no illusions that “Intent to Destroy” will convince Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.

“Let’s face it. It’s about land and money. If they recognize the genocide, eastern Turkey becomes western Armenia and there’s billions of dollars of reparations, just like the Germans have [made], that would have to be paid,” Berlinger said. “I believe it should be recognized, but I don’t think there’s the political will for a story that’s 100 years old. Even though, for the Armenians, it’s as current as if it were yesterday.”

“Intent to Destroy” will screen at Laemmle Playhouse in Los Angeles and Pacific Theatres in Glendale beginning Nov. 10.

Culture: Piano Recital at Tehran University

Badalian Vardan 
Iran News
November 4, 2017 Saturday
Piano Recital at Tehran University
Iranian-Armenian pianist Arpineh Israyelian will perform a recital of
classical and romantic pieces at Tehran University.
Slated for November 22, the recital will be held at Avini Hall of the
varsity's Faculty of Fine Arts, according to the website of Tiwall
(Tiwall.com) where tickets are available.
Repertoire includes compositions by Polish composer and virtuoso
pianist Frederic Chopin (1810-1849); French impressionist composer
Claude Debussy (1862-1918); French classical composer and conductor
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016); and Martin Israyelian, one of the
well-known contemporary classical composers from Armenia.
The recital starts at 7 pm. The venue is located near Enqelab Square.

Atomic Armenia, Gassy Glendale

Badalian Vardan
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15 hours ago

Garen Yegparian

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Interestingly, two places with heavy Armenian populations, Yerevan and Glendale are the loci and foci of rising power generation debates.  Glendale’s timeline is one of several months while Yerevan’s is not clear cut, but further out.

The “Jewel City” wants to build a new, natural gas (methane, CH4) fired, electricity generating facility at its Grayson location.  The stated aim is to replace four smaller, old, gas plants that run on technology that is much less efficient and more polluting.  On the face of it, this seems to make a lot of sense.

But, as always, there’s more to the picture.  The new plant would significantly increase the city’s generating capacity to a level far beyond its projected electricity needs (almost 80% more by one estimate).  Plus the fuel used is one which is on its way out.  California law requires that by 2030, 50% of electricity be generated from renewable sources, meaning solar, wind, hydropower, etc.  A bill was proposed this year which would have raised that threshold to 100% by 2045.  While it didn’t pass in the legislature and get signed by the governor this time, no one doubts that it will be reintroduced and enacted into law in the very near future.  Hawaii already has set its 100% renewable target.

Where would the new status quo leave that brand–new, $500 million plant?  No one can say for sure.  Surely Glendale’s leadership is not clueless.  Why embark on such a path?  The underlying reason is the city’s finances.  Cash is badly needed and the significant excess electricity produced would be sold.  At least that’s what the unstated hope and intent seem to be.  “But, but, but…” you’re probably thinking, “who would buy electricity from a non-renewable source once that 100% renewable mandate is place?”  And, it gets worse.  California has done so well building renewable generating capacity that in recent months it has already been forced to give away electricity during days when lots of solar and wind power was generated, creating a glut of power.  In fact, on a few occasions, Californians even had to PAY other states to take the excess.  In case you’re not aware, Glendale is in California.

Add to all this that the new Grayson plant will be spewing greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, CO2) and unavoidably some other pollutants.  So Glendalians will be socked twice, in the wallet and the lungs, while their neighbors in Burbank, Los Angeles, and Pasadena will bear the toxic burden with them.  And, in case that’s not enough “dirt” for you, the project site has a known, major, asbestos problem, plus several feet of soil will have to be removed in what is an EPA designated Superfund site (this is the type of place that is so polluted that tens or hundreds of millions of dollars must be spent to clean up)!

You can speak up against this by going to to make comments about the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) of the Grayson project.  The deadline to do so is 5:00 pm on November 3.

Meanwhile, Yerevan is considering building a new nuclear power plant to replace the aging (41-year old) Medzamor/Metzamor facility.  As it stands, restarting Medzamor after it was shut down during the Karabakh movement was tolerable only because of the absence of alternatives and the desperate need for power.  A new nuke, while probably better designed (the current one is like the Chernobyl plant that had its meltdown in 1986), would still be sitting atop the Armenian Highland’s many earthquake faults.  It would still make an appetizing bombing target for our genocidal eastern and western neighbors. It would take years to build. And, perhaps “best” of all, would run in excess of $5 billion!

Five billion dollars!  If we can get that kind of money, it would buy a lot of solar panels and/or windmills.  That would be a much better way to satisfy our homeland’s energy needs.  It would not be subject to earthquakes, meltdowns, or Turks.  Solar and wind generated electricity would be more distributed, reducing transmission losses.  An industry installing and maintaining them could burgeon.  While a long shot, perhaps local manufacturing of solar panels and or windmills might be created which could then engage in exporting their products to neighboring countries.

One figure I found online puts Medzamor’s annual output at 2,265 GW·h (gigawatt hours).  So I decided to do some math for comparison.  A 12 kW solar system, in Los Angeles, after the city’s Department of Water and Power rebate, costs $25,788.  Given labor cost differences, I think it is reasonable to assume that the same setup in the Republic of Armenia is not going to cost any more.  Assuming that only two hundred days per year are sunny, and only for six hours per day, then it would cost $4,056,237,500, i.e. just over four billion dollars to install as much solar electric generating capacity as the current nuclear power plant.  That’s only 80% of the replacement cost of the nuclear power plant, and remember, labor costs will be lower, meaning even more capacity could be installed.  In fairness, I should note that at least initially, getting solar panels to Armenia may be costly.

Once again, we must engage in heavy advocacy and lobbying work to drive policy makers in Yerevan towards the environmentally, technologically, and national-security-wise preferable electricity generating options.  Our homeland’s future depends on it. Get busy talking this up with your contacts in the Republic of Armenia, and while you’re at it, don’t forget Glendale’s potential boondoggle.