A Nearly Forgotten History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
By Knarik Meneshian
July 6, 2013
On Sunday afternoon, June 9, 2013, the Chicago chapter of the
Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society presented a
program on a segment of Armenian Church history at the Armenian All
Saints Church and Community Center’s Shahnazarian Hall in Glenview,
Ill. After welcoming words by the chapter’s chairman, Haroutiun
Mikaelian, Ani Vartanian introduced the participants in the program,
followed by the presentation of crosses from the Eastern Prelacy to
the female members of the choir who had served the church in that
capacity for 25 years. Lusine Torian recited the poem `The Armenian
Church’ by Vahan Tekeyan, followed by Lousin K. Tokmakjian’s piano
rendition of `Nor Dzaghig,’ a sharagan (or psalm). Following the day’s
event, refreshments were served.
Armenian Nun Deacons New Julfa Fr. A. Oghlukian photo 247×300 A Nearly
Forgotten History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
Armenian nun-deacons, New Julfa (Fr. A. Oghlukian photo)
The speaker of the day, Knarik O. Meneshian, presented a lecture and
slideshow titled `The Armenian Deaconess and Her Forgotten Role in the
Armenian Apostolic Church.’ After Meneshian thanked the Chicago
Chapter of the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society for
inviting her to present her lecture, and greeted the guests, she began
her talk with the following introductory remarks:
`Since childhood, I’ve always had a reverence and love for the
Armenian Church. I joined the choir when I was a teenager. The
Armenian All Saints Apostolic Church, as some of you will recall, was
on Lemoyn Street in Chicago at the time. One day, Der Hayr Maronian,
the parish priest then, handed me a scroll and told me to go home and
study it and be prepared to read it the following week. It was a long
scroll, and beautifully handwritten in Armenian. The following week
during church service, I was motioned to ascend the altar where I
unrolled the scroll and read from the Book of Daniel (Danieli Girk).
I’ve never forgotten the serene feeling that came over me in church
that day as I read to the congregation.
`Before starting my presentation, I would like to recount a scene from
a historical novel I read several years ago on the American Indians.
The scene began with an entire village walking – again in search of
better hunting grounds. The village elder followed behind the group
carrying a tattered bundle on his back. Once in a great while, he
slipped something into his bundle, but he never removed anything from
it. The people often wondered what it was that he carried in the bag
and guarded so carefully. One day, someone asked, `Oh, Elder, what is
in your bundle? It looks so heavy and seems such a burden to carry.’
The village elder paused and then beckoned everyone to sit down. As
they sat around him, the elder gently placed the bundle on the ground
and reverently kneeled before it and said, `This bag, my people,
contains our history. Without it, we would not know who we are; what
we are.’
`Now, let’s glimpse into our own history, a segment of our history
nearly forgotten: the women deacons of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Kalfayan Sisterhood with Patriarch Galustian R. R. Ervine photo A
Nearly Forgotten History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
Kalfayan Sisterhood with Patriarch Galustian (R. R. Ervine photo)
`After Armenia accepted Christianity as the state religion in 301 AD,
magnificent things began to take place in the country. Churches were
built, some over the ruins of pagan temples. Tatev Vank, for example,
was built atop a pagan ruin and Holy Etchmiadzin over a Zoroastrian
temple. The alphabet was invented. The Bible was translated into
Armenian. The arts, education, and literature flourished. Books such
as The History of Vartanank by Yeghishe, The History of Armenia by
Khorenatsi, and later, The Book of Prayers by Narekatsi, were written.
`Susan, a woman scribe, copied Yeghishe’s and Khorenatsi’s books, and
the scribe Goharine copied Narekatsi’s book. Sharagans were written,
some by women, notably Sahagadoukht, a poetess and composer who wrote
some of the sharagans for the Armenian Church and taught men while
seated behind a canopy. It is believed that some of the ancient pagan
tunes were used to sing the psalms.
`Women deacons, an ordained ministry, have served the Armenian Church
for centuries. In the Haykazian Dictionary, based on evidence from the
5th-century Armenian translations, the word deaconess is defined as a
`female worshipper or virgin servant active in the church and superior
or head of a nunnery.’ Other pertinent references to women deacons in
the Armenian Church are included in the `Mashdots Matenadarn
collection of manuscripts from the period between the fall of the
Cilician kingdom (1375) and the end of the 16th century, which contain
the ordination rite for women deacons.’
`The diaconate is one of the major orders in the Armenian Church. The
word deacon means to serve `with humility’ and to assist. The Armenian
deaconesses historically have been called sargavak or deacon. They
were also referred to as deaconess sister or deaconess nun. The other
major orders of the church are bishop and priest. The deaconesses,
like the bishops and monks, are celibate. Their convents are usually
described as anabad, meaning, in this case, not a `desert’ as the word
implies, but rather `an isolated location where monastics live away
from populated areas.’ Anabads differ from monasteries in their
totally secluded life style. In convents and monasteries, Armenian
women have served as nuns, scribes, subdeacons, deacons, and
archdeacons (`first among equals’), as a result not only giving of
themselves, but enriching and contributing much to our nation and
church. In the 17th century, for example, the scribe and deaconess
known as Hustianeh had written `a devotional collection of prayers and
lives of the fathers, and a manuscript titled Book of Hours, dated
1653.’
Dn. Hripsime Istanbul 1998 R. R. Ervine photo 300×214 A Nearly
Forgotten History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
Dn. Hripsime, Istanbul 1998 (R. R. Ervine photo)
`The following illustrates the length of time it took a candidate,
`after years of serious spiritual and religious preparation,’ to
become an ordained deaconess: The Deacon Hripsime Sasunian, born in
Damascus, Syria, in 1928, entered the Kalfayan Sisterhood Convent in
Istanbul, Turkey, at the age of 25. At age 38, she was ordained
sub-deacon, and at age 54, deacon.
`To appreciate more fully the role of the deaconess in the church,
Father Abel Oghlukian’s book, The Deaconess In The Armenian Church,
refers to Fr. Hagop Tashian’s book Vardapetutiun Arakelots… (Teachings
of the Apostles…), Vienna, 1896, and Kanonagirk Hayots (Book of
Canons) edited by V. Hakobyan, Yerevan, 1964, in which a most striking
thought is expressed:
If the bishop represents God the Father and the priest Christ, then
the deaconess, by her calling, symbolizes the presence of the Holy
Spirit, in consequence of which one should accord her fitting respect.
`The history of the deaconess in the Armenian Apostolic Church can be
broken down into two periods: the medieval period beginning in the 9th
century, and the modern period beginning in the 17th century to the
present, though before the 9th century vague reference is made to them
`beginning in the 4th century.’ In Prof. Roberta R. Ervine’s published
paper titled, `The Armenian Church’s Women Deacons,’ which includes a
number of fascinating photos of deaconesses, she lists the names of 23
of the Church’s women deacons who have been recorded, along with their
ordinations, various activities, and contributions to the church.
`Over the centuries, in some instances, the mission of the Armenian
deaconesses was educating, caring for orphans and the elderly,
assisting the indigent, comforting the bereaved, and addressing
women’s issues. They served in convents and cathedrals, and the
general population.
`Though there were those who approved of women in the diaconate, some
of the church fathers, such as the clergyman Boghos Taronatsi and
Nerses Lambronatsi (1153-1198), whose great uncle was Nerses
Shnorhali, did not. Instead, they wanted to close it to them.
Interestingly, when Lambronatsi was around `37 years old in 1190, his
mother Sahandukht and two sisters Susana and Dalita entered the
Lambronatsi convent as founding members of that congregation.’
Dn. Hripsime Tahiriants H.F.B. Lynch photo 201×300 A Nearly Forgotten
History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
Dn. Hripsime Tahiriants (H.F.B. Lynch photo)
`Mkhitar Gosh (l130-1213), however, who was a priest, public figure,
scholar, thinker, and writer, `defended the practice of ordaining
women to the diaconate,’ Ervine writes, and she adds that in his law
book titled, On Clerical Orders and the Royal Family, Gosh described
women deacons and their specific usefulness in the following words:
There are also women ordained as deacons, called deaconesses for the
sake of preaching to women and reading the Gospel. This makes it
unnecessary for a man to enter the convent or for a nun to leave it.
When priests perform baptism on mature women, the deaconesses approach
the font to wash the women with the water of atonement behind the
curtain.
Their vestments are exactly like those of nuns or sisters, except that
on their forehead they have a cross; their stole hangs from over the
right shoulder.
Do not consider this new and unprecedented as we learn it from the
tradition of the holy apostles: For Paul says, `I entrust to you our
sister Phoebe, who is a deacon of the church.’
`Smbat Sparabet (Constable), who lived in the 13th century, was the
brother of King Hetoum and an important figure in Cilicia. He was a
diplomat, judge, military officer, translator (especially of legal
codes), and a writer. In his Lawbook he, like Gosh, also mentions
women deacons, but `places them under the authority of priests, rather
than of male deacons.’
`In his book, The History of the Province of Syunik, the historian and
bishop of Syunik, Stepanos Orbelian (1260-1304), also wrote about
women deacons. He, like Mkhitar Gosh and Smbat Sparabet, also approved
of women deacons and believed that it was a laudable institution. In
her paper, Ervine explains that Orbelian placed the deaconess in the
role of preacher and Gospel reader, and denoted her status of office
as a stole (oorar) on the right side. (Later, the women deacons would
wear the stole on the left side, like the male deacons.) She includes
this passage from Orbelian’s book on Syunik:
The woman deacon served on the altar, as did her male counterpart, and
the bishop did not limit her liturgical service to convent churches
only, but she did stand apart from the male deacons for avoidance of
any perceived impropriety. She also did not touch the sacred Elements.
`In the 17th century, a great reform movement, begun by Movses
Tatevatsi, took place in Etchmiadzin. When Tatevatsi became Catholicos
in 1629, he `sparked a spiritual and cultural revival not only in the
Armenian homeland, but also in communities as far away as Jerusalem.’
He was a great believer in the education of women and encouraged them;
as a result, the number of women deacons in the church increased.
`Among the progressive and inspiring changes Tatevatsi made, even
before his election to Catholicos, was the building of a convent next
to St. Hovhannes Church in Nor Julfa (New Julfa) in 1623. The convent
complex, which included a church for monastic women, was called Nor
Julfaee Soorp Kadareenyan Anabad (St. Catherine’s Convent of New
Julfa) after a 4th-century martyr named Saint Catherine.
`Deaconesses Uruksana, Taguhi, and Hripsime were the founding members
of St. Catherine’s Convent, which existed for three and one-quarter
centuries. St. Catherine’s Convent ran two schools and an orphanage,
and oversaw a factory. In its early years, the convent had many
Sisters. Throughout the convent’s history, some of the monastic women
were ordained as deaconesses, while others `were content with
receiving minor clerical orders.’
`By 1839, the number of women at the convent had decreased to 16. The
last abbess of St. Catherine’s was Yeghsabet Israelian, whose brother
was elected Patriarch Giuregh I in Jerusalem in 1944. Eventually, the
number of monastic women at the convent decreased even further and in
1954 the doors of St. Catherine’s were closed.
Knarik Meneshian Photo by Murad Meneshian 300×225 A Nearly Forgotten
History: Women Deacons in the Armenian Church
Knarik Meneshian delivering her lecture (Photo by Murad Meneshian)
`Around this period, approximately a thousand miles north of New
Julfa, in the city of Shusi in Artsakh, there was a small convent
whose members never grew beyond five. In the village of Avedaranots,
southeast of Shusi, there was another convent. In the northern part of
Artsakh, in the Mardagerd region, there was once a monastery for
monastic women in the village of Goosabad known as Goosanats Anabad
(Convent of the Virgins). Upon the ruins of the monastery a church was
built.
`The women’s monastic community of Koosanats Sourp Stepanos Vank
(Convent of St. Stepanos Monestary) was established in Tiflis, Georgia
in 1725. The mission at St. Stepanos was the training of women
deacons. As at St. Catherine’s, the Sisters at St. Stepanos were
ordained deaconesses. `In 1933, the community comprised 18 members, 12
of whom were ordained deacons.’
`The abaouhi (abbess) of the convent was always an achdeaconess. She
wore a ring on her finger and two crosses that hung down her chest.
St. Stepanos’ last abbess, Deaconess Hripsime Tahiriants, who was a
woman of authority and influence, came from a prominent family. During
a trip to Jerusalem, she served on the altar of the Cathedral of
Saints James in Jerusalem. The deaconesses of St. Stepanos were noted
for their musical abilities, and as a result, they were frequently
asked to perform at functions, including funerals. These engagements
helped support their religious community. When women entered convents,
they brought funds with them to help support themselves. If, however,
someone came from an indigent family, then the abbess provided for her
needs. Upon the death of a deaconess, whatever money remained after
funeral expenses was kept by the convent. If, however, upon the
monastic woman’s death, she had not yet attained the rank of
deaconess, after funeral expenses, half of the money she brought with
her to the convent was returned to the family.
`It is interesting to note that Holy Etchmiadzin’s finely carved
wooden doors are a gift from Deaconess Tahiriants. The inscription on
the doors read: Heeshadak Avak- Sarkavakoohi Hripsime Aghek
Tahiriants, 1889 (In Memory of Archdeaconess Hripsime Aghek
Tahiriants).
`In 1892, Deaconess Tahiriants traveled to Etchmiadzin for the
consecration of Khrimian Hayrig as Catholicos, and there she presented
him with a gold and silver embroidered likeness of the Cathedral of
Etchmiadzin. It was on this occasion that she had given H.F.B. Lynch,
the author of Armenia: Travels and Studies, her photo, which the
author used in his book, and is on the cover of Fr. Oghlukian’s book
and in Ervine’s paper.
St. Stepanos’s women’s community ceased to exist before 1939, but
Nicolas Zernov, a Russian clergyman and writer on church affairs,
wrote in 1939 how impressed he had been when present at the Eucharist
in the St. Stepanos Armenian Church in Tiflis `where a woman deacon
fully vested brought forward the chalice for the communion of the
people.’
`According to internet sources, in 1988, the Georgian government took
ownership of the 14th-century church. Between 1990 and 1991, all
Armenian inscriptions were either removed or destroyed, and burial
vaults where the Armenian deaconesses were laid to rest were
destroyed. Goosanats Sourp Stepanos Vank is now a Georgian church.
`The Kalfayan Sisterhood of Istanbul, whose `stated mission was the
care and education of orphans,’ was established in 1866. Patriarch
Mesrop Naroyan ordained the sisterhood’s first member, Aghavni
Keoseian, as deacon in 1932. Patriarch Shnork Galustian ordained the
last, Hripsime Sasunian, in 1982.
`Ervine writes of Sasunian: `In 1986, Deacon Hripsime Sasunian visited
the Western Diocese of America, where she served the liturgy in a
different parish of the Diocese on each Sunday of her visit. She had
functioned as head of the Kalfayan Orphanage, served the Patriarchate
as an accountant, in addition to serving the Sunday liturgy in various
parishes in the capital. Patriarch Galustian used, on the occasion of
the ordination of Deacon Hripsime Sasunian, the canon for a male
deacon.’
`Deaconess Sasunian was invited to Lebanon in 1990 by His Holiness
Catholicos Karekin I to found a new Sisterhood. Named the Sisterhood
of the Followers of St. Gayane, it was established next to the Bird’s
Nest Orphanage in Byblos, Lebanon. As a result, the monastic veil was
awarded to the Sisterhood’s first candidate, Knarik Gaypakyan, in the
Cathedral at Antelias on June 2, 1991. `At the present time, three
women deacons serve the Bird’s Nest Orphanage…under the jurisdiction
of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia.’ (Note: In a press
release from the Armenian Prelacy of Aderbadagan, Iran, it was
announced that on Mon., June 24, 2013, the Very Reverend Der Grigor
Chiftjian, Prelate of Aderbadagan, attended a meeting regarding church
matters at the Catholicosate in Antelias. He also visited the Bird’s
Nest Orphanage and met with Sisters Knarik Gaypakian, Shnorhig
Boyadjian, and Gayane Badakian to discuss how to attract more women to
the Sisterhood.)
`Besides the places mentioned, women’s religious communities also
existed in Astrakhan, Russia, Bursa, Turkey, and Jazlowiec, Poland. In
Astrakhan, two deaconesses, sisters Hrpsime and Anna Mnatsaganyan,
served the community. They each gifted a diaconal stole to the
Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, with the inscriptions `Deaconess nun at the
Cathedral of Soorp Asdvatsadzeen, Astrakhan, 1837,’ followed by their
names. In the 1800’s, in Turkey’s Bursa region, Deaconess Nazeni
Geoziumian ran a school for girls, along with her religious duties. In
Jazlowiec (pronounced Yaswovietch), Hripsime Spendowski was ordained
deaconess. She was the daughter of Stepan Spendowski, an Armenian who
had immigrated to Jazlowiec in 1648. The town had a sizeable Armenian
population, and the Armenian Prelacy was established there in 1250.
Because of Spendowski’s heroism and distinguished military service
fighting the Tatars and Turks, who had invaded the town, the King of
Poland honored him with the rank of nobility, and bestowed upon him
the title of `mayor for life’ of Jazlowiez.
`In 1984, Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, Primate of the Western Diocese,
ordained Seta Simonian Atamian acolyte at the holy altar of St. Andrew
Armenian Church, in Cupertino, Calif. In 2002, Archbishop Gisak
Mouradian, Primate of Argentina, ordained Maria Ozkul to the
diaconate.
`Currently, there is a small number of nuns serving the Armenian
Apostolic Church in Armenia. Established in the early part of the 21st
century, their order is known as the Sourp Hripsimyants Order. They
reside in the vanadoon (monastery) at Sourp Hripsime Church in
Etchmiadzin, one of the `oldest historical monuments of Armenian
architecture and the second church built by St. Gregory the
Illuminator during the first quarter of the 4th century, and rebuilt
in 618.’
I conclude my presentation with a quote by Bishop Karekin
Servantzdiantz who was a student of Khrimian Hayrig, a patriot,
preacher, writer, and compiler of Armenian stories – fables, anecdotes,
and folk-tales:
Patriotism is a measureless and sublime virtue, and the real root of
genuine goodness. It is a kind of virtue that prepares a man to become
the most eager defender of the land, water, and traditions of the
fatherland.
`The women deacons of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who through the
centuries have reverently and humbly served our church and nation, are
shining examples of the most eager defenders of the land, water, and
traditions of the Fatherland.’
Sources
Ervine, Roberta R. `The Armenian Church’s Women Deacons.’ St. Nerses
Theological Review (New Rochelle) 12 (2007).
Oghlukian, Fr. Abel. The Deaconess In The Armenian Church – A Brief
Survey. New Rochelle, NY: St. Nerses Armenian Seminary, 1994.
Barnett, James Monroe. The Diaconate – A Full And Equal Order.
Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1995.
Karapetyan, Bakour. Haryour Darvah Yerkkhosootyun (A Hundred Year’s
Dialogue). Yerevan, Armenia, 1990.
Lynch, H.F.B. Armenia – Travels and Studies,V 1. New York: The
Armenian Prelacy, 1990.
Gulbekian, Yedvard. `Women In The Armenian Church.’ Hye Sharzhoom
(Fresno, CA) (April 1982).
Meneshian, Knarik O. `The Sisters At The Church of St. Hripsime.’ The
Armenian Weekly (July 10, 2004).
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The Armenian Woman 2010, Pontifical Message of His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicos Of The Great House of Cilicia.’ New York, 2009.
Karras, Valerie. `Women In The Eastern Church – Past, Present, and
Future.’ The St. Nina Quarterly, A Journal Exploring the Ministry of
Women in the Eastern Orthodox Church, vol.1, no. 1, (Cambridge, MA),
1997.
Der-Ghazarian, Sub-Dn. Lazarus. `On The Order of Deaconesses In The
Armenian and Catholic Church – A Concise Overview.’ Online article,
Dec. 25, 2008.
Synek, Eva M. `Christian Priesthood East and West: Towards A
Convergence?’ MaryMartha Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1996. (Note: The
report, which discusses the deaconesses of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, was presented at the XII International Congress of the Society
for the Law of the Eastern Churches, Brookline, Boston, MA, 1995.
[Report is Online])
Boyajian, Dikran H., ed. & comp. The Pillars Of The Armenian Church,
Watertown, MA: Baikar Press, 1962.
From: Baghdasarian