On February 14, the Armenian Apostolic Church will celebrate Candlemass. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, announced this das as a blessing day for newlyweds.
After the Divine Liturgy, a special order of blessing of newlyweds will be made in all churches.
AGBU Press Office 55 East 59th Street New York, NY 10022-1112 Website: www.agbu.org PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, February 6, 2018 RETREAT LAUNCHES INSPIRING CONVERSATION ON ARMENIAN SPIRITUALITY AGBU WELCOMES NEW INITIATIVE INSPIRED BY THE AGBU FOCUS CONFERENCE 2017 Over 30 young professionals from across the United States gathered in New York from February 3 to 4 for a thought-provoking retreat on the Armenian faith and spirituality. The topic, along with issues related to human rights and women's empowerment, was raised by participants of the inaugural AGBU FOCUS conference last summer as an area of interest. "One of the takeaways from this past summer's international conference was that we could leverage the AGBU network to continue thought-provoking conversations. This urban retreat aimed to create a safe environment for young professionals to learn more about Armenian spirituality through our history, culture music and traditions and facilitate our generation's spiritual journey." said mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian who convened the retreat together with Michelle Nahabedian and journalist Lara Setrakian. The retreat explored the Armenian faith from various perspectives, ranging from monastic educational traditions and heritage to personal journeys and Christian meditation. Moderated by Setrakian, the retreat featured Father Daniel Findikyan, director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Center; Eric Vozzy, a deacon at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral; Dr. Roberta Ervine, professor of Armenian Studies at St. Nerses Armenian Seminary, and Father Mersrop Parsamyan, the director of ministries at the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. Father Findikyan identified one of the challenges for the continuation of Armenian religious education in the diaspora, exploring the decline of Armenian monasteries in the Ottoman Empire and how it affected the modern-day Armenian theological instruction. "The Armenian monasteries were the theological engines of the Armenian church. They were the intellectual engines of the Armenian people," said Findikyan stressing that monasteries provided a network of religious scholars who kept a dialogue with the communities and maintained the continuity of traditions. Intrigued by Findikyan's speech, attendees posed important questions on youth involvement, church modernization and creationism. The retreat also served as an open forum for personal sharing and created an opportunity for attendees to explore otherwise new topics. Dr. Roberta Ervine notably spoke about six noble women from the historical Armenian Kingdom of Syunik who channeled their faith into action and supported the construction of several monasteries, some of which became jewels of Armenian architecture. Participants were treated to a short meditation session with Fr. Parsamyan, who presented the basic techniques of Christian meditation and offered his insight on the topic. "The forum provided participants an opportunity to share their spiritual journeys and make suggestions on ways of bringing the Armenian church closer to youth," said Merdinian. "It is the beginning of continued opportunities for such discussion and contemplation." Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the lives of some 500,000 Armenians around the world. For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit www.agbu.org.
Arsene Wenger hails Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan following Arsenal’s victory over Everton
Metro Sport ReporterSaturday 3 Feb 2018 8:01 pm
Arsene Wenger heaped praise on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan after their impressive performances in Arsenal‘s 5-1 thumping of Everton. Aaron Ramsey grabbed the headlines with an outstanding hat-trick versus the Toffees but Wenger will perhaps be most delighted with the displays of his two January signings. Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan were both handed their first Premier League starts for Arsenal and the duo were among the Gunners’ standout performers at the Emirates. Mkhitaryan grabbed a hat-trick of assists for his new club and Aubamayang got off the mark for the north London giants with an exquisite finish just before the break.
Asked about Aubameyang’s display, Wenger responded: ‘The quality of his movement was excellent, the quality of his finishing was excellent. ‘He still has some work to do physically. ‘He looks always to give a problem to the defender with his movement. Once he’s in front of you it’s difficult to catch him.’
Asked about his first goal in Arsenal colours, Aubameyang told BT Sport: ‘I was really happy. ‘We won the game in the first-half. The second-half was a little bit different but were all happy.’
Asked about the performance of Mkhitaryan, Wenger replied: ‘He’s a good link player, he works very hard. ‘He looked well accepted by the rest of the team.
Ramsey believes Arsenal have found themselves a top-class centre-forward in Aubameyang after the forward impressed despite suffering with an illness. He said: ‘If that’s not him at 100 per cent the we’ve got a player on our hands here.
United goal ‘Well done to him and Mkhi. ‘Hopefully they can help us finish the season strongly.’
ArmenPress News Agency , Armenia Monday Armenia to host global forum on genocide prevention in December YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. The peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh remains one of the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said during a press conference in response to a question from ARMENPRESS, mentioning that Armenia will continue efforts with the co-chairing countries in 2018. “Armenia has become a pioneer in the efforts of preventing crimes against humanity and new genocides. 2018 is the 70th anniversary of adopting the Genocide Prevention Convention. On this occasion, Armenia is presently putting efforts for a new resolution to be adopted in the UN circle – in the human rights council”, Nalbandian said. He reminded that in 2015 – the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide – Armenia succeeded in adopting a resolution which received serious endorsement from everyone. The minister emphasized that nearly 70 countries became co-authors of the resolution, however it was adopted with a consensus, meaning that nobody risked to oppose it. “This year we have initiated and are currently working for a new resolution to be adopted on this occasion. In December of 2018 we are planning to hold a new global forum on prevention of genocides. We plan to hold it in December, when at our initiative, the UN General Assembly declared Genocide 9 as a commemoration day of victims of all genocides”, the minister said. Reminding that Armenia is already chairing in the ministerial conference of La Francophonie, the summit of the organization will be held in Yerevan in October, and from December of 2017 Armenia is chairing in BSEC, the minister mentioning that there are many tasks to do. “We will continue efforts in terms of developing, strengthening bilateral relations, as well as in the frames of various international structures – responding to regional and international challenges”, he said.
Artsakh Defense Ministry hasn’t thought of assuming the construction works of the military college initiated by Levon Mnatsakanyan.
On Wednesday Artsakh Defense Minister, Levon Mnatsakanyan, said the aforementioned as a response to the question of Artsakhpress correspondent. He added that they attach importance to the exploitation of the college; however, a final decision hasn’t been made.
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Thursday The RA Parliament`s special commissions approved the project "On Genocide Actions against Yezidis on the Territories of Iraq Controlled by Terrorist Groupings" Yerevan January 11 Ani Mshetsyan. The Commission on Foreign Relations and European Integration of the Armenian Parliament unanimously approved the draft statement on "Genocide actions against Yezidis on the territories of Iraq controlled by terrorist groups." As the deputy from the ruling Republican Party and the Yezidi community of Armenia, Rustam Mahmudyan stated during the commission meeting, the genocidal actions against the Yezidis of Iraq can not be qualified otherwise than as a crime against humanity. RPA MP Shirak Torosyan said that the issue was submitted for discussion with a significant delay, and that the text of the statement should indicate the number of victims and victims of the actions of militants. Secretary of the parliamentary faction Tsarukyan Vahe Enfiazjyan noted that the actions that were committed against the Yezidis are, beyond any doubt. a genocide, and this fact must be recognized. Meanwhile, RPA deputy Artashes Geghamyan said that the adoption of such a statement is somewhat risky, as it puts, in Geghamian's opinion, into questioning the existence of statehood in Iraq. "Armenia and Iraq are linked by long-standing friendly relations, and the authorities of this country have always positively treated the representatives of the Armenian community," the deputy said, suggesting adding a provision on the support of friendly Iraq by Armenia. The MP also noted that such issues should not simply appeal to the international community, but to the UN Security Council. In addition, Geghamyan suggested replacing the phrase "genocidal actions" with the term "genocide" in the text of the statement. The head of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, RPA Vice-President Armen Ashotyan, responding to Geghamyan, said that this issue was repeatedly discussed with experts-genocide experts and specialists in international law who stated that the term "genocide" can only be used in If this crime was carried out by a certain state in relation to one or another nationality. "Since ISIS is a terrorist organization, it's rather difficult to evaluate its actions against the Yezidi people from the point of view of international law. We de jure and de facto condemn this crime," explained Ashotyan, nevertheless, having agreed to the introduction of some changes in the text of the statement. The Yezidi community of Armenia earlier raised the issue of the need to recognize the "Yezidi genocide" by the parliament of Armenia, not only in Iraq, but also in Ottoman Turkey in the early 20th century. However, the Armenian parliamentarians considered that in order to recognize the "Yezidi genocide" in Ottoman Turkey, there were not enough facts, and decided to wait for recognition of the "genocide" in Iraq, which caused a backlash from the Yezidi community. Nevertheless, RA President Serzh Sargsyan raised the issue of the massacre of the Yezidis in Iraq from the UN tribune and stressed the need for their international protection.
The Keyan School “Crab Feed” will take place Feb. 3
FRESNO—The Charlie Keyan Armenian Community School announced that it will be hosting its 15th annual “Crab Feed: on February 3 at the Holy Trinity Church Social Hall.
The Annual Crab Feed is one of the major fund-raisers for the school. The evening includes an all-you-can-eat crab dinner, a spirited live and silent auction, full bar, appetizers and desserts, and music.
The funds generated from this event help support financial aid programs, offset general operating costs and also support many of the activities our students are involved in throughout the academic year.
CKACS is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia January 8, 2018 Monday Armenian MP of Iranian parliament says situation in country is calm and under control YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The situation in Iran in general is calm at the moment, ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the Iranian Parliament Karen Khanlarian told ARMENPRESS. “The activeness of protests has calmed down, there are almost no rallies, protests, the situation is calm and under control. You know that these issues emerged in connection with the socio-economic problems. And this was also supplemented by the political vector which is a result of influence of foreign powers”, he said. According to the lawmaker, the complaint among the people has its reason, the country really faces a socio-economic problem. This also emerged by applying economic sanctions against Iran. “In the recent years there have always been protests in Iran. I have witnessed different groups in streets, squares near the parliament voicing their complaints over economic, social issues. This time the protests were supplemented by a little political character which was exclusive. Now everyone is concerned, tries to find solutions to the existing issues in order to prevent such incidents”, Karen Khanlarian said. As for the Armenian community, the lawmaker said everyone freely expresses his/her opinion. The economic issues concern all citizens of Iran, including Armenians. He added that as a result of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran the small and medium businesses of many Iranian citizens, including Armenians were greatly affected. “The talks on nuclear deal inspired hope that the sanctions will be lifted, the economic situation will improve, but we see that the US not only doesn’t want to eliminate the sanctions, but tries to increase them”, the lawmaker added. Anti-governmental protests launched in Iran on December 28. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested.
I congratulate the Azerbaijani people and APA readers on the New Year’s Eve. We can say that the relations between Iran and neighboring Azerbaijan have developed on the rising tempo over the past year. Important steps have been taken to further strengthen the good relations between the two countries. We have reached agreements and cooperation in many areas, Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told in a statement on the outcomes of 2017, APA’s Tehran bureau reports.
He said presidents Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev have held 11 meetings between so far.
“Three of them were held in 2017. Azerbaijan and Iran showed an exemplary and persistent behavior being good neighbors and having deep relationships between their peoples. This friendship between the two countries has played an important role in promoting peace, stability and security in the region, as well as the further strengthening of friendship between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Iran. These relations are undoubtedly important to all the countries in the region and are not directed against any third country,” Ghasemi noted.
Answering on the possibility of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations in 2018, Ghasemi said that we must not lose hope for the restoration of economic development, sustainable peace, stability and security in this unstable region of the Caucasus.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has expressed concern about this since the first days of tensions between the two neighboring countries of the Caucasus. Therefore, as the most serious and the first mediators between the two neighboring countries, we have made and are making great efforts to ensure the ceasefire. We hope that the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be resolved in 2018. Iran wishes all the peoples of the region stability and development. It uses and will use all means to ensure stability and reduce tensions,” the spokesman said.