Our Holy Mother of the endless light, you who carried the eternal God in your blessed womb, and gave birth to the joy of this world, we beseech you.
(Armenian Church's Breviary: Jamakirk)
Beloved Parishioners,
The Feast of Assumption is the greatest of the three major holidays of the Armenian Church devoted to the Virgin Mary, and is one of the five major feast days or Daghavars of the Armenian Church.
According to different sources, Mary lived in Jerusalem from three to fifteen years after watching her son die on the cross and after witnessing the miracle of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.
Eastern tradition tells us that at her death an elaborate funeral took place. The apostles, with the exception of St. Bartholomew, buried her with great reverence in the Garden of Gethsemane.
When Bartholomew arrived, he wanted to see Mary’s tomb. The apostles took him to the tomb, and to their amazement, found it empty, they were convinced that the body was taken up to heaven by the Lord.
The Armenian Church gives a large place to Saint Mary in its tradition and life of faith, because she is the first intercessor for the humanity to Christ Jesus.
Our church dedicated numerous prayers, hymns, supplications to the Mother of God, and has strong theological statements about the real identity and character of St. Mary and her place in our church.
In the Bible as well, in its Old and especially New Testaments, there are many accounts related to the Mother of God, as a true mother who cares for her Son, who follows her Son and even be with him on the way to the crucifixion and death. Those sacrifices made her to be honored and remembered until now.
The above-mentioned supplication is selected from the Armenian Church’s Breviary (Jamakirk), which includes lot of prayers and it is the guidebook of the church hours.
This supplication is kind of praise which directed to the Mother of God, who was, is and will remain our eternal mother, the example of true motherhood, the one who had love, dedication, faith and glory especially after her death.
Through this supplication we confess our faith toward our religion, and the Word of God; the Holy Bible, because we read in it the story of miraculous birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary, who conceived by the Holy Spirit of God without any human interference.
According to the Christian tradition, the Mother of Jesus, after three days of her death, while during those three days the songs of the angels praised her, she ascended into heaven, in order to sit at the right hand of her Son.
The love of her Son, made her to be with him forever because we know and we believe that Jesus Christ has power on everything and he is the judge of living and the death.
Therefore, he took his mother to be with him… In addition, today we are celebrating the miraculous and glorious feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God into heaven.
Saint Mary dear faithful was first the Holy Mother. She took the name holy because she gave birth to the most holy person of this universe; to Jesus the Lord.
Holiness is a call, and Saint Mary was worthy to be called Holy Mother of God.
Saint Mary was the person who gave birth to the Word of God. The Word, which is until now and forever, will guide us and show us the path of Salvation and the victory over the evil.
Let us honor and respect the Holy Mother of God by our prayers and commitment. May all the mothers take the example of Saint Mary as the supreme exemplar of motherhood.
Let us ask God to pour upon us the grace of Saint Mary in order to be the people of hope and to be worthy of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
GRAPE BLESSING
According to the Armenian tradition, when we honor the Mother of God we also dedicate the early fruits (Yerakhayrik) the harvest of this season to God, in order to be worthy of His blessings.
Grape is the fruit of this season especially in the eastern and Middle Eastern countries because during the other seasons they do not taste the grapes for its nonexistence.
From the grapes, we make the wine, which we use to prepare the Holy Communion, which will be transformed into the blood of Christ.
Jesus did his first miracle by converting the water into wine.
Moreover, in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I am the true vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15.5).
We see dear faithful how much essential is the blessings of the grapes, and likewise the meaning of it in our life of faith and church tradition.
The Armenian Church by its people always remained and remains faithful to its traditions, which have vital place in our faith. That is why at the end of the Badarak of the Feast of Assumption of the Holy Mother of God, we remember that tradition by blessing the grapes.
Blessed are those who work for the church, who participate to the church’s life and especial thanks for those who brought the grapes in order for us to be participated in the blessings, which come from God.
And finally let us ask the Mother of God and beseech her to be our intercessor in front of Christ and to be worthy for the eternal blessings and for sitting on the right hand of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is befitting glory and honor, know and forever. Amen.
Prayerfully,
Rev. Fr. Karekin Bedourian
Pastor |
