lovesupreme
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I was visiting friends out of town this weekend and noticed there was a Syriac Church near their apartment complex. While driving Sunday morning, I missed the Syriac Church, but I happened upon a large and quite beautiful Armenian Church that was built in the last few years. Despite not understanding anything said during the services (short of the occasional "Krystos" and "alleluia"), I felt engaged the whole time. A few things that maybe you guys can comment on or answer:
1) There was procession of a purple banner with the Theotokos and the Christ-child on it. People were going up to hold it and kiss it. I didn't want to offend, so I did the same. A woman looked at me and said about two words in Armenian, which I did not understand. I asked a couple after the services if what I did was appropriate and they said yes, so I'm not sure what this first woman was saying.
2) The homily was in between elevating the gifts and Communion, which was not something I was used to. Sometime either before or after, a greeter came up to me, said a relatively long sentence in Armenian to me, then bowed to me. I bowed back. I assume this was a part of the sign of peace? I saw a few other people shortly after embrace each other and exchange some words, but they were much shorter than what the greeter told me. (I look Middle Eastern wherever I go, whether it's a Persian synagogue or an Armenian Church... so mostly people assume I know what they're saying.)
3) The man who led to the service I thought was a bishop (because of his fancy headgear), but it turns out he was the main officiating priest. There were two priests who wore purple (as opposed to the first man's red) and simple black hoods. I was told they were called "arkepiskos" which I assume means "archpriests." I think what through me off is that the archpriests wore pendants of the Theotokos, which I thought only bishops did. There was also a man who just wore a crucifix and a collar. I assume he was a retired priest, but I can't be certain.
4) There were a ton of people serving in the altar. I could tell who the altar boys were, but then there were quite a few adults who wore deacon-like stoles. Then there was one man who wore a stole with a different pattern than all the others. Not sure what the different in that was.
5) When I first arrived (I was lost and looking for the Syriac church), I asked a man who was smoking outside if this was an Orthodox Church. He seemed confused and said it was the Armenian Apostolic Church (which I knew was the right Armenian Church for me). A few other people were confused by this term, "Orthodox." I asked them if they were like the Copts and the Ethiopians and they said yes. They also said they were like the Greeks and the Russians, which makes sense because I imagine a lot of people don't know that there's only limited intercommunion between OO and EO.
6) Lovely couple afterwards got me coffee and cookies and introduced me to one of the archpriests. I told them I was Greek Orthodox and they said it was the same thing as Armenian Orthodox. I didn't say otherwise or say the "C" word (Chalcedon, of course!). The archpriest had particularly good relations with the Antiochians (my jurisdiction) and said he knew my bishop/Metropolitan quite well. He gave me a free book on the Armenian Church, The Church of Armenia by Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian.
7) Loved the music. Are organs common in most Armenian churches?
8 ) I noticed a lot of people crossed right-to-left. Is that the custom?
9) The structure of the service felt pretty familiar to me. There was sanctity, and also plenty of anxious children running around. Overall, even though I was nervous and a little perturbed when people kept speaking to me in Armenian, I felt at home.
That's all for now. Glad I went!
1) There was procession of a purple banner with the Theotokos and the Christ-child on it. People were going up to hold it and kiss it. I didn't want to offend, so I did the same. A woman looked at me and said about two words in Armenian, which I did not understand. I asked a couple after the services if what I did was appropriate and they said yes, so I'm not sure what this first woman was saying.
2) The homily was in between elevating the gifts and Communion, which was not something I was used to. Sometime either before or after, a greeter came up to me, said a relatively long sentence in Armenian to me, then bowed to me. I bowed back. I assume this was a part of the sign of peace? I saw a few other people shortly after embrace each other and exchange some words, but they were much shorter than what the greeter told me. (I look Middle Eastern wherever I go, whether it's a Persian synagogue or an Armenian Church... so mostly people assume I know what they're saying.)
3) The man who led to the service I thought was a bishop (because of his fancy headgear), but it turns out he was the main officiating priest. There were two priests who wore purple (as opposed to the first man's red) and simple black hoods. I was told they were called "arkepiskos" which I assume means "archpriests." I think what through me off is that the archpriests wore pendants of the Theotokos, which I thought only bishops did. There was also a man who just wore a crucifix and a collar. I assume he was a retired priest, but I can't be certain.
4) There were a ton of people serving in the altar. I could tell who the altar boys were, but then there were quite a few adults who wore deacon-like stoles. Then there was one man who wore a stole with a different pattern than all the others. Not sure what the different in that was.
5) When I first arrived (I was lost and looking for the Syriac church), I asked a man who was smoking outside if this was an Orthodox Church. He seemed confused and said it was the Armenian Apostolic Church (which I knew was the right Armenian Church for me). A few other people were confused by this term, "Orthodox." I asked them if they were like the Copts and the Ethiopians and they said yes. They also said they were like the Greeks and the Russians, which makes sense because I imagine a lot of people don't know that there's only limited intercommunion between OO and EO.
6) Lovely couple afterwards got me coffee and cookies and introduced me to one of the archpriests. I told them I was Greek Orthodox and they said it was the same thing as Armenian Orthodox. I didn't say otherwise or say the "C" word (Chalcedon, of course!). The archpriest had particularly good relations with the Antiochians (my jurisdiction) and said he knew my bishop/Metropolitan quite well. He gave me a free book on the Armenian Church, The Church of Armenia by Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian.
7) Loved the music. Are organs common in most Armenian churches?
8 ) I noticed a lot of people crossed right-to-left. Is that the custom?
9) The structure of the service felt pretty familiar to me. There was sanctity, and also plenty of anxious children running around. Overall, even though I was nervous and a little perturbed when people kept speaking to me in Armenian, I felt at home.
That's all for now. Glad I went!
