PRESS OFFICE
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian Diocese
Contact; Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Avenue, Outremont Quebec H2V 3H2
Tel; 514-276-9479, Fax; 514-276-9960
Email; adiocese@aol.com
Website;
November 19, 2004

ORDINATION OF “TBIR” ACOLYTES IN ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR CATHEDRAL IN MONTREAL

Last Sunday, November 14th, 2004, faithful Churchgoers were witness to the
solemn and joyous celebration of the ordination of the “tbir”s in Montreal’s
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Cathedral, in the presence of and under
the auspices of His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of the Canadian
Diocese as well as on the testimonial of the Church’s Pastor, Father Vazgen
Boyajyan.

The participants in this ordination entered the Church, led by His Eminence
Bishop Bargat Galstanian, accompanied by the melodious “Oorakh Ler Soorp
Yegeghetsi” hymn.
On this occasion, Bishop Galstanian directed his blessings to the
newly-ordained “tbir”s and prayed for God to bestow upon them His heavenly graces of
understanding and humble servitude, so that they may faithfully serve and perform
their duties to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Canadian Armenian
Church community, to the glory of the Holy Trinity.

During this humbling ceremony, the newly-ordained “tbir”s were bestowed both
the order of Psalmist and Sweeper, considered the first step in the liturgical
orders and ranks of the Armenian Church, as well as the four Minor Orders in
the Armenian Church. Combined, these four Minor Orders are usually referred to
as that of “tbir”.

By acceding to the rank of Psalmist and Sweeper, the candidate is received by
the Church and blessed by the Bishop, allowing him (or her) to participate in
the liturgical services of the Church as reader and cantor of the psalms and
granting the candidate the authority to maintain the Church building, its
sanctuary, court and entrance. At the beginning of this service, the Bishop cuts
four locks in the form of a cross from the hair of the candidate as a sign of
initiation.

Following this are the four Minor Orders of the Church. These prepare the
candidate for the rank of Deacon which is the first Major Order in the Armenian
Church. The first of the four Minor Orders is Doorkeeper where the candidate
receives the authority to protect everything kept under lock and key in the
Church, including the building itself. The candidate is presented with a key by
the Bishop, as a sign of this authority and honor. The second is Reader where
the candidate receives the authority to read the Holy Scriptures during Church
services. The candidate receives a Lectionary, a book containing the daily
readings of the Scripture, as a sign of this authority. The third order is
that of Exorcist which bestows upon the candidate the authority to lay hands on
the sick and renounce Satan with those who come to receive the sacrament of
Holy Baptism. The candidate receives a copy of Mashdots, the Book of Rituals.
The fourth and final order is that of Acolyte which grants the candidate the
authority to light the candles and lanterns in the Church and to prepare the
bread and the wine for Holy Communion. Symbolically, the candidate receives a
candlestick and a cruet, with which wine is blessed and served during Communion.

The following are the newly-ordained “tbir”s, who all received the five
orders: Talar Chichmanian, Hilda Tursucuyan, Sandra Afeyan, Emma Kasbarian, Alex
Palabikian, Phillip Palabikian, Avedis Salizyan, Jano Salizyan, Hagop Redjebian
and Ardak Khatchadourian.

A reception in the Church’s Hovsepian Hall followed the ordination ceremony,
where the newly-ordained candidates received the appropriate certificates from
His Eminence and many congratulations from their proud and loving community.

* * *

CANADIAN PRIMATE CELEBRATED DIVINE LITURGY IN ST. VARTAN CATHEDRAL AT NEW
YORK CITY

On Sunday, November 21, 2004, His Grace Bishop Galstanian, Primate of the
Armenian Church Diocese of Canada, celebrated Divine Liturgy at the St. Vartan
Cathedral in New York City.

Upon the initiative of His Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanian a small group of
pilgrims accompanied their Primate at St. Vartan Cathedral. Beginning with his
election, Bishop Galstanian planned youth pilgrimages on inter-Diocesan level.
This is the inauguration towards the realization of the Primate’s project to
encourage the faithful, especially in Northern United States and Canada to move
forward and pray together, reflecting upon the challenges and difficulties
ahead.

* * *

COURTESY VISITS TO CANADIAN CHURCH LEADERS CONTINUES

On Thursday, November 18, 2004, His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian visited
the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto and met with Metropolitan Archbishop
Sotirios.

Bishop Galstanian thanked the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan, for creating the
opportunity to meet and discuss many issues concerning the role and mission of
Christian Churches in Canada. The two leaders spoke extensively about the
importance of involvement and participation in the ecumenical life, and examined
the possibilities of further cooperation regarding the views of their
respective churches on various social issues.

Bishop Bagrat Galstanian invited Archbishop Sotirios to participate in an
Ecumenical Pilgrimage to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Spiritual Centre
of Armenian Christianity. His Eminence graciously accepted the invitation to
join the Canadian Church leaders and Ecumenical representatives on a
pilgrimage, organized under the auspices of Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, to the Mother See
of Holy Etchmiadzin in August-September 2005.

* * *

THE THEOLOGICAL LECTURE IN THE HOLY TRINITY AMENIAN CHURCH

Aret Boyajian

The Christian Church Mission of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Toronto
was honored to have Reverend Peishon Vasfy from the St Mark. Orthodox Coptic
Church in Toronto who visited the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church for an
evening seminar, on Saturday Nov 6, 2004.

The title of the seminar was called “Jesus, the Son of God” and covered a
wide range of scripture passages that proved Jesus Christ’s divinity.

Reverend Vasfy began making his statement that we (Christians) are all, in a
way “theologians”, in that we all have some basic knowledge of God through the
reading of Holy Scripture, and that we should not feel lesser than those who
have a formal training in Theology. This means that church going Christians
are responsible and are encouraged to become knowledgeable relating to spiritual
matters both through Holy Scripture (Bible) and the proper Orthodox Church
structures such as clergy and literature.

He also stressed in his lecture by saying that the heresy’s that were
circulated by Arius in the life of the early Church, concerning the divinity of
Christ, is still with us today and that they have to be dealt with seriously by
Christians. This is the reason why the Church fathers of the Orthodox persuasion
were compelled to remain faithful to the true essence of Christ by the
adoption of the Nicene Creed (Havadamk) in the year 325 AD, which affirms the deity
of the “Son of God”.

These religious misconceptions that deny the divinity of Christ can easily be
countered with basic knowledge of Scripture. One of the most compelling
passage evidences that “the Son of God” is divine is found in the book of John,
verse 3:13: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Clearly here, Jesus is
referring to himself on earth and at the same time being God in heaven.

The evening was adjourned with a question and answer period followed by
coffee and Armenian pastry for all the participants.

The Christian Church Mission of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church would like
to thank all the members who participated and the following individuals for
this successful evening. Dr Edward Rauf, who is the Chairman of St. Mark Orthodox
Fellowship, helped in the organization of the evening, Deacon Vrej Berberian,
who was our evenings host and last but not least Mrs. Surphui Evran, who
helped secure pastries for the evening.

* * *
THE SHARING OF A UNIQUE HERITAGE BONDS CHILDREN AND COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

It has been the vision of Our Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanian to encourage
cooperative Sunday School activities such as multi school visit with the purpose
of bringing together children from all Sunday Schools in Southern Ontario.
Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church Sunday School in Toronto was the host for
the first visit of the school year.

As usual, the Morning Assembly at HTAAC stared with little children arriving
in their red uniforms and Bibles in hand. Mrs. Takoush Knadjian, the new Vice
principal, coordinated and guided the assembly to its scheduled events of the
day. Children sang the morning prayers, the Sunday School march and waited to
hear from the special guest speaker of the day Mrs. Georgina Sarkisian of St
Gregory the Illuminator of St Catharines Ontario. Mrs. Sarkisian is the
Director of the Department of Religious Education of the Canadian Diocese. (DRE)

Mrs. Sarkisian spoke about Remembrance Day. She asked the children if they
knew the reason for Remembrance Day and whether they knew of any Armenian
soldiers who were in the wars. The children were surprised to hear there were 22
soldiers from the Southern Ontario region who volunteered to serve our great
nation, Canada. Today, only three soldiers were living and resided in the Southern
Ontario area.

Mrs. Sarkisian asked the help of Tamar Sarkisian, a visitor from St
Catharines, to give the children red poppies to wear in Remembrance of the 22 soldiers
who were of Armenian heritage.

Following morning assembly Mrs. Sarkisian and Miss Alexia Citak, member of
the DRE from Hamilton St Mary Sunday School, toured the school visiting with the
students and teachers in their classes. The visitors found colorful artwork
and Christmas ornaments being made as an arts and crafts project. In other
classes children stood up and recited Psalms 23 in Armenian. All in all it was a
very important day for the visitors to observe first hand the activities
children participate in at HTAAC Sunday School

Later in the day, the children attended Church and took communion. On behalf
of HTAAC Sunday school we would like to thank our visitors and hope they will
return with many more children from their local Sunday schools.

The idea of cooperative School activities is an exceptional one. We hope the
next activity; the second annual Armenian Children’s Christmas on January 2,
2005, will continue to encourage children to make friends with others who share
their valuable heritage. The friends one makes as a child, last a lifetime.

* * *

MEMBERS OF CENTRAL COUNCIL DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION TELECONFERENCE
Georgina Sarkisian, Director

On November 9th, 2004 the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church, Diocese of Canada
Department of Christian Education, Central council held a teleconference upon
the request of His Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanian. Members participating were
from Hamilton, Mississauga/Oakville, St. Catharines and Toronto.

Highlights of this conference were the completing of Sunday School logos and
colour selection for the new uniforms. A crest for all the Sunday Schools has
been established with the individual church names and colors. The upcoming
joint events were discussed further, with participation by all the Sunday
Schools, at Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Toronto, on Sunday, January 2nd./04. The
Children’s Christmas Service and party will be held at this time.

Also discussed, were the plans to complete the launch on January 2nd. of the
upcoming art competition, under the jurisdiction of His Grace Bishop Bagrat
Galstanian, and directed by the Very Reverend Fr. Hayrig Apegha Hovhannisian.
The theme for this competition is ‘MY VISION OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN’ encompassing
the spiritual visions of events that brought about the holiest of places in
Christendom.

Pentecost celebrations will be held in St. Catharines and an end of the year
picnic in June will be hosted by Hamilton. The summer activities of Camp
Ararat with the inclusion of Teacher Training, were very enthusiastically greeted,
as the dates and permanent location were being completed. The teleconference
ended on a very positive accord.

* * *

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress