St. Vartan Armenian Church
of
Very Rev. Fr. Hayrik Hovhannisyan, Pastor
Telephone (905) 549-2711 stvartan@cogeco.ca
(905) 617-7888
His Holiness Karekin II Nersissian - 132nd Catholicos of
All Armenians.
His Holiness Karekin II Nersissian, baptized Ktrij, was born in 1951, in the
In 1965, he entered the
Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
and successfully graduated from the Seminary in 1971. A year after graduating,
he worked as a teacher in the Seminary and taught New Testament studies.
In 1970, he was ordained
deacon and in 1972, he was ordained a celibate priest. Afterwards, upon the
order of His Holiness Vazken I, Catholicos
of All Armenians, of blessed memory, he left for
In 1975, upon the order of
His Holiness Vazken I, he left for
In 1979, he returned to
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and afterwards
left for
He was educated in
In March 1980, His
Holiness Vazken I appointed him assistant to the
Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese. In
June 1983, by the Pontifical Decree of the Catholicos
he was appointed the Vicar General of Araratian
Pontifical Diocese. On
On
On
Divine
Liturgy @
Dear brothers and sisters,
honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and warn you against
all that is wrong. Think highly of them
and give them your wholehearted love because of their work. And remember to live peaceably with each
other. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
Welcome to St. Vartan
Armenian Church
If you are a newcomer to
St. Vartan, it is a pleasure to welcome you to our Soorp Badarak this afternoon. Thank you for making time in
your busy schedule to be with us. We believe that you will sense God’s Spirit among
us as we worship together today.
Requiem services can be
requested for the next church service by calling Very Rev. Fr. Hayrik Hovhannisyan.
Requiem services have been
requested today by Mr. and Mrs.
Buy Your Tickets From Heranush or Katie
Bring a Tableful of Friends
for Ice & Crystal Ball
St. Vartan's
annual ball takes place on Saturday, Nov. 25, and we’d love to see you and your
friends there. The Ice & Crystal
Ball will feature
If you buy your tickets
early, before Nov. 10, you will be eligible for the early bird draw of a
special gift. To make it easier, we now are accepting VISA, American Express
and MasterCard for payment.
Tickets bought before Nov.
10 are eligible for Early Bird Draw. American Express, Visa and MasterCard Now
Accepted.
As this is St. Vartan's major fundraiser to cover church expenses, we
encourage you to attend, and also to be a sponsor. Sponsors willl be recognized in the evening’s booklet and will
receive a donation receipt.
To book
your tickets, and for more information on sponsorship, please call Heranush Hamblin at 905-820-1329 or Katie Shahinian at 905-785-7626 or email us at anijan2@gmail.com. Please leave a message if no one is home, and
we will call you back. Thank you for
your support, and see you on the dance floor!
Schedule for November 2006
DIVINE LITURGY
Family Fun Friday*
Are You On Our Mailing List?
Please fill out the forms
you can find on clipboards at the doors of the church today. The Parish Council needs your help to keep
its mailing list up-to-date. Sign up to
receive church news by email.
Food and Laughter Plentiful at Thanksgiving Dinner
By Alynn Mayer
Soorp Badarak was followed by a memorable luncheon that
opened with a live piano performance by St. Vartan’s
talented organist, Ivetta Melkumyan
and the unexpected but welcome arrival of the Primate of Canada, His Grace
Bishop Bagrat Galstanian.
The church hall filled slowly but surely, and Very Rev. Fr. Hayrik
Hovhannisyan greeted the guests personally. The eager
Thanksgiving dinner guests were then led in prayer by Father Hayrik.
The guests would agree
that the church hall, as well as the 12 decorated tables, were beautifully set.
The appetizers consisted of salad and beoreg (puff
pastry dough stuffed with feta cheese). The dinner quickly followed with
vegetables, rice pilaf and roasted turkey--enough for everyone to take more
than their fair share. The homemade cranberry sauce and gravy set the aroma to
the room. There were also pumpkin and apple pies for dessert--enough to assure
the guests would all leave happy!
Adults ate while the
children played games. Relaxed and content, everyone had just enough energy to
fill the room with laughter.
Overall, Sunday mass again
proved itself to be a comfortable and safe environment in which to bring the
family and forget the rainy weather, even if just for a few hours.
Lord, you
are my lover,
My longing,
My flowing
stream,
My sun
And I am
your reflection
The Soul
Speaks to God, By Mechthild of
Excerpt from The Armenian Church: Present Day Challenges
By Rev. Dr. Abel Manoukian,
2005
The
Communion guarantees the
unity of the Church. It is the essence
of the church, the communion between the sacrament of the Lord and the
faithful.
Both realities that form
the Church find their palpable expression in communication. Communication is the way, the living word,
the writing, the tradition, the rite, the adoration, the law and right, the
strength, the authority, the hierarchy and the dogma. In fact, it is everything that can explain
communion and make it understandable.
Communion is the permanent
value of religion, whereas communication is culture or creation with its
uplifting beauty along with its inevitable provisional nature.
Communication can work as
long as it is closely tied with communion.
That is, as a means, it can help the believer, individual or community
to communicate with each other and lead them to that spiritual source which is
communion.
Communication is by nature
provisional. It is subject to cultural
changes and progressions as well as to the needs of time. Communication may weaken and fail in its
function and in this case, independent of our will, our individual tastes and
dispositions, our decision to refuse or accept, our desire to keep it as an
immutable tradition, it has no value for the everyday life of the Church except
becoming part of history. Even if it had
once served its real purpose, it cannot keep its real mission in order to face
the new challenges of time.
The lack of communication
progressively numbs the vitality of the Church, doubtlessly paralyses its
mission to form an “ecclesia,” which paradoxically and unwillingly creates
dispersion.
The main purpose of
becoming a Church or forming a community is to remain in unity, to continually
communicate with the mystic presence of God, receive the nourishment of a high
spiritual life directly from Him, and be led to salvation through Him alone.
We Need You
We Need Your Valued and Committed Support Today
St. Vartan
Armenian Apostolic Church is a small and dedicated Armenian family of Christian
believers. We need you. We need your arms and legs and your big
heart, AND we need your sponsorship. Our church needs your financial
support to make its future a reality. Enhance your membership in our
growing family of believers by making a sponsorship commitment to St. Vartan in any of the following four ways:
PLATINUM
($1,000 plus)
Receives 2 tickets to the Nov. 25 Ice & Crystal
Ball
GOLD
($500-$999)
SILVER ($100-$499)
FRIENDS (up to $99)
Funds raised will be used
to support our church services, visitations and other humanitarian and
spiritual services provided by our priest Very Rev. Fr. Hayrik
Hovhannisyan, our Sunday School, our ACYOC youth
group, Family Fun Fridays and all church-organized activities and events.
Your financial commitment benefits our Christian Armenian community in many many ways. Your generosity will truly make a
difference to St. Vartan.
All sponsors will be
recognized in the Nov. 25 Ice &
Make Prayer A Part of Your
Family’s Daily Life
Prayer is the rock of the
Armenian family. A wise man builds his
home on the rock of faith. Prayer is the
manifestation of our love and devotion towards God, which is expressed in the
sacredness of the family. Today the
connection between the Church and her people should be built on that same
faith. Over the past eight decades the
Church was subjected to certain trials, and faith faded. But the sensation of faith was never
eradicated. We have to strength the role
of prayer in the people’s life by preparing new servants, who will become the
true pastors of the Church’s true flock.
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Reflections on
the 1700th Anniversary of Christianity in
Our next Soorp Badarak will be on Sunday, Nov.19, 2006 at