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What are the books of the Holy Bible used by the Armenian Church?
What are the books of the Holy Bible used by the Armenian Church?
The books of the Bible according to Armenian Church canon law are the following:
Old Testament
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
The Book of Joshua
The Book of Judges
Ruth
The First Book of Samuel
The Second Book of Samuel
The First Book of Kings
The Second Book of Kings [The Armenian lists the Books of Samuel and the Kings as First, Second, Third, and Fourth.]
The First Book of the Chronicles
The Second Book of the Chronicles
The First Book of Esdras [The Second Book exists, but is uncanonical.]
The Book of Ezra
The Book of Nehemiah
Esther [The Armenian includes the apocryphal sections]
Judith
Tobit
The First Book of the Maccabees
The Second Book of the Maccabees
The Third Book of the Maccabees [The Fourth Book does not exist in Armenian]
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Songs
The Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiastes or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach
The Book of Job
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
Baruch
Lamentations of Jeremiah
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
The Book of the Prophet Daniel [Includes: the Song of the Three; Daniel and Susanna; Daniel, Bel, and the Snake]
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadieh
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkak
Zephanieah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
New Testament
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Letter of James
The First Letter of Peter
The Second Letter of Peter
The First Letter of John
The Second Letter of John
The third Letter of John
Letter of Jude
Romans
First Corinthians
Second Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
First Thessalonians
Second Thessalonians
Hebrews
First Timothy
Second Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Revelations [Translated into Armenian only in the 8th century; completed, revised and reedited at the end of the 12th century]
Why do we pray for the deceased?
Why do we pray for the deceased?
The most basic teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ is: A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another (Jn. 13:34). This love is best expressed when we as loving brothers and sisters and as the true followers of the Lord come together to experience His presence in our midst: For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20). In such an atmosphere of binding love and Divine presence our prayers unite and come out as if from a single source. Lord had this in mind when He taught us the Lord’s Prayer and stressed using the collective first-person plural throughout. Praying in one voice and as one person does not only indicate that we are all in agreement in our faith in God and in our expression of love towards each other but also that we pray for each other. Prayer that is offered in unison will reach God: Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven (Matt. 18:19). Praying together is strongly stressed by St. Paul, who in his letter to the Romans, 15: 5-6, states: May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Common prayer is the very essence of the Church. And we must understand that while offering private prayers should be a part of our daily practice, they do not take the place of common prayer since, according to the Holy Scriptures, we experience the presence of Christ in our midst as a group or a family, provided that we set aside our sinful ways and adhere to the divine command of love.
One may assume that all of this applies to those of us who are alive since, according to the general understanding, once a person passes away, he stops communicating with others and committing sin, and the sins committed during his lifetime are not a part of the record so to speak. The deceased will be judged at the great tribunal of the Last Judgment for the life they have led on earth. Consequently, why offer prayers for the deceased? Similar questions have been asked over the centuries, and some Christians reject the practice of praying for the dead. The Armenian Church is obviously not one of those Christian groups.
Prayers for the deceased are well attested from the Old Testament, and requiem services are based on an understanding derived from the Holy Scriptures, particularly from the New Testament. We believe that the deceased faithful are still the Lord’s: If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. To this end, Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living (Rom. 14:8-9). The faithful who are dead is merely asleep in Christ. This concept, which is in St. Paul’s epistles (1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4 and 5), is one of the basic teachings of the Armenian Church, and the term ‘asleep’ in its past participial form [nunchetsyal] is used formally in reference to a deceased person.
Like the faithful who are alive, the faithful who are deceased is a part of the corporate body of Christ and, therefore, of the Church. Those who are asleep in Christ and have reached the end of their earthly lives in the faith are called the ‘first born’ or the Victorious Church.
The Scriptural evidence also suggests that those asleep in Christ pray for themselves and for us. That the souls of the deceased are conscious and concerned about the living is best reflected in Christ’s story about poor Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man begs the patriarch Abraham to send someone to his five brothers will alive to warn them of what is in store for sinners (Lk. 16).
The indissoluble union of the living and the Victorious Church is also the basis for seeking the intercession of the saints before God. Asking a saint for his/her intercession merely means that we ask him/her to pray for us.
Why do we call the feast of the Transfiguration “Vardavar” in Armenian?
The Feast of the Transfiguration is one of the five principal feasts of the Armenian Church, so named because of Christ’s luminous appearance. In Armenia, it is also known as Vartavar (the Festival of Roses). Word “Vardavar” consists of two Armenian words: "vard" means "rose" in Armenian and "var" means "bright," or "to burn/be burning." It was celebrated in harvest time after an old pagan feast, which it replaced. The feast marks Christ’s appearance with a resplendent countenance to three of His disciples, Peter, John, and James, on the holy mountain of Galilee, also known as Mount Tabor.
We compare the Lord to a rose (Vard). Before it opens, the rose lies hidden within its bud. In the same way, the brightness of the Lord’s divinity lay hidden within Him before the Transfiguration. And in the same way that the rose appears clearly once the bud opens, on this day our Lord’s divinity appeared clearly to everyone. A rose grows amid thorns. In the same way, our Lord appeared amid the Jews, who crucified Him. The rose emits a sweet fragrance; in the same way, the sweet fragrance of our Lord’s Transfiguration put his disciples into a deep sleep. Our ancestors called this feast Vardavar because while the rose is still a bud, it gives no hint of its beauty or its fragrance, but when the time is ripe, it is moved by its own sweetness to unfurl and make people happy with its color and fragrance. In the same way, Christ was conceived in the Virgin’s womb and developed there like a bud. Then his birth was revealed by stars and angels to the magi and the shepherds, and when he reached full maturity he was revealed to human beings using his miracles and wonders. The Lord was concealed behind the “veil” of his body like a bud. Today it opened and revealed the glory of His Father, and through its wafting fragrance, it revealed His divinity.
A rose has three qualities: redness, whiteness, and fragrance — these signify the Trinity. In the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, red corresponds to the blood He spilled on the cross; white corresponds to His innocence; and fragrance signifies the Spirit, which He breathed into the disciples saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (Jn․ 20:22) It reminds us also of this verse: “My beloved is white and red, the best among ten thousand.” (Songs 5:10) On this day the Apostles were set up as teachers of the entire world. The Lord taught the disciples to be like Moses and Elijah in patience and poverty.
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