Wednesday, June 29, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

1.5 Million Victims of Genocide Canonized at Etchmiadzin

by Contributor
April 23, 2015
in Armenia, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Scenes from Thursday's canonization service held at the Holy See of Etchmiadzin.

Holy relics used during canonization service of the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide

ETCHMIADZIN—The Armenian Church held a ceremony on Thursday at the Holy See of Etchmiadzin near Yerevan to canonize 1.5 million Armenians killed in massacres and deportations by Ottoman Turks during the Armenian Genocide.

The church says the aim of the ceremony was to proclaim the martyrdom of those killed for their faith and homeland.

On Friday commemorations will mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

After the ceremony, bells tolled in Armenian churches around the world, except for those in Turkey.

Thursday marked the first time in 400 years that the Armenian Church has used the rite of canonization.

Catholicos Aram I of the Holy See of Cilicia, who partook in the canonization service, said: “Today the church celebrates the sacred memory of saints who in the power of the Holy Spirit won the war against evil. These simple yet deeply penetrating words of prayer, said at the celebration of saints in the Armenian Church, depict the particular importance of saints in the life and witness of the church.”

“Saints are those persons who, being endowed with spiritual and moral virtues, live their life according to the Gospel values and sacrifice their lives for their Christian faith,” Aram I said.

“This is a unique moment in our modern history; a moment marked by profound meaning and message. This moment calls us not only to look backward by remembering our martyrs, but also to look forward by reaffirming our commitment to carry on, with renewed vigor and sense of responsibility, the cause of our martyrs. Indeed, the cause of the martyrs is a cause of justice and human dignity. We do believe that truth must be accepted and the human rights of our people restored. Only the acceptance of the truth will lead to reconciliation.”

A church ceremony canonized 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide

During the canonization ceremony, by order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the following fourteen Holy Relics, out of the numerous Holy relics of the Armenian Church, were used during the landmark service.

1. The Holy Lance ‘Geghard’
The Holy Lance is the tip of the metal spear which was used by the Roman soldier to pierce the side of our Lord Jesus Christ while he hung on the cross. According to historical tradition, the Apostle St. Thaddeus, one of the 12 disciples of Christ, brought this sacred relic of the Lord to the Armenian world in the first century. For centuries the Holy Christian relic has been kept at different monasteries in Western (historical) Armenia, and in Ayrivank since the 13th century, which later was renamed Geghardavanq (the Monastery of Holy Geghard) after the Holy Lance. In the second half of the 18th century the Holy Lance was brought to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and is still kept in the spiritual center of All Armenians. The Holy Lance is also one of the three Holy Relics used to bless and consecrate the Holy Chrism (Muron) of the Armenian Church.

2. The Right Hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator
The Right Hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator is the symbol of the highest spiritual authority of the Armenian Church, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The newer silver gilded reliquary was made in 1657, on which is depicted the twelve sufferings of the Illuminator. The Right Hand is also one of the three Holy Relics used to bless and consecrate the Holy Chrism (Muron) of the Armenian Church.

3. Relic of the True Cross
The Reliquary of the True Cross, made in 1651, contains a small piece of the life-giving wooden cross of our Lord Jesus. The Cross relic is one of the three Holy Relics used to bless and consecrate the Holy Chrism (Muron) of the Armenian Church.

4. Reliquary of Skevra
One of the priceless gems of Armenian ecclesiastical art is the reliquary of Skevra which was made in Cilician Armenia in 1293, and is kept in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The reliquary contains the relics of 18 saints: the Apostles St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew; St. Gregory the Illuminator, Patriarch James of Nisibis, Saint John Chrysostom, St. Catherine, and others. In 2000, during a Pontifical visit of the Catholicos of All Armenians to the Armenian Diocese of New Nakhichevan and Russia, the Hermitage returned the relics of the 18 saints to the Armenian Church, and they were placed in a duplicate reliquary that had been specially made.

5. The Right Hand of St. Stephen the Proto-Deacon and First Martyr of the Church
The silver Right Hand reliquary, from the XVII-XVIII centuries, contains the relic of St. Stephen the Proto-Deacon, the first Christian martyr.

6. The Right Hand of the Virgin St. Hripsime
The silver gilded Right Hand reliquary contains the relic of the virgin St. Hripsime. The relic dates back to the XVII-XVIII centuries.

7. The Right Hand of the Apostle Ananias

The Seventeenth century silver gilded Right Hand reliquary contains the relics of the Apostle Anania, one of the 72 disciples of Jesus Christ.

8. The Right Hand of Catholicos St. Sahak I Parthev
The XVII-XVIII centuries Right Hand reliquary contains the relic of the 10th Catholicos of All Armenians, St. Sahak I Parthev (387-428). The Right Hand of Catholicos Sahak Parthev was brought to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin from Western Armenia, Anapat Armenian Мonastery, Lim Island, Lake Van , Turkey.

9. The Right Hand of St. Sarkis the Warrior

The Right Hand reliquary was commissioned in 2008 by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The silversmith is Mamikon Mkhitaryan. The reliquary contains the relics of St. Sarkis the Warrior, which were discovered during excavations of the St. Sarkis Monastery in Ushi, in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia.

10. The Right Hand of St. Gevork the Warrior
The reliquary contains the relics of St. Gevork the Warrior. The Right Hand reliquary was made in Kolkata, India in 1928, and is silver gilded.

11. Cross-reliquary of St. Thaddeus and St. Virgin Sandukht
The eighteenth century made cross-reliquary contains the relics of the Apostle St. Thaddeus, one of the Armenian first illuminators, and the relic of the first Armenian Martyr St. Sandukht the Princess.

12. Cross-reliquary of St. John the Baptist
The cross-reliquary, created in Cilician Armenia in the fourteenth century, contains the relics of St. John the Baptist.

13. St. Gregory of Narek and other Saints
Made in the nineteenth century, the octagon star-shaped reliquary contains the relics of St. Gregory of Narek and the relics of other Pan-Christian Saints. The relic was presented to the Catholicos of All Armenian in 2012 and given to the Armenian Church.

14. The Gospel of Zeytun
The Gospel of Zeytun was written in Hromkla in 1256 by Toros Roslin, the most prominent Armenian manuscript illuminator in the High Middle Ages. It is one of numerous treasures kept in the The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenaderan). The manuscript was commisioned and received by the 69th Catholicos of All Armenians, Constantine I of Bartzrapert (1221-1267). The Holy Gospel was donated to the Matenadaran by the Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen I.

Contributor

Contributor

Next Post

The Memory of the Genocide as a Moral Compass

Comments 0

  1. Edward Demian says:
    7 years ago

    Incredible. I did not know about all those relics. Beside their cultural, religious, genetic and historical values, they have an untapped touristic potential.Yes, Armenia does a great job attracting tourists of Armenian descent, but I don’t see very many foreign tourists. The Iranians being an exception. I think that pilgrimage tours of religious sites and relics should be emphasized. We don’t need to be like Bankock , but more like Jerusalem.

    Reply
  2. Areg says:
    7 years ago

    Our lands. Enough of fooling ourselves.

    Reply
  3. Satenik says:
    7 years ago

    What a beautiful service. May their innocent souls find eternal peace. AMEN!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Edward Demian Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

ANCA Colorado-Sponsored Youth Complete New American Leaders Summit

3 hours ago
Key U.S. House Appropriations Panel Proposes $60 Million for Armenia; Needs Assessment for Artsakh

Key U.S. House Appropriations Panel Proposes $60 Million for Armenia; Needs Assessment for Artsakh

8 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • June 29, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to