Armenian News...Theophany of our Lourd Jesus Christ...12th day...

armradiio.am
Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Nativity and
Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ
06 Jan 2015

Each year, on January 6, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the
Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
which is the commemoration of the Birth and Baptism of Jesus Christ.
God was incarnated and appeared to the people. During the Baptism of
Jesus God the Father said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased" (Mt 3:17) and the Holy Spirit descended on Christ in the
form of dove, so God appeared to the people for the second time. So,
both Theophanies revealed by means of the Birth and Baptism of Jesus
Christ are celebrated in the Armenian Church jointly on January 6. The
feast starts on the eve, in the evening of January 5, and is continued
after the midnight. On the eve a solemn Candlelight Divine Liturgy is
celebrated and on January 6 a solemn Divine Liturgy is celebrated. At
the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy Blessing of the Waters Service is
conducted symbolizing the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan at the
commencement of His ministry. By means of His Baptism Jesus blessed
water.

Celebrant priest pours out the Holy Chrism drop by drop into water and
blesses the water. According to the tradition people take some blessed
water with them to use it as a medicinal remedy for the sick. After
Blessing of the Waters Service the priests visit the houses of the
faithful to proclaim the Christmastide Good News of the Birth of Jesus
Christ and hence the tradition of Blessing of the Houses was formed.

The Birth of Jesus happened in this way. "In those days Caesar
Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire
Roman world. ... And everyone went to his own town to register. So
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to
Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line
of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be
married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the
time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her
firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a
manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." (Lk 2:1-7) The
Son of God was born in poverty, in a manger. The witnesses of His
Birth were the shepherds living out in the fields nearby, whom the
angels had appeared and brought the good news of the Birth of the
Savior singing: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to
men on whom his favor rests." (Lk 2:18)

Soon afterwards some men who studied the stars came from the East and
worshipped Baby Christ, presented him gifts and returned to their
countries.

Source: Qahana.am 

armradio.am 

Situation at the line of contact remains tense
05 Jan 2015

The situation at the line of contact between the armed forces of
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan remains tense; the rival continues to
intensively violate the ceasefire regime all along the frontline.

About 350 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were
registered the night of January 5. The rival fired more than 4,500
shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the
Armenian positions.

The front troops of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the
operational-tactical situation at the frontline and resort to response
actions only in case of extreme necessity. 

Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 7 2015
BBC airs footage about Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (VIDEO)
By Elena Kosolapova 

The footage features an Azerbaijani family, living in the conflict
zone. "We can't live on the second floor, it is too dangerous," said
the head of family. "So, all our family is cramped into one room
downstairs. Residents complain of the bullets hitting their homes."

"Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1990s,"
BBC said. "30,000 people were killed, Azerbaijan lost the territory
and seven adjacent regions, hundreds of thousands of people were
displaced. Since the ceasefire agreement in 1994 there hasn't been
much progress in resolving this conflict. In the outside world, it is
often referred to as "a frozen conflict", but for the thousands of
people who live close to the frontline it never froze and coming under
fire is a daily reality."

The video release said that military causalities have escalated last
year. "Tensions peaked when Azerbaijani forces shot down a helicopter
in November ," BBC said.

"Attack helicopters belonging to the air forces of Armenia conducted
assault flights and made attack elements through the defense positions
of the Azerbaijan armed forces and therefore obvious incident
happened," Hikmet Hajiyev, acting head of the press service of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said. "For the Armenian
side, every time using provocative activities and provocative actions,
the major intention is to damage and hurt the negotiation process."

In the absence of progress at the negotiation table, Azerbaijan has
been spending billions of dollars boosting its military capability,
according to BBC.

The youngest schoolchildren can recite the names of the territories
now occupied by Armenia, according to the footage. They believe that
through war or peace, their land will be returned, even if it takes
another generation to achieve it.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

BBC link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30699504


RFE/RL Report
Armenia Condemns Paris Terror Attack
07.01.2015

Armenia added its voice on Wednesday to the chorus of strong
international condemnation of an armed attack on the Paris offices of
a French satirical magazine which left at least 12 people dead.

President Serzh Sarkisian was quick to send a letter to his French
counterpart Francois Hollande strongly condemning the shootings,
offerings his condolences to the victims' families and expressing
solidarity with France.

"At this difficult moment of grief and loss, Armenia and the Armenian
people stand alongside you and the friendly French people," wrote
Sarkisian.

"We express our condolences and support to the people and authorities
of friendly France, the editorial staff of the `Charlie Hebdo'
magazine and the relatives of the victims," Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian said in a separate statement.

"Such appalling acts by extremists can have no justification and once
again highlight the need for a greater consolidation of international
efforts to fight against terrorism," he added.

In his letter, Sarkisian reaffirmed Yerevan's commitment to
"consistently continue the struggle against international terrorism."

The deadly attack was widely blamed on Islamist extremists apparently
enraged by "Charlie Hebdo" cartoons ridiculing Prophet Muhammad and
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the notorious leader of the militant Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria. Ten of the attack victims were reportedly
members of the weekly magazine's staff.


panorama.am
Earthquake hits border area between Azerbaijan and Karabakh
07/01/2015

Magnitude 3.1 earthquake hit the border area between Azerbaijan and
Nagorno-Karabakh at 10:44 am local time on January 7, according to the
website of the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The earthquake measured 4 on the Richter scale in the epicenter. The
hypocenter was at a depth of 10 km.

The epicenter is reported to be at 40.34 degrees north latitude and
46.46 degrees east longitude.


Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 6 2015
200 drivers saved on Georgian-Armenian highway


The Georgian police and emergency services saved about 200 people
stuck in cars on a highway connecting Georgia and Armenia in the
Ninotsminda District, TASS reports.

The snow layer reached a height of 80cm in some areas. Traffic was
halted on one of the sections of the Georgian Military Road near
Kazbek. The snow layer on some parts of the road varies from 70-90cm
to 120cm.


We Are a Weak Nation, but...
By Apo Sahagian on January 5, 2015
Special for the Armenian Weekly

Earlier last month, the serving Israeli president, a longtime
supporter of genocide recognition, refused to sign a petition calling
on the Israeli government to recognize the genocide. At the same time,
a renowned Palestinian cultural center in Ramallah flaunted an absurd
excuse and canceled the screening of "The Cut" (a film on the
genocide). Two nations took time off from their conflict to embarrass
the Armenians, in clear favor to Turkey. You realize we are a weak
nation.

President Sarkisian signing documents of accession to the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) on Oct. 10, 2014.

When imperialists in the Kremlin chew on your republic's sovereignty
with the Eurasian Economic Union, and the patronizing bureaucrats in
Brussels don't even hint of wanting you in their club after you turn
your back on the EU Association Agreement, you realize we are a weak
nation.

When the corpses of three Armenian soldiers are left in a supposed "no
man's land" for ten days, and Azerbaijan--a country once weaker than
Armenia--makes sure you don't recover those bodies for ten days, you
realize we are a weak nation.

When a single Tweet from Kim Kardashian is your most effective way to
raise genocide awareness and your best line of defense against the
loaded Turkish lobby, you realize we are a weak nation.

When residents of Gyumri still wait for decent permanent homes to be
built 26 years after the Spitak earthquake, you realize we are a weak
nation.

When residents in Tavush have to wait another six months for the
government to complete a highway away from the vision of Azerbaijani
snipers across the borders (who apparently take pleasure in ruining
the livelihood of the people of Tavush), you realize we are a weak
nation.

When students in some villages have to stay home during winter since
schools there don't have the adequate facilities for the season, you
realize we are a weak nation.

When declarations from diasporans to return to the homeland turn out
to be empty words and only a means to sustain an existence of eternal
wandering, you realize we are a weak nation.

When folks in Armenia constantly look for an escape from the country,
you realize we are a weak nation.

When the Armenian language becomes distorted with foreign words, you
realize we are a weak nation.

When the Armenian gay community is hounded for their private
lifestyle, and no one takes into consideration that they are
infinitely more patriotic than the straight person chasing them, you
realize we are a weak nation.

When the government in Armenia is hijacked by oligarchs and cannot
serve as a platform for rule of law, you realize we are a weak nation.

When all of our national myths and histories of bravery and courtesy
seem to be so distant and unreachable in our present, you realize we
are a weak nation.

Because we put ourselves on a high pedestal and lied to ourselves that
we are somehow on top of it. But that pedestal is false. We are
somewhere much lower than where we want to be.

We are a weak nation, but we are a stubborn one--and that is our strength.

No matter how many chunks of our sovereignty Russia bites off and how
condescending Europe acts, we hang on to our independence in any and
every way possible. Because it is our republic. Sure, it is not the
best one out there, but it is ours. That is enough to stubbornly fight
for it.

Above: Major Sergey Sahakyan (L), Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan, and Senior
Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan. Below: A scene from the funeral service of
the three servicemen

Azerbaijan tried to stop us from reaching the three corpses of the
Armenian soldiers for nearly ten days, but stubbornly, a commando unit
recovered the bodies of Major Sergey Sahakyan, Senior Lieutenant
Sargis Nazaryan, and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan out of respect to their
families and the unity of a nation with values.

Say what you may about Kim Kardashian, but for one day on April 24, we
secretly thank her for that Tweet that conveys to millions the truth
about the genocide. Because while our committees are stubbornly
fighting the good fight against the Turkish lobby, ammo under any name
is welcome. Even if it's Dan Bilzerian.

Twenty-six years on and residents of Gyumri remain in their city,
despite the failures of the government to take them out of temporary
shelters and put them in permanent homes. Stubbornly, they wait for an
unfulfilled obligation by the state, because "doon degh" is an
eventuality that will happen come hell or high water. No earthquake or
government dysfunction will make them abandon their city.

The people of Tavush, aware of the attacks from Azerbaijani snipers,
aren't deterred from using their exposed highway. Stubbornly life goes
on, because the strength of a society is more important than the fear
of an enemy.

Despite some village schools not having adequate facilities for
semesters in winter, students stubbornly sacrifice their summer break
to earn their deserved education. Please check out Teach for Armenia
(by visiting http://teachforarmenia.org ).

Even if the diaspora is not "returning" to the homeland and is fine
with its eternal vagabond existence, at least it is a far more
structured, organized, and stubbornly determined diaspora than the
others I have come across. It will be an organized eternal wander of
vagabonds.

Although there will be those who will leave, for many Armenia is where
they were born and it is where they will stay. They have stayed to
overcome the economic and political hardships. They stubbornly
struggle to achieve their inalienable right to have a government
worthy of the people.

Despite the abundance of grammar mistakes or use of foreign words, we
still speak the language and occasionally impose it on our
non-Armenian friends. Stubbornly, we make sure that the connection of
a people and their language is kept regardless of how thin and twisted
the thread has become.

Insulting the orientation of the gay Armenian community has thankfully
not distanced them from their heritage. Surely, they have been
isolated from particular individuals and circles, but the intensity of
the prejudice practiced against them has not diminished the intensity
of their stubborn love to their nation.

Despite the oligarchs turning rule of law into mockery, somehow the
citizens of the republic have fought to achieve victories for justice
and rule of law, with the latest statistics from Freedom House showing
Armenia to be Free.

Free, stubbornly free. And therein lies our strength.

Under the ruins of our history, faults, lies, denials, corruption,
difficulties, hardships, and losses, there still shines a light
through the cracks. It will shine for many years to come, maybe dimmer
or brighter, but it will shine. And along the road on which the light
shines, we are all persistently there.