Armenian News

HOMS ARMENIANS FORCED TO FLEE HOMES

tert.am

01.06.12

Following the Houla massacres that left over 100 people dead,

the Islamic forces in Homs are urging the local Armenians to leave

their homes.

They reportedly walk from house to house in Syria's Armenian populated

city, forcing the Christians to leave their abodes immediately.

Aid to the Church in Need is going to render a $60 monthly assistance

to each Armenian family in Homs. They are also hopeful to organize

the refugees' return to their houses.

The Christian Armenian community suffered losses as a result of a

May 19 attack against the Armenian church and school. Catholicos

Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia has condemned the violence. The

Isahakyan church and an Armenian school in the city's Christian-

populated district are now serving as a shelter and hospital for the

Syrian rebels.

So far, 50,000 Syrian Christians have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq

and Turkey. All the rest are said to have found a shelter in an

Aleppo-based Jesuit refugee assistance center.

Syrian-Armenian soldier tortured by rebels

 15:12, 2 June, 2012

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS: Details on the death of the

Syrian-Armenian soldier have shocked the entire Armenian community. It

is already known that Damascus-based soldier Levon Kuyumjyan has not

been killed from a fire shot by rebels in the territory of Bab al

Hawa, but in consequence of cruel tortures.

It became clear that the 22-year-old Armenian young man had been

tortured after his body was handed to parents, representative of

Armenian community of Syria Nazareth Elmadzyan told Armenpress.

About the 15-month-long clashes in Syria between the governmental and

opposition forces have had their hard consequences for the

Syrian-Armenian community. Four Armenians have fallen victims to the

clashes that are intensifying day by day.

Serviceman Vigen Hayrapetyan and Aleppo resident Araxi Petrosyan have

been killed in consequence of the explosions in Aleppo. 57 year-old

Raffi Karjyan has been killed in his house in Holms. Levon Kuyumjyan

has added to their number.

times.am

THE INDEPENDENT: SNIPERS ON THE ARMENIAN BORDER

01.06.12

Dr. Adrian C Pont, fellow worker of Oxford University, has published

a letter in the British magazine "Independent" about his journey to

Armenia. Mr. Pont especially says:

"Amid the hysteria generated by the Eurovision Song Contest, we

should not overlook the aggressive attitude of Azerbaijan towards

its neighbor Armenia.

Last week, while participating in a scientific collaboration with

Armenian colleagues, I was in the north of Armenia and at various

points very close to the border with Azerbaijan. In one village people

came out of their houses to advise us not to drive further along the

road as Azerbaijani snipers were regularly shooting across the border.

A number of people, peacefully working in their fields, and even

schoolchildren had been shot dead. Such incidents are widespread.

The purpose of such killings can only be to provoke retaliation by

Armenia, creating a "border incident" and enabling Azerbaijan to try

to annexe yet another small mountainous enclave of Armenia.

This part of Armenia is ethnically Armenian and the inhabitants

are Christian and speak Armenian. They would have no wish to

be incorporated into Islamic Azerbaijan, where they would suffer

persecution or worse. Let us hope that democratic choice and the rule

of law will prevail".

Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire 200 time since the past week

armradio.am

02.06.2012 14:44

(in advance of Hilary Clinton’s visit to Armenia)

According to the data of the NKR Ministry of Defense, the Azerbaijani

side violated the ceasefire about 200 times at the line of contact

between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan from Jay 27 to

June 2.

The rival fired more than 1,200 shots from weapons of different

caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions.

Committed to the maintenance of the ceasefire regime, divisions of the

NKR Defense Army mostly refrained from response actions and

confidently carried out their military duty all along the line of

contact, Press and information Department of the NKR Defense Army

reported.

times.am

HOW IS ARMENIAN INTEREST PRESENTED IN GREAT BRITAIN?

01.06.12

Recently Armenian Ambassador to Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Karine Ghazinyan answered to the questions by the correspondent of BBC

Azerbaijani service. The journalist had two main topics: military

parade of the Artsakh Defense Army on the 20th anniversary of Shoushi

liberation and Armenian decision to refuse participation in the

?Eurovision 2012?.

One may think this was a great opportunity for Mrs. Ambassador to

present to the whole world huge efforts and achievements by two

Armenian states, to speak about the challenges which Artsakh Republic

faces and so on. But? it became clear that Karine Ghazinyan is unable

to present a balanced, unemotional and diplomatic speech. Moreover,

she does not know the details of previous and current levels of

Artsakh war.

Unfortunately, problem of Armenian diplomats has appeared under media

consideration for many times. When Armenian diplomats leave for the

foreign countries they do not concentrate on the main issues during

their diplomatic mission. No, they take into consideration some

secondary topics. But how this attitude can be accepted for the

Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Isn’t it possible to prepare the

diplomats for the mission properly? These questions are not rhetoric.

RFE/RL Report

Armenian PM Set To Keep Job

Astghik Bedevian

01.06.2012

Tigran Sarkisian is likely to be reappointed as prime minister and

head Armenia's new government that will be formed later this month, a

leading member of the ruling Republican Party (HHK) said on Friday.

Sarkisian and all members of his cabinet submitted their resignations

to President Serzh Sarkisian as the new Armenian parliament elected on

May 6 held its opening session on Thursday. Under the Armenian

constitution, the head of state has ten days to appoint a new prime

minister. The new government is to be formed within the following 20

days.

`I don't think that there will be a change of prime minister,' Galust

Sahakian, a deputy chairman of the HHK, told RFE/RL's Armenian service

(Azatutyun.am). He said most of the outgoing ministers affiliated with

the HHK will also likely retain their posts.

Sahakian also revealed that President Sarkisian will begin on Saturday

consultations with senior lawmakers from the HHK and the Orinats

Yerkir Party, its junior partner in the new ruling coalition, on the

government's composition. `Tomorrow the issue will be discussed with

the political majority [in the parliament] and it will become clear

which portfolios will go to Orinats Yerkir and which ones to the

Republican Party,' he said.

The two parties signed a new power-sharing deal earlier this

week. Orinats Yerkir is expected to retain control of three

ministerial portfolios.

The party's deputy chairwoman, Heghine Bisharian, said two of the

acting cabinet members representing Orinats Yerkir, Agriculture

Minister Sergo Karapetian and Emergency Situations Minister Armen

Yeritsian, may well keep their jobs.

Sahakian confirmed that the HHK will get the bulk of the four

ministerial posts that have been controlled until now by the

Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), the third partner in the outgoing

coalition. The BHK decided to pull out of the government after

finishing second in last month's parliamentary elections.

Film to portray Leonardo DaVinci's travels in Cilicia

June 2, 2012 - 16:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new film by history buff Arsen Hakobyan of Armenia

intends to put into perspective Armenia's influence on Europe, both in

terms of exporting Christianity, as well as exporting its church

architecture and numerous saints, according to The Armenian

Mirror-Spectator.

The film, shot on location in Armenia as well as in Georgia and

several European countries, gives as examples churches in Europe that

were built heavily influenced by the Armenian church structure  -  most

perfectly and earliest executed in Echmiazdin and Bagaran. Among those

churches is San Satiro in Milan, the original structure of which was

based on the seventh-century Bagaran church.

The DVD can be watched in Armenian, English, Russian or French.

The film also spends time on the reported travels by Renaissance

genius Leonardo DaVinci in Cilicia, specifically around the Taurus

Mountains. According to his Codex Atlanticus, housed in the Ambrosian

Library in Milan, he spent some time in Cilicia in the 1480s, where he

witnessed an earthquake in Erzinga. He had reportedly gone there at

the behest of the Sacred Sultan of Egypt. He sketched many faces, as

well as the topography of the region.

The filmmaker, Hakobyan, said that the film would be `for all the

people who don't know Armenia and Armenian history.' In particular, he

said, Armenians sent many proselytizers to Europe to preach

Christianity, some even long before the formal adoption of

Christianity as the state religion in 301 AD.

LUSINE ZAKARYAN WOULD MARK HER 75TH

Panorama.am

01/06/2012

"When Lusine things "Saint-saint" angels descend in Holy See and

glorify God for singing and for the talent gifted to her," Supreme

Patriarch of All Armenians Vazgen I used to say about Lusine Zakaryan.

Today the renowned Armenians soprano, People's Artist of Soviet

Armenia Lusine Zakaryan would mark her 75th anniversary.

Lusine Zakaryan was born in 1937, in Akhaltsikhe, Georgian SSR.

Zakaryan died in 30 December 1992.

In 1952 she moved with her family to Yerevan, where she attended

a secondary music school. She entered the Yerevan State Musical

Conservatory in 1957. From 1970 to 1983 Zakaryan was a soloist with

the symphony orchestra of Armenian TV and Radio.

She also sang in the choir of theArmenian Apostolic Church's Holy

See at the Echmiadzin Cathedral, and it is for her magnificent

rendition of centuries-old Armenian spiritual hymns that she is now

most remembered for.

REVERED JERUSALEM CHURCH AT JESUS CRUCIFIXION SITE

COMES ALIVE IN CENTURIES-OLD NIGHT CEREMONY

Newser

May 31 2012

By DANIELA BERRETTA | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Revered Jerusalem church comes alive at night

After the last tourists leave the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in

Jerusalem's Old City at nightfall, a little-known but centuries-old

tradition unfolds at one of Christianity's holiest sites.

Clerics from the three largest denominations represented in the church

_ Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic _ gather each night

for special prayers reserved for the men who take care of the site

where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Starting at midnight, clerics and monks sing and pray for hours,

their chants echoing through the cavernous chambers of the Holy

Sepulcher's darkest rooms.

"The door of the church is closed, no pilgrims, no tourists, it's

very quiet," said Father Isidoros Fakitsas, the superior of the Greek

Orthodox Patriarchate at the church. "It's amazing to feel the liturgy

with no people, only the monks."

Isidoros said he has attended the services for 21 years.

The preparations require a rigid routine. Before the first prayers of

the new day, the Christian shrine needs to be cleaned, and maintenance

work has to be done.

The clerics sweep the floors, replace oil lamps and clean candle

holders, after thousands of pilgrims visited throughout the previous

day. Occasionally a small number of devoted pilgrims help them with the

cleanup and are permitted to stay and pray inside the church all night.

The early morning mass is a tradition associated with monastic life,

said Father Eugenio Alliata, professor of Christian Archaeology at

the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. "Mostly monks and

religious people want to pray not only all the day, but also all the

night, or part of the day or part of the night. It is part of the

desire to pray without ceasing because prayers to God must be given

all the time, day and night," Alliata said.

Father Fergus Clarke, the guardian for the Franciscan community inside

the Holy Sepulcher, said the night prayers require a certain amount

of personal sacrifice, but also bring greater spiritual fulfillment.

"That's a wonderful vocation ... to be able to do something like that,

to know that while people are sleeping, others are praying," he said.

The night liturgies inside the Holy Sepulcher are regulated by a

consolidated tradition: The Greek-Orthodox start to celebrate mass

inside Jesus' Tomb at 12:30 a.m., before handing over to the Armenians

and then the Franciscans. The Greek Orthodox liturgy at the tomb is

the longest, lasting for about three and a half hours; the Armenians

then take over for an hour and a half and the Franciscans for another

half hour.

The night service is subject to some variations. On the feast of

Saint Matthias on the morning of May 14, for example, Catholics lead

a procession to Jesus' tomb during the Greek Orthodox liturgy.

Sounds collided with one another that night. The celestial voices of

Armenian priests rose from their wing of the Church as the sound of

a Franciscan pipe organ came from the opposite direction.

Competing for attention is nothing new in the ancient church. The three

main denominations that share the church jealously guard their turf,

and an air of mistrust lingers as each group makes sure no one else

crosses into their space.

While the Tomb of Jesus and the main passages of the Holy Sepulcher

are considered common spaces, the three main religious communities

each own a part of the church: The Chapel of Saint Helen, near the

place where Jesus' cross is said to have been found, belongs to the

Armenians; the Greek-Orthodox Church has ownership over the largest

part of the church, including the Altar of the Calvary, where Jesus's

cross was raised; the Franciscans own the Chapel of the Crucifixion

where Jesus was crucified, along with the northern part of the Church,

where according to tradition Jesus appeared to his mother.

The church was first built by Roman Emperor Constantine in 325,

at the site where the tomb of Jesus was believed to have been found.

Constantine's structure was destroyed in 1009 by Muslim Caliph

al-Hakim. A 12th century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy

Sepulcher its current appearance.

Life inside the Holy Sepulcher is regulated by a complex maze of

norms that are often subject to different interpretations, said Father

Samuel Aghoyan, the Armenian Superior of the Holy Sepulcher. At times,

tensions have even spilled over into violence, with monks pushing

and punching each other.

"We keep almost awake at night here to see that things are done

properly, on time, that no one will trespass the other's right by

doing things that he's not supposed to do," said Father Samuel. "So

we have to be careful and watch what we do or what they do."