The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is the most important of the four feasts of the Holy Cross. It is observed on Sunday closest to September 14. This year Armenian churches all around the world celebrated, The Exaltation of the cross on Sunday, September 13.
It isn’t Christmas yet, but we already have a WISH LIST. It’s for our Food Festival coming up ONLY ONE DAY THIS YEAR on Saturday, October 24. As you know, the Food Festival is our main fund raiser.
Our St. John ladies and men are already preparing the delicious foods that all of us, and our usual 2,000 plus guests, will enjoy in October.
The cornerstone of our life as Armenian Orthodox Christians is prayer. The essence of our prayer life can be found in the Prayers of the Hours, the rites of common prayers that are conducted throughout the day, especially in the morning and evening. Therefore, last year we endeavored to re-establish this tradition in our community to observing the evening prayer hour, every Wednesday at 7pm.
Year after year, it has been a true source of joy that more and more youth are attending the Annual Western Diocese Summer Camp program, known as Hye Camp. It is a safe and nurturing environment, where our youth can grow in their relationships with one another, their culture, and with Christ.
We are excited to announce that the 2015/2016 Sunday School year will officially begin on September 13, on the occasion of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Students are welcome to go to the Ashjian Room for a welcoming assembly, then they will attend Divine Liturgy as a group to celebrate the Feast, and hear a children’s sermon prepared by Fr. Mesrop.
As the last days of Summer play themselves out with our vacations concluding and our children returning to school, St. John hosts its Annual Picnic. This year was simply a pleasant occasion to enjoy the fellowship of our community, set against the backdrop of the beautifully forested Huddard Park on a bright, sunny day at the close of the Summer season.
For the past three years, St. John has offered an Internship program for High School and College students where interns gain practical work experience, learn to work together, being creative, help the community and above all have fun.
This year 10 students participated in this program including Slavik Gevorkyan, Nick James, Lea Kissick, Maria Stone, Grant Hilman, Slavik Bayatyan, Andrew Boghossian, Alex Kouyoumdjian, Allen Torchiyan and Enrike Kaltakhtchyan. They met twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday from beginning of July until beginning of August.
Family nights are one of the best ways to bring families together, sharing delicious food, making new friends, sharing stories and having fun. Friday August 7, the Family Night was dedicated to the Armenians from Iran.
It is with great excitement that we announce to our faithful that we will be resuming publication our parish's monthly printed newsletter beginning this Fall. We offer this good news to our faithful in order to engage them in the restablishment and continued effort necessary to offer a quality publication of benefit to our parish. Please contact us if you would like to volunteer to help support this effort, as regular contributors and copy editors.
Sunday, May 31st was another memorable day for St. John Armenian Church and its faithful.
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