Armenians at prayer

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For ABC Wednesday, A is for Armenian arches

and Armenian priests and monks at prayer in their beautiful chapel in the upstairs level of the Holy Sepulchre.

Their chapel is up these stairs, but I think not many outsiders are allowed to ascend.
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(Linking also to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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For the Armenians

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This khachkar cross-stone in Jerusalem's Old City  recalls the Armenian genocide, a painful and complex chapter of history still waiting for wider recognition.

Yesterday, after prayer, eighteen Jerusalem churches rang their bells one hundred times to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide.
Today, after a memorial Mass at St. James, wreaths were laid at the monastery in the Armenian Quarter.
At noon there were demonstrations at the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem and at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv.
In the afternoon all the Patriarchs of Jerusalem gathered at the Holy Sepulchre for a memorial Mass.

In Armenia one and a half million victims were yesterday canonized.
There is also a  video of today's ceremony at the monument in Yerevan, Armenia, to which Israel sent an official delegation of several Knesset members.
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For more about Armenian Christians in Jerusalem see my earlier posts.
May justice be done, as we remember this tragedy.
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To learn more:
 http://www.timesofisrael.com/imploring-for-recognition-jerusalems-armenians-to-mark-100th-anniversary-of-genocide/

 http://www.newsweek.com/souls-vanished-armenian-genocide-1915-and-so-did-stories-323851

Video of "Face the Shadow," Armenia's 2015 song for the Eurovision contest.
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At Mary's tomb--lots of praying going on

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Today, on the calendar of the Armenian Orthodox, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is celebrated.
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We came here, to visit the Church of the Tomb of Mary in Gethsemane a few days ago; and then,
judging by the entrance, the old Crusader church looked deserted.

But once inside, we were surprised by the smell of incense and the sound of chanting and singing, all over the place!
We waited as the Armenians began the liturgy near the side chapels and then followed them down the 47 stairs to the underground part of the church.

The Armenians continued prayers in front of the sepulcher of Mary.
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On the other side of the tomb another liturgy was in progress, but I could not pass through to see who; probably the Syrian Orthodox or the Greek Orthodox, maybe Ethiopians.
The Copts were praying at their own altar, and I can show you those photos in the days to come.
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My visiting American Protestant friends did not know what to make of all this, but I enjoyed it very much.
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UPDATE: I have added information in the Comments in answer to readers' questions.
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(A post for Our World Tuesday.)

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Tune in to streaming video from Jerusalem church

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This poster and reflection were on the glass door of the Christian Information Center in the Old City.

You can click on it (and click again on the photo that opens) and read about the " 8th Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches for Reconciliation, Unity and Peace, beginning in and proceeding from Jerusalem,"
being hosted by the Armenian Catholics.

You can watch it in live streaming video
--at 6:00 pm Israel time (4:00 pm GMT or 8:00 am California time).
Check on the handy time zone converter timeanddate.com.
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Let's hope their prayer helps the situation.
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UPDATE: It was a nice broadcast of the ecumenical service.
That same Franciscan Media Center that shared it online is a good source for documentary videos on religious life in the Holy Land.
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Tête-à-tête

A tête-à-tête between two priests in the tent of the Armenians.
Talking about what (or whom), do you think?

Their peaked hats recall Mt. Ararat, where Noah's ark came to rest after the flood.
Today it is in Turkey but once it was in the ancient Armenian kingdom.

More pictures from the Ascension Day worship by the Orthodox Christians on the Mount of Olives are in my recent posts.
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(Today's post is for ABC Wednesday's T-day.)
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P.S. - LOL, I just enlarged the photo and found a surprise I had not seen before!
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UPDATE: Sorry, exactly now when I wanted you to enlarge and find the cell phone the priests are looking at, Blogger is having a problem.
Known Issues for Blogger writes that

"Images uploaded in HTML mode may display smaller than the original size for some users. We're working on a fix to the problem, but in the meantime you can still upload images without issue via Compose mode."

That does not seem to be true however. I tried uploading again and the photo still comes out small.
sigh . . .
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Ascension Day at Christendom's 2nd holiest site

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As I started telling you yesterday, Thursday was Ascension Day for the Orthodox churches.
It was my first time to see the very old Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives and to experience four different liturgies going on at once, each in a different language.

Photo opportunities were so plentiful, I don't know where to start!
Maybe we start with pictures of the processions, so you can have a better look at the interesting faces and vestments.

From time to time the Greeks or Armenians or Syrians or Copts would leave their area of the courtyard and walk in procession into the chapel.
(You remember, they are allowed to pray here but once a year by the Muslim owners, and each group sets up an awning or kind of tent for their hours-long liturgy.)

You always knew when a group was exiting the chapel by the rhythmic tapping of the kawas' ceremonial staff.
Since Ottoman Turk times, they lead the way and clear the way for the Christian clergy.
The Arab kaswassim will get a separate post in the coming days.
They are sort of like the Holy Land version of the Vatican's Swiss Guard.

Here come the Greek Orthodox.

(Click on any photo, and then again on the photo that opens, to enlarge it. Enjoy the rich detail.)


This Armenian was leading the choir of the seminary students.
There seems to be almost no spoken word in the Orthodox liturgies, only singing/chanting.

These star-shaped things with little bells were also beautiful to hear.

The very old Syrian Orthodox church still uses Aramaic (mixed with some Arabic) for their prayers.

Indeed, if you closed your eyes to the lay people in modern dress yesterday and just focused on the look and sound of the clergy, you could imagine you were far back in the earliest Christian centuries in Jerusalem.
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Quiet in the crypt!

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Quiet is the key word for today's Q post for ABC Wednesday.

Shhhh, we are descending to the dark crypt beneath the Armenian Catholic church in the Old City.

OK, no talking; the mysteries of faith seldom have an explanation anyway . . . .

A nun in black is behind the glass doors in this unusual chapel.
First read the signs carefully, if you dare to enter.
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(More about the quiet Our Lady of the Spasm Church is here and here, including how it got its rather queer name.)
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This post is also for Our World Tuesday.
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A foretaste of Pentecost

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In the dim recesses of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a priest and his reflection.

Enlarge the photo and you will even see the light reflected in his eyeglasses as well.
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What almost looks like a flame above his head reminds us that this Sunday is Pentecost for some Christians.
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The Book of Acts says that the Apostles were gathered together in one place [the Upper Room] when suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting.
Then tongues of fire appeared and one sat upon each one of Apostles!
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as directed by the Spirit.

The glass in which the priest was reflected shields a mosaic above the glittery bench.
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The large mosaic of the Crucifixion was made in 1970.
It is next to the arched door of the Armenians' sacristy.
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I hope James and the growing group at Weekend Reflections enjoy this dim reflection of inner brightness.
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Knee-mail

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The Church of Our Lady of the Spasm marks the 4th station of the cross on the Via Dolorosa.

Along the left-hand wall you see something beginning with K, needed for today's ABC Wednesday.

Kneelers!

Well, actually only the lower part, where you kneel, is called the kneeler.

The whole prayer desk is more properly called a prie-dieu.

The French names means literally "pray [to] God."

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These prie-dieux look hard, but I think the Armenian Catholics (to whom the church belongs) are modest and tough enough to use them well.

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More about this nice church and the Armenians in a previous post.

Just for contrast, I show you a more cushy prie-dieu.

It is in St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia.

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Either way, remember the saying that they taught me in Arkansas:

"God answers knee-mail."
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Both feet on the floor

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First-time visitors to St. James Cathedral had better read the rules before entering the church for vespers.

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 I have seen confused tourists get corrected by an attendant for breaking Rule 4c. . And once I tried to catch a picture of the priest hammering on the simandron when he suddenly turned around and said "No pictures." I instinctively put the camera in my pants pocket.

Click to read the Armenian Orthodox rules. Compare and contrast; how do the recently-posted Catholic monastery's rules differ? :) Just kidding.

 

 Reflected in the glass for James' Weekend Reflections is the monastery with old khachkars in the wall.

 

 I really like St. James and whenever I am in the Old City I try to be in the Armenian Quarter and the church at 3:00 pm to hear their vespers.

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For the Armenians

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In honor of this day, let's visit the Catholic church of the Armenian rite located in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

This khachkar, or stone-cross, greets you in the courtyard.
Yes, today, April 24, is the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day.

I read on an Armenian website that "A liturgy for the Armenian Genocide victims will take place in Armenian churches of Israel and Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church on April 24. The liturgy will bring together Israeli Knesset and government members, as well as representatives of the Armenian community of Jerusalem."

The main altar.

Down in the crypt everything is darker.

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This, the 4th Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, commemorates where Mary saw Jesus passing with his cross.

The tradition is that Mary fainted or swooned or expressed her sorrow with convulsions of grief, hence the name of the churches that have stood on this spot since at least the Middle Ages: the Church of Our Lady of the Spasm.

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A solitary nun sat in silent contemplation in the small glassed-in modern chapel in the crypt.

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Whatever the historical facts and numbers of victims really are, may God bless the Armenian people, who carry their painful memory like a heavy cross, unacknowledged by many countries.

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UPDATE: Nestor at "Every day is a holiday" has posted a short thoughtful history of the events.
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A shop on Via Dolorosa Street

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How can it be Friday already??
Time again for James' meme, "Weekend Reflections."

I was trying to get a picture of an example of the famous Armenian tile work in a ceramics shop window in Jerusalem's Old City.
Now I see a whole street came with it, along with the sign Via Dolorosa Street.
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The call to prayer, on video!

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Turkey and Armenia have just signed historic accords aimed to end a century of hostility and mistrust between them.
I wish them luck. Today's post for That's My World Tuesday (Klaus' meme is one year old today!) is dedicated to the people living in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

If you remember an earlier post about the Armenian Orthodox St. James Cathedral, we said that many centuries ago the Ottoman Turks issued an edict forbidding the ringing of church bells in Jerusalem. As a legal loophole, a wooden board or an iron sheet called a simandron (or nakos, in Arabic) cleverly replaced bells to call the monks and the public to prayer.
Ottoman rule ended in 1917 and today Israel has freedom of religious expression. Many church bells ring in the Old City. But in memory of those centuries of Moslem prohibition of the bells, an Armenian monk emerges from the church every weekday and hammers on the simandron just before 3:00 pm vespers.



Try not to be distracted by the two women who cross the church courtyard on their way to buy candles to light during the service. Let's just say that it shows how well "hidden" I was beside a pillar while filming (which is forbidden).
What do you prefer? Did you enjoy the spirited hammering on the simandron, right next to you, or would you rather hear bells up in a tower?

(For more about Armenians in Jerusalem please click on my "Armenians" label below or in the margin.)
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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Center of the clover, City Hall

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For ABC Wednesday -- a ceramic clover-leaf near City Hall, with Jerusalem as the CENTER of the world!

(All photos are clickable for enlarging.)

This new 2008 artwork is near City Hall in Safra Square.

It is too new to be in the Jerusalem guidebooks, but I found this about the old map on which it is based:

BÜNTING'S CLOVER-LEAF MAP, 1581

"The whole world in a clover leaf, which is the crest of the city of Hannover, my beloved fatherland." This caption was given by Heinrich Bünting, native of that city, to one of his allegorical maps. 
The three continents of the Old World are shown well-divided by the seas, but connected by Jerusalem as the hub of the world because of its religious importance, especially at the time of the European wars of the Reformation. 
The blue ocean is titled "The Great Mediterranean Sea of the World"; only the Red Sea is colored red and shown separately.

 --from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

England and Scandinavia are way up at the top.

America, the New World, is down in the lower corner. (Trust me.)

I was intent on photographing the ship and the sea monster for fine blogger Sailor Girl of Portugal who loves sailing ships.

The artist is Arman Darian, a leading artist and manufacturer of Armenian Jerusalem ceramics—panels, tiles, vases and other objects of art. Arman Komandarian was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1971.

More about him at his lovely website.

The woodcut of the 1581 original clover-leaf map by Heinrich Bünting.
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I will be posting another modern, but more traditional, Armenian tile work and more about the history of the Armenians in Jerusalem in the near future, God willing. Stay tuned.

Shalom from the center of the world!
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Armenian Orthodox

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The Old City of Jerusalem is less than one square kilometer. Inside its city wall are four quarters: the Moslem Quarter, the Jewish, the Christian, and the Armenian.
Today on our That's MyWorld Tuesday tour we visit the Armenians.


I love the rhythm of the call to prayer. It gets faster and faster, louder and louder! See the blur of the mallet and hand?
The device, called simandron or in Arabic nakos, is made of wooden boards and iron sheets suspended on chains.
A 14th century Ottoman edict forbade the ringing of church bells in Jerusalem. But there is always a way around laws in the Middle East. So these gong-like instruments replaced the bells to call the monks and the public to prayer.


Ottoman rule ended in 1917 and today Israel has freedom of religious expression.
Many church bells ring in the Old City. But in memory of those centuries of Moslem prohibition of the bells, an Armenian monk emerges from the church every day and hammers on the simandron just before 3:00 pm vespers.

St. James Cathedral is Armenian Orthodox.

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Aviva Bar-Am, in her Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem, hits the nail on the head (so to speak) with her description:

"A vast collection of paintings, ceramic tiles, and rich ornaments decorate the grandiose interior of St. James Cathedral. Lit only from light which enters through a few windows, the dome, some candles, and dozens of hanging oil-lamps, the church's interior is mystic and eastern. The scent of incense permeates the air, adding to its mysterious aura."
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And that is before you even hear the choir of men's voices in Byzantine chant!

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Whenever I have been at vespers on a weekday, only a handful of tourists or locals come in to sit on the bench that lines the side and back of the church. And most do not last for the entire liturgy.

Woe to you if you forget the rules and cross your legs. An Armenian will come over and remind you to keep both feet on the ground.

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But if you do sit respectfully and quietly, you may find yourself soaring .
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Trees of life

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On this day many Christians celebrate what is called in Greek Ὕψωσις τοῦ Τιμίου Σταυροῦ (literally, "Raising Aloft of the Precious Cross"). I've also heard it called The Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross. It is all too much for me, as a Jew, to understand.
But I must admit I was surprised and pleased to see this first cross pictured below as a tree of life, blossoming and rooted in the earth! Life-giving.

In Judaism, the Torah is our tree of life. In the synagogue service we hold the Torah scroll and sing "Ets chaim hee..., It is a tree of life to those that hold fast to her."

Khachkars, or cross-stones, have been made in Armenia for over a thousand years. The cross-tree khachkar is a model of the of the Armenians' concept of the world during the Middle Ages.
The idea is explained well at the Khachkar website.


The khachkars above are in the wall outside St. James church in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

This cross-stone is in the courtyard of the Armenian Catholic church on the other side of the Old City. It recalls the Armenian genocide, a painful and complex chapter of history still waiting for recognition.
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UPDATE Aug. 2016: More about khachkars and other things Armenian here:
https://auroraprize.com/en/armenia/detail/7447/10-ways-to-recognize-armenia-when-you-see-it
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UPDATE June 2017: About a medieval cemetery in Armenia:  https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/06/21/armenian-cemetery-has-worlds-largest-collection-of-khachkars-stone-crosses-that-protect-the-soul/
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