Fr. Bedros Kadehjian informs me that St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church will be celebrating its 109th anniversary on Sunday, November 2. The celebration begins with the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Very Rev. Fr. Haigazoun Najarian, Diocesan Vicar to the Primate. Fr. Najarian will also perform the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the parish’s recently completed building expansion project.

The Liturgy and ribbon cutting will be followed by a celebratory dinner (lamb and chicken kebabs, pilaf, Armenian style green beans, salad, Armenian desserts) and a special program including guest speakers Congressman Michael McNulty and Mayor Mike Manning from the City of Watervliet. There will be also be presentations by the St. Peter Church Armenian School and Sunday School children.

I wish all the best to St. Peter’s, its people, and Fathers Bedros, Stepanos, and Garin. Õ‡Õ¶Õ¸Ö€Õ°Õ¡Õ¾Õ¸Ö€Õ¸Ö‚Õ´

They are wonderful people and have supported our entire community through their prayer and outreach. They have welcomed our ecumenical group numerous times and have always stayed true to their traditions and Tradition.

Please say a prayer for their community and wish them well.

The inanimate church, venerable queen,
Gives life and rules over death,
Like the fruit that Adam was said to have eaten.
But this church surpasses all animate beings,
For though inanimate, it performs miracles,
Each undertaking to perfect and renew us,
By etching the image of the glorious light upon us.

She uplifts bodies to soar again with
The lightness of the soul, endowing
The baser element with dignity.
She is not debased by her own faults,
But by being trampled by evil or faithless people.
She is an amazing sign, overwhelming our mind’s understanding,
This unthinking thing, created by thinking creatures,
That helps them as a superior helps its subordinate.
She is greater than man …
Like an eternal mountain she resists attack.
Like a net cast by God she catches souls.

For she is an ark of purity,
A second cause of rejoicing
Who saves us from drowning
In the tumult of our worldly lives.
She is not tossed about on waves of agitation,
But rises above it to the heavenly heights …
She is not built by the hands of Noah,
But is built by the hand of the creator.
She is not in perpetual motion, constantly changing
But is established permanently upon an unshakable foundation.

—St. Gregory of Nareg, Prayer 75
Speaking With God From the Depths of My Heart, from: Here I am, Lord, A collection of prayers and meditations for young adults drawn from Scripture, Armenian tradition, and original compositions.