Armenian Church

Mgredich Torossian was on his way out of Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center on Friday morning when he noticed one of the hospital chaplains blessing three carts full of Armenian sweet bread in the building’s lobby. He stopped to listen to Deacon Tigran Garibjanyan say the Lord’s Prayer in Armenian, and then he picked up a loaf of the Armenian gata bread that the hospital was giving out in celebration of Armenian Christmas, which is Sunday. It was good to see the hospital recognizing the Armenian holiday, Torossian said in Armenian, with hospital employee Ramella Markarian translating.

Sitting in his Glendale office, Steven Hovagimian clicks through Facebook pictures at his desk. One shows him in a dress, wig and jewelry pretending to be an old Armenian woman in a comedy skit to raise money for Glendale’s Unified Young Armenians group. In that same photo, the real woman standing next to him, he said, is his wife. “She says I’m crazy, but says, ‘You’re doing all this for the kids, so, why not?’” He supports Unified Young Armenians (UYA) with encouragement, time and his endearing sense of humor when he’s not working as a social worker for Los Angeles County or as a deacon with the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church or as a TV show host on “Cornerstone” (“Himnakar” in Armenian)

GLENDALE — The City Council will consider on Tuesday what action, if any, it will take in the matter of a Glendale resident who was arrested in Armenia in June on charges of evading military service. Arman Babajanyan — who publishes a newspaper called Zhamanak in Los Angeles and Armenia — is appealing the four-year sentence he is serving in an Armenian prison for allegedly avoiding service in the Armenian military, according to city staff reports. The issue was first brought before the council about two weeks ago when dozens of residents pleaded with council members during oral communications to help free Babajanyan — who they believe is being persecuted for his harsh critiques of the current Armenian government through his newspaper and television show.

Beneath a starry sky, Sosé Thomassian and Allen Yekikian held each other on their wedding night, arms looped around hips, eyes locked, for more than 20 minutes so the photographer could capture what would become their favorite wedding photo. Back at the wedding reception in a lakeside Armenian town, the photographer showed off the shot and the crowd cooed. The couple got their wedding, but there will be no first anniversary. About eight months after the wedding, on May 10, Thomassian and Yekikian died in a head-on car crash while on a weekend getaway in Georgia, Armenia's neighbor to the north.

GLENDALE — The La Crescenta-based Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America filed a $105-million lawsuit Tuesday against the J. Paul Getty Museum, claiming the institution illegally bought seven pages from a sacred Bible. The Western Prelacy claims that the seven pages, which date back to 1256, were ripped from the Armenian Orthodox Church's Zeyt'un Gospels during the Armenian Genocide, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The church is also requesting that the pages be returned.

Archpriest Father Hovsep Hagopian, parish priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church of La Cañada Flintridge, will base his sermon on a passage from the Bible, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23,4) at the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, July 2 in Lanterman Auditorium, 4491 Cornishon Ave., LCF. The rod and staff are simple objects, but in the Bible they have different meanings, depending upon which book of the Bible is read. The rod presents sadness when held by an elderly person for support.

GLENDALE — The united voices of a baritone and a tenor resounded in St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church on Saturday, as the air in the nave sweetened with incense. The morning Mass commemorates the birth and baptism of Jesus, a Christmas celebration that the Armenians hold during the first week of January. The service was officiated by Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, prelate of the Western region of the Armenian Apostolic Church. "Twenty-one centuries later, the 'Great and Marvelous Mystery' of the birth of our savior continues to offer hope, inspiration and meaning to our lives, minds and spirits and guides us towards goodness, love, righteousness and peace," he said.

The congregation of the Armenian Apostolic Church of La Crescenta and La Cañada celebrated Palm Sunday with traditional Armenian prayers and ceremonies at Lanterman Auditorium. Incense filled the room, and the altar was flanked with palm leaves, which are a sign of triumph and victory in the time of Jesus. Archpriest Father Hovsep Hagopian led the Palm Sunday service. After the procession, in a special ceremony called ?Teruhnpatz,? Hagopian and a deacon asked God to open the gates of heaven to the congregation and accept them into his heart.

Nearly 60 volunteers marched the streets of Glendale and Burbank on Monday to raise awareness and gain support for a new domestic violence help center that they hope will make inroads with Armenian families. Volunteers met in front of St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale and walked to St. Leon Armenian Apostolic Church in Burbank, marching under the slogan “Violence Hurts, Love Conquers.” Fr. Vazken Movsesian of St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale formed the domestic violence task force under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America.

GLENDALE — A mural with touches of gold acrylic spans what used to be a completely blank, white wall at St. Peter Armenian Church. Arpine Shakhbandaryan's mural was set to be unveiled on Sunday. The 24-year-old artist's mural will lend a fresh atmosphere to the church, Father Vazken Movsesian said. "To have true art usually people bring in these kinds of older paintings," Movsesian said. "I wanted something contemporary, somebody who is living the faith today, which Arpine is, to give her expression."